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In
Remembrance: Thomas Bond
Thomas Bond, the former child actor best remembered as the bullying Butch
in the Our Gang shorts of the 1930s, has passed away on September
24, 2005 in Los Angeles, CA. He was 79.
Born September 16, 1926 in Dallas, Texas, Bond was discovered at age five
by a talent scout for Our Gang producer Hal Roach as he was leaving
a movie theater with his mother. The scout set up a meeting between Bond
and Roach, who hired Bond to play a member of the Gang named Tommy. Bond’s
first appearance was in the 1932 short “Spanky” and he lasted through
another 10 installments before being let go by Roach in 1934.
Bond continued acting, playing numerous small roles at various Hollywood
studios. In 1937, he returned to the Our Gang series after Roach
had seen Bond’s performance in the 1934 Charley Chase comedy short I’ll
Take Vanilla. Bond’s first series appearance as Butch was in the short
Glove Taps, in which new bully on the block, Butch, challenges a
reluctant Alfalfa (Carl Switzer) to a fight. Although their characters
remained antagonistic throughout Bond’s time on the series, offscreen, he
and Switzer remained friends even after they both quit the series. Bond
lasted another 16 installments in the Our Gang series, leaving after
1940’s Bubbling Troubles.
Bond was still able to find work away from the Our Gang series,
though it was almost always in smaller, supporting roles. He starred as
one of the five children in the 1939 comedy Five Little Peppers And How
They Grew. The film was popular enough to spawn three quickie sequels
– Five Little Peppers At Home, Out West With The Peppers and
Five Little Peppers In Trouble – all released in 1940. Bond also
had small and sometimes uncredited roles in such films as A Quiet
Fourth (1941), Man From Frisco (1944), Twice Blessed
(1945) and Tokyo Joe (1950).
In 1947, after a tour of duty in the Army Air Forces, Bond reunited
on-screen with pal Switzer for two installments in Switzer’s short-lived
Gas House Boys series- Gas House Boys Go West and Gas
House Boys In Hollywood. He followed that up playing cub reporter
Jimmy Olsen in the two Kirk Alyn-starring Superman serials-
Superman (1948) and Atom Man Vs. Superman (1950).
After appearing in a small role in the Ronald Reagan comedy Bed Time
For Bonzo (1951), Bond retired. During the last few years of his
career, Bond had been simultaneously attending college, graduating Cal
State, Los Angeles with a degree in theater arts. He spent 39 years
working on the production side of local California television before
retiring in 1990. He came out of retirement briefly to appear in the 2004
comedy Bob’s Night Out. |
