Calling All Kids

A gang of kids salutes the armed forces., Arguably the least entertaining of all the MGM Our Gang mini-musicals, Calling All Kids finds the gang invading a local radio station to perform a revue honoring the U.S. military. Amidst such dubious highlights as a “recruting office” sketch featuring the less-than-dynamic duo of Mickey (Robert Blake and Froggy (Billy Laughlin), and a closing ensemble piece with lyrics that rhyme “Taxes” with “Axis,” the film features an extended celebrity-impression routine, with Billy “Buckwheat” Thomas imitating Eddie “Rochester” Anderson and other kids posing as Judy Garland, Eleanor Powell, Fred Astaire, Carmen Miranda, and Virginia O’Brien. Calling All Kids was originally released on April 24, 1943.