Of Danish extraction (born Ruud Hjorth), amiable George Ernest was one of many hopefuls to earn a spot or two with the Our Gang kids (Fly My Kite and Shiver My Timbers [both 1931]), but Ernest was really too earnest for the pandemonium of Our Gang and would instead pop up in every other 1930s melodrama playing someone as a child. In 1936, he was cast as Roger Evers, the middle son in Every Saturday Night, a domestic comedy advertised by 20th Century Fox as featuring the typical American family. During the production, the powers that be at Fox decided to inaugurate a low-budget series about the Everses, now renamed the Jones Family. In fact, Every Saturday Night was released as "featuring the Jones Family," despite retaining the name Evers. With Kenneth Howell and Ernest providing the juvenile antics, the 17-installment series lasted until 1940 and became Fox's more plebeian answer to MGM's immensely popular Hardy Family films.