On Our Merry Way

Genre: Comedy
Released: 1948
Directed by: Leslie Fenton, "King" Vidor, John Huston, George Stevens
Starring: James Stewart, Henry Fonda, Fred MacMurray, Burgess Meredith
Alfalfa portrays: Leopold Wurtz, a hep-cat would-be trumpet player who appears in a talent contest that Stewart and Fonda try to rig in his favor.
Alfalfa's screen time: 4:50
Lines of dialogue spoken by Alfalfa: 12

"On Our Merry Way" and images © Kino Video



Jimmy Stewart and Henry Fonda are two struggling swing musicians whose jalopy breaks down in a seaport community. While it is getting repaired, they take refuge in a coffee shop, relaxing next to a jukebox upon which is plastered a photo of their hero, Harry James. Just then, a zoot-suited Alfalfa bounds in, and gets drawn to the Harry James music coming from the jukebox.

Alfalfa: Man, listen to that cat blow!
Fonda: Huh?
Alfalfa: I'm talking 'bout that cat, Uncle Harry—he's a loot, he's as groovy as a movie!


Fonda: Oh, you must be a hep cat—are you "hep"?
Alfalfa: Uh, talk it your way, sport and...burn my clothes!
Stewart: That's a thought.
Alfalfa [still grooving to the music]: Beat me daddy!
Fonda: Say, that is an idea.
Stewart: Yeah, that's real tempting.
Alfalfa: Ah, you're diggin' me chum, you're diggin' me!


Fonda: Well, what is it that you play there, Jackson?
Stewart: You got a union card?
Alfalfa [becoming serious and sitting down]: No...
Stewart:...'cause if you had a card, we'd ask you to sit in.
Fonda [sarcastically]: Might even ask you to sit down.

Alfalfa picks up Fonda's trumpet from its open case.

Fonda: Why don't you help yourself to an instrument?

Alfalfa starts playing a (what else?) off-key rendition of "You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby" to the horror of Stewart and Fonda. Stewart, able to stand no more, grabs the trumpet from Alfalfa and says, "This isn't your recital, boy".



Fonda: Not unless you got another nickel [referring to the jukebox].
Alfalfa [pulling out a handful of coins from his pocket]: Oh, I got plenty of nickels.

Alfalfa's comparative wealth piques the interest of Stewart and Fonda, and they invite Alfalfa to the counter for some coffee. As they are having their joe, the mechanic who is working on their "caravan" comes in to tell them that the repairs will come to a total of $200. Stewart assures the mechanic that they will pay him by organizing a concert on the pier, but the mechanic tells them that the mayor of the town doesn't allow such activities on the pier, and that they should ask the mayor's son (Alfalfa) why not.



Stewart [to Alfalfa]: Why no concerts on the pier, why's that?
Alfalfa: Because the bands won't let me play with them.

Stewart and Fonda give each other an are-you-thinking-what-I'm thinking look.

Fonda: Well, those days are gone, here's one band that'd be delighted to...
Stewart:...we'll even pay you, union scale.
Alfalfa: No good...then pop'd say people'd think he was takin' graft.



Stewart then revises his plan for a concert and tells Alfalfa that they're going to have a contest—no graft.

Alfalfa: No good, I wouldn't win...
Fonda: Oh yes you would...[to Stewart, conspiratorially] Wouldn't he?
Stewart [to Alfalfa, emphatically]: I have every reason to believe you'd win.

Stewart and Fonda then start double-talking Alfalfa about how every contest is different, etc.

Stewart: We judges [he stresses the word "we"] would naturally take into consideration your youth, your personality...
Fonda: ...your willingness to learn...maybe we better talk right now to the old man...

Soon after, the day of the contest arrives. The plan is for Alfalfa to simply go through the motions—not really play the trumpet—while Fonda sneaks down below the pier and secretly "supplements" Alfalfa's performance so it sounds as if Alfalfa is actually playing. At first, all goes well—even Harry James himself, who has shown up as sort of an honorary judge, seems impressed.



But Fonda is standing on a rowboat tied to the pier, and a neighboring motorboat has started its engine, causing the water around Fonda to ripple. Fonda's boat begins to tip up and down, and as a result Fonda's playing hits some sour notes. Alfalfa and Stewart, who is conducting the orchestra, are helpless to do anything but wait for Fonda to finish playing, by which time a dazed Alfalfa needs assistance to get back to his seat, which he slumps into in a heap.

Recently rediscovered and mastered onto video, "On Our Merry Way" (also known as "A Miracle Can Happen") interweaves four distinct story lines, tied together by the "breaking-the-fourth-wall" narration of Burgess Meredith who is trying to write a human interest story.



There were almost as many directors on this film as the New York Yankees had pitching coaches in the decade of the eighties. The Alfalfa/Stewart/Fonda sequence was directed by John Huston, who had to break away from the film to fill another commitment. Neither Huston or George Stevens, who also directed part of the film, received official credit. King Vidor and Leslie Fenton ultimately received billing as co-directors.



Of particular note for many baby-boomers who might stumble upon this rarely-seen film is a hilarious sequence in which Fred MacMurray teams with William Demarest as a couple of con men, almost fifteen years before they would both star in "My Three Sons".

Alfalfa gives a spirited performance in this one. On-stage during the contest, he is at first so confident of his fate after hearing the first few notes of Fonda's secret performance, he takes a hand off the trumpet to begin "conducting" to the music, only to have it slapped down by a nervous Stewart. Then, when Fonda begins to hit some sour notes, we are reminded of Alfalfa's glory days in the Little Rascals as his expression becomes almost sickly as he is helpless to do anything but continue the charade until Fonda (mercifully) finishes.



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