Little Rascals (Stymie)

Friday October 3, 2008

My favorite character on:
Little Rascals / Our Gang
Matthew (Stymie) Beard

When I was a young child in the late 1950s, one of my favorite TV shows was the Little Rascals. It was, of course, repeats of Movie Shorts created by the late, great Hal Roach (1892-1992) originally called
Our Gang that were made in the 1920s & 1930s.

Back in the day, the main Child Actor star was a portly little fellow by the name of George ‘Spanky’ Mac Farland (1928-1993). Being a White kid – I identified with him. Spanky’s best friend was a slick talking little Black kid named Stymie. Stymie was cool ! As the years went by, I realized that I liked Stymie best. He, always seemed to be on the verge of trouble .. but somehow managed to slick talk his way out of it.

His real name was Matthew Beard, Jr. (1925-1981). In contrast to the character he replaced, Farina - Stymie was a slick-tongued con-artist who was always self-assured, nonchalant, and ready with a sly comment as well as clever ideas to solve the problems he faced. The character's trademark was a bald head crowned by an oversize Derby hat, a gift to Beard from comedian Stan Laurel, who had also worked under Our Gang creator Hal Roach. Stymie is the only Our Ganger to both replace one of the original gang members (Allen "Farina" Hoskins) and be replaced by one that would stay on until the series disbanded (Billie "Buckwheat" Thomas).

The name ‘Stymie’ was provided by Our Gang Director Robert McGowan, who was always frustrated (‘stymied’) by little Matthew's curious wanderings around the studio; the character was originally to be named ‘Hercules’. McGowan would later recall that Stymie was his favorite of all the Our Gang kids. Stymie came to the series a year after the transition from the silent/early talkie era Our Gang. He had the exclusive distinction of being with the gang from the Miss Crabtree / Jackie Cooper / Farina / Chubby / Wheezer / Dorothy / Mary Ann Jackson era through the early Spanky / Dickie Moore / older Wheezer / Sherwood / Dorothy / Breezy / Tommy / Jerry / Scotty period to the more familiar group of Spanky, Alfalfa, and Billie ‘Buckwheat’ Thomas, who would ultimately replace him in 1935.

Stymie's paycheck was used to help support his East Los Angeles family, including his 13 brothers and sisters. After Stymie renamed his younger brother Bobbie ‘Cotton’ (which was also used as Bobbie's Our Gang character name), his parents allowed him to name all of the rest of his siblings as they were born. He named one ‘Dickie’ after his best friend, child actor and Our Ganger Dickie Moore. Four other members of the Beard family would appear in the Our Gang comedies.

After Stymie left the series in 1935 at the age of ten, he went on to score some minor roles in feature films. By the time he was in High School, he had retired from acting. Falling into drug use and street life, Stymie became addicted to Heroin, and spent most of his early adult life in and out of jail because of it. In the 1960s, he checked himself into Synanon, a drug rehabilitation facility in Los Angeles, and successfully ended his Heroin use. After leaving Synanon, he made a small comeback, appearing in small roles in feature films and episodes of television shows such as Sanford and Son where he was ‘Otis Littlejohn’ and Good Times; he had a recurring role as ‘Monty’ on the latter series. He also traveled around the country, giving lectures on drug-abuse awareness. From the mid 1960's until the very early 1980's, Stymie indeed led a vibrant life. His outlook had been very positive.
Stymie Beard appeared to be healthy and celebrated his 56th birthday on New Years day of 1981 with family and friends. But fortunes suddenly changed when he suffered a Stroke a mere two days later. He died several days later of pneumonia on January 8, 1981 in Los Angeles, California. He was 56.

LARRY CURTIS SPURLOCK