1913-1994
Johnny Downs [John Morey Downs] was born on this day in Brooklyn, New York. One of the few (close to) original Our Gang members to go on to have a regular career in the film/television industry, he got his start as a child actor in films when his parents relocated the family to San Diego, California in the early 1920's. For what ever reason, Downs' mother took him up to Hollywood to audition for the Hal Roach studios (responsible for the Our Gang series). He was reportedly put in a Hal Roach production--The Champeen--in 1923 to see what he could do as a child actor with other children playing scripted roles; he was later cast in 1925 as Johnny as a bona-fide gang member. His first actual film credit came in Circus Fever, released in February of 1925. The entire cast of kids was credited simply under "Hal Roach's Rascals." At the beginning of his child acting days he also appeared a couple of Jack White short comedies, including one--Red Pepper--with Al St. John in 1925. He appeared in over 20 Hal Roach films as "Johnny" or "Johnnie" in the years 1925 thru 1927, including one with Oliver Hardy and Charly Chase: Thundering Fleas. In 1927, now 14 years old (an "old man" in the Little Rascals world), Downs began to branch out into other films parts. He had a small peripheral role in the Tom Mix film Outlaws of Red River, and had a small and uncredited, but important, part in Jesse James (1927) as James as a child, to western star Fred Thomson's grown James. Also in 1927, he appeared in his last Hal Roach production, Chicken Feed, released in November. In 1928 he got a couple of uncredited appearances in "extra child" parts, before getting another named credit in the Dolores del Rio gold rush western The Trail of '98 as John Downs. It was the first film that he worked in a film released with sound effects (the wide release, was of course, all silent). It was also his last film appearance of the decade. He next appeared on film in 1931 in a Warner's Vitagraph short The High School Hoofer at the age of 18. He was in a number of shorts and small parts in the early 1930's, but it would not be until 1935 before he was another feature in a credit and that was tiny appearance, which occurred in the King Vidor's Civil War melodrama So Red the Rose (Downs had made an appearance in the Vidor silent The Crowd in 1928 as a child actor). In the meantime, he had gone to college and was active in theater while in school. After his return to full time film acting, he had quite a successful career and as young adult actor in the 1930's and 1940's. He also spent time sporadically on the stage throughout the rest of his acting career. He made his television debut in the music variety show that ran only a few episodes "Girl About Town" (also know as "Around the Town") in 1948 as himself. His appearances on television for the next few years would be on the same type of programing. He made his acting debut on the small screen in the crime drama Racket Squad in 1951. He only took a few more credited acting roles both on television and in film after this before semi-retirement in 1953. His last professional appearance in a film came in an uncredited role/cameo in the Bob Hope musical Here Come the Girls released in October of '53. He then retired to Coronado, California (near his home town of San Diego) with his family, where he would reside for the remainder of his life. He settled into the real estate business and became a local amateur tennis celeb there, but he wound up (kind of by accident) hosting a local "kids show" there on a local channel starting in 1961. It would eventually be called "The Johnny Downs Show" and more a "hosting" kind of affair, with him providing content in between showings of old Little Rascals reruns and eventually cartoons--mostly Popeye. Downs would play characters, but he was bascially appearing as himself--something that he had been doing since an appearance in a documentary short on the Our Gang in 1925 in Twinkle Twinkle. This is of course "spooktober" and Downs was in at least one b-grade film, The Mad Doctor, in 1942 with the likes of Glenn Strange (who played Frankenstein's Monster several times, including in a couple of Universal films including Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein in 1948) and everyone's favorite b-movie mad scientist George Zucco! As a member of Our Gang, he also appeared in Shivering Spooks in 1926, but that is more of a "ghost gag" short that has the gang also stumbling on a scam fake seance. Downs was also a avid, if not completely talented, dancer. As mentioned above, Downs stayed in Coronado and died there on the 6th of June at the age of 80. He is buried at the Holy Cross Cemetery in San Diego along with his long time wife.
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