Okla-homey
1/21/2007, 08:26 AM
Jan 21, 1959 : Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer of "Our Gang" dies in a fight over money
http://aycu36.webshots.com/image/8755/2003714205393379692_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2003714205393379692)
Switzer and groupies
On this day forty-eight years ago, Carl Dean Switzer, the actor who as a child played Alfalfa in the "Our Gang" and "Little Rascals" comedy short film series, dies at age 31 in a fight, allegedly about money, in a Mission Hills, California, home. Alfalfa, the freckle-faced boy with a warbling singing voice and a cowlick protruding from the top of his head, was Switzer's best-known role.
http://aycu40.webshots.com/image/8999/2003798559477942914_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2003798559477942914)
As a child, Switzer, who was born August 7, 1927, entertained people in his hometown of Paris, Illinois, with his singing. On a trip to California to visit relatives, Switzer's mother took Carl and his brother to the Hal Roach Studios, a film and television production company that launched the careers of comedy legends like Laurel and Hardy. The Switzer brothers were signed by Hal Roach and Carl was cast as Alfalfa in the Our Gang series, which Roach began producing as silent films in the early 1920s.
http://aycu11.webshots.com/image/8410/2003736369039807139_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2003736369039807139)
Our Gang revolved around a group of ragtag children and their adventures. Along with Alfalfa, other popular characters included Spanky, Buckwheat and Darla.
Our Gang was considered groundbreaking in that it featured white and black child actors interacting equally. Switzer played Alfalfa from the mid-1930s to the early 1940s. In 1955, the Our Gang films were turned into a hugely popular TV series called The Little Rascals; however, Switzer never received any royalties from the show.
After Our Gang, Switzer found small roles in movies and on television (most notably a bit part in the holiday classic, A Wonderful Life,) but his most successful days in Hollywood were behind him. He made money working odd jobs, including stints as a hunting guide and bartender, and had several run-ins with the police.
http://aycu36.webshots.com/image/8755/2003770741625887179_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2003770741625887179)
In 1954, Switzer married a woman named Dian Collingwood. The couple had one child together, a boy, whose name remains well guarded to this day. Few details are known about the couple's relationship, but the marriage quickly came to an end and the couple divorced within four months.
Switzer's luck did not get better with time. According to Maltin and Bann, he was having difficulty securing meaningful acting jobs and in January 1958, he was shot in the arm while getting into his car. Switzer survived the shooting, but the assailant was never identified.
Several months later, Switzer was arrested in Sequoia National Forest for chopping down 15 pine trees. His motive for this act remains unclear, but a judge sentenced him to a year's probation and ordered him to pay a $225 fine.
During early January 1959, Switzer borrowed a hunting dog from a friend, Moses "Bud" Stiltz, for a hunting expedition he was planning to guide. However, shortly after picking up the dog, it ran off. Switzer posted a reward of $35 dollars for the animal's return and within a few days a man called to claim the money. Switzer was elated and instructed the man to deliver the dog to the tavern where he was tending bar. Upon the man's arrival, Switzer paid him the reward money and bought the man several drinks, which in the end totaled $15. Altogether, Switzer was out fifty bucks over the lost dog incident.
http://aycu29.webshots.com/image/10548/2003740849491677677_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2003740849491677677)
During the next several weeks, Switzer began having financial problems. He was still not receiving checks for his last film and he was nearly broke. He began drinking heavily and eventually decided to confront Stiltz and demand he pay him the money for recovering the lost dog. Either heavy drinking or faulty logic prevented Switzer from accepting that he was solely at fault in the dog's running away. Regardless, his decision would prove to be a fatal one.
On the night of January 21, 1959, Carl Switzer and a friend, 37-year-old studio still photographer Jack Piott, went to Stiltz's girlfriend's home in San Fernando Valley, California. According to January 27, 1959, reports by The New York Times, Switzer wanted Stiltz to reimburse him the $50 he spent recovering the dog. Stiltz refused to pay and an argument ensued. In the end, Switzer lay dying on the floor from a single gunshot wound. While there is no question as to how he died, there are three separate versions of the events that preceded his death. The one the jury believed was one in which Switzer pulled a knife and attacked Stiltz who had refused to reimburse Switzer the fifty bucks.
Bottomline is, it was ruled self-defense and Stiltz walked.
http://aycu25.webshots.com/image/11064/2003751934253294669_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2003751934253294669)
Switzer's gravestone in a Hollywood cemetery. I have no idea why they had a hunting dog engraved thereon. Seems a bit ironic, but hey, maybe he loved dogs?
Postscript:
There is talk of a "curse" on the child stars of the Little Rascals/Our Gang series. many of them came to grief in the ensuing years. What follows is a summary:
Pete the Pup (? 1930) - An unknown assailant poisoned the original Pete.
Robert Hutchins "Wheezer" - (3/29/25 - 3/17/45) - Died in an airplane accident at the age of 19.
William Robert Laughlin "Froggy" - (7/05/32 - 8/31/48) - Died in a bicycle accident at the age of 16.
Robert H. Young "Bonedust" (9/15/17 - 9/10/51) - Died in a hotel fire, which started when he fell asleep smoking in bed.
Dorothy Dandridge "Dorothy" (11/09/23 9/08/65) - Committed suicide after an investment scheme caused her to go bankrupt.
Harold Switzer "Deadpan" or "Slim" - (1/16/25 - 4/14/67) As was the case with his brother, Harold was also killed following a dispute with another man.
Scotty Beckett "Scotty" - (10/04/29 - 5/10/68) Died in a Hollywood nursing home after being severely beaten two days prior to his admittance. A bottle of pills and a note were found at the scene, however the coroner never determined the exact cause of death. He was just 38 years old.
Darla Hood "Darla" - (11/08/31 - 6/13/79) - Hospitalized for hepatitis in 1979, she soon died under what was later ruled to be "suspicious circumstances."
Kendall McComas "Breezy Brisbane" - (10/29/16 - 10/15/81) - Two weeks before his 65th birthday and apparent forced retirement from the U.S. Naval Weapons Center in China Lake, California, he committed suicide.
Robert Blake "Mickey" - (9/18/33 - present) - On April 18, 2002, he was arrested and charged with the murder of his wife, Bonnie Lee Bakely.
Darwood Kaye "Waldo" - (9/08/29 - 5/15/2002) - Killed by a hit and run driver while walking on the sidewalk.
Jay R. Smith "Jay R" - (8/29/15 - 10/05/2002) - Stabbed to death and left in the desert by a homeless man he had befriended.
http://aycu35.webshots.com/image/9874/2003736260204160079_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2003736260204160079)
http://aycu36.webshots.com/image/8755/2003714205393379692_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2003714205393379692)
Switzer and groupies
On this day forty-eight years ago, Carl Dean Switzer, the actor who as a child played Alfalfa in the "Our Gang" and "Little Rascals" comedy short film series, dies at age 31 in a fight, allegedly about money, in a Mission Hills, California, home. Alfalfa, the freckle-faced boy with a warbling singing voice and a cowlick protruding from the top of his head, was Switzer's best-known role.
http://aycu40.webshots.com/image/8999/2003798559477942914_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2003798559477942914)
As a child, Switzer, who was born August 7, 1927, entertained people in his hometown of Paris, Illinois, with his singing. On a trip to California to visit relatives, Switzer's mother took Carl and his brother to the Hal Roach Studios, a film and television production company that launched the careers of comedy legends like Laurel and Hardy. The Switzer brothers were signed by Hal Roach and Carl was cast as Alfalfa in the Our Gang series, which Roach began producing as silent films in the early 1920s.
http://aycu11.webshots.com/image/8410/2003736369039807139_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2003736369039807139)
Our Gang revolved around a group of ragtag children and their adventures. Along with Alfalfa, other popular characters included Spanky, Buckwheat and Darla.
Our Gang was considered groundbreaking in that it featured white and black child actors interacting equally. Switzer played Alfalfa from the mid-1930s to the early 1940s. In 1955, the Our Gang films were turned into a hugely popular TV series called The Little Rascals; however, Switzer never received any royalties from the show.
After Our Gang, Switzer found small roles in movies and on television (most notably a bit part in the holiday classic, A Wonderful Life,) but his most successful days in Hollywood were behind him. He made money working odd jobs, including stints as a hunting guide and bartender, and had several run-ins with the police.
http://aycu36.webshots.com/image/8755/2003770741625887179_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2003770741625887179)
In 1954, Switzer married a woman named Dian Collingwood. The couple had one child together, a boy, whose name remains well guarded to this day. Few details are known about the couple's relationship, but the marriage quickly came to an end and the couple divorced within four months.
Switzer's luck did not get better with time. According to Maltin and Bann, he was having difficulty securing meaningful acting jobs and in January 1958, he was shot in the arm while getting into his car. Switzer survived the shooting, but the assailant was never identified.
Several months later, Switzer was arrested in Sequoia National Forest for chopping down 15 pine trees. His motive for this act remains unclear, but a judge sentenced him to a year's probation and ordered him to pay a $225 fine.
During early January 1959, Switzer borrowed a hunting dog from a friend, Moses "Bud" Stiltz, for a hunting expedition he was planning to guide. However, shortly after picking up the dog, it ran off. Switzer posted a reward of $35 dollars for the animal's return and within a few days a man called to claim the money. Switzer was elated and instructed the man to deliver the dog to the tavern where he was tending bar. Upon the man's arrival, Switzer paid him the reward money and bought the man several drinks, which in the end totaled $15. Altogether, Switzer was out fifty bucks over the lost dog incident.
http://aycu29.webshots.com/image/10548/2003740849491677677_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2003740849491677677)
During the next several weeks, Switzer began having financial problems. He was still not receiving checks for his last film and he was nearly broke. He began drinking heavily and eventually decided to confront Stiltz and demand he pay him the money for recovering the lost dog. Either heavy drinking or faulty logic prevented Switzer from accepting that he was solely at fault in the dog's running away. Regardless, his decision would prove to be a fatal one.
On the night of January 21, 1959, Carl Switzer and a friend, 37-year-old studio still photographer Jack Piott, went to Stiltz's girlfriend's home in San Fernando Valley, California. According to January 27, 1959, reports by The New York Times, Switzer wanted Stiltz to reimburse him the $50 he spent recovering the dog. Stiltz refused to pay and an argument ensued. In the end, Switzer lay dying on the floor from a single gunshot wound. While there is no question as to how he died, there are three separate versions of the events that preceded his death. The one the jury believed was one in which Switzer pulled a knife and attacked Stiltz who had refused to reimburse Switzer the fifty bucks.
Bottomline is, it was ruled self-defense and Stiltz walked.
http://aycu25.webshots.com/image/11064/2003751934253294669_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2003751934253294669)
Switzer's gravestone in a Hollywood cemetery. I have no idea why they had a hunting dog engraved thereon. Seems a bit ironic, but hey, maybe he loved dogs?
Postscript:
There is talk of a "curse" on the child stars of the Little Rascals/Our Gang series. many of them came to grief in the ensuing years. What follows is a summary:
Pete the Pup (? 1930) - An unknown assailant poisoned the original Pete.
Robert Hutchins "Wheezer" - (3/29/25 - 3/17/45) - Died in an airplane accident at the age of 19.
William Robert Laughlin "Froggy" - (7/05/32 - 8/31/48) - Died in a bicycle accident at the age of 16.
Robert H. Young "Bonedust" (9/15/17 - 9/10/51) - Died in a hotel fire, which started when he fell asleep smoking in bed.
Dorothy Dandridge "Dorothy" (11/09/23 9/08/65) - Committed suicide after an investment scheme caused her to go bankrupt.
Harold Switzer "Deadpan" or "Slim" - (1/16/25 - 4/14/67) As was the case with his brother, Harold was also killed following a dispute with another man.
Scotty Beckett "Scotty" - (10/04/29 - 5/10/68) Died in a Hollywood nursing home after being severely beaten two days prior to his admittance. A bottle of pills and a note were found at the scene, however the coroner never determined the exact cause of death. He was just 38 years old.
Darla Hood "Darla" - (11/08/31 - 6/13/79) - Hospitalized for hepatitis in 1979, she soon died under what was later ruled to be "suspicious circumstances."
Kendall McComas "Breezy Brisbane" - (10/29/16 - 10/15/81) - Two weeks before his 65th birthday and apparent forced retirement from the U.S. Naval Weapons Center in China Lake, California, he committed suicide.
Robert Blake "Mickey" - (9/18/33 - present) - On April 18, 2002, he was arrested and charged with the murder of his wife, Bonnie Lee Bakely.
Darwood Kaye "Waldo" - (9/08/29 - 5/15/2002) - Killed by a hit and run driver while walking on the sidewalk.
Jay R. Smith "Jay R" - (8/29/15 - 10/05/2002) - Stabbed to death and left in the desert by a homeless man he had befriended.
http://aycu35.webshots.com/image/9874/2003736260204160079_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2003736260204160079)