Jerry Tucker

Copiague resident Jerry Schatz, a former child actor who appeared in several "Our Gang" comedies, often as a spoiled rich kid, and co-starred opposite such screen luminaries as Shirley Temple, Ginger Rogers and Laurel and Hardy, died Wednesday morning (23 November 2016) of natural causes at the Long Island State Veterans Home in Stony Brook at age 91, his daughter Renee Schatz Wolf confirmed.http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/jerry-schatz-child-actor-in-our-gang-comedies-dies-at-91-1.12662062.

Jerry Schatz served aboard destroyer USS Sigsbee (DD-502) during WWII. He received permanent injury to his leg during a kamikaze attack on April 14, 1945.

In 1944 he married Myra Heino and had two daughters, Karen Beth and Renee Eve.

In 1942 he joined the navy and was wounded when a Japanese kamikaze plane hit the destroyer U. S. S, Sigsbee which he was on.

In 1939 he and his mother moved to New York where he auditioned for a number of radio programmes.

He appeared in Our Gang films until 1937 when his final appearance was in Glove Taps.

In 1934 he was one of the Our Gang kids to appear with Laurel and Hardy in 'Babes in Toyland'. Outside of the Gang films he worked with Buster Keaton in 'Sidewalks of New York', Clark Gable in 'San Francisco' and Shirley Temple in 'Captain January'.

As a youngster his cute round face and red hair made him popular in his neighbourhood. A Paramount film executive suggested he could have a film career so his family moved to Hollywood where in 1929 he became the youngest actor ever put under contract, at the age of 4, to Paramount. Soon after he was given the stage name of Jerry Tucker and immediately became famous at the studio for his ability to recite his lines from memory.