It’s a Wrap for Spanky’s Gang : Movies: Despite earthquakes, rains and the challenge of working with children, Penelope Spheeris brings ‘The Little Rascals’ in on-budget and two days early. It’s due out in August.

“CUT. . . . AAAAAHHHHH!” director Penelope Spheeris yells into a bullhorn on “The Little Rascals” set on Stage One of the Universal lot. It’s nearing the end of the 58-day shoot--and working with an American bulldog, a pair of Capuchin monkeys and two-dozen children ages 4 to 9 is taking its toll.

The scene, an emergency meeting of the “He-Man’s Womun Haters Club,” is a key one in the $23-million film--one that sets up the Rascals’ dislike of girls as well as their plans for defending the car racing trophy won the year before. Spanky (Travis Tedford) is spacing in and out, delivering a performance the director charitably terms “weird.” Stymie (Kevin Jamal Woods) is having trouble sustaining the desired “Bill Clinton” take-charge tone. Someone complains that his suspenders have fallen. Attention spans--and bladders--fail to hold.

Still, the movie, which wrapped yesterday and is due to be released in August, came in two days early and on-budget--in the face of earthquakes, heavy rains and curtailed work schedules mandated by child welfare laws.

“I can’t think of another film except ‘Lord of the Flies’--with a much older cast--that was almost totally devoid of adults,” notes Bill Oakes, one of the producers. “The downside is that no one hits their marks. The upside is a wonderful innocence. If you get it right, it’s that much more thrilling.”

Spheeris must wait for the “dailies,” however, to see if the thrills kick in. “In this movie, we get spurts of brilliance, bits and pieces, but there’s no such thing as a perfect take,” admits the director who, four hours after her 6:30 a.m. call, popped a pill to counteract stomach stress. (“All the female executives I know have it,” she says.) “Still, the joy you get from these kids is unbelievable. I give them each a hug at the start of each day to establish a closeness and trust.”

“Little Rascals” is Spheeris’ third plunge into the mainstream after years of working on the fringe. If depicting the punk scene in “The Decline of Western Civilization” (1979), runaways in “Suburbia” (1984), and a high school rampage in “The Boys Next Door” (1986) led Hollywood to perceive her as “The Mistress of Dark,” she says, comedies like the super-successful “Wayne’s World,” last fall’s big-screen adaptation of “The Beverly Hillbillies” and “The Little Rascals” provided a welcome taste of the light.

“When you were the hippest/ coolest filmmaker of all, where else is there to go?” asks the 48-year-old Spheeris, who, on the set at least, has shed her funky garb of yesteryear for a white man-tailored blouse and form-fitting jeans. “Now that everyone else is sporting tattoos, freaky hairdos and earrings, it’s all so boring to me. Some would say I’m becoming more conservative--even ‘selling out.’ Maybe so. But the Rascals, by definition, are ‘tough kids’--not unlike the rejects I’ve portrayed in the past. My ‘statements’ are still there--just delivered more subtly than before.”

Spheeris and Steven Spielberg, who is an executive producer of the film, are lifelong fans of “The Little Rascals,” a series of short film classics about a group of feisty youngsters that hit the screen in 1922 and won an Oscar in 1936. Crossing over to television in the mid-1950s, it has been on the air ever since. King World, which purchased the property in 1964, used it to jump-start an operation that now includes “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” “Jeopardy!” and “Wheel of Fortune.” Ted Turner, whose purchase of MGM’s library gave him the rights to some of the footage, is partnered with King World on its first feature film.

“Some of the greatest names in the history of motion pictures, including Frank Capra and Laurel and Hardy, worked on the series,” says Michael King, another producer of the film. “And it broke new ground on a lot of fronts. Black children were shown playing with white children. The special effects were cutting-edge. Some of the industry’s biggest producers, including the original creator, Hal Roach, tried unsuccessfully to remake it as a feature film, but it took (Spielberg’s) Amblin and Spheeris to bring it back to life.”

The two of them came aboard in late 1993--seven years after Universal had purchased the rights and about six months after the previous director, Amy Heckerling, bailed out. Spheeris wrote a new draft of the screenplay with Paul Guay and Steven Mazur--an improvement, the producers believed, over earlier scripts that were regarded as the creative stumbling block. At the director’s suggestion, the role of Buckwheat--eliminated by the studio for fear of perpetuating negative racial stereotypes--was reinstated in a more palatable light.

Whoopi Goldberg will appear in a cameo as Buckwheat’s mom, and Daryl Hannah will surface as the Rascals’ teacher, Miss Crabtree. The late John Candy had been slated to play Spanky’s dad. Screamer, the dog cast as Petey, was tied to a tree for four years--condemned to a life of pit-fighting--before Hollywood called.

Spheeris included a greater number of Asian American, Latino and African American faces “to ensure that the movie wasn’t just another movie made for white kids.” All but four of the Rascals--selected from 5,000 auditions nationwide--are making their feature film debut.

“I learned not to mess with the props--or to eat sweets on the set,” says Bug Hall, a freckle-faced 9-year-old cast as Alfalfa. “It makes you really hyper, and everyone gets mad.” The Texan’s most memorable moment since arriving in L.A.? “Hanging in the ‘O’ of the Hollywood sign.”

Sam Saletta, who plays one of the bullies, was a “day player” in Oliver Stone’s upcoming “Natural Born Killers”--an experience, he says, that makes him doubly appreciative of Spheeris. “She’s cool,” he says. “Almost like one of us. When we did two takes and got two ‘prints’--the best you can do--she gave me a Superball that bounces real high. Oliver Stone didn’t seem too friendly. He agreed to pose for a picture with me--even put his hand on my shoulder--but didn’t say a word.”

During a midday birthday party for “rich kid” Blake Ewing, Spheeris joins the kids on a makeshift dance floor and cuts loose to the beat of “Mustang Sally.” Travis Tedford (Spanky) joins in the fun, but later admits he’s ready to go home.

“Man, it’s been hard,” drawls the 5-year-old Dallas native, who could double as the Pillsbury Dough Boy. “Working, partying--is my face red!”

“Pretty impressive,” a reporter agrees.

“I was impressed,” Travis retorts, rubbing imaginary sweat from his forehead. “I’m better than I ever thought I was.”