Tad Pole
" . . . and tan (your butt)?" MGM film star Jackie Cooper asks a young female school teacher a couple minutes into this expose on misogyny and woman-hating up in Canadia. That so-called nation (aka, America's Northern Threat) is infamous for having a college system in which failing engineering dudes grab the nearest military-style assault rifle and go A-Huntin' for the Ladies. TEACHER'S PET, the 13th in a series of "Little Rascals" documentary shorts meant to alert the world to the serious dangers posed by gangs of juvenile delinquent thugs from Canadia, probably inspired Today's shooters more than dissuaded them. This TEACHER'S PET episode, in fact, features a whole raft of gratuitous gun violence references which turned out to be self-fulfilling prophecies. And Jack is not alone in dreaming up sadistic tortures for poor Ms. Crabtree's posterior. Jack's pal Chub anticipates the scene with jars of stinging wasps affixed to writing unclothed nuns depicted in the later feature film THE DEVILS (which takes place somewhere in Canadia, if I'm not mistaken): Chub gets stinging ants into Ms. C's pants (about the worst he could do here, since documentary shorts are not eligible to be released with the NC-17 rating).
tavm
This Hal Roach comedy short, Teacher's Pet, is the one hundred first in the "Our Gang/Little Rascals" series and the thirteenth talkie. This is the one that really showcased Jackie Cooper's charisma as a child actor and would eventually lead him away from the series into starring exclusively in feature films. He leads the gang in playing pranks on the new teacher they find out is named Miss Crabtree who they think is someone-well, certainly not pretty as she eventually turns out to be as played for the first time by June Marlowe. I'll just say that this short is one of the most charming of the series with just the right amount of laughs to offset whatever sadness one may feel about doing something so cruel to someone as beautiful as this new teacher. So on that note, I highly recommend Teacher's Pet. P.S. This film marked the debut of one Matthew Beard who'd eventually be called Stymie in the series but here is called Hercules. It's also the first in the series to open with what would become the theme song-"Good Old Days" by LeRoy Shield. And it would be the first in the series to have "talking opening credits"-that is, a couple of ladies-Beverly and Betty Mae Crane-would announce the title and production credits instead of them being printed on screen. They'd do this also for subsequent Our Gang shorts School's Out and Love Business. And Richard W. Bann-co-author of the book "The Little Rascals: The Life and Times of Our Gang"-provides nice commentary on disc 2 of The Little Rascals Collection DVD during this short.
MartinHafer
The gang's beloved teacher is leaving because she's getting married. When they hear that their new teacher is named Miss Crabtree, they assume she's a nasty old prune--and the kids plan a series of horrible pranks to play on her to get her to leave. However, Jackie meets the new teacher and doesn't realize it's her--and he's infatuated with her! Won't he be surprised when he goes to school! But what about all those nasty pranks?! Jackie Cooper has his best opportunity to shine as a member of Our Gang in this one. And, quite frankly, he's adorable and very good in the lead. Also, this film is important because it marks the first appearance by Stymie Beard's--who would eventually replace Farina and become one of the more beloved members of this ensemble cast. It also gives Wheezer a chance to upstage them all in his small appearance near the end. Overall, one of the more entertaining episodes of Our Gang--and one well worth seeing. It's sweet and fun from start to finish.
Michael_Elliott
Teacher's Pet (1930) *** (out of 4) Miss Crabtree (June Marlowe) is the new teacher at the school where the gang goes and they plan on making her first day miserable but she has her own plan to get the group's affection. This here is certainly one of the better shorts in the Our Gang series up to this point. The majority of the charm has to go to Marlowe in her first appearance as Miss Crabtree. She has a few spots where her line reading isn't very good but she's attractive enough and charming enough to keep a smile on your face. Jackie Cooper is also very good in his role as the one who has a crush on her but is too embarrassed to say anything. Chubby and Dorothy get a very good sequence where she's constantly dubbing what he says and Wheezer is on hand for one of the highlights in the film. There's plenty of nice laughs throughout this short as well as some nice usage of the sound effects.
AD
