The Knockout

Hal Roach made several shorts with a group of young actors that he nicknamed "The Boy Friends." The "lead" Boy Friend was Mickey Daniels (as Mickey), a former Our Gang member - Mickey's the one with all the freckles. Mary Kornman, another Our Gang alum, plays Mary. As a general rule of thumb, when actors are repeatedly playing characters with the same first name as the actor, you're probably not watching award-winning acting. Grady Sutton plays Grady "Alabam" Sutton.

The Boy Friends were apparently college students and this gives you some idea of what college life was like in the early 30s and some of the fads - like Mickey's sweatshirt having a lot of writing on it. At the beginning, keep an eye out for a Mickey Mouse doll. Mickey, the actor, not the mouse, is very bashful when Mary sits next to him. In keeping with the Disney undertones, "Alabam" laughs a lot like Goofy. Apparently Sophomores are supposed to be frightened of Freshmen as part of some sort of abusive hazing ritual. Mickey knocks out the freshman boxing champ after the "champ" is trying to pick up Mary.