Released April 15, 1944
Bigshot Jones hasn't got enough money for food to feed his dog and feels he has to let him go. Just as he says goodbye before putting the dog on the train, Buckwheat finds him, talks him into keeping it, and says the gang will help take care of it. First the dog needs a name. Buckwheat and Bigshot Jones agree to name it "Smallpox," but Froggy, Mickey, and Janet overhear the conversation from outside the clubouse and misunderstand that they have smallpox and plan to give it to the rest of the gang. Froggy reports the case over the phone at a store to everyone he knows, including the doctor. Panic sweeps the city and the doctor examines all the children only to find no symptoms; Buckwheat explains to the doctor the truth of the smallpox rumor. As a result, Froggy, Mickey and Janet are taken to court for a lecture from the city mayor. In the end, the dog's name is changed to "Spotty" to avoid any more trouble.
"Tale Of A Dog" is listed by Maltin & Bann as the last Our Gang film, even though "Dancing Romeo" was later, not only on the release schedule, but on the filming schedule as well. Presumably, pre-
production started on "Dancing Romeo" first, which would technically make "Tale Of A Dog" a later production. In any event, this 'last film' is the only Our Gang film released as an M.G.M. Miniature, a
little-known and even-less-cared-about fact. But is this last episode any good? Well......kind of. I actually think the premise, in which the Gang confuse a dog named Smallpox with an actual smallpox epidemic, is a funny one. And a lot of what takes place is amusing, if not side-splittingly funny. It's funny, but not 'ha ha'
funny. When the kids are in the phone booth, with the long line of people standing outside (in a city with apparently only one phone booth), there's a guy in line that says "Those kids must have been vaccinated with a phonograph needle," somehow knowing that Marx Brothers fans would never come anywhere near this film. The funniest line, though, is when the doctor comes to examine Buckwheat, who's laying in a bed full of ice, and his mother says "You done told me to ice-solate him!" Funny, that is, for us PC-impaired folks. The film pretty much takes a nose-dive at the end, though, as the judge is lecturing the kids.

De Judge: "Mickey, Froggy, and you, young lady, have been responsible for the worst day in Greenpoint's history. Thousands of grownups taken off their regular work, paper wasted by the truckloads, telephone lines jammed, doctor's time wasted, schools closed, parents worried frantic - that's called 'inciting a panic.'"

I don't know. I was thinking 'jumping the shark' myself, but I guess 'inciting a panic' is close enough.

Mickey: "I can see now that that's where we were wrong. If we'd been more careful, and learned everything about it, we wouldn't be here, disgraced and in trouble."

You know, that Mickey is actually a pretty nice little kid. You can really tell that he's going to grow up to be an upstanding citizen someday.

review and notes written by Robert Demoss of OurGangFollies
used with permission
© 2004
The end of the series.