Framing Youth on AllMovie

Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer, Our Gang's resident crooner, has been preparing for weeks to perform in a radio talent contest. With Spanky McFarland as his manager, Alfalfa is a shoe-in for first prize -- until neighborhood bully Butch (Tommy Bond), who intends to perform a violin solo on the same radio show, threatens to blacken Spanky's eye unless Alfalfa withdraws from the contest. The terrified Spanky convinces Alfalfa that he has "a frog in his throat" and will be unable to perform. Eventually, however, Spanky's conscience gets the better of him, and he urges Alfalfa to sing anyway -- with surprising results. In the early scenes of the serial, the viewer is given a guided tour of the Gang's paste-and-paper "voice studio" (complete with Darla Hood as receptionist and Eugene "Porky" Lee and Billy "Buckwheat" Thomas as go-fers). Framing Youth was originally released on September 11, 1937.