Beginner's Luck

1935 · 20min · Black and White · English

Spanky's mother pushes him to join a local theater's amateur night.

IMDb rating - 7.6/10 from 285 users

Genres - Short · Comedy · Family

Director - Gus Meins

Stars - George 'Spanky' McFarland · Matthew 'Stymie' Beard · Scotty Beckett

Story line - At her afternoon tea social Spanky's mother has her son recite for the assembled ladies. It is easily seen they are bored to death as he has no talent. After he finishes the mother shocks everyone ,including her mother and son, by announcing she has signed him up to appear at a local children's talent show. The Grandma tries to intervene to no avail. The gang come up with a plan to sabotage his performance with peashooters and noise makers. Spanky is overjoyed but must keep his mother from finding out. At the theater Spanky meets a little girl who needs the prize money to buy her dancing costume but fell victim to stage fright. Spanky's mother has run afoul of the Master of Cerimonies by showing up with her son not ready to go on then saying he was too much of an artist to open a show. He is a real hard boiled type and well able to deal with the mother. He has kept Spanky's act for last. Spanky has decided he'll win the prize for the little girl but he must tell the gang. As he is about to go into the audience his mother stops him telling him he can't go out there and she will deliver his message. She is ignorant of the gang's plot and just tells them We want him to win. —Harveyweinpop999

Release date - February 23, 1935 (United States)

Countries of origin - United States

Also known as - Удачный дебют

Production company - Hal Roach Studios