Love Business

A Hal Roach Productions Release
February 1931 - 2 Reels
Directed by Robert McGowan

FEATURED CAST
Jackie Cooper
Norman "Chubby" Cheney
Bobby "Wheezer" Hutchins
Dorothy "Echo" Deborba
with
June Marlowe (as Miss Crabtree)

Chubby makes his move on Miss Crabtree. Jackie is anything but pleased.
Jackie Cooper, June, Shirley Jean Rickert, Norman "Chubby" Chaney, and Dorothy "Echo" DeBorba.
Autograph is that of the little doll on June's lap.

Love Business may not be the best Our Gang film ever made but it certainly is my favorite. To me it is the perfect bookend to the Cooper-Crabtree trilogy and contains all the elements I like in a Miss Crabtree vehicle.

The film starts out with Wheezer complaining about Jackie being all "moonie-moonie" over Miss Crabtree. Next up is Chubby, who also is vying for the teacher's affections. It is here that the film showcases Dorothy DeBorba in a scene I feel is the best bit of comedy in any Our Gang movie. Chubby is reciting a love poem to Miss Crabtree which Dorothy repeats, word for word. Well, sort of. Finally, this little gem wraps it all up in a neat little bow when Jackie and Chubby go face to face to win the hand of their beloved teacher. No Our Gang film before or since has, in my opinion, put together a film that hit all the right notes from beginning to end.

Oh, my darling, can you hear my pleas in my whispers?
Darling, I hear the fleas in your whiskers.
If love is like a rose I will pick my rose in the bud.
If love is like a rose I will stick my nose in the mud.
My heart is filled with joy -- I want to trip and dance.
My heart is filled with joy -- I want to rip my pants.

Not all critics thought the film was so good. Variety felt the film was just "..okay entertainment.." and that "Timing is off and the action moves slowly." They faulted June's performance in particular with "The teacher speaks quite ordinarily for a supposedly cultured individual. Some of her dialog is childish." To this, I respond, "Ohhh yeah?"

Photograph at top is from the collection of Don Spears, courtesy of Shirley Jean Rickert-Measures.

This film is usually available through many retail, mail order, and Internet outlets.