Monty O’Grady certainly isn’t the most recognized among the names of the Our Gang child actors, but he certainly held one of the most unique roles in the history of the series. He was in five of the very earliest of the comedies, beginning in 1922 with the first entry in the series, simply entitled Our Gang. It was pure dumb luck – or possibly fate – that I was able to acquire a good address for Mr. O’Grady just a few years before he passed away.
I wrote to him initially on July 18, 1997 with a request for him to sign a photo I had of him in the Our Gang film Fire Fighters. Ironically, he was misidentified in the Maltin/Bann Our Gang book, so I was under the impression that he was the kid on the left in the photo. Turns out that he is the tall kid pictured second from right. I knew this because when I received it back on August 1, he signed the photo and drew an arrow to himself – but with a light ballpoint pen. Still I was ecstatic to have a signed photo from the elusive Monty O’Grady.
The early kids of Our Gang in Fire Fighters
And in addition to this, he enclosed a ‘recent’ photo (which I had requested of him and which he signed on the back), two signed notecards (excellent trading fodder), and a handwritten note on the back of my letter. The recent photo (seen at the top of the posting) was actually 17 years old at this point in time – taken in 1980, which ironically was the same year that I attended the huge Our Gang reunion at Hollywood ’80. The handwritten note seen below was polite, but indicated that he really had no interest in being interviewed – which I had also requested. Gee, I was demanding wasn’t I?
The date of this letter should have actually been July 28
After receiving this warm response from Monty O’Grady, I decided to go all out and send my cherished photo from Fire Fighters that had already been signed by Sunshine Sammy Morrison on August 2. This was the same photo he had already once signed in ballpoint pen…so this time, I actually had the audacity to send along a black sharpie marker for him to use when signed the photo. This was a trick I had learned from my friend and fellow autograph collector Steve Cox. It worked. As of August 8, 1997, I am now the proud owner of the awesome photo seen above, beautifully signed by two of the very first members of the Our Gang series.
Autographs of 1997 will continue…
Mr. F*rrell…I have just learned from our friend Mr. Bann that Monty O’Grady is also “Sturgeon,” the boy who spills the beans to his landlady mother that L&H have been fired from the orchestra in “You’re Darn Tootin’.” So, now your autograph is even more valuable!
Randy Skretvedt
March 7th, 2013
Left to Right George “Freckles” Warde, Sunshine Sammy, Kenneth Johnson, Jackie Condon, Elmo Billings, Dick Billings… Monty O’Grady is not in the photo. Monty would only be 6 years old. Everyone assumes it’s Monty because he’s freckled face too. That’s Elmo. If he signed it and thought it was himself… it’s not. I have photos of him from our gang and he is smaller and looks like himself. Not sure where the confusion comes in? I have photos of Elmo Billings. It’s clearly Elmo.
Drina
November 2nd, 2014
Good day, sir
Would it be possible for me to purchase one of O’Grady’s signatures from you?
Thank you
Paul
Paul Murciano
November 19th, 2018