Johnny Downs

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Johnny Downs (b. John Morey Downs on October 10, 1913 in Brooklyn, New York - d. June 6, 1994 in Coronado, California) was a child actor who played Johnny in the Our Gang short series from 1923 to 1926. He was the son of a Naval officer.

Following his stint with Our Gang, Downs stayed with the short-subject series until 1927, appearing in twenty-four two-reelers in various roles. He honed his dancing and singing skills on the vaudeville stage, working prominently on Broadway until returning to Hollywood in 1934. Downs became a fixture of the "college musical" movie cycle of the late '30s, usually cast as a team captain or a cheerleader. His movie career declined just after he returned to Hal Roach to star in a 45-minute feature, All American Co-Ed (1941). From then on he mainly walked the boards in vaudeville, summer stock, and one solid Broadway hit (Are You With It). One of his outstanding cameo appearances is his performance in "Rhapsody in Blue: The George Gershwin Story" (1945) where he sings, plays the mandolin, and tap dances with Joan Leslie during an on-stage performance of Gershwin's "Somebody Loves Me." Downs made a short comeback in doing bit parts in the early '50s. Despite never making it big, he has almost 100 movie credits to his name.

In the '50's and early '60's, he hosted a local, after school kids' TV show, "The Johnny Downs Show", on Channel Ten "KOGO" (call letters) in San Diego, California. The theme started out as an airport hangar with Downs playing a former WWII pilot, "Johnny Jet". In between reruns of The Little Rascals, Downs entertained and informed his studio audiences and his viewers. After that it was "trains" and he could always be seen getting off and on a train at the start and end of a show. As the show changed to feature more Popeye cartoons, his theme changed from being a train engineer to being a boat captain down at the San Diego harbor. Regardless of the theme, Johnny Downs was always a big star to the kids of the area and was always a draw when he appeared at contests, festivals, parades, or other events.

He died of cancer, aged 80. Johnny and his wife June had five children: Mary, Claudia, John Jr., Mollie and Maureen.