I am currently working on two major writing projects.

The first is a collection of essays, held together loosely by the episodic chronicle of a fictional family called the Scrimshaws. I have entitled this book The Other Side of the Pretzel. I anticipate completion of this book, and submission to publishers, by Spring of 2003. See sample excerpts of this book now.

The second book I am working on is in the developmental stage. It is a formal biography of Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer, one of the most memorable cast members in the 22-year history of the Our Gang/ Little Rascals series. I am tentatively entitling this book Alfalfa: Chronicle of an Actor / Carl Dean Switzer and His Era. The genesis of this effort was the website I launched in July 2002, 4alfalfa.com. While developing this site, I became convinced that Alfalfa's life and career was worthy of a book-length biography.

The success of this project will depend on the quality and scope of my research. Accordingly, I am seeking reliable information on the following specific topics:

•Genealogy of the Switzer family
•Information on the Paris, Ilinois and Edgar County, Illinois area, especially in the period between 1920 and 1940. I am seeking in particular oral histories from residents of this area on what it was like living and growing up in the Edgar County area.
•Production of the Our Gang/Little Rascals series, and oral histories from surviving cast members
•Any and all information on Alfalfa's off-screen life (both as a child and an adult), his behavior on the set, and his struggles to establish an acting career as an adult.
•Credible information on his death in 1959 and the resulting decision by local authorities to accept his assailant's self-defense claim.
•Data on Alfalfa's family members, both surviving and deceased.

If you can provide information on the above topics, or know someone who can, please contact me.

I anticipate that this effort will require at least 24 months of research. Learn more about my plans for Alfalfa: Chronicle of an Actor / Carl Dean Switzer and His Era.

I have also completed an essay entitled, "The importance of flatness and self-containment in the visual arts", which is included in the "Painting" section of tdludwig.net.


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