Alfalfa's Double is a 1940 Our Gang

Our Gang

Our Gang, also known as The Little Rascals or Hal Roach's Rascals, was a series of American comedy short films about a group of poor neighborhood children and the adventures they had together. Created by comedy producer Hal Roach, the series is noted for showing children behaving in a relatively...

short

Short subject

A short film is any film not long enough to be considered a feature film. No consensus exists as to where that boundary is drawn: the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes or less, including all...

 comedy film

Comedy film

Comedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse and entertain the audiences...

 directed by Edward Cahn. It was the 186th Our Gang

Our Gang

Our Gang, also known as The Little Rascals or Hal Roach's Rascals, was a series of American comedy short films about a group of poor neighborhood children and the adventures they had together. Created by comedy producer Hal Roach, the series is noted for showing children behaving in a relatively...

short (187th episode, 98th talking short, 99th talking episode, and 18th MGM produced episode) that was released.

Plot

Alfalfa comes face to face with his wealthy lookalike Cornelius (also played by Carl Switzer). This fateful meeting provides a golden opportunity for both boys: By trading places with his double, Alfalfa will be able to weasel out of his yard work and live a life of luxury, while Cornelius will be able to escape the rigors of dancing lessons, baths, and the like, and briefly enjoy the benefits of being a "regular kid." But the consequences of the boys' identity-trading serves only to lend credence to the old saying "Stay in your own backyard." Alfalfa is not used to the dancing lessons, formal meals, having to behave like a gentleman, minding table manners (where his meal is taken away and replaced with an artichoke), reading lessons, and an afternoon nap. Cornelius fares as bad when he has yardwork to do and finds that the rough play is not for him. In the end they secretly switch back and Alfalfa comes back to a messy yard that the gang cleaned up earlier but messed up due to the lack of help from his double.

Cast

• Carl Switzer
  Carl Switzer
  Carl Dean "Alfalfa" Switzer was an American child actor, professional dog breeder and hunting guide, most notable for appearing in the Our Gang short subjects series as Alfalfa, one of the series' most popular and best-remembered characters.-Early life and family:Switzer was born in Paris,...
  
   - Alfalfa/Cornelius
• George McFarland
  George McFarland
  George Robert Phillips "Spanky" McFarland was an American actor most famous for his appearances as a child in the Our Gang series of short-subject comedies of the 1930s and 1940s...
  
   - Spanky
• Darla Hood
  Darla Hood
  Darla Jean Hood was an American child actress, best known as the leading lady in the Our Gang series from 1935 to 1941. She was born in Leedey, Oklahoma, the only child of James Claude Hood and Elizabeth Davner...
  
   - Darla
• Mickey Gubitosi
  Robert Blake (actor)
  Robert Blake is an American actor who starred in the film In Cold Blood and the U.S. television series Baretta. In 2005, he was tried and acquitted for the 2001 murder of his wife, but on November 18, 2005, Blake was found liable in a California civil court for her wrongful death.-Early...
  
   (later known as Robert Blake) - Mickey
• Billie Thomas - Buckwheat
• Leonard Landy
  Leonard Landy
  Leonard Landy is an American former child actor, most notable for appearing in the Our Gang short subjects series from 1938 to 1941....
  
   - Leonard
• Hank Mann
  Hank Mann
  Hank Mann was a comedian and silent screen star who is best known as the last surviving member of the Keystone Cops. According to fellow actor and original member of the ensemble Edgar Kennedy, Mann was the originator of the idea for the Keysotne Cops...
  
   - Railroad attendant
• Barbara Bedford - Alfalfa's mother
• Anne O'Niel - governess
• Milton Parsons - Willoughby