Second Childhood (1936) User Reviews

Endorsed by Dr. Spanky...and it's one of their best!

[planktonrules · 9/10 · 24 January 2012]

Zeffie Tilbury is a very welcome addition to "Second Childhood". She plays a grouchy old lady who is so nasty she can't even enjoy her birthday. But, when Spanky accidentally breaks her vase and offers to help clean up the yard to pay for it, a strange transformation takes place and the once-grouchy lady begins to experience her second childhood.

This is simply a joy to watch. Tilbury is very captivating and the plot is a delight. It's hard to adequately describe it and do justice to it--just see this one and enjoy.

According to IMDb, Miss Tilbury was actually blind but hid it quite well. Naturally, in the stunts they used a stuntman but it's not all that easy to notice and I like the idea of the filmmakers using a disabled woman and making allowances for her.

Oh, and my comment about 'Dr. Spanky'--well see this short and see Spanky dispensing medical advice--yes, medical advice!

Second Childhood was another hilarious Our Gang short

[tavm · 9/10 · 1 December 2014]

This Hal Roach comedy short, Second Childhood, is the one hundred forty-forth entry in the "Our Gang/Little Rascals" series and the fifty-sixth talkie. A rich old woman who's celebrating her 65th birthday is grouchy to her servants. Then a toy airplane stumbles into the house and Spanky arrives to retrieve it. The elderly lady demands 75 cents for the damage to her vase but Spanky instead offers to work for it with help from the gang. I'll stop there and just say the transformation of the grandma character is a sight to see here. Zeffie Tilbury-who previously appeared in Laurel & Hardy's The Bohemian Girl which also featured Darla Hood-is quite a joy as the cantankerous-turned-childlike-old lady. So on that note, Second Childhood should really please any Our Gang fan out there. P.S. This was the third consecutive OG ep to feature Darla with blond hair since she probably had just finished TBG and hadn't time to change back to her natural brunet color. Ms. Tilbury was legally blind by this time and had to be guided off-set. And this was Gus Meins' final OG short as director, graduating to features afterward before committing suicide on August 1, 1940 under pressure of scandal.

Brightenin' An Old Lady's Life With The Little Rascals

[Ron Oliver · 10/10 · 5 June 2000]

An OUR GANG Comedy Short.

A rich & lonely lady begins her SECOND CHILDHOOD on her 65th birthday when Spanky, Alfalfa & the Gang show her how to loosen-up & enjoy life.

A funny little film, with a spry & humorous performance by English actress Zeffie Tilbury as Grandma, who actually turned 73 the year this was produced. Highlight: Alfalfa, Spanky & Grandma singing ‘Oh! Susanna'.

One cute scene anyway!

[JohnHowardReid · 5/10 · 19 November 2017]

Zeffie Tilbury (Grandma), Sidney Bracey (Hobson, the butler), Greta Gould (maid), George McFarland (Spanky), Carl Switzer (Alfalfa), Darla Hood (Darla), Billie Thomas (Buckwheat), Eugene Lee (Porky), Dickie De Nuet (kid).

Director: GUS MEINS. Photography: Francis Corby. Film editor: Louis McManus. Producer: Hal Roach. A Hal Roach Studios Production.

Copyright 17 March 1936 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Corporation. U.S. release: 11 April 1936. An Our Gang Comedy. 2 reels.

SYNOPSIS: The kids teach Grandma to forget about her pills and get hep to singing, roller-skating and slingshots.

NOTES: Number 56 of the 132 talking picture shorts in the "Our Gang" series. (For TV release, "Our Gang" became "The Little Rascals" because Roach sold the name to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1938. Roach and Mayor were close friends).

COMMENT: One important item in the "B" MOVIE hive was the comedy short. These were initially used as fillers by showmen when the main feature was either long enough or popular enough to stand on its own. The advantage of shorts for the exhibitor was not only their flexibility, but their cost. If a "B" feature could be hired for $10, the fee for a comedy short would be no more than $2. (A documentary or travelogue could be rented for even less).

Furthermore, shorts like Laurel and Hardy and Our Gang were so popular with most patrons that the showman was on a winner from all directions. He not only saved money on film hire and a shorter program, but his patrons loved him for it!

Of course these halcyon days did come to an end in the mid-1930s when patrons demanded two features no matter what (or else they'd patronize the rival cinema), but shorts still found a place right up to the 1960s as an "extra added attraction."

"Second Childhood" is mainly of curiosity value today. It's not particularly funny, or particularly well scripted or particularly well directed. But it does have one cute scene in which Spanky and Alfalfa join Granny in singing "Oh, Susanna!"