My Uncle Mel told me this bear story…

Seems Hal Roach wanted Spanky from the ‘Our Gang’ crew to do a finishing close up for one of their latest shorts filmed at Toluca Lake with a bear. The bear was to give him a nuzzle or lick to fade away with. Spanky told his mom he didn’t want to do it. Roach approaches Alfalfa. He didn’t like that bear either. Even Buckwheat said no. My uncle was there as the dog handler, watching this all go down. The bear trainer was furious since he was losing money. Grabbing a jar of honey, he yells at the kids, “Look, here’s all there is to it!” He then puts a gob of honey on his cheek to let the bear lick it off. The bear tore the entire side of the mans face off with one quick click of its jaws…

Leave a Reply