- #Who played buckwheat in the original little rascals full#
- #Who played buckwheat in the original little rascals professional#
After Stymie's departure from the series later in 1935, the Buckwheat character slowly morphed into a boy, first referred to definitively as a "he" in 1936's The Pinch Singer. Despite Thomas being a male, the Buckwheat character remained a female - dressed as a Topsy-esque image of the African American "pickaninny" stereotype with bowed pigtails, a large hand-me-down sweater and oversized boots. Thomas began appearing as "Buckwheat" with 1935's Mama's Little Pirate. The "Buckwheat" character was a female at this time, portrayed by Our Gang kid Matthew "Stymie" Beard's younger sister Carlena in For Pete's Sake!, and by Willie Mae Taylor in three other shorts. The 1980s Little Rascals animated series adapted from the Our Gang comedies addressed the problem by changing Buckwheat into a clever inventor who is always building ingenious machines for the gang.īillie Thomas first appeared in the 1934 Our Gang shorts For Pete's Sake!, The First Round-Up, and Washee Ironee as a background player. He was a native of Los Angeles, California.Īlthough the character he played was often the subject of controversy in later years for containing elements of the "pickaninny" stereotype, Thomas always defended his work in the series, pointing out that Buckwheat and the rest of the black Our Gang kids were treated as equals to the white kids in the series.
Fuji guarantees it not to fade for up to 70 years!īillie Thomas, "Buckwheat" The Little Rascals/ Our Gangīillie Thomas (originally William Thomas, Jr.) (Ma– October 10, 1980) was an American child actor best remembered for portraying the character of Buckwheat in the Our Gang (Little Rascals) short films from 1934 until the series' end in 1944.
#Who played buckwheat in the original little rascals professional#
From this digital file a professional photo lab processes the image onto Fuji Film Archival Photo Paper to make the 8x10” photo that is being offered in this listing.įuji Film Archival Photo Paper is the highest quality paper and photo processing available. This new print is made from the original hand oil tinted photograph that was professionally digitized to produce a high-resolution digital image at (320 dpi/ 6,400 x 9,600 pixel) 20" x 30".
#Who played buckwheat in the original little rascals full#
Up for sale is an 8 x 10" full color photo reprint of a hand oil tinted photograph featuring Billie Thomas as Buckwheat from the 1930s film & television series, The Little Rascals Our Gang.