Harold Wertz; ‘Bouncy’ in ‘Our Gang’ Films

Harold Eugene Wertz Jr., one in a line of boys who played the “little fat kid” in Hal Roach’s legendary “Our Gang” comedies, has died in San Diego at the age of 72.

Wertz, known as “Bouncy” in the two-reel shorts, died Nov. 21 of complications of a stroke, said his friend, Robert Satterfield.

Young “Bouncy” was not the best known of the many series veterans--not to mention the scores of impostors who found cachet in claiming “Our Gang” credentials. Wertz appeared in only three of the 221 films spanning silents and talkies from 1922 to 1944 and later telecast to new generations as “The Little Rascals.”

But he occupied a standard position in the lineup as the fat kid, following the role’s originator, Joe Cobb, and then Norman “Chubby” Chaney as each outgrew the part. Wertz was later replaced by the more durable George Robert Phillips “Spanky” McFarland, who appeared in 95 “Our Gang” comedies over 11 years. “Spanky” joined up at the age of 3 as the toddler, with Wertz playing “Bouncy,” and later grew into the fat kid role.

Wertz went along with the gang in the 1932 “Choo Choo!,” “The Pooch” and “Hook and Ladder,” all talking pictures copying popular “Our Gang” silent reels.

Leonard Maltin and Richard W. Bann described the first of those three films in their 1977 book “Our Gang: The Life and Times of the Little Rascals” by saying: “A spirited reworking of one of the Gang’s earliest films, ‘A Pleasant Journey,’ ‘Choo Choo!’ represents the most concentrated quantity of mayhem ever produced by Hal Roach’s wily Rascals.”

“Choo Choo!” involved the Gang’s replacing a group of orphans traveling by train to a new home, and the havoc the rascals wreak on the guardian and other passengers.

Wertz’s subsequent films, also retitled remakes of earlier silents, involved the youngsters’ efforts to rescue Stymie’s dog Pete from death in the pound, and operating their own fire department.

Born in Denison, Texas, and brought up in Long Beach, Wertz got the early acting job because of his mother. When she heard in 1931 that Roach was looking for a new fat kid as Chaney matured, she sent her son’s photographs to him.

Roach asked her to bring the boy in for a screen test, and Wertz won the role in the popular series over hundreds of other applicants.

Wertz did not continue in entertainment. Straight out of Long Beach’s Woodrow Wilson High School, he joined the merchant marine and was aboard one of the first ships to enter Tokyo Harbor at the end of World War II.

He married his high school sweetheart, Kathleen McCracken, and established and operated a pipe company in Long Beach, which remains in his family.

After Wertz retired to Murieta, Calif., he devoted himself to restoring Model A Fords and participating in a recreational vehicle club.

Like many of his fellow Little Rascals, Wertz made occasional public appearances to talk about the series. His last was on Oct. 16 before the Sons of the Desert and the Laurel and Hardy Club at the Culver Hotel in Culver City.

In addition to his wife, Wertz is survived by a daughter, Deborah; a son, Richard; a brother, David; and two granddaughters.