The Awful Tooth

Released: May 28, 1938
Director: Nate Watt
Episode length: 9:21 (33/34)
Alfalfa's screen time: 5:39 (18/34) 60% (8/34)
Lines of dialogue spoken by Alfalfa: 23 (22-t/34)
Song: None
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Skip episode synopsis and go directly to commentary

Alfalfa, Porky, and Spike are longingly gazing at a catcher's mitt through the window of a sporting goods store. The mitt has been marked down to $3.00. Also, for some reason, Alfalfa is carrying a monkey in his arms. Alfalfa and Spike discuss the fact that they have only $2.80 in the treasury. Alfalfa hands Spike the coin box so Spike can see for himself. Just then Buckwheat comes careening around the corner to tell his buddies that he has found another dime, courtesy of the tooth fairy. This gives Alfalfa an idea (notice that now that Spanky has temporarily left the series, it is up to Alfalfa to come up with the ill-advised plans.)

Next we see the boys entering the reception area of a local dentist. Dr. Schwartz, the dentist, then comes out of his inner office with a patient who has just had some presumably uncomfortable work done. The man's dour look worries Porky, who tells Buckwheat, "Somethin' tells me this ain't gonna be so hot", to which Buckwheat replies "Yeah, me too" (they could either have been referring to the dentist visit or to the remainder of the film; they would have been right on both counts.)


Production still from "The Awful Tooth".

The nurse tells Dr. Schwartz that the boys have come to see him. Alfalfa explains that they want all their teeth pulled so they can get a catcher's mitt and some uniforms.

After admitting that the boy's plan is "pretty good business at that", the good doctor invites the boys to enter his inner office, where he says he will join them momentarily. After the boys go in, Dr. Schwartz whispers to the nurse that he's going to put a show on for those "little schemers" that will change their minds in a hurry.

Next we see the boys inside the dentist's office. While examining the various tools of the dental trade up close, they become visibly worried. Dr. Schwartz rejoins them and asks which one wants to go first, assuring them that he can have all their teeth out before they can say "compound, compacted, bicuspid". When none of the boys steps forward to be first, Dr. Schwartz chooses them by eenie-meenie-miney-mo, "catch a patient by the toe". Alfalfa is the lucky one singled out to be first.

As Dr. Schwartz starts stuffing cotton cylinders in Alfalfa's mouth, he tells the boys that the man who they saw when they first arrived had teeth as tight as Alfalfa's, and after yanking and pulling, they finally had to be broken off in little pieces. Alfalfa, now sweating profusely and obviously frightened, begins mumbling excitedly through the cotton in his mouth. We then see a lengthy sequence of Dr. Schwartz readying a series of dental devices, each one looking more diabolical than the last. The nurse even comes in and, per the doctor's plan to teach the boys a lesson, brings him a hammer and chisel, then a hacksaw. Throughout, Alfalfa keeps squirming and sweating and screaming through his cotton, especially after Dr. Schwartz says that he may have to saw through part of Alfalfa's jawbone.

Alfalfa's monkey even gets into the act, making mischief until Dr. Schwartz asks the boys to remove the monkey, after it climbs on top of an instrument cabinet (never mind that any dentist who would allow a monkey into the presumably sterile environs of his office would immediately have his medical license revoked.) After the boys start climbing up on the cabinet to fetch the monkey, a worried Dr. Schwartz—fearing the cabinet will come crashing down—tells the boys to simply wait outside and forget about removing the monkey!

Finally, after more squirming and muffled screaming, Alfalfa spits out the cotton and frantically leaps from the chair. He tells Dr. Schwartz that he has decided he can do without "them baseball thangs". The dentist then turns serious again and lectures Alfalfa on the importance of keeping his own teeth.

As Alfalfa grabs his fedora and leaves, he opens the door and his three compadres spill inward, Marx Brothers style, having obviously had their ears glued to the door. The four boys get ready to leave, but Dr. Schwartz asks them to wait a moment.

The four boys stop in their tracks, dreading what else the doctor might have in store. But Dr. Schwartz really just wants to give them some baseball equipment he pulls from a box that the nurse reports had been left behind by the good fairy when "he" was there just a little while ago. Dr. Schwartz hands out baseballs for Buckwheat and Porky (who exclaims in delight "Oh, not a ball!"), a glove for Spike, and, as a grand finale, a catcher's mitt for Alfalfa. Alfalfa is at first stunned, then after gazing at the glove in somewhat awkward extended silence, yells out "Whoopeee!!" and hops into the air.


The nurse tells them that the tooth fairy said that he would take their teeth later, when they come out naturally [presumably he left drop-off instructions?]
Alfalfa happily exclaims that the good fairy is "some guy". The boys leave the reception area to enjoy their new baseball equipment courtesy of the good fairy. The doctor and nurse chortle happily as the episode fades to black.

Commentary
As Maltin and Bann observe, this next-to-last Hal Roach Little Rascals production "promote[d] dental health at the expense of good comedy" (The Little Rascals: The Life and Times of Our Gang, Three Rivers Press, page 194). "The Awful Tooth" 's title was actually appropriate in two respects: it was pretty awful, and watching it is not unlike having one's tooth pulled (which is probably an insult to many a fine dentist). While not quite as insulting or unwatchable as the abysmal "Canned Fishing" produced about three months earlier, "The Awful Tooth" suffers from two main fatal flaws. First, it doesn't do a very good job of showcasing Alfalfa's considerable talent, and second, it stretches the limit of one's credibility in believing that these "little schemers", as Dr. Schwartz calls them, are so stupid that they really believe that getting all their teeth pulled is a small price to pay for obtaining a catcher's mitt and other baseball equipment.

Alfalfa's performance is by itself pretty tough to watch. Throughout most of the film, he squirms in the dentist's chair, sweating, eyes bulging, cotton stuffed into and hanging out of his mouth, and unsuccessfully trying to form words through said cotton. Not a pretty sight. Admittedly, much of what makes Alfalfa's character so appealing is often the discomfort or distress in which he is placed, or places himself; in "The Awful Tooth", however, Alfalfa's predicament and reaction to it has an almost sadistic edge. It is difficult to imagine anyone finding humor in this at all. Almost as bad is his absurd "Whoopeee!" reaction when Dr. Schwartz rewards him with a catcher's mitt at episode's end. Had Alfalfa been so inclined, he might have been perfectly justified in registering to director Nate Watt that classic actor's complaint that "my character wouldn't do this." Enough said.

The "Awful Tooth" also contains a brief shot that is frequently Censored!! by local programmers. Near the end of the film the boys go back outside into the reception area to wait for a suffering Alfalfa. Fearing he will soon meet the same fate, Buckwheat drops to his knees and prays to the almighty with a seeming delighted nurse looking on in the background. While not overtly racist, this image nonetheless can be perceived as feeding into the tired stereotyping of the "frightened black person".

This short was the second of three films produced at the very end of the Hal Roach era that did not feature Spanky ("Feed 'em and Weep" and "Hide and Shriek" being the other two). "The Awful Tooth" was by far the worst of these three Spanky-less outings ("Feed 'em" and "Shriek" were actually pretty good, especially when compared to this dreadful outing), and it receives from the folks at 4alfalfa.com

1 cowlick (out of a possible 5)


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