For much of his run, "Wheezer" was portrayed as the perennial tag-along little brother, put off by the older children but always eager to be part of the action.

One of the enduring mysteries of the series is why Hutchins suddenly and drastically fell out of favour with creator/producer Hal Roach and/or chief writer/senior director/producer Robert F. McGowan: With the departure of all four regular members of the older "gang" in the series (Jackie Cooper, Allen Hoskins, Norman Chaney, and Mary Ann Jackson) at the end of the 1930-31 season, Hutchins, as hitherto leader of the younger, "shadow" gang (composed of him, Matthew Beard, and Dorothy DeBorba), seemed poised to become the star of the series, i.e., the gang's on-screen leader.

In 1932's first short, Readin' and Writin', recently hired Kendall "Breezy Brisbane" McComas took over as the gang's ostensible on-screen leader.

In the following episode, George McFarland made his debut as "Spanky", enthralling Roach and McGowan so much that they took the unprecedented step of giving him star billing in a couple subsequent shorts that year.

He joined the U.S. Army Air Forces in 1943 after graduating high school and enrolled in the Aviation Cadet Program with the goal of becoming a pilot.

Hutchins was killed in a mid-air collision on May 17, 1945, while trying to land a North American AT-6D-NT Texan, serial number 42-86536, of the 3026th Base Unit, when it struck an AT-6C-15-NT Texan, 42-49068, of the same unit at Merced Army Air Field in Merced, California, later known as Castle Air Force Base,[4] during a training exercise.