Reunion in Rhythm

Released: January 9, 1937
Director: Gordon Douglas
Episode length: 9:59 (28/34)
Alfalfa's screen time: 3:18 (29/34) 33% (29/34)
Lines of dialogue spoken by Alfalfa: 8 (29/34)
Song: "I'm Through With Love"
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As "Reunion in Rhythm" opens, the viewer sees a close-up of an invitation from the Adams Street Grammar School to attend a "reunion of graduates and present class". The camera zooms in on the reunion festivities, set in a curious looking half-indoor/half-outdoor venue. The guests, seated at several tables, are singing "Auld Lang Syne". We see one of the tables, at which are seated Pete the Pup and several cast members from past and current Little Rascals eras. They are divided into pairs, and are happily singing along and toasting each other with glasses of milk: Stymie and Buckwheat; Porky and Joe Cobb; Darla and Mary Kornman; and Alfalfa and Mickey Daniels. Spanky's partner is Miss Lawrence.

As the singing concludes, Miss Lawrence announces that the children are going to put on a show for the entertainment of the former students and assembled guests. While the kids are getting into their costumes, Miss Lawrence invites Mickey Daniels, former class president, to say a few words. Mickey reluctantly stops chowing down on his cake and gets up to address the reunion. He says that when he attended the school he was "nothing but a bashful, freckle-faced boy...look at me now!"

Mary Kornman grimaces as the band cuts off Mickey with a fanfare announcing the start of the show. Buckwheat introduces the first act by means of a title card that reads "Darla and Porky in 'The Toy Shop at Midnight' " But before the act begins, Buckwheat tries to get in on the act by reciting "Little Jack Horner". Before he gets too far, he is yanked back behind the curtains by Spanky. This will be a running gag throughout the episode. It becomes less and less funny with each occurrence.

After Spanky and Buckwheat bicker briefly about Buckwheat's desire to be "the actor", Darla and Porky perform a cute but uncharismatic rendition of "Babyface" (Darla handles the singing.)

Next comes "Spanky & Co. in 'The Gay White Way' ", but first Buckwheat again tries to recite as he shows the title card. But this time, Spanky and Alfalfa, in the wings, literally drag Buckwheat offstage by tugging on a runner on which Buckwheat is standing. As Buckwheat is finally pulled all the way off, Spanky hands Buckwheat's title cards to Alfalfa and tells him to give Porky a shot.

Porky comes out and shows the title card without incident as Spanky chides Buckwheat. Harold Switzer looks on. The curtain then goes up to reveal an elaborate New York City backdrop, with kids driving little scat cars back and forth and honking their horns. Alfalfa is dressed as a traffic cop and is shown trying to bring order to the chaos. As the music begins, everybody scatters, including Officer Alfalfa, who gives his whistle one last cross-eyed toot before scramming.

Spanky then leads a troupe of top-hatted boys and girls in a "Broadway Rhythm" song and dance number. As the performers make their musical exit from the stage, we see Buckwheat bringing up the rear, and he yet again tries to recite until the curtains are hastily drawn, much to the delight of the reunion guests.

The final act is "Alfalfa and Georgia in 'Hopeless Love' ", as wee see from the title card that is shown by a chagrined Buckwheat, this time his mouth taped shut (thank you, tape). "Hopeless Love" takes place on a farm setting. Alfalfa, in overalls, is sitting next to a water well and pining at a picture of his sweetheart Mirandie [?]. He is tugging at the petals of a flower ("She loves me, she loves me not...") The final answer is "she loves me", but Alfalfa is in for a rude awakening.

The object of his affection strides out (Georgia Jean LaRue), toting suitcases and dressed up as is she is going on a trip. Alfalfa seems stunned. He says to his fiancee, "You can't do this—aren't we gonna be marriage?" [sic].

The young lady then sings a spirited version of "I'm Goin' Hollywood", showcasing her very strong singing voice. After her number, she struts around a confused Alfalfa and then exits the stage. Alfalfa tosses away the ring which had presumably been intended for his fiancee' and sings "I'm Through With Love" (see more at Alfalfa's Greatest Hits, or stop by later).

This is perhaps the most bittersweet singing performance of Alfalfa's Little Rascals career. As he sings, he repeatedly looks at and gestures towards the picture of the girl that has just dumped him. To make matters worse, he is distracted by the crowing of an ornery rooster sitting on a nearby fence. Even though the rooster crows three times, Alfalfa will not be denied, and he gamely finishes his number, immediately after which he joins the rest of the cast in a farewell ditty arranged to "Auld Lang Syne" :


Publicity still of Darla
Hood, ca. "Reunion In Rhythm".

Commentary
"Reunion in Rhythm" does bring a smile, but little else; the idea of bringing back Little Rascals alumnus Beard, Cobb, Kornman, and Daniels could have been exploited to much better advantage than it was (incidentally, the Hal Roach team originally wanted Farina to appear but he was unavailable, or simply didn't want to do it. His place was taken by Stymie, who had left the Rascals only 20 months earlier.)

One of the main reasons "Reunion in Rhythm" falls flat is simply that the one-reel format was not enough time to both present a song and dance show and integrate a story line. "Our Gang Follies of 1936" and "-1938"—arguably the two most successful "putting on a show" episodes—were two-reelers, as were other episodes that prominently featured performance acts ("Beginner's Luck", "Arbor Day", even "Mike Fright" and "Milk and Mush" from the time Before Alfalfa.) "Reunion In Rhythm"'s opening act, Darla's rendition of "Baby Face", is pleasant enough but gives the impression of being phoned in. Spanky's "Broadway Rhythm" is a pallid, overly polished number, competently staged but devoid of any real charm. The highlight of the proceedings is, as usual, Alfalfa's contribution. "I'm Through With Love" is one of his more heartfelt singing performances. This tune is interrupted three times by a crowing rooster in the background. Alfalfa acknowledges these disruptions with disdainful backwards glances while not missing a beat. Something we have always wondered about was whether the rooster's crowing was planned in advance, and if so, did Alfalfa know when it was coming?

Alfalfa also appears briefly as an overwhelmed traffic cop in the run-up to Spanky's "Broadway Rhythm". As recounted by Leonard Maltin and Richard W. Bann, a 1937 book entitled "Of All Places" chronicled the picture business from a kids' point of view. One of its subjects was the filming of "Reunion in Rhythm":

"Alfalfa has a long stick of hair sticking up on his head and every minute somebody...would stick it up again for him...Alfalfa was a traffic cop directing traffic on Broadway and 42nd Street, New York City, and he did it over and over again while these other kids made mistakes because they didn't get around the scenery in time on the scooters... " (Maltin and Bann, The Little Rascals: The Life and Times of Our Gang, Three Rivers Press, page 177).

The account continued by commenting on how, despite all the retakes, nobody on the set—actors, director, or crew—lost their patience during production. This was representative of the type of work environment insisted upon by Hal Roach.


"Our Gang" notepaper, ca.
"Reunion In Rhythm".

As suggested in the above account, Alfalfa was renowned on the set for his ability to get most of his shots down in one take, more so than most of his Rascals co-stars. Although he was also known to be a bit of a scalawag, when it came time to perform, Alfalfa was a total pro—usually. During the tail end of his Rascals career, the dark days of the MGM era, he engaged in ever-increasing fits of temperament, including urinating on the stage lights, stuffing a softball-sized wad of freshly-chewed bubble gum into a camera, and intentionally ruining repeated takes of a scene where the kids jump on the rear runners of a truck. Having to film this particular scene so many times took its toll on his co-stars in more ways than one: Darla fainted from repeatedly breathing in the exhaust fumes from the truck and had to be hospitalized briefly as a result. Interestingly, Alfalfa's misbehavior was usually prompted by what he considered to be disrespectful or condescending treatment by the episode's director or other crew member.

But back to the episode at hand. Another component of "Reunion in Rhythm" that doesn't work is Buckwheat's repeated insistence on sneaking in recitations of "Little Jack Horner" between acts. This is one of the truly rare instances in which Buckwheat's performance fails to register. Two years earlier, in the classic "Our Gang Follies of 1936", Buckwheat took part in a similar between-acts gag, this one much more engaging: Getting chased around by an ornery monkey. His interruptions in "Reunion in Rhythm", by contrast, are unwelcome, and the viewer feels compelled to applaud Spanky's efforts to drag Buckwheat off the stage.

It's neat to see the Little Rascals alumnus, albeit briefly, but beyond Alfalfa, "Reunion in Rhythm" has little else to offer. This, coupled with the under-utilization of the former Rascals, results in a 4alfalfa.com rating of

2 cowlicks (out of a possible 5)

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