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  1. Allen Clayton Hoskins (August 9, 1920 – July 26, 1980) was an American child actor, who portrayed the character of Farina in 105 Our Gang short films from 1922 to 1931.

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  3. The character Farina, played by Allen Hoskins, was producer Hal Roach's personal favorite of all the "Little Rascals", in part because Hoskins was a more gifted natural actor than most of his co-stars.

    • Actor
    • July 26, 1980
    • August 9, 1920
  4. Dec 16, 2021 · Allen Hoskins (1920-1980) embarked on an acting career that spanned hundreds of performances as Farina in the “Our Gang” films between 1921 and 1931, also known as “The Little Rascalsin...

    • Allen Hoskins’s Early Life
    • Hal Roach and Our Gang
    • Making of The Series
    • How They Filmed
    • The Our Gang Cast
    • After Our Gang
    • After The War
    • Moved to San Francisco Area
    • Hoskins Earned Film Honors
    • The Question of Stereotypes

    Allen Hoskins was born in Boston in 1920. His parents moved to Los Angeles shortly thereafter, because by 1922, Hoskins was playing Farina in Hal Roach’s Our Gang films. (The name Farina was taken from a breakfast cereal that became popular in the early part of the twentieth century.) Hal Roach decided to costume baby Farina in gender neutral cloth...

    The story goes that Hal Roach was in his office in Culver City when he got the idea for “Little Rascals.” During an idle moment, he noticed a group of neighborhood kids playing in a vacant lot. The littlest child had the biggest stick, and the older children were trying to figure out how to get it away from him. Roach saw plot line possibilities. H...

    As the comedies became popular, Roach and the gang needed to turn out more and more completed shows. As early as 1923, they were producing 14 short films per year. Studio employee Eleanor Lewis Packer wrote a storybook-like treatment of life on the set. A Day with Our Gang was published in 1929 and gives an excellent view of how the Our Gangseries ...

    Packer relates the story of a day when the kids are filming a scene in a park. The children’s day begins in the studio school, run by teacher Fern Carter. At 10 a.m. a bus takes them all to the park. Director Robert McGowan meets them at the bus, and they all gather around him on the grass to hear about the story they are to create. “Now here’s whe...

    The comedy series was a hit. (Eventually 106 Our Gang film shorts were made.) Roach saw that he needed a continuing supply of young kids, so he brought in younger versions of each character. Hoskins would grow into the part that Ernie Morrison, the older black boy, played. And as Hoskins grew up, a new cast member, Matthew “Stymie” Beard, joined Ou...

    Child actors almost inevitably hit a rocky period when they aren’t cute youngsters anymore, but aren’t ready for adult roles either. Allen Hoskins faced this reality. Initially, he and his sister, Jannie, toured in vaudeville. After vaudeville, Hoskins continued to audition for film work. From 1932-36, he appeared in seven movies, but nothing mater...

    Hoskins returned from military service hoping that he could reignite his acting career but he was not successful. He also was targeted by the House Un-American Activities Committee that was trying to “root out communism.” As a teenager, Hoskins attended dances sponsored by the Young Communist League and the Socialist Workers Party. The committee to...

    In 1952, he moved to the San Francisco Bay area. He took odd jobs washing dishes and painting houses while he attended school to train as a psychiatric technician. (There was no additional income for the actors who appeared in Our Gang. Residuals were not paid to actors during the era when Hoskins worked; no one foresaw television and the re-run va...

    In 1975 he received the Oscar Micheaux Award given by the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame. Hoskins was particularly touched by this as the award had previously been given to luminaries such as Ruby Dee, Eddie Anderson, Eartha Kitt, and Quincy Jones.

    As early as the late 1950s, reporters pursued the black actors from Our Gang, asking if they were complicit in furthering stereotypes. Hoskins never went along with that line of thinking. When the atmosphere of the era is considered, it puts the comedies and the actors in a different light. Consider these examples: On February 10, 1927, The Hollywo...

    • 3 min
  5. Allen 'Farina' Hoskins. Actor: Reckless. Allen 'Farina' Hoskins was born on 9 August 1920 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. He was an actor, known for Reckless (1935), Love Business (1930) and Moan & Groan, Inc. (1929). He was married to Frances. He died on 26 July 1980 in Oakland, California, USA.

    • January 1, 1
    • Boston, Massachusetts, USA
    • January 1, 1
    • Oakland, California, USA
  6. Jan 10, 2023 · Carl was dubbed “Alfalfa” and, over the course of the films, he became best friends with Spanky and, of course, was always pursuing Darla. Hal Roachs Little Rascals, Carl Switzer, Spanky McFarland, 1938. After leaving the series in 1940, he was the victim of typecasting and struggled to find roles.

  7. Biography of Our Gang member Allen Hoskins (also known as Farina) who appeared in 106 Our Gang shorts, more than any other Rascal on the series.Thanks for wa...

    • 4 min
    • 13.5K
    • Our Gang Daily
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