"Readin' and Writin'" was the last of the Robert McGowan directed Little Rascals school-oriented flicks in which June Marlowe portrayed their pretty teacher, Miss Crabtree. Some of the kids, like Breezy, Stymie, Wheezer, and Dorothy De Borba were going for the first time. Breezy's dasmal-dame mother nagged him about wanting him to be President! (Was she so sure that he'd get elected?) Breezy wanted to be a streetcar conductor instead, saying "Boy do they pick up the nickels!"(in 1931, a trolley-car ride WAS often five cents!) It was clear that Breezy WANTED to be expelled from school! That explains the myriad misdeeds that he committed, coaching Dororthy to tell Miss Crabtree she was deaf and Wheezer and Stymie to address Miss Crabtree as "Crabby", gluing her books shut, tacks on seats, blowing the car horn, throwing something at Sherwood and worst of all, bringing Dinah the Mule into the classroom! Breezy ADMITTED that he did that to get expelled; Miss Crabtree gave him very fitting punishment, to memorize the sappy poem about picking daffodils, that Sherwood had recited; Brisbane refused so was expelled, and "Crabby" said he'll never become President. (He could hardly become a streetcar conductor either!) At first he was overjoyed, but then his conscience caught up to him, spookily warning him to learn that poem, that there was no one to play with as all the children were in school, that there was no place for him to go, as he couldn't go home. (What would Mom say?) Breezy tried fishing, but the voice came eerily, LEARN THAT POEM. Then he called to order the Secret Order of the Winking Eye, by himself; again, the mysterious voice called LEARN THAT POEM. THAT led him to apologize to Miss Crabtree and recite the poem, in tears, the kids laughing at him. This was the punishment that was best for him; turning a child over one's knee, and spanking him so hard as to be unable to sit for days, is NOT the best punishment in the whole wide world (as used to be thought). MissCrabtree made the punishment fit the crime, appropriate as he had DELIBERATELY misbehaved with INTENT to get expelled. This proved that Breezy was NOT really a BAD BOY, just rebelling against misparenting by Mom. He called Sherwood a sissy, though there really IS no such thing as a sissy! Apple-polisher was what Spud really was; he recited that sappy poem to please Teacher. I admit that this poem of Sherwood's was really sappy, but there are worse poems. All in all, a very fine
Review of Readin' and Writin'
