Our Gang Follies of 1936

Released: November 30,1935
Director: Gus Meins
Episode Length: 16:41 (8/34)
Alfalfa's screen time: 3:17 (15/34) 19% (31/34)
Lines of dialogue spoken by Alfalfa: 2 (33/34)
Songs: "She'll Be Coming Round the Mountain" and "The Object of My Affection"
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Skip episode synopsis and go directly to commentary

"The Little Rascals" and Little Rascals characters © and TM King World Productions, Inc. This website based in part upon a television series distributed by King World Productions and Turner Entertainment Company / MGM.

The kids are putting on a show. Before the performance, Master of Ceremonies Spanky—dressed in a kind of drum major outfit—emerges from a basement bulkhead door and addresses a group of potential customers who have gathered in the yard. Spanky wants to generate some extra business by providing a preview outside the main "auditorium" of the type of acts the kids can hope to find inside if they buy a ticket. He sings a catchy ditty backed by music that will also be used to nice effect during subsequent portions of the main show:

Step up kids, if you wanna know
About the swell stuff in this show
There's singin', dancin', and hotcha too
It's only a penny—it won't break you!

A skeptical Jerry Tucker then sings back "How do I know it's worth the dough?", and Spanky introduces the first preview, a tap-dancing duo of somewhat older boys dressed in bellhop uniforms. Then on the opposite side of the makeshift stage, an intense-looking Alfalfa sings an excerpt from "She'll be Coming Round the Mountain" (check out Alfalfa's Greatest Hits, or stop by later.) The shot again bounces to the other side of the stage: three small girls with leis and grass skirts dancing to a Hawaiian guitar version of "Honolulu Baby".

These previews are apparently sufficient for the once-skeptical crowd and they indicate their approval.

The scene shifts to the basement where the kids are jockeying for the best seats. Some amusing vignettes take place during this sequence, including a kid sitting on the very edge of a bench, tipping it up and sending its other
occupants (including Alfalfa's brother Harold) tumbling to the ground. Other similar sight gags are shown.

Eventually the first act appears, a Busby Berkely-like lineup of small girls—the smallest of which, on the right-hand side of the line, seems barely able to stand—greets the audience with a chorus of:

Hello, hello, hello,
Hello, hello, hello,
We hope you like our show,
Hello, hello, hello

They then do a hilarious, fragmented high-step act, almost totally out of synch with each other. The aforementioned smallest of the girls seems totally distracted by something going on off-stage.

Next comes "How Ya Gonna Keep Him Down on the Farm", performed by a real-life performing trio called the Bryan Sisters, freckle-faced girls who are clad in farm girl dresses and Harold Lloyd glasses. During this number, Buckwheat is chased around the stage by an ornery monkey (in a gag that runs throughout the film); the imperturbable Bryan Sisters keep right on singing their enjoyable tune.

This brings on the next act, an elfin Darla dressed in a cigarette girl outfit (this episode marks her first Little Rascals appearance). Darla skips out onto the stage and does an unforgettable version of "I'll Never Say 'Never Again' Again", to the delight of her male admirers in the audience, especially the smitten Jerry Tucker and Leonard ("I'm Not Woim") Kibrick. By the way, later in the episode Darla is addressed by Spanky as "Cookie", the short-lived moniker that Hal Roach initially chose for the adorable four-year old.

After Darla's song comes a spooky dance with the kids (Spanky, Alfalfa, et al) dressed in skeleton outfits against a blackened cemetery backdrop. During this number we see various well-done shots of petrified audience members reacting to the routine. As the act concludes, Spanky, told by "Cookie" that the Flory Dory girls still haven't shown up, instructs Alfalfa that he "has to sing now".

After we receive an update in the monkey versus Buckwheat saga, the curtain opens to reveal a Sunday-school outfitted Alfalfa paired with Joy Wurgaft, who sings the first few bars of "Object of My Affection":


Publicity still of Joy Wurgaft and Alfalfa performing the
classic "Object of My Affection" segment. Joy has been
a great friend of 4alfalfa.com. Find out more about her
by visiting her website, The Joy of Collecting. Click image
to enlarge.

According to definition,
Affection is a thing
That seems to take you from the start
And complexion is a thing,
If affection is to blame
Will act just like a mirror to your heart...

At which point Alfalfa joins in with his classic performance of the rest of "The Object of My Affection" (learn more about this song at "Alfalfa's Greatest Hits", or stop by later). Right away, little Darla struts out and sits herself next to Alfalfa, who then starts directing his song to Darla, much to the consternation of Joy. During the song, we see several priceless shots of Darla looking up adoringly at Alfalfa, giving him goo-goo eyes and literally squirming with admiration. As the number ends, Alfalfa and Darla join hands just as the curtain closes. A relieved Alfalfa returns backstage, joining Scotty and Spanky, and says that he's glad that's over with. As he says this line, he loses grip of his hat and it falls to the ground.

Meanwhile, a crisis is brewing: The Flory Dories still are nowhere to be seen. The audience is getting antsy, and start up a spirited chant of "We want the Flory Dories!". Harold Switzer and Jerry Tucker are two of the instigators who start up the chant.

Spanky tells Scotty and the other kids backstage not to worry—he knows the dance the Flory Dories were scheduled to perform. His idea is for them all to dress up in the Dories' dresses—elaborate, Gay-90's fringed affairs topped off by large hats—and follow Spanky's lead once they get onstage. "Do everything I do", Spanky coaches his skeptical cohorts.

But there is a problem: The monkey that has been harassing Buckwheat all through the episode grabs a straight pin and surreptitiously climbs into the back of Spanky's flouncy dress. As the kids start their dance, the monkey wastes no time in sticking Spanky with the pin, causing him to twitch and gyrate in pain. Since Spanky has told the other kids to follow his lead, all the "dancers" begin wriggling just like the frantic Spanky. As the crowd laughs hysterically, all the shimmying causes the boys' dresses to fall down to their ankles. The music that was heard at the beginning of the episode begins to play. Offstage, Darla quickly lowers the curtain, but it actually comes down behind the embarrassed performers. As a result, they resort to crawling on their hands and knees under the curtain as the crowd continues to guffaw at the kids' plight. Spanky then peeks out from behind the curtain and sings,

How's that kids? Now ya' gotta go,
That's all there is, there ain't no more in the show.

The happy audience heads for the exit as the episode fades to black.

Studio photo of Darla and Joy Wurgaft on "Follies" set.

Commentary
"Our Gang Follies of 1936" is an absolute treat from start to finish. The idea of including complete song and dance numbers in "show within a show" fashion had its rudimentary origins in "Mush and Milk", was refined in "Mike Fright" and "Beginner's Luck" (Alfalfa's debut) and came to fruition in this episode. This format would continue as a Little Rascals tradition thereafter, with varying degrees of success. "Follies of 1936"'s brilliance is due in large part to the rough-edged quality of the acts. The Bryan Sister's number is probably the most accomplished, but their rendition has an appropriately rustic feel to it; this, coupled with their unorthodox appearance, gives the tune just the right amount of quirkiness.

The only performance that cannot be categorized as such is the very first "preview" act, the two tap-dancing bellhops. The duo is very talented, but the inclusion of this polished routine in the proceedings seems incongruous in retrospect when compared to the overall tenor of the rest of the show.

Without exception, all the musical numbers are very appealing. The background music heard at the beginning and very end of the episode—the music that Spanky sings to in the beginning, and that continues through the "footlights" scene—is especially good and sets an energetic, upbeat tone for the entire episode.

Excepting his two musical numbers, Alfalfa is seen only fleetingly in this episode, but he almost steals the show nonetheless. He revisits his anthemic "She'll Be Coming Round the Mountain" in the backyard "preview" segment of the episode; during this short performance, he peers directly into the camera with furrowed brow, indicative of how Alfalfa always gave his all in his Little Rascals singing performances. This earnestness is a major reason his songs were so unforgettable. A few moments later, the three girls are dancing to "Honolulu Baby" (a Hal Roach Studios original that shows up in several Little Rascals and Laurel & Hardy films). During this shot, we see kind of a side view of the stage, and in the extreme right-hand edge of the screen, Alfalfa can be seen, barely, still standing on his perch and watching the hula number. Just before the camera cuts away from this shot, Alfalfa is seen, for a split second, shimmying along with the girls. This image is so far to the right-hand edge of the screen that it may not even be visible on some TV monitors. Including Alfalfa in the shot was probably purely unintentional, and he most likely had no idea he was even being captured on screen. The few seconds he is in the frame provides us with a rare image of an unaware Alfalfa "behind the scenes" during filming.

An impromptu jam session during a break in filming of
"Follies of 1936". The original crooner, Bing Crosby,
joins the gang. At upper left is Edith Fellows, who
appeared in a handful of Little Rascals episodes during
the early sound era and went on to enjoy a long and
eventful career. Edith played the small girl who thought
Edgar Kennedy was a "big bug" in "Shivering Shakespeare".

But the highlight for Alfalfanatics everywhere is his classic rendition of "The Object of My Affection". It is difficult to imagine a more delightful sequence in the long history of the Little Rascals. Making it even more appealing is the fact that this was Darla's very first episode, and by extension her first pairing with the character with whom she would be linked for eternity. Keep an eye on Alfalfa as he makes his way off the stage: when he says "Boy, I'm glad that's over with!", he drops his hat and without missing a beat leans over to scoop it up. Hal Roach and the Little Rascals directors and editors understood, and demonstrated this understanding countless times throughout the series, that leaving these imperfections in the final cut only enhanced the sense of authenticity that was a key to the series' success.

As with many Little Rascals episodes—even among the best, like "Our Gang Follies of 1936"—this outing contains some scenes which include ethnic/racial representations that may raise some modern eyebrows. Buckwheat is trying to escape his monkey tormenter so he hides inside a trunk. There is a small peephole in the side of the trunk, through which the monkey looks. Inside the dark trunk, the only sign of Buckwheat we see are the perfectly-shaped whites of his eyes (an animated effect). We see the same kind of gag elsewhere in the episode: When the lights are turned off so the show can begin, we lose sight of a group of African-American kids all except the whites of their eyes.

One could watch this episode repeatedly and probably find something new in each viewing. So why not go ahead and do just that? It's one of the series' all-time greats.

4alfalfa.com gives it

5 cowlicks (out of a possible 5)

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