Mysteries and Scandals - Alfalfa and the Little Rascals

okay chicken before the hatch Spanky Darla buckwheat and the king of pruners alfalfa we can forget those faces in the 1950s the our gang film comedies aired on television under the name The Little Rascals it's easy to see would made the series such a hit child stars seemed playful in a sentient carefree yeah but appearances can be deceiving especially when it came to alfalfa hogs green this rascal more resembled a pint-sized Dirty Harry than the boy next door and when alfalfa al grew was on-screen appeal his hot temper desperation proof fatal and Alfie apparently they said pulled a knife and the guy shot him the way that he he died was not a surprise to me because he kind of lived on the edge all his life anyway on this episode of mysteries and scandals will reveal the mayhem alfalfa caused on the set and a volatile reactions he ignited he liked to play jokes on people and frankly none of us thought it was very funny alfalfa was causing trouble as usual and and Sidney killed the cameras and called alfalfa over and said to him when you turn 21 I'm going to get into a cab and find you and beat this stuff and we'll look inside the our gang Clubhouse and some of the kids more private antics little porky had opened up his trousers and he was holy his genitals very lovely I'm AJ Benza join me as we explore the devilish dark and dangerous ways of alfalfa and our gang The Little Rascals in 1921 Hollywood movie producer Hal Roach wanted to create a new kind of film series one that would be wholesome yet bold and honest then one day he looks out his window across the railroad tracks and he sees a group of kids fighting over a stick divine inspiration Richard ban is the co-author of The Little Rascals the life and times of our gang he thought I wonder if I could make a film or two out of this the idea of life from a kids angle real kids doing real things and from that experience Brian what became the our gang comedies originally produced as a series of silent short feature films in 1922 the our gang movies pitted the troublemaker against the sissy and the rich kid against the bully the goal of each child was to have fun of course to make it through the episode without getting pounded the idea behind the series according to Hal Roach was real kids doing real things that's what he wanted to capture and that's what he got the series became even more popular in the 1930s with the advent of sound but as the original cast members were older they had to be replaced by fresh faces al Roach set out to find some kids with attitude and in 1932 he found Tommy bond to play butch I got my interview of mr. Roach he only asked two questions he said tell me Tommy says he'll look mean I said yeah he said you like to fight I said yeah says the casting director Hyrum that was it in 1934 Sidney Kubrick was cast as a little rascal called wine and I was working as an extra I was basically asked to to do a particular scene they liked it and from there I think they wanted me to become butcher sidekick one and that's how I got the job Gerry Tucker was featured in 18-hour gang films I played this nasty little rich kid that comes into town with the fire engine and he takes the pretty girl for a ride by 1935 other familiar faces in our gang included Spanky Darla stymie buckwheat porky and Pete the pup that year another young boy was added to the cast his character was named alfalfa his family wasn't from Illinois and I think they were from the hills of Illinois because I don't think they wore shoes until they came to California born Karl Dean Switzer in Paris Illinois on August 8th 1927 alfalfa was destined to be in pictures at least according to his mother on a family trip to Los Angeles in 1935 Carl's parents were determined to get the 7 year old son noticed they went to Hal Roach studios on Washington Boulevard and they couldn't get in however the our gang Cafe which was the studio commissary was just outside the gate and it was open to the public at lunch so alfalfa and his brother Harold and their family went in there and began to perform and they were signed that day and worked into the first picture beginner's luck so overnight alfalfa was really a star in this series he had this this sprig of hair and he did this bug I double take and he had the trick singing voice I'm the barber that was a funny thing about Alfie too he said what are they laughing at me for Tom when I sing since I sound that bad I said no I said it's not your voice it's your facial expressions so he thought he was saying good and I wanted him to think that because you know it's kind of a downer if they everybody's laughing at you because you're singing sour notes I'm going to take my voice where it will be epic in 1938 after 16 years producing the series Hal Roach sold the entire Allergan comedy concept cast and crew to MGM director George Sidney recalls how the new studio officials were quick to make changes one day they came rushing down they says you got to redo yesterday's work they said you had the black boy standing next to a white girl why I won't allow it I said alright I'll do something about it but I didn't just change their positions I changed the entire the entire scene because I wasn't going to have a lovely boys bill Thomas nine years old be told they had to reshoot something on account of that as far as the rascals were concerned they were all the same especially when it came to their craft we were had children who work under contract and even at the at that very early age you understood that this cost of the studio a lot of money and and you just had to do what they told you to do most of us were pretty good kids there was however one exception and without falfa he just did his own thing sometimes when the director would say alfalfa you're wanted on the set they couldn't find him people kind of leaned over backwards to for his antics and when it came to causing trouble this kid was a real pro coming off the shocking prank that made out for the biggest bully of the gang and the gruesome details of how his volatile temper one day turned deadly she in the mid-1930s the our gang comedy series played in movie theaters worldwide little rascals featured in each episode were adored by the fans and alfalfa of course was the star attraction Darla hood told me that she was at the studio one day and alfalfa and Clark Gable came out together and everybody was waiting for people to come out alfalfa got all the detention and not far Carrie at age 10 alfalfa was a full fledged celebrity but even a major Hollywood talent like alfalfa was supposed to balance work play and study time farmer Rascal Kenneth Smith played the intellectual Waldo Smith remembers the rigorous schedule we had to get in three hours of school a day when they were ready for us if I would go do a scene and we go back to school when it came time to study alfalfa always put up a sting it was not a good student he hated the teacher mrs. Carr and if he misses less as he had to do slave there after school and do more and he was the only one left mrs. Carter didn't fall for his antics and when 27 year old alfalfa saw her years later he still held a grudge they had a reunion for TV Guide 1955 when the films were launched the television and alfalfa swore at the teacher when he saw her again in 1955 as an adult and he looked at her and I won't tell you what he said but he made all kinds of remarks about her how she ruined his life alfalfa's co-stars weren't surprised by his obnoxious behavior they'd seen his bad side from the very beginning he wasn't liked by too many of the kids I remember had some tendencies toward toward being a bully and maybe pick on some of the younger younger kids this kid was more than a bully he was a one-man crime wave they would step on the other kids feet he would kick big nails in his pocket and stick it into the other kids and hit the kids and things like that author Jim Parrish he would lose his temper he's very prone to flying off the handle if things didn't go right he'd get very irritated he liked you he liked you he didn't like you he would certainly let you know it and despite smord out of the question for him he was very abrasive on the set that doesn't mean that he wasn't a nice kid he was just different he was by himself a lot he liked to play jokes on people and frankly none of us thought it was very funny alfalfa's childhood pranks were not reserved only for his co-stars my dad told me that one time alfalfa threw a firecracker at him as he was walking away and it exploded you know I'm right by his back and he didn't appreciate that when a cameraman wanted to go to lunch and alfalfa or one of the kids was having trouble with a line and the cameraman said something like come on can't you get this right let's go to lunch he got very peeved and so to show how peeved he was when they did take a break he got all his friends to start showing up gum they've made him took great big wad alfalfa had this big wad of gum open up the camera and spread this gum all throughout the gears that afternoon nobody worked except the cameraman on one occasion alfalfa shocked everyone with his most revolting stunts one time I understand I wasn't really there that day but I understand that he kind of a urinated on all the lights when they came in to that stage that day it turned on those lights the lights heated up caused a terrible stench and everybody had to get out of the stage because he couldn't stand the smell alfalfa's knack for wreaking havoc invited threats from one frustrated director George Sidney at age 21 or 22 was only a few years older than the oldest kid and alfalfa was causing trouble as usual and and Sidney killed the cameras and called alfalfa over and said to him Karl I want you to tell me something I said when you're 21 look me up I said because I'm gonna slug you I'll Ryu we're not hitting people I'm gonna take care of you you come back in 21 apparently early fame earned alfalfa way too much freedom on the set the question is where would his parents Spanky mcFarland said that alfalfa didn't get the proper direction at home from his parents neither one of them worked they were making him the bread under the family so the age of five or six he was supporting three or four people they wanted him to be successful and pushing him in front all the time - to make it even bigger but in 1941 after starring in sixty episodes of the our gang comedies 13 year old Karl alfalfa Switzer left the series just ahead could alfalfa overcome typecasting and what turn of events pushed him over the edge sit in 1944 after 22 years in 221 episodes the our gang film series closed its Clubhouse for good over the decades more than a hundred child stars appeared in Little Rascals and for many age and maturity brought professional rejection welcome back to mysteries and scandals I'm AJ Benza even alfalfa the most famous rascal of all was given the old Hollywood heave home unfortunately in his career he had the same problem that most child stars did he had started to become a teenager his voice was changing he was growing taller he was no longer the cute little kid it's an occupational hazard for child stars I'll grow their usefulness and then wonder why it twelve or thirteen there has been and how do you translate success as a child star into an adult actor marvin wolf is the author of fallen angels his schtick was he would sing off-key and it was very endearing in a kid in as an adult gets tiresome so i brought her back a lampshade and she wears it right on her hay west of the pecos in the middle 40s he did come back and I bring low-budget junior version of our gang sort of his teenagers and that was called the gas house kids and that lasted two three entries and then that one to put and that was really the basic end of his starring years alfalfa I had other problems he had no education to fall back on his rascal image as well as his unsavory reputation haunted alfalfa from the moment he left a gang and by the late 1950s alfalfa's acting career was in the dumps he made a living as a bartender and worked on occasion as a hunting guide in January 1959 31 year-old call alfalfa Switzer played the bully for the last time he borrowed a dog a hunting dog from a friend of his a welder name but stilts dog ran off and he put up a reward of $35 and somebody found the dog and brought it in and Alfie bought him a couple of drinks and by the time the reward and the drinks were factored in he was out fifty bucks alfalfa when he was unhappy would turn to drinking and and during these last days he'd been drinking brooding over about his $50 got in his head that the money that he had spent to retrieve this dog was owed to him by the dog's owner alfalfa called blood stills and demanded to be paid back 250 bucks stilts of course refused so out for one day getting very hot-tempered because things were not going his way is and was this want rushed over to his ex-partners house in North Hollywood banged on the door and said I want my 50 I want my $50 barged into the house and then started claiming you give me this money I'm gonna kill you he takes out a night flip blade knife about that time still comes out holding a gun by this time Alfie is just seeing one threatens him with a knife still stood square out in Chatham and down he went and by the time the ambulance came and took him hauled him off to the hospital he had bled to death he was thought he was gone January 22nd 1959 that healthy Carl Switzer died unfortunately it happened to be the same day that Cecil B DeMille died Alfie's a obit got a little box out of the corner and Cecil B DeMille got pages and pages and pages it seems like he got screwed even in death five days after alfalfa slain bud stilts appeared before a coroner's jury the jury ruled stilts acted in self-defense and all criminal charges were dropped how falfa was buried in Hollywood Memorial Park Cemetery an alfalfa stone there's a dog and people the goal there I think that's Pete the pup from the gang but it was because he used hunting dogs that's what it was that and somebody I think have defaced it and put a ring around the dogs so it looks like someone had the last laugh on how foul for the practical joker when we come back how many other rascals suffered tragic unexpected deaths and do the surviving our gang players regret their showbiz roots in 1959 former little rascal Carl alfalfa Switzer was shot to death after a fight over fifty bucks you wouldn't think a celebrity could end up so desperate for cash but unlike film and TV stars today the our guy actors never earned any residual payments for their work in the series oh how I wish that residuals were paid no we did not get a nickel we got paid for what we did and that was it the contracts were not written for residuals I know my pal Spanky tried for years to get something but he never worked out former Mouseketeer Paul Peterson now serves as president of a minor consideration an organization that fights for the rights of child stars in Spanky God loved him never complained never complained I did a show with him a Phil Donahue show and he said the smiles made it all worthwhile how noble that's why I do what I do to argue on behalf of people who are so decent they won't tell you they got school some Rascals left show business to pursue other interests when I went to school and got my degree and worked at RCA Global Communications for 35 years went to University of Southern California after school I got interested in architecture and in building but these success stories seem to be exceptions to the rule like alfalfa many other stars from our gang suffered sad violent ends and Weezer as I recollect was around 20 years old when he passed away he was in the Air Show and then just before they were going to land the plane crashed and then you have other people like froggy who was one of the famous are gang members when I think about 16 was riding his bicycle and suddenly a truck came by and those accident and that was the end of him Scotty Beckett wound up with a drug problem stymie wound up with a drug problem even the first Pete the pup was poisoned by an unknown assailant whether these tragic fates are the result of child stardom or merely a bizarre coincidence a little rascal series remains a timeless hit I don't know why we were so successful because we were just kids having fun and we had great directors director George Sidney recalls that the rascals were always full of surprises you never knew what you you up against I'm shooting there one day and my script turn a little girls cook cook she's hitting me we were shooting don't hit me don't you look down at the end of the line little porky had opened up his trousers and he was holding his genitals very lovely God why get the fan letters and letters from people from all over the world and it's interesting that people will still have an interest in the our gang comedies and it's a nice day to be remembered in that way he is since it was portrayed bunchy kids trying to find ways to enjoy themselves I think that's the beauty of the little rascals and I think that eval fee were alive today he'd be so proud and so happy at the knowledge of the people who loved him and loved all the kids and the rascals alfalfa wasn't the first and he certainly will not be the last child star to be cast off by Hollywood for the crime of growing up you know being a kid is hard enough without having a camera shoved in your face I'm AJ Benza join me the next time we take a stroll down the flip side of the Walk of Fame

Channel: Steve Sadler Jr.

Views: 1,835,294

Rating: 4.7331047 out of 5

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Id: yXej6sSCaPc

Length: 21min 20sec (1280 seconds)

Published: Sat Dec 22 2012

Reddit Comments

[u/bosslady444]

It's sad, but he always had a fiery disposition - it cost him his life. What's sadder is that he wasn't the only one with a tragic life. One of the very first rascals, Mickey Daniels, became an alcoholic later in life which made his family separate themselves from him. He was found dead in a sketchy motel, the cause being cirrhosis of the liver - but his body wasn't even identified/claimed for 20 years after. He was completely forgotten by the public.