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In
January 2003, 4alfalfa.com became acquainted with Judiann Switzer
Hancock, daughter of Harold Switzer, and niece of Alfalfa. To date
4alfalfa.com has had three lengthy discussions with Judiann, who
has graciously agreed to help preserve the memories of her father,
uncle, and grandparents. These discussions have covered a wide range
of topics. Judiann has shared a great deal of family memories with
us. Some of these issues are ones that Judiann has not discussed
publicly since they first occurred, and in the course of our interviews,
Judiann remembered events that had not crossed her mind for many
years. Some of her memories were more difficult to discuss than
others, particularly those concerning the deaths of her uncle and
father. Judiann has agreed to allow 4alfalfa.com to publish excerpts
from the interviews we have conducted with her so far. She has done
this in the spirit of "setting the record straight" on
many misconceptions and inaccuracies that have followed her family
for years. As in other areas of our Internet appreciation of Alfalfa
and his life and career, we have endeavored to relate Judiann's
memories— some of which are very personal and poignant—
with respect and tastefulness. We are sure that the many fans of
Alfalfa and his brother Harold will find her comments as fascinating
as we did.
Judiann
Switzer Hancock at home, ca. 2000. Judiann is
gesturing to a painting of Alfalfa as Joe Sam from the
1954 film "Track of the Cat". Barely visible in the lower
left-hand corner of the painting is a studio test shot of
Alfalfa during the filming of "Track of the Cat".
Judiann's
memories of childhood and her father, Harold
Tom
Ludwig (4alfalfa.com): …where
were you born?
Judiann Hancock: I was born in Los Angeles, California. In
fact, on the waiting room floor at the hospital, my grandfather
was double-parked.
TL:
Do you have any siblings?
JH: My two brothers are Tony and Ted, and they both carry
the name of Switzer.
TL:
How did your family refer to your uncle? Was it Alfalfa, Carl,—?
JH: We called him "Alfadoofus"…the way I know
my uncle was through field trials and hunting and that type of thing.
I was six or seven before I knew he was in any type of movies.
TL:
Was that a conscious decision by your father?
JH: I don't think my father wanted to discuss it…when
he walked off the studio, he was through.
TL:
And that was about 1939 or 1940?
JH: He just… he was too clean-cut, and he hated it.
And he had had an accident and once he had that accident, he walked
totally away.
TL:
What kind of accident was it?
JH: It was the side of a car— in fact, I think I have
a picture of the car. A bus hit the side of the car and my dad wandered
away from the accident and they found him several hours later and
he had gone to several friends' houses asking them to go fishing
with them. That wasn't unusual for him so his friends didn't think
that was unusual. But nowadays they would have said he had a concussion.
This
is a photograph taken by Harold and Alfalfa's
mother of the car in which Harold was a passenger
during an accident which precipitated his decision
to leave show business as a teenager.
TL:
How did that relate to his decision
to leave show business?
JH: We don't know, from what my mother told me it all happened
right around that time.
TL:
I assume you were very close to your father.
JH: Yes! My mother and dad divorced when— I think I
was eight. And then I went to Washington State with my mom, but
I was always back in the summers with my dad.
TL:
What kind of a father was Harold?
JH: My father was a disciplinarian. But very deep-seeded
love for family. He taught us responsibility. And we didn't talk
back, even when we were older. We had a lot of respect for him.
  
Above
left: Harold with son Tony, ca. mid-sixties.
Above right: Judiann with her mother Beverly Osso
Switzer , 1951.
TL:
Did he have any hobbies?
JH: Fishing, hunting. He loved raising rabbits. He would
go 'coon hunting. We would go to field trials. We'd take dogs like
the one on Alfie's grave, and we would take them up and we'd all
camp out in a country sort of atmosphere and they would drag the
scent of a 'coon, or the scent of a bear, and drag it several miles
and cage the 'coon or a small cub up in a tree, and the dogs would
be let loose at a certain point and track the scent. And the first
one to get there, and bark, was the winner. At one time in our backyard,
we had thirty-six hound dogs.
TL:
Oh my goodness… that must have been a pretty noisy backyard.
JH: Well, my dad preferred living in the country. We lived
in Topanga Canyon a lot.
TL:
After your dad left show business, he wanted to totally get away
from Hollywood?
JH: He wanted to work with his hands. My dad at one time
when he was very young got into featherweight boxing for a while.
And then I think he got drafted. He was in the Army for a short
time and there was a long wrist bone that they had to remove and
they told him he would never use his arm and hand again. But he
taught himself how to do that.
Harold
Switzer's sons Tony and Ted
ready for action, ca. late fifties.
TL:
At what age was he into boxing? As a teenager?
JH: I think it was as a teenager, I just remember hearing
my mother talking about it, and my grandfather. He liked boxing,
in fact he would sneak me out of the house from my grandmother and
my mother in these frilly little dresses and take me into the fights.
And I would have to sit up on the back of the seats and I remember
watching these fights. He would take me rabbit hunting… I remember
one time, I was sitting in the back of this old car and I was really
jealous of this kid that my dad liked because he was a boy and he
pal'd around with him and everything and I was probably a couple
of years younger. And I was just seething with jealousy, and they
were shooting a shot gun. We would go into the oil fields and shoot
rabbits and so we had guns, and he had the back of the seat gutted
so there weren't any seats in the back, we could almost stand up
in it, or at least I could, because I was little. And I cried and
cried and cried because he wouldn't let me shoot this gun and so
he said, "Okay, I've had it", and they rolled down the
back window and put that gun out the window and put it up to my
shoulder and he said, "Now, you fire, and if you cry, I'll
never let you shoot again". Well, of course the gun threw me
across the back of the seat. And I did not cry. And after that,
I was allowed— we went rattlesnake hunting…I just did
not grow up, and today my favorite thing to do is still camping,
and not in a camper.
TL:
So that incident with the gun sort of earned you your stripes?
JH: From then on, I was allowed to pal around with them.
   
Images
from a Switzer childhood. Above: Three snapshots of Judiann as
a youngster. Below left: Judiann (center) with her cousins Shirley
(left)
and Sharon (right), Janice Switzer's daughters. Below right: Judiann
being chased by her grandmother (Alfalfa and Harold's mother.)
 
Next
page: Judiann's memories of her Uncle Alfalfa, her grandparents,
and the Little Rascals.
Go
there now...
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