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| Episode Commentary |
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'Em and Weep
Released:
May 7, 1938 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. Today, Mr. Hood turns 32 years of age (uhhh...right!) The birthday boy can't wait to get the party started, particularly the dinner part, because he is starving: all he had to eat all day was a lettuce sandwich on gluten bread.
The three party-crashers march in, whistling "Yankee Doodle Dandy". They each have a gift for Mr. Hood. Over Mr. Hood's protests, Alfalfa leads the trio in a chorus of: Happy
birthday, Mr. Hood Philip,
Porky, and Alfalfa each take a a turn singing their customized birthday
greetings to Mr. Hood, and they present the birthday boy with, respectively,
a frog, a duckling, and a cat. After Alfalfa's cat is revealed,
the Hood family dog gets into a lather. Mr. Hood scoops up all the
animals and asks the boys to read the Sunday papers. This leads
into an argument between Alfalfa and Philip about who is stronger:
Flash Gordon (Alfalfa's man) or Tarzan. As the boys continue the discussion, Mrs. Hood whispers to her husband that he should hurry up and eat his soup while its still hot. Meanwhile, the Tarzan vs. Flash Gordon debate rages, and the boys finally ask Mr. Hood to serve as arbitrator. Mr. Hood says that if the boys let him finish his meal, he'll tell them all he knows about "this Flash Tarzan and Gordon person". The boys relent momentarily. Mr. Hood begins to eat his soup, but it's turned cold. Alfalfa asks him innocently why he didn't eat it while it was hot? This sends a sputtering Mr. Hood stalks off into the kitchen whining "Mama...Mama!..." Later, Mr. Hood's birthday chicken is brought out. Just as Mr. Hood about to start carving, the sounds of celery crunching ring out, courtesy Philip and Porky. Mr. Hood becomes aggravated again. Making matters worse is Alfalfa, trying to flip spoons in the air by pounding his fist down on the rounded end of the utensil. After several moments of rattling silverware, Alfalfa finally accidentally flips a spoon into the gravy, which splatters up and splashes Mr. Hood in the face. Apoplectic, he storms off to the kitchen to get cleaned up. While doing so, he mutters the immortal line, "and to think that this should happen to me on my natal anniversary!" While Mr. Hood is in the kitchen, Alfalfa talks Mrs. Hood into letting him and the rest of the kids have "just a little bit" of Mr. Hood's chicken. Soon, almost all of the bird is gone. Mr. Hood returns to the dining room, surveys the dinner table, and sees there is only a small scrap left hanging off one of the bones. He then sits back down slowly and whines, "I think I'm going to lose my mind...." But Mrs. Hood saves the day by bringing in the birthday cake, which the kids greet with hoots and hollers. Alfalfa is particularly pleased. Alfalfa [in midst of other kids' excited chatter]: Cake!...Hot-dog, the cake!! Mr. Hood blows out his birthday candles (with a big assist from Porky and Philip). Alfalfa gets up and says that he is going to sing a special song "in the honor of Mr. Hood". Alfalfa walks over to the piano with Darla, who, as is her wont, serves as accompanist. Alfalfa sings "Many Happy Returns of the Day" (visit Alfalfa's Greatest Hits, or stop by later). He finishes his birthday tribute to Mr. Hood. He presents him with, as the song suggests, a bouquet and a card (really a product inventory tag, with string still attached). Mr. Hood manages a faint "Thanks". To
their delight, the kids are told by Mrs. Hood that they can all
now finally eat their cake, news to which they all react exuberantly.
Just as Mr. Hood is about to take a bite from the piece of cake
he is holding (Mrs. Hood has apparently neglected to provide forks),
the doorbell rings. Mr. Hood opens the doors and in tricycles Percy,
announcing his arrival by means of a slide whistle. He pedals up
to Alfalfa, whose father, Percy tells him, wants him to come home.
Alfalfa tells Percy that he'll be right there. As Percy leaves,
Porky furnishes him with a hunk of birthday cake for his trouble.
Mr. Hood has finally had enough. Putting on his hat and coat, he
announces that he's going out to a restaurant to get something to
eat.
Commentary Johnny "Mr. Hood" Arthur is one of the most talented grown-up actors that appeared in the Little Rascals series and in this episode fires off one of its most memorable and oft-imitated lines: "And to think that this should happen to me on my natal anniversary!" "Feed 'em and Weep" is unusual in that it tells its story from the more conventional "viewpoint" of the adult protagonist, which is rare in the Little Rascals series. The viewer identifies with Mr. Hood's simple desire to celebrate his birthday with a quiet family dinner, and his mounting frustration at the antics of "yodelling trio" Alfalfa, Porky, and Phillip, who seems to be a substitute for the mysteriously absent Buckwheat. Adding to Mr. Hood's frustration is the fact that Mrs. Hood (played by the reliable Wilma Cox, a kind of poor man's Gene Tierney) shows no empathy to her husband's travails. All she does is advise him not to lose his temper, and, after Alfalfa accidentally soaks Mr. Hood's face with gravy, her only response is to laconically tell the birthday boy to go into the kitchen and get himself cleaned up. Along with Buckwheat, also conspicuous in his absence is Spanky. "Feed 'em and Weep" is the first (and best) of three wind-up Hal Roach episodes in which Alfalfa is without his longtime Rascals partner, and he handles this first solo performance very admirably. The fact that Johnny Arthur carried so much of the weight of this outing probably removed a good chunk of the pressure that would have ordinarily been on Alfalfa's shoulders without Spanky to act as "foil" for our hero. In essence, Mr. Hood is Alfalfa's straight man. Although Alfalfa and crew are undeniably annoying, their good intentions and essential guilessness help them avoid becoming obnoxious (just barely!) And Alfalfa brings the party to a successful conclusion by singing a heartfelt rendition of "Many Happy Returns of the Day" with Darla at the piano, a tune which seems to have been written especially by Hal Roach production staff for the occasion. Alfalfa's rendition of this song is actually not half-bad, save for an off-key first few and last few bars. Particularly enjoyable are the lines, "We have given our presents to you...even our cat—what more can we do?" Even Mr. Hood seems mildly moved, offering a begrudging "Thanks" after Alfalfa concludes his number and presents Mr. Hood with the bouquet and "card" (really an inventory tag) from his song. A chief attraction for hard-core Alfalfateurs in this episode is his enthusiasm for Mr. Hood's birthday cake. Keep a close eye and ear on Alfalfa when Mrs. Hood first brings out her husband's birthday cake; our hero screams "Hot dog, the cake!!" with an almost fanatical zeal. Later, after he presents Mr. Hood with the bouquet and card, and Mrs. Hood tells everybody they can start on their cake, Alfalfa pumps his fist triumphantly and lets out a celebratory whoop as he sprints to his place at the table. All in all, not a bad little film. 4alfalfa.com
gives "Feed 'em & Weep" 4 cowlicks (out of a possible 5) |
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"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 Co./ MGM. Episode commentary © 4alfalfa.com |
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