When a dog continues to roll over and cover his ears every time that Stymie and Wheezer repeat "What street?" over and over to poor little rich girl Shirley Jean Rickert, it's time to retire it, especially since I heard the same joke in a Wheeler and Woolsey movie. This episode starts off with older members of the gang trying to find Chubby a hat, then they go in search of the gang's belongings which Wheezer is peddling door to door. They are invited in by the lonely Rickert and proceed to turn her house upside down, especially Stymie and the adorable spider monkey. Chubby ends up being stuck in a weight reducing machine which has the wrong outcome, giving a little bit of a special effect to the episode. Still, there's no real structure which weakens this overall.
7 Reviews
Very Funny And Very Entertaining
Corr2816 April 2009
Warning: Spoilers
I really had very little memory of this Our Gang short from seeing it on TV as a kid. So, I was glad to re-visit it recently. Felt like I was watching one I really hadn't seen before. This is a funny, entertaining short with much of the focus on Wheezer and Stymie. There is a neat "who's on first" type sequence involving the kids and although it comes off rather stilted, it's still a nice touch. Stymie's encounter and subsequent battle with one of the weirdest monkey's I have ever seen is very funny with the monkey even sporting Mickey Daniels patented horse laugh. There are also some humorous scenes involving Chubby and his quest to find the right hat as well as trying to lose weight in a steamer. There is a lot going on here but it all adds up to about 20 minutes of good, humorous fun.
Bargain Day turned out to be Jackie Cooper's final Our Gang appearance
tavm22 October 2014
This Hal Roach comedy short, Bargain Day, is the one hundred sixth in the "Our Gang/Little Rascals" series and the eighteenth talkie. In this one, Chubby tries on every hat in the store but nothing seems right for him. It's during this time that we find out Wheezer sold many of the gang's items so they go out looking for him. Wheezer and Stymie end up at rich girl Shirley's house which has a monkey inside. I'll stop there and just say that I found most of this hilarious despite some lines that play on stereotypes of Stymie's race. I especially loved the "Watt Street" routine between Wheezer, Stymie, and Shirley which reminded me of Abbott & Costello's "Who's on First!". Of note: former Our Gang member Mickey Daniels was the laughing voice of the monkey and this turned out to be Jackie Cooper's final appearance in the series as he would shoot the feature Skippy during retakes and after that film's success, Hal Roach would sell Cooper's contract to Roach's distributor M-G-M to work on features full-time. When continuing to review these shorts in chronological order, I may stop once in while to also review films outside the series featuring many of these Our Gangers in movies that come between many of these entries. So on that note, I very much recommend Bargain Day.
What a bargain!
jimtinder26 August 2002
Wheezer has the "Peddlin' craze" again, according to Jackie. Little Wheezer cleaned out the Gang's trunk of stuff and is selling the items door to door with Stymie. When they get to "Poor Little Rich Girl" Shirley's house, she invites them to come inside because she is lonely. The rest of the Gang arrive at the house to track down Wheezer, and the usual brand of Rascals mayhem occurs!!
"Bargain Days" (originally titled "Bargain Day"; the "s" was added when the film went into TV syndication) was filmed towards the end of the excellent 1930-31 "Our Gang" release season. Many of the film's highlights occur when Chubby is on the screen. First, Chubby is shopping for a new hat; the Gang helps him out, until he finally settles on a top hat! Second, when Chubby discovers a hot steam reducing machine, he ventures inside, wanting to shed a few pounds. Unfortunately the Gang forgets he is there, and the only things the reducing machine reduces are Chubby's clothes and top hat, which is now just a tiny covering on his head! This ending represents one of the most memorable endings in Our Gang/Little Rascals history.
Another highlight is the exchange between Shirley and Wheezer and Stymie. When Wheezer asks where Shirley's mother is, she tells them "Watt Street." Wheezer answers, "What street?" This exchange goes back and forth, for solid laughs.
Sharp viewers will discover that Jackie Cooper and Donald Haines disappear in the middle of the film, replaced by two doubles seen from the back. Cooper and Haines left the Hal Roach Studios to make "Skippy" at Paramount during the making of this film. "Bargain Day/s" proved Cooper's last Our Gang film, a void that was felt in the series until the debut of Spanky McFarland the following year.
Paced well, with lots of good humor and verbal gags, "Bargain Days" is another solid entry in the 1930-31 release season. 9 out of 10.
"Bargain Days" (originally titled "Bargain Day"; the "s" was added when the film went into TV syndication) was filmed towards the end of the excellent 1930-31 "Our Gang" release season. Many of the film's highlights occur when Chubby is on the screen. First, Chubby is shopping for a new hat; the Gang helps him out, until he finally settles on a top hat! Second, when Chubby discovers a hot steam reducing machine, he ventures inside, wanting to shed a few pounds. Unfortunately the Gang forgets he is there, and the only things the reducing machine reduces are Chubby's clothes and top hat, which is now just a tiny covering on his head! This ending represents one of the most memorable endings in Our Gang/Little Rascals history.
Another highlight is the exchange between Shirley and Wheezer and Stymie. When Wheezer asks where Shirley's mother is, she tells them "Watt Street." Wheezer answers, "What street?" This exchange goes back and forth, for solid laughs.
Sharp viewers will discover that Jackie Cooper and Donald Haines disappear in the middle of the film, replaced by two doubles seen from the back. Cooper and Haines left the Hal Roach Studios to make "Skippy" at Paramount during the making of this film. "Bargain Day/s" proved Cooper's last Our Gang film, a void that was felt in the series until the debut of Spanky McFarland the following year.
Paced well, with lots of good humor and verbal gags, "Bargain Days" is another solid entry in the 1930-31 release season. 9 out of 10.
Lesser Short
Michael_Elliott23 December 2008
Bargain Day (1931)
* 1/2 (out of 4)
Our Gang short has Stymie and Wheezer playing door-to-door salesmen who aren't very good at selling anything. They eventually end up at the house of a rich but lonely girl and sure enough trouble follows when the rest of the gang shows up. This here is a pretty weak short in the series as the screenplay doesn't contain any funny moments and for the most part you can't help but feel this thing is rather desperate. For starters, the desperation really comes through because there are countless scenes that feature nothing but Stymie or Wheezer smiling at the camera. This is certainly cute the first time but I lost count of how many times they tried this and it eventually got old since they didn't add any laughs with it. The stuff with Stymie and the monkey is rather unfunny as is Wheezer's attempts to sell stuff. The only funny bit happens at the very start of the film when Chubby keeps trying on different hats.
* 1/2 (out of 4)
Our Gang short has Stymie and Wheezer playing door-to-door salesmen who aren't very good at selling anything. They eventually end up at the house of a rich but lonely girl and sure enough trouble follows when the rest of the gang shows up. This here is a pretty weak short in the series as the screenplay doesn't contain any funny moments and for the most part you can't help but feel this thing is rather desperate. For starters, the desperation really comes through because there are countless scenes that feature nothing but Stymie or Wheezer smiling at the camera. This is certainly cute the first time but I lost count of how many times they tried this and it eventually got old since they didn't add any laughs with it. The stuff with Stymie and the monkey is rather unfunny as is Wheezer's attempts to sell stuff. The only funny bit happens at the very start of the film when Chubby keeps trying on different hats.
"Who's on first if Mom's on Watts Street . . . ?"
pixrox18 February 2019
Warning: Spoilers
. . . BARGAIN DAY asks more than once. If there's anything funnier than a bull in a china shop, it's a monkey in a house full of antiques, BARGAIN DAY discloses. As perhaps the weakest of the first 18 "Little Rascals" outings, Our Gang meanders around without any plot in sight. I've seen slaughterhouse migrants shoveling up the floor to make "Grab Bag" Sausage in a meat packing plant, and THAT'S a much neater sight than BARGAIN DAY. For the most part, this Little Rascals episode seems to be a Hodge-Podge of cutting room floor out-takes randomly spliced together by the Capuchin primate starring on screen. One silent film title card from the 1920s even makes it into the final cut of BARGAIN DAY, along with a lot of racial stereotyping. If you can imagine a one-handed chimp pecking at a typewriter for five minutes, you'll surely understand the "creative process" behind BARGAIN DAY.
Not among the better shorts in the series
planktonrules2 December 2011
Warning: Spoilers
"Bargain Day" is not among the better shorts from the early Our Gang talking pictures. It's not bad--but really lacks a story and has far too many sad stereotypical references to make it a film to recommend. It also just happens to be Jackie Cooper's last film for Hal Roach Studios.
The film begins with Stymie and Wheezer going door-to-door trying to sell things. Finally, they come to a home of a wealthy family that is neglectful and has left their little girl all alone (a common 1920s-1930s cliché). She's happy to invite them inside and soon, out of the blue, the older members of the troop arrive. Unfortunately, a burglar alarm in the home is triggered and the cops arrive--who, fortunately, take it all good-naturedly. There really ISN'T much more to the film than this--nor are there that many laughs. Sadly, some of the laughs they were going for were the racist stereotypes Stymie kept muttering about shooting craps--another VERY common derogatory stereotype about Blacks during this era. All in all, not a whole lot to recommend this one.
The film begins with Stymie and Wheezer going door-to-door trying to sell things. Finally, they come to a home of a wealthy family that is neglectful and has left their little girl all alone (a common 1920s-1930s cliché). She's happy to invite them inside and soon, out of the blue, the older members of the troop arrive. Unfortunately, a burglar alarm in the home is triggered and the cops arrive--who, fortunately, take it all good-naturedly. There really ISN'T much more to the film than this--nor are there that many laughs. Sadly, some of the laughs they were going for were the racist stereotypes Stymie kept muttering about shooting craps--another VERY common derogatory stereotype about Blacks during this era. All in all, not a whole lot to recommend this one.
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