Our Gang Follies of 1938

Released: December 18, 1937
Directed: Gordon Douglas
Episode length: 20:52 (1/34)
Alfalfa's screen time: 10:28 (1/34) 50% (17/34)
Lines of dialogue spoken by Alfalfa: 71 (3/34)
Songs: "The Barber of Seville" and "Learn To Croon"
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Skip episode synopsis and go directly to commentary

Spanky opens the show by introducing a tap-dancing troupe, after which Darla saunters out to deliver a musical introduction of our hero. As Alfalfa comes out on stage, he brings the previously toe-tapping proceedings to a crashing thud with his self-important rendition of "The Barber of Seville". Immediately, the kids boo, and Spanky orders the curtain dropped. He tells Alfalfa that he's supposed to croon, not sing opera. An argument ensues, and Alfalfa storms out, telling Spanky he's going someplace where his music will be appreciated.

The next sequence opens with Alfalfa and Porky getting ready to enter the Cosmopolitan Opera House, inside which a rehearsal is taking place. It is being supervised by Henry Brandon, of "Silas Barnaby" fame from "March of the Wooden Soldiers". It is interesting to see Brandon in this role, free from his Barnaby makeup, surprisingly youthful-looking and kindly (although he will assume his "Barnaby" persona later on...). Along with impresario Brandon are the opera singer (played by an actor named Gino Corrado), a secretary named Miss Jones (Wilma Cox, who also plays the mother in "Canned Fishing" and "Feed 'em and Weep") and, at the piano, "Doodles" Weaver (yes, that "Doodles" Weaver). Alfalfa interrupts the rehearsal and asks if Brandon needs him in his next opera. No, Brandon answers, but, wanting to get rid of the pest without hurting his feelings, tells him to come back in twenty years. In fact, he has Miss Jones draw up a contract to finalize the deal.

Alfalfa returns to the Follies show, appearing outside the stage door. Spanky, pacing nervously, thinks Alfalfa has reconsidered and implores him to go out on stage and perform, but Alfalfa repeats his assertion that he will only sing opera from now on. He shows Spanky his contract.

Alfalfa lies down on a recliner as Spanky peruses the contract. He quickly follows Alfalfa to find out more, but Alfalfa falls asleep and starts dreaming twenty years into the future. The entire length of Broadway (we presume this is what is being represented) is festooned in neon tribute to "Alfalfa the Great". We then see Porky and Alfalfa, in opera cape and high hat, outside the Cosmopolitan Opera House, as originally scheduled twenty years prior. Suddenly, the man who gave Alfalfa the contract twenty years ago—now much older and less kindly (in fact, it's Barnaby!)—emerges from the theatre and lets Alfalfa and Porky inside.

The scene dissolves into one of Alfalfa's most well-known Little Rascals sequences. The curtain opens and behind it stands Alfalfa, next to a prop barber's chair and pole, holding a long, straightedge razor in one hand and a leather razor strap in the other. At first the crowd—made up of kids—greet him enthusiastically, but as soon as Alfalfa begins his "Barber of Seville" number, the crowd turns on him. They begin booing lustily, and start throwing all kinds of fruit and vegetables at him. There is no trick photography here. Alfalfa is not hit with pies or cream puffs, as were the kids in, for example, "Shivering Shakespeare" eight years earlier. Instead, Alfalfa is pelted with large, solid pieces of produce (lettuce, cabbage), the force of which nearly knock him off-balance. For a full twenty seconds, Alfalfa is subjected to a nonstop barrage from all angles, some of the projectiles hitting his face with such force that it literally takes his voice away. Recently, 4alfalfa.com learned some fascinating background on this sequence from Alfalfa's surviving family. He was originally told that he would be hit only with soft tomatoes, but it was decided that for authenticity's sake, he would also be hit with the harder cabbages and lettuce heads. That Alfalfa's anger builds during this scene was something that was very real. Although stunned, he continued with the scene (as per his parent's standing instructions). But after the sequence, he grabbed his brother Harold (who had a small role in "Follies of 1938"), and seeking retribution on the crew members responsible for the produce barrage, said, "C'mon Harold, let's go kick their ass!". Happily, cooler heads prevailed, although Alfalfa's mother later informed senior Hal Roach officials that she was not at all pleased (ironically, since in her later years, Alfalfa's mother spoke well of the treatment that her son had generally received on the set by Hal Roach and his directors).

The humiliated Alfalfa is quickly tossed out into the alley by Barnaby, who tells Alfalfa he must sing in the street to honor the terms of his contract. Alfalfa grabs his concertina (a handheld accordion-like instrument). It is now snowing. He and Porky begin pounding the pavement. Soon they stop in front of a swank nightclub called "Club Spanky". Just then, the top-hatted Spanky, obviously having achieved success, pulls up in an open chauffeur-driven limo. He drops a quarter into Alfalfa's tin cup and invites them both in.

Inside, Spanky is treated deferentially by his efficient, fawning staff. Immediately we see Darla, dressed in a feather wrap. She tells Alfalfa that both she and Buckwheat (who does a Cab Calloway-like act) make "hundreds and thousands of dollars". Alfalfa refuses to compromise his artistic integrity: he says that he is a "slave to his art".


Studio still. Notice the miniature
Christmas tree decoration;
"Follies of 1938" was released
on December 18th, 1937.
Click to enlarge.

We are then treated to a series of very slick (almost too slick) song and dance numbers featuring Darla, Porky, and Buckwheat. The highlight number is "That's What Love is All About", with Darla dressed as the Love Bug, zapping several courting couples. This musical interlude—occupying nearly a full five minutes of screen time—concludes with a group of small tap-dancing black children: boys dressed as pages, girls in maid's outfits (stereotyping which compelled this segment to be Censored!! from TV showings over the years.)

As the audience cheers following the grand finale, Alfalfa, re-energized by the performance, tells Spanky he has had a change of heart. He tells Spanky he wants to croon again. Snappily relays the good news to the crowd, who give the beaming Alfalfa a standing ovation. As he walks to the center of the floor to begin, Brandy suddenly swoops in, yelling "Stop!" A hush descends on Club Snappily as Brandy skulks out towards Alfalfa, laughing sinisterly. He reminds Alfalfa that he has a contract to sing opera. Alfalfa then begins struggling to break free from the chortling Brandy's grasp. As the audience starts chanting "We Want Alfalfa", the scene dissolves into a shot of Alfalfa waking up from his dream, still wriggling and muttering "Please... please let me go!". Spanky finally rouses him from his dream. Alfalfa comes to, and hears the crowd chanting "We Want Alfalfa" just like the kids were doing in his dream at Club Spanky.

After Alfalfa has concluded, the entire company comes out for a bow, performing their sendoff version of the same ditty Spanky and Darla with which Darla and Spanky opened the show:

We hope you liked our Follies
And had a lot of fun
Alfalfa's crooned his last song
So now the show is done
We tried to keep it snappy
'Cause you like it best that way
And if it made you happy
We'll try again some day.

Rare behind-the-scenes production still of Spanky, Alfalfa,
and Porky entering Club Spanky. Note the klieg light at right.

Commentary
"Our Gang Follies of 1938" is the Little Rascals' "Citizen Kane", its "Gone With the Wind". It is far and away the series' most elaborate and ambitious episode. It is also one of its best, and the last of the truly great Little Rascals films produced in the Hal Roach era.

From the more-elaborate-than-usual opening credits (accompanied by a catchy, marching band type of theme music that was an alternate version of a theme Rascals music director Marvin Hatley used for Laurel & Hardy's "Way Out West") it is clear that this is no ordinary Little Rascals film. Maltin and Bann speculate that the reason it was such an elaborate production was that the Hal Roach studios, already mulling a possible sale of the entire Rascals property to MGM, wanted to impress its potential buyer with a "knock your socks off" effort (The Little Rascals: The Life and Times of Our Gang, Three Rivers Press, page 188). The film was a two-reeler, the first since "Arbor Day", fifteen episodes previous (not including the feature-length "General Spanky"), and at over 20 minutes in length, it was the longest of Alfalfa's Little Rascals films.

"Follies of 1938" is really a morality play that manages to avoid the moralizing that would become the bane of Little Rascals episodes under MGM less than a year hence. It showcases Alfalfa in a full range of emotions and attitudes. He is alternately haughty, awed, optimistic, pessimistic, humiliated, stubborn, contrite, and, by episode's end, redeemed. The segment in which his performance of "Barber of Seville" leads to his being bombarded by produce by an unimpressed audience is probably unlike anything that a Little Rascals performer has ever had to endure—not even Farina, who suffered through more than his share of Mr. Bill-like humiliations and physical imperilment during his Rascals career. His performance in this segment is nothing short of remarkable and represents one of the most seminal moments in Alfalfa's entire Little Rascals body of work.

The episode contains plenty of Alfalfa irony, too, if you're into that sort of thing. First is the instructions given to Alfalfa by opera house impresario Brandon to come back "in twenty years"; it would be twenty-two years almost to the day from the release date of "Follies of 1938" that Alfalfa would pass away. And the central theme of the episode—Alfalfa attempting to shake his reputation as a "lowly" crooner, only to give up his higher ambitions and return to the more crowd-pleasing ballads—is eerily reminiscent of his real-life struggles to be taken seriously as an adult actor, despite producers' inevitable requests that he "sing off-key for us". Also worth noting is Alfalfa's chance meeting with Spanky outside Club Spanky. Spanky seems wealthy and successful; Alfalfa, on the other hand, laments that "things haven't been going so good" twenty years after the main narrative of "Follies of 1938".

One overlooked, and interesting, aspect of "Follies of 1938" is the positioning of Porky as Alfalfa's "sidekick" throughout. Alfalfa tells Spanky early in the episode that he and Porky have decided that a voice like his is a gift, and shouldn't be wasted on things like crooning: the imagination reels from contemplating such a strategy session between Alfalfa and his pint-sized musical advisor. Porky sticks by Alfalfa throughout most of his travails, but only up to a point: When Spanky asks Alfalfa and Porky to come back and work for him at Club Spanky for "old times sake", Porky unhesitatingly agrees, leaving Alfalfa behind to stew in his artistic stubbornness.

The one aspect of "Our Gang Follies of 1938" that tends to turn off younger viewers are the decidedly adultish musical numbers (excepting Alfalfa's, of course.) As mentioned, more than five full minutes of the episode's screen time is devoted to watching the Club Spanky players—including Buckwheat, Darla, and newly-recruited Porky—perform tunes such as "Follow the Leader", "The Love Bug (Will Get You If You Don't Watch Out)", "That Foolish Feeling", "There's No Two Ways About It", and "Wedding March". Add to this the earlier "non-dream" performance of "Loch Lomond", and you have a sizable chunk of episode that might not appeal much to younger viewers (especially the mannered performance of "Foolish Feeling" and "No Two Ways" by Phil MacMahon and Georgia Jean "I'm Goin' Hollywood" LaRue.) Coincidentally, most local TV programming packages severely truncate portions of these musical interludes, especially the bellhop/maid segment described above.

Publicity still of the "Learn To Croon" sailors and their
island girls. Harold Switzer is second from left in rear
row (obviously). Also see below: Note resemblance to
his younger brother Carl.




But viewing "Our Gang Follies of 1938" from start to finish—even with musical numbers included in their entirety—is a special treat. Alfalfa's difficulties throughout the earlier portion of the episode—and real-life troubles which would befall him later on—make the final, climactic "Learn To Croon" performance particularly poignant and satisfying. As a final aside, make note of the "curtain call" sequence when the company comes out on stage to sing "We hope you liked our follies..." On the extreme right-hand side of the lineup is an almost incongruously tall Harold Switzer, still being featured in most of his younger brother's films despite being nearly fourteen years of age, past the point when most Little Rascals were politely but unmistakeably asked to scram.

"Our Gang Follies of 1938" is one of the series' all-time achievements and merits from 4alfalfa.com a rating of

5 cowlicks (out of a possible 5)

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