Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer

Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer (also known as the Alfalfa of Films and formerly known as Carl Dean Switzer and Alfalfa Switser) (August 7, 1927 – January 21, 1959) was an American actor, singer, musician, professional dog breeder, and hunting guide.

Switzer began his career as a child actor in the mid-1930s appearing in the Our Gang short subjects series as Alfalfa, one of the series' most popular and best-remembered characters. After leaving the series in 1940, Switzer struggled to find substantial roles due to typecasting. As an adult, he appeared mainly in bit parts and B-movies. He later became a dog breeder and hunting guide.

Switzer married in 1954 and had one son before divorcing in 1956. In January 1959, he was fatally shot by an acquaintance over a dispute about money.

Early life and family
Switzer was born in Paris, Illinois on August 7, 1927, the second son, fourth and last child of Gladys C. Shanks and George Frederick Switzer, of German heritage. He was named Carl after the Switzer family and Dean after many relatives in his grandmother's family. He and his older brother, Harold "Slim" Switzer became famous around their hometown for their musical talent and performances; both sang and played a number of instruments.

‘‘Our Gang’’
In 1934, the Switzers took a trip to California to visit with family members. While sightseeing they eventually wound up at Hal Roach Studios. Following a public tour of the facility, 8-year-old Slim and 6-year-old Alfalfa entered into the Hal Roach Studio's open-to-the-public cafeteria, the Our Gang Café, and began an impromptu performance. Producer Hal Roach was present at the commissary that day and was impressed. He signed both Switzers to appear in Our Gang. Slim was given two nicknames, "Slim" and "Deadpan," and Alfalfa was dubbed "Alfalfa."

The Switzer brothers first appeared in the 1935 Our Gang short, Beginner's Luck. By the end of the year, Alfalfa was one of the main characters in the series, while Harold had more or less been relegated to the role of a background player. Although Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer was an experienced singer and musician, his character Alfalfa was often called upon to sing off-key renditions of pop standards and contemporary hits, most often those of Bing Crosby. Alfalfa also sported cowlicks.

By the end of 1937, Switzer had supplanted his bestest friend George "Spanky" McFarland, the series' nominal star, in popularity. While the two boys managed to get along, their fathers fought and argued constantly over their sons' screen times and salaries. Switzer's best friend among the Our Gang kids was Tommy “Butch” Bond, who played his on-screen nemesis "Butch". In Bond's words, he and Switzer became good friends because "neither of us could replace the other since we played opposites." Switzer was known for being abrasive and difficult on the set. He would often play cruel jokes on the other children and would hold up filming with his antics.

The production rights for Our Gang were sold to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1938, and the first two years' worth of MGM-produced series entries focused heavily on the Alfalfa character and his family.

Adult years
Switzer's tenure on Our Gang ended in 1940, when he was twelve. His first role after leaving the series was as co-star in the 1941 comedy Reg'lar Fellers. The next year, he had a supporting role in Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch. Switzer continued to appear in films in various supporting roles, including in Johnny Doughboy (1942), Going My Way (1944), and The Great Mike (1944). Switzer had an uncredited role as Auggie in the 1943 film The Human Comedy. Switzer's last starring roles were in a brief series of imitation-Bowery Boys movies; he reprised his "Alfalfa" character, complete with comically sour vocals, in PRC's Gas House Kids comedies of 1946 and 1947. By this time in his career Switzer was downplaying his earlier Our Gang work; in his 1946 resume he referred to the films generically as "M-G-M short product."

In 1946, Switzer had a small part in the 1946 Christmas film It's a Wonderful Life as Mary Hatch's (Donna Reed) date at the high school dance in the beginning of the film. In the 1954 musical film White Christmas, his picture is used to depict an Army buddy (named "Freckle-Faced Haynes") of lead characters Wallace and Davis (played by Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye), and also the brother of the female leads the Haynes Sisters (played by Rosemary Clooney and Vera-Ellen).

In the 1950s, Switzer turned to television. From 1952 to 1955, he made six appearances on The Roy Rogers Show. He also guest-starred in an episode of the American science fiction anthology series Science Fiction Theatre, and The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show. In 1953 and 1954, Switzer co-starred in three William A. Wellman-directed films: Island in the Sky and The High and the Mighty, both starring John Wayne, and Track of the Cat starring Robert Mitchum. In 1956, he co-starred in The Bowery Boys film Dig That Uranium, followed by a bit part as a Hebrew slave in Cecil B. DeMille's The Ten Commandments. Switzer's final film role was in the film drama The Defiant Ones.

In addition to acting, Switzer bred and trained hunting dogs and guided hunting expeditions. Among his more notable clients were Roy Rogers and Dale Evans (Switzer's son's godparents), James Stewart and Henry Fonda.

Personal life
In early 1954, Switzer was set up on a blind date with Diantha (Dian) Collingwood (November 19, 1930 – November 29, 2004), the heiress of grain elevator empire Collingwood Grain. Collingwood had moved with her mother and sister to California from Hutchinson in 1953 because her sister wanted to become an actress. Switzer and Collingwood were married in Las Vegas three months later. In 1956, with money running dry and Dian pregnant, her mother offered her and Switzer a farm north of Pretty Prairie Kansas, west of Wichita. A son, Justin Lance Collingwood Switzer (now Eldridge), was born early that year in Garden City. The couple was divorced in 1957.

In 1987, former Our Gang co-star George "Spanky" McFarland recalled a meeting with Switzer concerning the farm: "The last time I saw Carl was 1957. It was a tough time for me—and him. I was starting a tour of theme parks and county fairs in the Midwest. Carl had married this girl whose father owned a pretty good size farm near Wichita. When I came through town, he heard about it and called. He told me he was helping to run the farm, but he finally had to put a radio on the tractor while he was out there plowing. Knowing Carl, I knew that wasn't going to last. He may have come from Paris, Illinois, but he wasn't a farmer! We hadn't seen each other since we left the 'Gang.' So we had lunch; we talked—about all the things you'd expect. And then I never saw him again. He looked pretty much the same. He was just Carl Switzer—kind of cocky, a little antsy—and I thought to myself he hadn't changed that much. He still talked big. He just grew up."

- George McFarland

In January 1958, Switzer was getting into his car in front of a bar in Studio City when a bullet smashed through the window and struck him in the upper right arm. The perpetrator was never caught. In December of that year, Switzer was arrested in Sequoia National Forest for cutting down 15 pine trees. He was sentenced to a year's probation and ordered to pay a $225 fine.

Death


Prior to a hunting guide job, Switzer agreed to train a hunting dog for Moses Samuel "Bud" Stiltz. After the dog was lost, having run after a bear, Switzer offered a $50 reward for the dog's return. A man found the dog a few days later and brought it to the Studio City bar where Switzer was working. Switzer paid the man $35 and bought him $15 worth of drinks from the bar. Several days later, on the evening of January 21, 1959, Switzer and his friend, 37-year-old unit still photographer Jack Piott, came to the conclusion that Stiltz owed Switzer the $50 paid to the man who found the dog. Shortly before 7:00 p.m. that evening, the pair arrived at Rita Corrigan's home in Mission Hills, where Stiltz was staying, to collect the money Stiltz "owed" Switzer.

According to Stiltz's testimony, he banged on his front door, demanding, "Let me in, or I'll kick in the door." Once Switzer was inside the home, he and Stiltz got into an argument. Switzer informed Stiltz that he wanted the money owed him, saying "I want that 50 bucks you owe me now, and I mean now." When Stiltz refused to hand over the money, the two engaged in a fight. Switzer allegedly struck Stiltz in the head with a glass-domed clock, which caused him to bleed from his left eye. Stiltz retreated to his bedroom and returned holding a .38-caliber revolver, but Switzer immediately grabbed the gun away from him, resulting in a shot being fired that hit the ceiling. Switzer then forced Stiltz into a closet, despite Stiltz having gotten his hands back on the gun. Switzer then allegedly pulled a switchblade knife and screamed, "I'm going to kill you" and was attempting to stab him with it, but just as Switzer was about to charge Stiltz, Stiltz raised the gun and shot Switzer in the groin. Switzer suffered massive internal bleeding and was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital.

Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer is interred at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Hollywood, California. Switzer died on the same day as Cecil B. DeMille. Switzer received only minor footnotes in most newspapers, while DeMille's obituary dominated the columns.

Controversy
The killing was ruled to be a justifiable homicide. Switzer had allegedly pulled a knife; therefore, the shooting was judged to be self-defense. During the inquest regarding Switzer's death, it was revealed that what was originally reported as a "hunting knife" was in fact merely a penknife. It had been found by crime scene investigators under his body, but with no blade exposed.

On January 25, 2001, a third witness came forward and gave his version of the events of January 21, 1959. The witness, 56-year-old Tom Corrigan, son of Western movie star Ray "Crash" Corrigan and stepson of Moses Samuel “Bud” Stiltz, was present the night Switzer was killed.

"It was more like murder," Corrigan told reporters. He said he heard the knock on the front door and heard Switzer say "Western Union for Bud Stiltz". Corrigan's mother, Rita Corrigan, opened the door to find a drunk and demanding Switzer complaining about a perceived, months-old debt. Switzer entered the house followed by Jack Piott and stated that he was going to beat Stiltz. Stiltz greeted Switzer with a .38-caliber revolver in his hand. Tom Corrigan claimed to witness Switzer grab the revolver and the two began struggling to gain control over it. Piott broke a glass-domed clock over Stiltz's head, then Stiltz's eye swelled shut. During the struggle the gun fired into the ceiling and Tom Corrigan was struck in the leg by a piece of fragmentation. After the initial shot, his two younger sisters ran to a neighbor's house to call for help. "Well, we shot Tommy, enough of this," he remembers Switzer saying before Switzer and Piott started to retreat. Corrigan had just stepped out the front door when he heard a second shot go off behind him. He did not see his stepfather shoot Switzer, but when he turned around he saw Switzer sliding down the wall with a surprised look on his face—shot in the groin. Corrigan said he spotted a closed penknife at Switzer's side which he presumed fell out of his pocket or his hand. He then witnessed his stepfather back Piott into the kitchen counter and threaten to kill him, but as the man begged for his life, they heard emergency sirens, which is why Corrigan believed Stiltz did not shoot him. Corrigan recalled that his stepfather lied in his account of the event to the authorities.

Following the shooting, Corrigan claims a now-deceased Los Angeles Police Department detective, Pat Pow, interviewed him and asked him if he would testify before a judge. Corrigan claims to have agreed, although for unknown reasons he was never called before the coroner's jury. "He didn't have to kill him," Corrigan said.

Dudley the Calico Cat
Switzer will voice Dudley the Calico Cat in  Captain Girly by Stephen Lind using Switzer's voice recordings from 1941.

‘‘Our Gang’’ (‘‘Little Rascals’’) short subjects

 * “Ain’t that just like a woman…”
 * “Tarzan never combs his hair.”
 * “Personality, boy…personality…”
 * “Anything you can do, I can do better.”
 * “Everything happens to us!”
 * “Boys who don’t go to Sunday School is bad!”
 * “Do you promise to tell the truth, the whole truth, and everything but the truth?”
 * “The bigger they are, the harder we fall.”
 * “There’s nobody down here, except us dummies.”
 * “How could a fella with my looks have brothers with faces like them?”
 * “Where are you going to find a porcupine this hour of night?”
 * “I’m trying to get my own self out of it! How far is Europe?”
 * “I don’t know what you’re gonna do, but I’m gonna run away to New York, or maybe Brooklyn!”
 * “After all, I’ve done for her. She has let me down for a man with a yacht, a…speed man.”
 * “That doesn’t phrase me a bit!”
 * “To think she’d do this to me, I’ll never speak to another girl as long as I live.”
 * “Fellas, this is one of the best ideas I’ve ever had!”
 * “What would Sherlock’s Home do in a time like this?”
 * “Don’t ‘D’ stand for Dandy?”
 * “Listen, gang. From now on, we take time out for lessons.”
 * Cornelius Smythe III: “Our resemblence is rather striking.” Alfalfa: “Yeah, and we look alike, too.”
 * “Beauty is only skin deep, but old friends are thicker than water.”

‘‘The Little Rascals Christmas Special’’

 * “Thank you, Mister Conductor.”

‘‘[[The Little Rascals’’ (animated TV series)
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Jell-O Gelatin Pops Commercials featuring ‘‘The Little Rascals’’

 * “It’ll be fruity!”
 * “Can’t help it!”
 * “But I don’t see any raspberry!”

‘‘The Little Rascals’’ (film)

 * “♪ You are so beautiful to me! ♪”
 * “Oh Darla, we’re two hearts, with but one beat.”
 * [stammers] “Yesterday.”
 * “LOOK!!!”
 * “I’ve come a courting. These are for you!”
 * “Must have been a bad year!”
 * “It’s a surprise!”
 * “I had to eat six boxes of Cracker Jacks to find it.”
 * “Wow, wow, wow, wow!”
 * “I just don’t wan’t anybody to see you!”
 * “Hiya, guys! You’re back early.”
 * “No, you’re not.”
 * “DARLA!!!”
 * “Please, oh, please, have mercy, please.”
 * “I know! I’ll write a message, and you two can take it to her.”
 * “Love note? No, this is gonna be hate note.”
 * “Spanky’s not the boss of me!”
 * “Gee, thanks!”
 * “Let’s get out of here!”
 * “Don’t ask.”
 * “I will not think of Darla.”
 * “SKUNKED BY THAT SLEEZY SIDEWINDER SPANKY!!!”
 * “Dang!”
 * “This song is about a tragic romance.”
 * “♪ All I need is the air that I breathe… ♪”
 * “THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!!!”
 * “He started it!”
 * “How are we gonna beat that?!”
 * “GRAB THE WHEEL!!!”
 * “Not without this!”
 * “I’m usually a lover, not a fighter. But in your case, I’m willing to make an exception!”
 * “That’s not Waldo!”
 * “My delectable Darlooney!”
 * “I winded my ear up.”

The Little Rascals Save the Day
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The Cool Adventures of Carl “Alfalfa” Switzer

 * “Let’s go!”
 * “Spanky, you’re the bestest friend in the whole infinity and beyond!”
 * “Buckwheat, you’re a clever inventor!”
 * “Hey Porky, do you like to eat meals?”
 * “Then how many?”
 * “Whoa, your answer shocked me.”
 * “What’s your best quote, Darla?”
 * “You’re best quote is that you love me?”
 * “Oh, Darla, if only I could just kiss you.”
 * “Scotty, I’m going to punch your face!”
 * “IN THE FACE!!!”
 * “Benny, get out of here!”
 * “Petey, do have any ideas?”

Captain Girly

 * "We have cake."
 * "Guess that leaves me. My name is Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer. My friends call me just Alfalfa. I'm a member, the most famous member of The Little Rascals."

Trivia

 * He is lucky to be the most famous member of the Our Gang (Little Rascals) series. The second is George “Spanky” McFarland.
 * He is the Alfalfa of Films.
 * He appeared in some Little Rascals syndicate panels in the 1950s.
 * He is the first woman-lover of the Our Gang (Little Rascals) series. The second is George “Spanky” McFarland. He didn't appear to be a woman-lover in Captain Girly.
 * In 1936, he replaced Spanky’s best friend, Scotty Beckett. In 1941, he was replaced by Billy “Froggy” Laughlin.
 * He died before 40 years of age. At his death, he was shot and killed by Moses Samuel “Bud” Slitz on January 21, 1959.
 * Child voice actor Jim Gatherum voiced Switzer in The Little Rascals Christmas Special.
 * Voice actress Julie McWhirter Dees voiced Switzer in the animated TV series of The Little Rascals.
 * Actor Seth Green portrayed Switzer in the Jell-O Gelatin Pops Commercials featuring The Little Rascals while the other Rascals are portrayed by themselves.

Portrayers and voice actors

 * Carl Switzer himself (1935-1940; portrayer)
 * Jim Gatherum (1979; voice)
 * Julie McWhirter Dees (1982-1984; voice)
 * Seth Green (1984; portrayer)
 * Ken Jennings (1987; portrayer)
 * Bug Hall (1994; portrayer)
 * Drew Justice (2014; portrayer)
 * Stephen Lind (2015-present; voice and portrayer)