| Although better known as "The Little Rascals" and still occasionally
seen on
TV, Hal Roach Studios' "Our Gang" comedies began as silent movies in
1922. Uncle Tom's Uncle was made in 1926 at Pathé. Directed by Robert F.
McGowan, it tells the story of the kids putting on their version of a "Tom Show"
for the neighborhood. Much of the film focuses on the struggles of the boy
playing Tom to escape his mother's list of chores (she's the Simon Legree of
this film) so that the show can go on. Two newspapers include very brief reviews
of the movie: Los Angeles Times and Washington Post. (And one other
Los Angeles Times notice recounts the Gang in a live travesty on Uncle Tom at a local vaudeville theater a year later.) The excerpts you can watch in the 10 clips below focus on that show. The makers of the film obviously assume a great deal of familiarity, even among the children in the film's audience, with the elements and conventions of Uncle Tom onstage. |
The opening scene is represented in these first 5 clips. As the curtain opens, that's Tom's cabin at right, but that's also Topsy dancing stage center.(click on image at left) |
 Ophelia appears next, looking for Topsy; then either St. Clare or Shelby, it's not clear; and then Marks. (click on image at left) |
 Aiken's original dramazation provided Ophelia with a lover (Deacon Perry); in this version Marks plays that role. (click on image at left) |
 While Ophelia looks for Topsy, Tom and then Eva make their entrances, giving Topsy another way to misbehave.(click on image at left) |
With Legree's entrance, the gang's all here. Before the show began, the kid on the curtain was instructed to open and close the curtain each time he heard the whistle . . .(click on image at left) |
The second major scene is the icy river. In this version, just about the whole gang crosses on the cakes: Eliza is followed by not only the dogs, but also Haley, Loker, Marks . . .(click on image at left) |
 . . . and, finally, Topsy and a last (costumed) bloodhound. (click on image at left) |
 The climax of the play begins with Tom standing up to Legree, refusing to whip another slave. Eva appears in the "clowds."(click on image at left) |
 In a departure from tradition, here it is Tom, not Eva, who is carried to heaven -- with the help of the donkey. (click on image at left) |
The rope doesn't break, but the scene is played for purely comic effect. It seems they elevated Tom because it would have been shocking rather than funny to treat Eva's body so roughly.(click on image at left) |
