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Gas
House Kids Go West
Genre: Comedy
Released: 1947
Directed by:
William Beaudine
Starring: Benny
Bartlett, Tommy Bond, Rudy Wissler, Emory Parnell
Alfalfa portrays: Alfie,
who travels with the rest of the Gas House Kids to a dude ranch
out west to escape the big city.
Alfalfa's screen time: 21:20
Lines of dialogue spoken by Alfalfa: 91
"Gas
House Kids Go West" and images © American Standard Motion
Picture Classics
Alfalfa
sings the seemingly never-ending "West of the Pecos".
  
Above:
Alfalfa sings his own special version of
"Where the Buffalo Roam" and is told by Tommy
Bond to shaddup. Top two images enlarge.
(Click
here to view excerpts from rare British publicity brochure
printed by PRC Studios to promote "Gas House Kids Go West")
The
Gas House Kids are hauled in to the 13th precinct. Despite their
pledge to Sergeant Casey that they'll stay out of trouble, they
have been caught throwing tomatoes at the Russian ballet dancer
who has moved into the neighborhoodrecently
(hmm...tomatoes...ballet...sound familiar?)
Left:
Alfalfa mocks the Russian ballet dancer. Right: One half of the
Arizona Nightingales, all grown up.
Sergeant Casey is all set to throw the book
at the kids once and for all when his old friend Mrs. Crowley shows
up and asks for leniency: She wants the kids to play in a basketball
tournament established by her late husband. The team that wins the
tournament gets a trip to her ranch out in California.
Alfalfa
and company (note Tommy Bond in background)
plead their case to the Sergeant. Click
both to enlarge.
The Gas House
Kids win the tournament alright, despite the heroics of the Russian
dancer, who all of a sudden in the fourth quarter remembered that
he was a member of the Gas House Kids' opponent ("The Demons"),
climbs out of the stands, suits up, and almost ties the game before
he becomes preoccupied by a melancholy Russian song played on the
harmonica by one of the Gas House supporters. Alfalfa is the star
player for the Gas House team, with the help of his trick shot called
"The Alfalfa Special".
Get
ready for "The Alfalfa Special". Click bottom image to
enlarge.
Since Sergeant Casey has to keep an eye on
the kids, he agrees to accompany them out west to Mrs. Crowley's
ranch (besides, the Sarge has got a crush on Mrs. Crowley). Through
a series of coincidences, the Gas Housers unwittingly get mixed
up in a stolen car ring. In fact, Mrs. Crowley's future son-in-law
is the leader of the ring, and the Sarge and his boys help expose
the future son-in-law, break up the stolen car ring, and all's well
that ends well. In fact, Sergeant Casey winds up marrying Mrs. Crowley
at the end of the movie.
Above:
Alfalfa's not too sure about this cowboy thing.
Below: He's not too crazy about dancing, either.
Alfalfa
overhears the bad guys plotting to steal some more cars.
"Gas House Kids Go West" was a sequel, of sorts, to "Gas
House Kids". Whereas "Gas House Kids" purported to
be a semi-serious drama about a disabled returning vet, "West"
decided to go in a different, more lowbrow direction. This is perhaps
Alfalfa's most sophomoric post-Rascals film. Although the Gas House
Kids themselves are fairly appealing, the treatment here is so broad
as to occasionally make the viewer wince. The basketball game sequence,
with the Russian dancer prancing around and between the confused
Gas House Kids, is particularly silly. Fortunately, the essential
good-naturedness of the Gas House Kids (including a customarily
energetic performance by our hero), and the film's quick pace, prevents
permanent damage to the senses. Not helping matters was the abysmal
quality of the video print available for screening by 4alfalfa.com.
The
Gas House Kids in their element, and out West.
We see and hear a lot from Alfalfa in this
movie. On the trip out, he sings a short version of "Where
the Buffalo Roam", adapted to suit the idiosyncrasies of the
Kids' New York neighborhood. And once out on the ranch, during a
nighttime barbecue, Alfalfa sings a marathon version of a song called
"West of the Pecos". Here is a sample:
West of the Pecos
I wanted to go
Got a feeling to be where the prairie moon swings low
Where the skies are seldom cloudy
and you're welcomed with the howdy
West of the Pecos
I'd like to roam
West of the Pecos
It ain't like New York
Where the subway goes places and you don't have to walk
If you want, you take buses
And the Bronx ain't a bunch of wild horses
West of the Pecos...
Not for me.
 
Alfalfa
sings "West of the Pecos". Sergeant Casey looks ill.
Click bottom two images to enlarge.
One of the barbecue guests decides he has
had enough and doesn't want to stick around for the conclusion of
the already endless song. As the man leaves, Alfalfa tells his pals,
"You know, that guy don't appreciate the finer things in life—...hey,
maybe he's right!"
Tommy Bond makes the first of his
two Gas House appearances. He and Alfalfa
will have a greater degree of interaction in "Gas House Kids
In Hollywood", which would be released two months subsequent,
but they still have some cute moments together in this one. At the
end of the film, during the reception for Sergeant Casey and Mrs.
Crowley, the boys are paying special attention to Mrs. Crowley's
daughter, who, curiously, doesn't seem too upset that her fiancee
has just been exposed as a car thief. The younger Crowley tells
the Gas House Kids that she would like to give each of them a kiss
for helping expose the cad, and of course Alfalfa is first in line.
But Tommy Bond pushes him away, telling him that he has onion breath
(well, Alfalfa has to keep care of his voice, doesn't he?) Alfalfa
falls down in a heap, and as Tommy and Mrs. Crowley's daughter rush
to his side, Alfalfa still tries to steal his kiss but instead winds
up planting a wet one right on Tommy's jaw as the film fades to
black.
Above:
Tommy Bond and Mrs. Crowley's daughter attend
to Alfalfa. Click both images to enlarge. Below: Contemporary
lobby card for "Gas House Kids Go West". That's Alfalfa
pictured in the snazzy green suit jacket.
Above
and below: Images from contemporary publicity
brochure fror "Gas House Kids Go West". Top image is of
Alfalfa and long-time Little Rascals nemesis, but real-life
friend, Tommy "Butch" Bond. Click
here to see more from
this
rare brochure.
Opening
credits for "Gas House Kids Go West".
Alfalfa
and Tommy look on as the used car salesman
searches for some identification.
Hey,
is this what happened to Fifi?
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