Allen "Farina" Hoskins

Allen"Farina" Hoskins
Hoskins as Farina in Bear Shooters (1930)
Born	Allen Clayton Hoskins (1920-08-09)August 9, 1920 Boston, Massachusetts
Died	July 26, 1980(1980-07-26) (aged 59) Oakland, California
Cause of death	Cancer
Other names	Farina
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1922-1952

Allen Clayton Hoskins (August 9, 1920 – July 26, 1980) was an American child actor, most famous for portraying the character of Farina in 105 Our Gang short films from 1922 to 1931.

Born in Boston in 1920, Allen Clayton Hoskins was just one year old when his tenure with Our Gang began. His character stayed in the series through the silent years and the transition to talking pictures, and he left the series in 1931 at the age of eleven. With his pigtailed hair and patchy outfits, Farina resembled a pickaninny in the tradition of the character Topsy from Uncle Tom's Cabin, but as the character became more popular, and as Allen Hoskins got older, Farina developed his own personality separate from that of Topsy. The name "Farina", derived from a type of cereal, was chosen because its gender was ambiguous: As a toddler, Farina was portrayed as both a boy and a girl, sometimes both genders in the same film.

He was born in Boston in 1920, but soon afterward his parents, Clayton H. Hoskins and Florence A. Fortier Hoskins, moved the family to Los Angeles and in 1922 his acting career began. His younger sister Jannie also appeared in the series as "Mango" (1926-1929) and Hoskins's aunt, Edith Fortier, was his guardian on set. Variety, the magazine devoted to entertainment, reported that his parents divorced in 1926. By that time he was 6 years old and an experienced child actor, and as "Farina" he made more money than most working adults.

The Our Gang comedies were created by Hal Roach Studios, located in Culver City, California. School was required for child actors. Hoskins and the other Roach studio children attended school on the lot at the "Little Red School House". The children were taught by Fern Carter. In 1959, a retrospective article about Fern Carter and her career as a teacher in Hollywood's "Little Red School House" was published. The article explained that she was teaching there when the series began in 1921 and taught over 300 students in a career that lasted 23 years. She often said that Farina was the brightest student she ever had.