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Going
My Way
Genre: Drama
Released: 1944
Directed by:
Leo McCarey
Starring: Bing
Crosby, Barry Fitzgerald, Rise Stevens, Stanley Clements
Alfalfa portrays:
Herman Langerhanke, teenage turkey thief who balks at joining Bing's
church choir.
Alfalfa's screen time: 4:10
Lines of dialogue spoken by Alfalfa: 18
"Going
My Way" © Universal Studios Home Video
Alfalfa
tries to convince his friends not to join Father
O'Malley's church choir in "Going My Way".
Father O'Malley
is sent by the bishop to help breathe some life into St. Dominic's
Roman Catholic Church. On his way to meet the pastor of the church,
Father Fitzgibbon (Barry Fitzgerald), he stops to ask directions and
briefly checks out a pickup baseball game some kids are having in
the street. One of them (Alfalfa) hits the ball towards Father O'Malley.
He goes back, back, back, back, back and tries to catch it, but the
ball breaks the window of the nearby tenement.
Later on, we see Alfalfa again. He and his friend Tony Scaponi (Stanley
Clements) have stolen some live turkeys and generously donate one
to the church. Father Fitzgibbon warily accepts the boys' gift. That
night, while Fitzgibbon and O'Malley are enjoying the turkey dinner,
a policeman brings Alfalfa and Clements to the rectory and says they
have been charged with turkey-napping. O'Malley tells the policeman
he'll handle it. Instead of chastising the boys, O'Malley invites
them to a St. Louis Browns doubleheader, against the Yankees no less
(on second thought, watching two games of the Brownies trying to beat
the Yankees was pretty severe punishment.)
 
Brought
by the police along with Stanley Clements to the
church rectory for stealing turkeys, Alfalfa can't believe
that Father O'Malley invites them to a baseball game
instead of turning them in. Click both to enlarge.
O'Malley's kindness
doesn't come without a catch. He asks Clements and Alfalfa,
and the other boys, to help him form a church choir. Tough-guy Clements
is willing to give O'Malley a chance, but Alfalfa isn't so sure.
While waiting for O'Malley in the church basement, Alfalfa pleads
his case to the rest of the boys.
Alfalfa: Hey fellas...what are
we doin' hangin' around here for?
Clements: 'Cause I promised O'Malley, that's what for.
Alfalfa: Why?
Clements [chuckles]: 'Cause I said so, see?
Alfalfa: Hey fellas, look [takes
a few steps up the stairs and gestures towards some altar boy albs]
Waist pantycoats! First thing you know, he'll be charmin' us into
these things.
In
the basement waiting for Father O'Malley. Click each to
enlarge.
Father O'Malley shows up and Alfalfa storms
up the steps. Telling O'Malley that Alfalfa can sing swell, Clements
chases after Alfalfa in the church yard. After slapping Alfalfa
in the face some forty times (by our count), Clements convinces
Alfalfa to go back down and at least hear O'Malley out.
Alfalfa does eventually join the choir, but for most of the remainder
of the film he is mysteriously absent.
Above,
below: Alfalfa gets it from Stanley Clements
after initially balking at joining the choir.
Playing the sidekick
to Stanley Clements in "Going My Way", Alfalfa makes the
most of his small role. Pay careful attention to the scene where
he and Clements bring the turkey to Fitzgerald. While they are talking
with Fitzgerald, the turkey is squirming and flapping its wings.
At one point, it jabs its head close to Alfalfa, who reacts with
an appropriate ad-libbed doubletake. And his scene in the backyard
of the church is memorable if only for witnessing our hero getting,
literally, slapped into submission by Clements, anxious to fulfill
his promise to O'Malley to convince all his pals into at least auditioning
for the church choir. By our count, Alfalfa gets over forty slaps
to the face during the sequence. Admittedly,
not all of them are direct hits, but we still hope for Alfalfa's
sake that the scene didn't require too many takes.
Alfalfa
and Stanley bring a turkey to Father Fitzgibbons.
Click on upper two images to enlarge.
Stanley Clements would team up with Alfalfa
four years later in another film, "Underworld Scandal".
That is about the only thing that film has in common with "Going
My Way".
"Going My Way" won the Academy Award™ for Best Picture.
Barry Fitzgerald, who played the cantankerous Father Fitzgibbons,
won both the Best Actor and best Supporting Actor awards.
It was followed by a somewhat less successful sequel, "The
Bells of St. Mary's".
Publicity
still from "Going My Way". Bing Crosby
flanked by Alfalfa and Stanley Clements.
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