This episode centers around the kids' attempts to get school to close down for a few days. The plan: Create a measles scare. During the proceedings, Alfalfa and Spanky think that Buckwheat has been turned into a monkey (ouch!) by the doctor with whom they consult. They confront the monkey, who is perched on a high shelf, and order it to come down. The monkey's response is to fling an assortment of lab bottles down towards Spanky and Alfalfa.

Alfalfa gets hit with most of the projectiles. His increasing anger towards the monkey seems very real, as does his frantic attempts to dodge the bottles as they fly down. Some of the bottles hit him, and although they are certainly prop breakaway bottles, our hero seems to be in pain, or at least seriously startled, by the bottles that hit their target.

As in the vegetable scene from "Our Gang Follies of 1938", Alfalfa has been chosen as the subject of this fairly rough physical comedy because of his reputation for going through with the scene, no matter what unexpected twists take place (Judiann Hancock, daughter of Harold Switzer and niece of Alfalfa, told us that this quality was ingrained in Alfalfa by his parents).

Below: Spanky and Alfalfa confront the monkey (that they
think is Buckwheat), then struggle to dodge the bottles that
it throws at them.

Ironically, this scene may not have been seen by many Little Rascals fans, because "Three Smart Boys" has been frequently edited or censored by local TV programming officials nervous about the ethnically-charged implications of Buckwheat being mistaken for a monkey.

Go to Top Ten scene # 9

Back to "Top Ten" main

Back to "Alfalfa Nation" main page

Home   •   Episode Commentary   •   An Alfalfa Appreciation
    Alfalfaddendum   •   Alfalfa's Greatest Hits
The Froggy Files   •   Alfography   •   Alfalfa Nation  •  Censored!!
Rascology   •  Dear Alfalfa   •   Alfalfalinks
News/Updates  •   Contact Us

Back to top