To quote a Marine D.I. in San Diego or John Wayne in several movies, "Listen up, we ain't going to plow this ground twice." In 1947, Hal Roach made a film called "Curley", which was an expanded version of 1930's "Our Gang" short "Teacher's Pet", with Frances Rafferty and Larry Olsen taking the roles played by June Marlowe and Jackie Cooper in the original short. Hal Roach also made a film called "The Fabulous Joe", basically about a drunk, a talking dog, gangsters and Marie Wilson running around in her skivvies. The two films, intended as bottom-half of a double feature, were released about two weeks apart, with "Curley" going out first. "The Fabulous Joe" came about two weeks later. At the same time, the two films were stitched together and offered, with the combined running time of 112 minutes, to exhibitors who didn't play double features. The film listed on this page, "Hal Roach's Comedy Carnival", is the result. "Curley" was an attempt by Hal Roach, who no longer owned the rights to "Our Gang" (aka "The Little Rascals") to create a version of "Our Gang" with a new set of kids, which would be known as "Curley and His Gang", and would be feature-length films in Cinecolor. "Curley" was the first one in the series and was followed in 1948 by "Who Killed "Doc" Robbin" with the same kids from "Curley" playing the same roles. Later, "Curley" and "Who Killed 'Doc' Robbin" were packaged together as "The Adventures of Curley and His Gang" for theatres and later sold to televising, and there are sources who keep adding the adult cast from the "Doc Robbin" film (Don Castle, Virginia Grey, Claire DuBrey, Paul Hurst and others)incorrectly to the cast of "Curley." The fun part of "Hal Roach's Comedy Carnival" is that it is comprised of two films that are about as opposite of each other as films can be. "The Fabulous Joe" is a screwball comedy filled with double entendre dialogue and scenes and as "Adult" as a film of the 40's could be and still get PCA approval. "Curley", as mentioned, is "Our Gang" updated and in color.
—Les Adams <longhorn1939@suddenlink.net>