MovieChat Forums > Beginner's Luck (1935) Discussion > The many rumors of Beginner's Luck

The many rumors of Beginner's Luck

posted 4 years ago by doug78595 (107)
9 replies | jump to latest

There have been so many rumors from this short over the years. I'll try to list them and we can discuss them from time to time but I'm sure it's going to time
to get them all listed.
1. The parts of Spanky's mom and Daisy's mom were changed and the woman who played Daisy's mom was originally to play SPanky's mother.
2 Stan Laurel of laurel and Hardy fame was the one who came up with the idea of stripping the mom and putting her behind the stage prop.
3."Beginner's Luck" wasn't on the schedule but was added late after "Mike Fright" was such a huge success the theater owners demanded another short be made with the kids performing in some sort of competitive show.
4. The part of Spanky's mother was made from a certain stage mother they dealt with and they used lines she had used and really went to town to give her payback.

[–] spankyfan2 (124) 4 years ago

I would bet that number 4 isn't a rumor. Here it is 2020 and you still hear horror stories of parents interfering with their kids lives. We don't know what any of the Rascals mothers looked like but I'm sure one or two of them was good looking making it easy for the writers to come up with mom getting the "works" in BL. Maybe they could have added a fight among a couple of stage mothers with a little bit of ripping clothes off.

[–] Robbie (249) 4 years ago

The first rumor was always my dream, I thought Daisy’s mother was prettier and looked younger. I heard that rumor that when daisies mother found out about the dress being torn off she backed out.
I also heard that it was Stan laurel’s idea but I didn’t realize there was a rumor that beginners luck was added because of mike fright and that the part of spankys mom was based on a real life stage mother. I still cannot get over the fact there was never a remake. On you tube if you look up “friends romans and countrymen spanky style” there is a kid reciting like spanky pretending to be hit by peashooters but it ends with that, no mother and loss of dress...

[–] spankyfan2 (124) 4 years ago

I have heard about rumor number 1 from the various past BL sites but no conformation if it was true. I always thought about the mother standing behind Daiseys mom--the one with the dumb ass kid. She looks like Hal's type--a good looking short hair blonde.

[–] doug78595 (107) 4 years ago

The one I thought was a lie was Stan Laurel when I first heard it. But I read stories that he did this several times on other Roach projects. He was someone the writers went to many times to help them enhance a story. It seems he went through a bad period after his son died and after that he used the same type of ending about 7 different times for Roach. Thelma Todd was involved in at least three of them. In one she was with 2 other girls invited to a party at a rich man's house, the stove in the kitchen explodes ripping the dresses off the 3 and pushing their heads thru a wall and the girls all looking up with mouths open have their heads mounted on the wall where the man had his hunting thropies ,

[–] spankyfan2 (124) 4 years ago

Are any of those Thelma Todd videos on You Tube?? Do you remember any of the titles?

[–] doug78595 (107) 4 years ago

I would think so I don't know the names of them sorry but there is another done by Roach right around the time of BL and at least 4 of the cast are in this film called Benny from Panama. Some say the lead looks like a prettier Kitty who has her dress catch fire in a cab on the way home from her wedding. To stop the fire she has to rip off her dress and she raps a carpet around herself to get in the house of course the carpet falls off and shes stopped by the police standing in a real short sexy slip. definatly worth a look. Spanky ,Grandma ,the piano player and some others are in it.

[–] spankyfan2 (124) 4 years ago

Just thought of a Laural & Hardy where a women is standing near a stove and her dress catches on fire. L&H help her by ripping her dress off. Don't remember the actress--saw it on You Tube

[–] doug78595 (107) 4 years ago

I went to her site as someone told me one of them was Block heads - only problem she wasn't in blockheads. how typical BL!

[–] doug78595 (107) 4 years ago

One of the films may be bohemian girl but im not sure