Tommy Bond

Last updated
Tommy Bond
Tommy-bond-now.jpg
Bond in 2001
Born
Thomas Ross Bond

(1926-09-16)September 16, 1926
Dallas, Texas, U.S.
DiedSeptember 24, 2005(2005-09-24) (aged 79)
Resting place Riverside National Cemetery, Riverside, California
Other namesButch
Occupations
  • Actor
  • director
  • producer
  • writer
Years active1932–2005

Thomas Ross Bond (September 16, 1926 – September 24, 2005) was an American actor, director, producer and writer. He was best known for his work as a child actor for two nonconsecutive periods on Our Gang (Little Rascals) comedies (first as "Tommy" and later as "Butch"). Also, he is noted for being the first actor to appear onscreen as "Superman's pal" Jimmy Olsen, having portrayed the character in the film serials Superman (1948) and Atom Man vs. Superman (1950).

Contents

Biography

Early years and Our Gang

Born in Dallas, Texas, Bond got his start in 1931 at the age of 4 when a talent scout for Hal Roach studios approached him as he was leaving a Dallas cinema. [1]

Bond was hired at Hal Roach Studios for the Our Gang series in the summer of 1931 to begin work that upcoming fall, at around the same time as George "Spanky" McFarland was hired. Bond worked in Our Gang for three years, alternately appearing as a supporting character and a background actor. His speaking roles increased by 1934, including his most substantive role to this point as the gang's band conductor in Mike Fright . In late 1934, Bond left the series and returned to public school, still earning periodic bit parts in Hollywood productions.

After leaving the gang for the first time, Bond also worked as a voice actor, most notably in several of Tex Avery's Merrie Melodies cartoons for Warner Bros. His best known voice role was as the speaking voice of "Owl Jolson" in Tex Avery's 1936 Merrie Melodies cartoon, I Love to Singa .

Bond returned to Our Gang on a recurring basis late in 1936, when Roach hired him to play "Butch", the neighborhood bully. In one short, his mother called him "Tommy", apparently indicating that "Butch" was a nickname. Bond's first short as Butch was Glove Taps . Besides filling the role of the archetypal Our Gang bully, the Butch character also regularly competed with meek Alfalfa (Carl Switzer) for the affections of his sweetheart Darla (Darla Hood). While in Our Gang, Bond appeared in a number of outside films, such as those featuring fellow Hal Roach Studios comedians Charley Chase and Laurel and Hardy.

As Butch, Bond remained with Our Gang an additional three years, staying with the series when it moved to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1938. His final Our Gang short, Bubbling Troubles , was released in 1940; Bond continued to work in other MGM productions following his departure from Our Gang. In total, Bond appeared in 27 Our Gang shorts – 13 as "Tommy" and 14 as "Butch".

Later years

After serving in the U.S. Navy during World War II, Bond returned to acting, and appeared in two Gas House Kids features alongside former on-screen rival Carl Switzer. In the late 1940s, Bond became the first actor to portray cub reporter Jimmy Olsen in two Superman film serials: Superman (1948) and Atom Man vs. Superman (1950). [1] He also appeared as Joey Pepper in several installments of the Five Little Peppers serial.

In 1951, Bond graduated from college and quit acting, but remained in show business in the areas of television directing and production, and worked with individuals such as Norman Lear, George Schlatter, and many others. He worked at KTTV in Los Angeles from the 1950s to the early 1970s. He then went to work for KFSN in Fresno from the early 1970s to 1991. Bond also worked as a production manager on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In .

During the 1960s, Bond was an active member of Emmanuel Lutheran Church in North Hollywood where a number of his Hollywood friends and colleagues attended. Together, they were instrumental in the production and presentation of the annual Christmas Pageant presented on the grounds of Emmanuel's school Laurel Hall. The production, which involved a cast of several hundred, a chariot and horses, numerous other animals and professional Hollywood sets and lighting, was presented each year during the Christmas season for several weeks leading up to Christmas. Grandstand style bleachers were installed that seated about 1000 guests. Highlights of the pageant included a horse-driven chariot and Roman soldiers on horseback riding through the gates of Bethlehem to proclaim the census requiring Jews to register in their hometowns. Bond was instrumental in arranging for the production to be filmed and aired on Metromedia owned Channel 11, KTTV in about 1965.

In 1972, he appeared as a guest on I've Got a Secret while working as a production assistant on the show. [2] Bond retired from television in 1991. In his latter years he lived in the Fresno and Madera Ranchos area, and served as a spokesman for a number of Our Gang-related materials. Bond published his autobiography, Darn Right It's Butch: Memories of Our Gang/The Little Rascals, with the help of Fresno teacher, film historian and co-author Ron Genini, in 1994. Tommy's son, Thomas R. Bond II "Butch, Jr.", who is a film and television producer, worked with his father in their family production company, Biograph Company. The senior Bond also hosted The Rascals, a documentary on the life and times of the Little Rascals .

Throughout his lifetime, Bond appeared in 73 films, was a charter member of the Screen Actors Guild, joining in 1937, and worked with many Hollywood stars in the years of 1933 to 1951, including James Stewart, Eleanor Powell, Ray Bolger, Frank Morgan, and Eddie Cantor among many others.

Death

Bond died on September 24, 2005, [1] at age 79 due to complications from heart disease in Northridge, California. He is buried at U.S. Veterans Riverside National Cemetery in Riverside, California.[ citation needed ]

Filmography

YearTitleRoleNotes
1934 Kid Millions Little Boy in Ice Cream NumberUncredited
1935 The Marriage Bargain Jimmy Sparks
1935 The Calling of Dan Matthews TommyUncredited
1936 Next Time We Love Pesky KidUncredited
1936 The Return of Jimmy Valentine ListenerUncredited
1936 Silly Billies StudentUncredited
1936 Counterfeit DickyUncredited
1936 Libeled Lady WaifUncredited
1937 Champagne Waltz Otto, Singing StudentUncredited
1937 Married Before Breakfast Baglipp's KidUncredited
1937 Hideaway Oscar Peterson
1937 Rosalie MickeyUncredited
1938 City Streets Tommy Francis Devlin
1938 Block-Heads Neighbor's SonUncredited
1939 Five Little Peppers and How They Grew Joey Pepper
1940 Five Little Peppers at Home
1940 Out West with the Peppers
1940 Five Little Peppers in Trouble
1940 A Little Bit of Heaven Jerry
1941 Adventure in Washington Peewee Haynes
1941 New York Town WillieUncredited
1943 This Land Is Mine Pug-nosed School BullyUncredited
1944 Man from Frisco Russ Kennedy
1945 Twice Blessed Horace
1945 The Beautiful Cheat Jimmy
1947 Gas House Kids Go West Chimp
1947 Gas House Kids in Hollywood
1948 Big Town Scandal Waldo 'Dum Dum' Riggs
1948 Superman Jimmy OlsenSerial
1949 The Lucky Stiff NewsboyUncredited
1949 Any Number Can Play MikeUncredited
1949 Intruder in the Dust Minor RoleUncredited
1949 Tokyo Joe Fingerprint SergeantUncredited
1949 Battleground RunnerUncredited
1950 Atom Man vs. Superman Jimmy OlsenSerial
1950 Hot Rod Jack Blodgett
1951 Call Me Mister Little SoldierUncredited
1951 Bedtime for Bonzo Student Reading NewspaperUncredited
1971 The Love Machine StagehandUncredited
1972 I've Got a Secret Himself
2004Bob's Night OutCrazy Neighbor(final film role)

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spanky McFarland</span> American child actor (1928–1993)

George McFarland was an American actor most famous for starring as a child as Spanky in the Our Gang series of short-subject comedies of the 1930s and 1940s. The Our Gang shorts were later syndicated to television as The Little Rascals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer</span> American actor and singer (1927–1959)

Carl Dean Switzer was an American singer, child actor, dog breeder, and guide. He was best known for his role as Alfalfa in the short subjects series Our Gang.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Darla Hood</span> American child actress (1931–1979)

Darla Jean Hood was an American child actress, best known as the leading lady in the Our Gang series from 1935 to 1941. She was born in Leedey, Oklahoma, the only child of music teacher Elizabeth Davner, and James Claude Hood, who worked in a bank.

<i>Bored of Education</i> 1936 film

Bored of Education is a 1936 Our Gang short comedy film directed by Gordon Douglas. Produced by Hal Roach and released to theaters by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, it was the 146th entry in the Our Gang series to be released.

<i>The Little Rascals</i> (film) 1994 family comedy film by Penelope Spheeris

The Little Rascals is a 1994 American family comedy film produced by Amblin Entertainment, and released by Universal Pictures on August 5, 1994. The film is an adaptation of Hal Roach's Our Gang, a series of short films of the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s which centered on the adventures of a group of neighborhood children. Directed by Penelope Spheeris, who co-wrote the screenplay with Paul Guay and Stephen Mazur, the film presents several of the Our Gang characters in an updated setting, featuring re-interpretations of several of the original shorts. It is the first collaboration by Guay and Mazur, whose subsequent comedies were Liar Liar and Heartbreakers.

The Little Rascals is a 30-minute Saturday morning animated series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions and King World Productions. It first aired on ABC on September 25, 1982. A spin-off based on the live-action Our Gang comedy shorts, it was broadcast as part of The Pac-Man/Little Rascals/Richie Rich Show in 1982 and then as part of The Monchhichis/Little Rascals/Richie Rich Show in 1983.

Darwood Kenneth Smith, also known as Darwood Kaye, was an American child actor most notable for his semi-regular role as the bookish rich kid Waldo in the Our Gang short subjects series from 1937 to 1940. As an adult, Smith became a Seventh-day Adventist pastor, ministering at several churches until his death in 2002.

The Our Gang personnel page is a listing of the significant cast and crew from the Our Gang short subjects film series, originally created and produced by Hal Roach which ran in movie theaters from 1922 to 1944.

The following is a complete list of the 220 Our Gang short films produced by Hal Roach Studios and/or Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer between 1922 and 1944, numbered by order of release along with production order.

<i>Our Gang</i> Film series

Our Gang is an American series of comedy short films chronicling a group of poor neighborhood children and their adventures. Created by film producer Hal Roach, also the producer of the Laurel and Hardy films, Our Gang shorts were produced from 1922 to 1944, spanning the silent film and early sound film periods of American cinema. Our Gang is noted for showing children behaving in a relatively natural way; Roach and original director Robert F. McGowan worked to film the unaffected, raw nuances apparent in regular children, rather than have them imitate adult acting styles. The series also broke new ground by portraying white and black children interacting as equals during the Jim Crow era of racial segregation in the United States.

<i>Our Gang Follies of 1938</i> 1937 American film

Our Gang Follies of 1938 is a 1937 American musical short subject, the 161st short subject entry in Hal Roach's Our Gang series. Directed by Gordon Douglas as a sequel to 1935's Our Gang Follies of 1936, the two-reel short was released to theaters on December 18, 1937 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

<i>Washee Ironee</i> 1934 American film

Washee Ironee is a 1934 Our Gang short comedy film directed by James Parrott. It was the 131st Our Gang short that was released.

<i>Glove Taps</i> 1937 American film

Glove Taps is a 1937 Our Gang short comedy film directed by Gordon Douglas. It was the 151st Our Gang short that was released.

<i>Framing Youth</i> 1937 film

Framing Youth is a 1937 Our Gang short comedy film directed by Gordon Douglas. It was the 158th Our Gang short that was released.

<i>Came the Brawn</i> 1938 film

Came the Brawn is a 1938 Our Gang short comedy film directed by Gordon Douglas. Produced by Hal Roach and released to theaters by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, it was the 165th entry in the Our Gang series.

<i>Feed em and Weep</i> 1938 American film

Feed 'em and Weep is a 1938 Our Gang short comedy film directed by Gordon Douglas. It was the 166th Our Gang short that was released.

<i>Hide and Shriek</i> 1938 film

Hide and Shriek is a 1938 Our Gang short film directed by Gordon Douglas. It was the 168th Our Gang entry in the series, and the last to involve series creator Hal Roach.

<i>The Little Ranger</i> 1938 American film

The Little Ranger is a 1938 Our Gang short comedy film directed by Gordon Douglas. It was the 169th short in the Our Gang series, and the first produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, who purchased the rights to the series from creator Hal Roach.

<i>Auto Antics</i> 1939 American film

Auto Antics is a 1939 Our Gang short comedy film directed by Edward Cahn. It was the 182nd Our Gang short that was released.

<i>The Little Rascals Save the Day</i> 2014 American film

The Little Rascals Save the Day is a 2014 American direct-to-video comedy film released by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment. Succeeding the 1994 film, it is the second feature film adaptation of Hal Roach's Our Gang, a series of short films of the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s which centered on the adventures of a group of neighborhood children.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Lentz, Harris M., III (2008). Obituaries in the Performing Arts, 2005: Film, Television, Radio, Theatre, Dance, Music, Cartoons and Pop Culture. McFarland. ISBN   9780786452101 . Retrieved 8 March 2019.
  2. "I've Got a Secret - Kaye Ballard (1972)". YouTube .

Books

Further reading