The Buccaneers

film no. 24


technical details:

Production A-24.

Filmed September 28 to October 28, 1923. See the 'miscellaneous' section below for details.

Copyrighted February 20, 1924, by Pathé Exchange, Inc. Registration no. LU19931. Since the copyright was not renewed, this film is now in the public domain.

Released March 9, 1924. It was the 23rd film in the series to be released.

Silent two-reeler.

Probable opening title: '"Our Gang" Comedies - Hal Roach presents His Rascals in "The Buccaneers".'

Released into TV syndication as Mischief Makers episode no. 1024, "The Pirates," copyrighted Sep. 1, 1960, with registration number LP17329.


the crew:

Produced by Hal Roach
Probably credited in the film as a presenter.
Directed by Mark Goldaine and Robert F. McGowan
Both the opening title and the daily datebooks list Goldaine only. Maltin & Bann list McGowan and Goldaine. In the 1977 edition of their book, they identified Goldaine as "Mark Haldane."
Assistant Director: Clarence Morehouse
This credit derives from Morehouse's payroll status as the Our Gang assistant director during this period.
Photographed by Harry W. Gerstad
This credit appears in the film.
Edited by T. J. Crizer
This credit appears in the film. The T stands for Thomas.
Titles by A. H. Giebler and H. M. Walker
The film credits Giebler. Maltin & Bann credit Walker.
Props by Charles Oelze, E. P. Norris, Don Sandstrom and Dick Gilbert
This credit derives from their payroll status as Our Gang prop men during this period. Gilbert's name is moved to the actors section of the payroll summaries after the week ending Sep. 29th. Sandstrom's name begins to appear starting the week ending Oct. 20th. Norris's name was removed prior to the Oct. 28th shooting date.
Story by Hal E. Roach
This credit doesn't appear in the film. Mark Goldaine was listed in the payroll summaries as an Our Gang writer during this period.
Boatmen: William Mathews and J. Masterson
As indicated in the studio payroll summaries.
Watchman: Dan Treet
As indicated in the studio payroll summaries.
Teacher: Fern Carter
Released by Pathé Exchange, Inc.
Passed by the National Board of Review
Probably indicated in the film.
studio personnel
general manager - Warren Doane
assistant general manager - L. A. French
secretary-treasurer - C. H. Roach
construction supervisor - C. E. Christensen
still photographer - Chester "Bud" Graves and Clarence "Stax" Graves
transportation director - Bob Davis
possible uncredited involvement
writing - Robert F. McGowan, Thomas J. Crizer, James Parrott and Leo McCarey may have been among the gag writers.

the kids:

Mickey Daniels as "Mickey"
Featured role. Introduced as "Capt. Mickey." He tries to get Mary into the crew, but doesn't have much luck.
Mary Kornman as "Mary"
Featured role. She's left out of the fun because she's a woman. But she's with the boys when they drift off in Capt. Whelan's boat.
Ernie "Sunshine Sammy" Morrison as "Ernie"
Featured role. Maltin & Bann indicate that the nickname was used, but it wasn't. He's the new kid in the gang, getting initiated, then becoming engineer.
Allen "Farina" Hoskins as "Farina"
Featured role. He appears throughout the short, providing comic moments along the way.
Joe Cobb as "Joe"
Featured role. He wears an eyepatch in this one. His big scene is walking home carrying fish.
Jackie Condon as "Jack"
Supporting role. He's given relatively little to do, even though he's in most of the scenes.
Andy Samuel as "Andy"
Supporting role. He's the first mate. He appears in most of the scenes, and gets to do a little stunt work.
other kids
Bit part. The only remaining kid is the boy that lets loose the watermelons from the back of the truck.

the animals:

Bill
Supporting role. Maltin & Bann misidentify the dog as Pal, but he hadn't made his series debut yet. He's the one responsible for the gang going adrift.
parrot 008
Small part. Seems to belong to Capt. Whelan. Appears at the beginning and again at the very end. Presumably the same parrot seen in "The Cobbler" (no. 8).
other animals
Bit parts.
(1.) A pelican that gets captured by Ernie and Farina.
(2.) A goat which, for some reason, is briefly seen on board the naval ship.
(3.) There must be fifteen or more cats, including two kittens, following Joe as he walks along dropping fish.

the adults:

Earl Mohan as the naval officer
Supporting role. Also shown as Charley Chase's nemesis in "The Fraidy Cat." He decides to teach the kids a lesson.
Chris Lynton as "Capt. Whelan"
Supporting role. He's a kindly old sailor who lets Mary use his boat.
Dick Gilbert as the police officer
Small part. He chases the kids around after the watermelon incident.
Florence Hoskins as Ernie's mother
Bit part. She's seen briefly as Ernie and Farina ride away on the 'bicycle.' Looks like her anyway.
other adults
Small parts, bit parts and extras.
(1.) Joe's mom, who sends him off to buy fish.
(2.) The fat sailor that Joe interacts with.
(3.) The truck driver with the watermelons.
(4.) The other cop besides Gilbert who gives chase.
(5.) Perhaps a hundred sailors shown on board the ship, with only a small handful appearing to be actors.
(6.) Other parents besides Joe's appear, including a black man that might be Ernie Morrison, Sr. There are probably about six of them.
(7.) Two men working at the fish market.
(8.) A dock worker shown in the background.

the music (sort of):

"Yes, We Have No Bananas" by Frank Silver and Irving Cohn
Written in 1923. This is what the parrot sings at the beginning of the film.

the locations:

U. S. S. California
This is the ship that the gang of pirates visits.
San Pedro Harbor
This is somewhat of a guess. The 1923 datebook mentions 'Pedro' in their October 7th entry.

miscellaneous:

25 shooting dates went into the making of this film. A week after shooting ended for "Big Business" (no. 23), the 'start' date for "The Buccaneers" arrived on Friday, September 28th. Mark Goldaine was credited with directing on every shooting date, but production was divided on October 2nd between this film and "Sunday Calm" (no. 19), which was directed by Clarence Morehouse on that date. No shooting took place on Sep. 30th, Oct. 14th or Oct. 21st, which were all Sundays. However, shooting did take place on Sunday, October 7th. The 'finish' date for "The Buccaneers" was October 24th, after which Robert McGowan immediately began directing "Seein' Things" (no. 25). Goldaine, however, directed retakes for "The Buccaneers" on Sunday, October 28th.

A clip of this film was shown in an episode of Take A Good Look on October 22, 1959, as part of an Our Gang reunion of sorts.

The 1923 studio datebook gives information regarding what the weather was like on the various shooting dates. The weather was consistently described as 'clear,' except on Oct. 7th, when it was described as 'clear AM.' No description was given for the three non-shooting Sundays, or for Oct. 12th.

This film was the fifth of six in the fourth 'series' of Our Gang films.

54 still images were printed into numerous press photos to promote this film.


See anything that needs changing? Contact me at BtheW@aol.com.


© Robert Demoss.


My thanks to the following people for assisting with this page:
Rob Stone (for providing the production number and shooting dates, and for a more accurate directorial credit)
Joe Moore (for providing the copyright information)
Randy Skretvedt (for clearing up the confusion involving Bud and Stax Graves)
Geoff Lucas (for helping with the HenryButch info, including the opening titles)


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