... Like so many other children of the Depression, little Spiffy Markle had been brought by hopeful-but-desperate parents to California in the hope that he might become a star. Blessed with good looks, a naturally cheerful disposition, a lovely singing voice, and a keen understanding of Shakespeare (his prekindergarten production as KING LEAR had the New York critics swooning!), he seemed born for the silver screen. His screen tests with Buster Keaton, Mary Pickford, Charlie Chaplin, and the Barrymores were stellar. And so he made the rounds with his parents from one studio to another for interviews.... Warners, Columbia, RKO, Universal.....Unfortunately, here he is at the lesser ranked "Really Swell Pictures Studio" being photographed by Pete the Panda.
The session went smoothly, unlike the photo shoot the previous day at MGM when the studio's lion tried to EAT little Spiffy while he photographed him. Louis B. Mayer was mortified... Sadly, Spiffy's career floundered in the Really Swell Pictures Studio attempt at the children's market. They never matched the success of the OUR GANG films, with their "POOPY-PANTY PLAYHOUSE", although some of the musical numbers were well imagined....and of course, Spiffy's voice was actually heard in the "talkies". His transition into adult pictures never really worked either.
Tragically, Pete the Panda became a "booze hound".....he began bootlegging cheap liquor he made from fermented bamboo that he got imported especially for "religious and dietary traditions" and the US State Department "looked the other way". He was so lovable, and very popular in the "Un-BEAR-able Comedies" he starred in the 1920s and 1930s. He ended up in a sanitarium in 1945. Spiffy left the studios and went on to sell real estate in San Bernardino.... but he never forgot his old studio-mate and first friend at Really Swell. He rescued Pete, and they made a killing in the bamboo patio furniture craze of the 1940s!..... You see? There actually ARE a few happy endings in Hollywood...
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