Classic Movie Travels: Bobby Hutchins

Classic Movie Travels: Bobby Hutchins

Robert
Eugene Hutchins was born on March 29, 1925, in Tacoma, Washington, to James and
Olga Constance Hutchins. As a child, Hutchins was extremely outgoing and family
friends persuaded his parents to take him to Hollywood to be photographed. The
photographer was so impressed by Hutchins’ personality and asked to screen test
him, with the resulting footage ultimately making its way to Hal Roach Studios.
Roach thought that Hutchins would be an ideal addition to the Our Gang series and offered Hutchins a
five-year contract.

As was
typical of the Our Gang children,
Hutchins soon received a nickname: “Wheezer.” Reportedly, on his first day at
the studio, Hutchins was running around so excitedly that he began to wheeze.
The nickname would remain his throughout his tenure in the series, typically
portraying a tag-along brother in silent and sound shorts.

Hutchins’
first appearance in the series was in Baby
Brother (1927), playing Horatio. He portrayed a main character in many
other installments in the series. His character wore a trademark beanie and
corduroy vest.

Behind the
scenes, Hutchins’ father was particularly competitive and overbearing. Co-star
Jackie Cooper once shared the following in an interview:

“You’d go to play with
Wheezer, and his father would pull him away, very competitive. I didn’t get a
satisfactory answer from my mother or grandmother as to why, but he was to be
left alone. I guess his father was trying to make him a star or something.
Obviously it never happened as it did for Spanky or some of the other
kids.”

When not
filming, Hutchins’ father isolated him from the other children and malnourished
him, deliberately underfeeding him to keep him small and employable. This also
held true for Hutchins’ brother, Richard Rae “Dickie” Hutchins, who also spent
time in the series. His plan backfired; while Hutchins photographed well, he
lacked the energy and commanding screen presence of his leading co-stars.
Hutchins fulfilled the rest of his contract as a background player.

Once his
contract was up for renewal in 1933, Hutchins’ parents walked out on Roach,
demanding higher pay for Hutchins. As a result, Hutchins missed the final four
episodes of the 1932 season, with the new gang leader being portrayed by child
star Dickie Moore. Roach ultimately terminated Hutchins’ contract when Hutchins
was eight years old. His final appearance in the series was in Mush and Milk (1933).

Beyond his
time in Our Gang, Hutchins made
appearances in three other featurettes. His parents divorced and Hutchins, his
mother, stepfather, and brother moved to Tacoma, Washington. There, he enrolled
in Parkland Grade School and, later, Lincoln High School. He eventually worked
as a gas station attendant in 1942. After his high school graduation, he joined
the U.S. Army Air Forces by 1943, enrolling in the Aviation Cadet Program to
become a pilot.

Tragically,
Hutchins was killed as a result of a mid-air collision on May 17, 1945. He was
trying to land a plane during the last 30 minutes of his basic training when it
struck another plane of the same unit at Merced Army Air Field in Merced,
California, later to become Castle Air Force Base. Edward F. Hamel, the other
pilot, survived. Hutchins was close to graduating from this training program
and his mother was scheduled to travel to the airfield the following week for
the commencement ceremony. He was 20 years old.

Following
his funeral at Trinity Lutheran Church, Hutchins was laid to rest at Parkland
Lutheran Cemetery in Tacoma, Washington. His grave is honored with a flag each
Memorial Day.

In 1930, Hutchins and his parents lived at 9036 Gibson Los Angeles,
California. His father worked as an artists’ manager at this point, presumably
for Hutchins. The home stands.

In 1940, Hutchins lived with his mother, stepfather Russell Hagerson,
brother, and grandmother, in the Brookdale neighborhood of Tacoma, Washington.

The scene of his crash still exists near Castle Air Force Base and is
inaccessible to the general public.

Trinity Lutheran Church’s “Old Gray Church” no longer stands but Parkland Lutheran Cemetery is located at 510 136^th St. E., Tacoma, Washington.

…

–Annette Bochenek for Classic Movie Hub

Annette Bochenek pens our monthly Classic Movie Travels column. You can read all of Annette’s Classic Movie Travel articles here.

Annette Bochenek of Chicago, Illinois, is a PhD student at Dominican University and an independent scholar of Hollywood’s Golden Age. She manages the Hometowns to Hollywood blog, in which she writes about her trips exploring the legacies and hometowns of Golden Age stars. Annette also hosts the “Hometowns to Hollywood” film series throughout the Chicago area. She has been featured on Turner Classic Movies and is the president of TCM Backlot’s Chicago chapter. In addition to writing for Classic Movie Hub, she also writes for Silent Film Quarterly, Nostalgia Digest, and Chicago Art Deco SocietyMagazine.