Blergh

I'm sorry I didn't comment on it early but AA claimed that via a meet up at a meet-and-greet and then getting stuck in an airport, the late Carroll Spinney had a rousing convo with her in which they compared notes about ML and the late Jim Henson's workaholic, intense characters! They had a fun time together (and I had the feeling AA wished she could have had more talks with him) capping it off with Carroll Spinney giving her an autograph with the words 'Oscar Loves Nellie!' Too bad no one ever thought to have AA guest on Sesame Street in her 'Nellie' character but then they may have gotten too spooked by how scared their young viewers (and furious their parents were) when Margaret Hamilton guested as the Wicked Witch of the West who made trouble with Oscar. They NEVER reran that episode (and it was only recently that it would resurface on YouTube) so maybe they didn't want to chance Nellie doing a repeat!

OK, I've been thinking about some of the stuff what's intended for the future, and I need to get this out: if anyone has first edition history books (complete with documentation), textbooks and/or documentaries on Compact Disc [especially dealing with this histories of different ethnic groups,etc.] SAVE them as carefully as possible! Moreover, if one is a teacher, parent or guardian who doesn't want their children to have only a sanctioned bland bowlderized propaganda taught, please USE these materials whenever possible to teach as broad a scope of history as possible so that the youth will want to seek knowledge outside a tiny box that might be placed upon their imaginations. And note that I said hard copies and personal CD's,etc. as I wouldn't be surprised if Musk were to attempt to wipe out as much electronic and online data that's contrary to propaganda as possible. OK, as a child of academics, I HAD to get this out as best I could. All right so that my post isn't entirely a bummer, I leave suggesting that posters might consider keeping the Serenity Prayer ( 'Accept what cannot be changed, change what I can and give me the wisdom to know the difference') and/or for those who might not want to consider that option, I think one might ponder what the late Christopher Reeve said he did after his horrific accident: he said that when he woke up he ACKNOWLEDGED and screamed (as best he could) that his condition 's uck ed' for X number of minutes THEN after venting those emotions, he would do his best to plan his day even and concentrate on what he COULD do! I'm just asking everyone to try to keep from getting overwhelmed and gloomy so that we (and/or our progeny) may survive and overcome as much as possible. That's all for now!

Maybe because this is where I've put other Cher news in. .. I don't know what's more warm and fuzzy,etc.- the fact that she's written the first part of her autobio entitled Cher: The Memoir Part One or that she's freely telling her age when pitching her new work! One thing that can't be denied is that she's never followed a conventional path and it would seem that she's marched to her own beat from birth so this work might be worth thumbing/scrolling through!

FWIW, Miss Stewart went into a little more detail in her autobio about that spa time with Miss MacGregor (including a garlic raid[!]) and, in addition to the depiction of these two performers letting their hair down and being quite different from their characters, it appears that none of the fellow spa clients recognized who these two were. Now whether they clients were genuinely ignorant of LHOTP or were just being polite and pretending to, I'm not sure but it was good to think that they were able to do something fun together- and were left alone.

OK, I talked about FDR's somewhat force-of-nature mother Sara Delano Roosevelt but I'd be remiss if I didn't talk about the parents of his wife Eleanor (1884-1962)- Elliott (1860-1894) and Anna Rebecca Hall Roosevelt (1863-1892). Yes, they both would die quite young when their daughter was still a child but they'd have lifelong impacts on her. Elliott had been sent west to Texas for adventure then became one of the first US Americans to explore India and the Himalayas while Anna not only came from a prominent old family but was a stunning beauty- to the extent that many decades after her death, her daughter would describe her as 'one of the most beautiful women I've ever seen!' and their 1883 marriage was considered to be THE match of the season. Alas, they weren't to live happily ever after. For one thing, Elliot had started to develop an alcohol problem and Anna had had to somehow help her widowed mother Mary keep the family from going under after her own father's death when she just seventeen. Then, in February,1884, Elliot's mother 'Mittie' and his sister-in-law Alice Lee Roosevelt both fell mortally ill which got the somewhat highstrung Elliot to declare to his elder brother Theodore that their house was cursed with Theodore having to run between floors to tend to his dying mother and wife -barely consoled that their daughter Alice somehow was born healthy two days before her mother's death. Neither Theodore or Elliott ever got over this double tragedy. Though Elliot seemed quite grateful when his own young wife Anna safely bore their firstborn child eight months later and doted on her from the start. Alas, Anna seemed somewhat put out that this daughter had not inherited her beauty and early on tagged her 'Granny' because she considered the child to be 'so old-fashioned'! Anna did care for Eleanor -urging her to become educated but even she couldn't completely overlook her daughter's comparative plainness saying 'you certainty aren't a beauty so you'd better be smart!'. Elliott also wanted Eleanor to be well-educated but he wasn't without his own faults- including one time leaving the six-year-old girl who'd he'd taken on a walk to wait outside a 'private club' while he was to pop in 'for a few minutes' but wound up drinking himself unconscious and only when the staff was in the process of carrying him home did they notice little Eleanor still waiting outside in the cold- six hours later after which a doorman deposited her back home! In 1889, Elliot severely broke a leg in an accident and would be prescribed morphine which he soon became addicted to along with the alcohol. Not surprisingly Anna became alarmed at his sudden decline and herself would develop severe migraines which Eleanor would help her mother through by messaging her temples. After 1891, both the Roosevelt and Hall families decided that Elliott had become too unstable to be relied upon to provide for Anna and her children and fully supported Anna's decision to separate herself from him while he was exiled in the mountain resort of Abington, Virginia. In 1892, Anna would die from complications of diphtheria at the young age of 28 leaving her children to be cared for by her mother Mary. In the meantime, Elliott would occasionally visit Eleanor and her surviving baby brother Gracie 'Hall' Roosevelt and write letters promising a future of travel with her making a home for him (and she would consider her baby brother to be their child). While Elliott would claim to greatly mourn Anna to Eleanor in his letters to her, he didn't mourn alone. It turned out that he'd gotten a German-born servant Katy Mann in the family way and she'd stay his companion the rest of his life. Alarmingly, Elliott became so distraught between his addictions and his painfully wonky leg that hadn't been set right that he attempted suicide at 34 by leaping out a 2nd floor window. He survived the fall but would die of a seizure the next day. After this, his brother Theodore visited his troubled late brother's 'love nest' and,to his shock, discovered that Elliot had plastered it with photographs of his late wife- including one right over the very bed he and his mistress had slept in! Eleanor would choose to only focus on Elliot's attentiveness to her and lessons he gave her rather than his glaring shadowside. In fact, she not only saved his letters to her but she'd take them with her on countless journeys to all corners of the world -somehow making sure they were never lost or damaged -rereading them before going to sleep almost every night for the rest of her life. In spite of her birth parents' flaws, Eleanor WOULD have a positive maternal love from an unexpected source: from the ages of 15 to 17, Eleanor would be sent to a boarding school in England run by an aging French headmistress named Marie Souvestre (1830-1905)who not only taught her to speak fluent French but, more importantly, encouraged Eleanor to expand her intellect and gain self-confidence! Alas, against the protests of both Eleanor and Mlle. Souvestre, her maternal grandmother (and legal guardian) Mrs. Hall insisted that Eleanor return back to New York to make her formal debut in Society (which,not surprisingly, Eleanor considered a disaster) instead of staying the last year to complete her coursework . However, Eleanor would never forget Mlle. Souvestre's kindness and encouragement and would keep a portrait of her on her desk in her homes the rest of her own life.

I would agree! I can't say I'd have imagined that the performer playing Miss Beadle would have lived anything besides a prim and proper life offstage but she she sure showed that still waters run deep via her autobio (at least Miss Stewart herself).

A televised 'roast' where Mr. Rickles and hiscomedic colleagues jabbed (but didn't deliberately puncture) each other was rather tame compared to what Lenny Bruce, George Carlin, Howard Stern, etc. said to deliberately offend.

BTW, Don Rickles never called anyone anything worse than a 'hockey puck' onstage- and was known to be a friendly nice person to his colleagues offstage and a devoted family man to his wife and children! OK, as long as we're talking 'woke'. As a historian, I believe it's vital for people to know their history - good and otherwise and not plug their ears to the unpleasant parts! However, I would also stress that we need to be careful not to become SO jaded and cynical that we refuse to acknowledge the positive aspects of our (the US) nation's founding and that the intent was to establish something that would eventually give as many folks opportunities to participate and advance (even if the suffrage was initially restricted to a tiny portion of adults back then). If one doesn't believe there WERE positives that were being built up, there's little or no reason to try to strive to regain the progress that had been made. I also get somewhat tired of the hysteria of some of the 'anti-woke' crowd who seem to think that any acknowledgement of any ills endured by those from different ethnic groups is somehow too much for them to bear- much less want to attempt to consider any empathy for others that could lead to making positive changes.

OK, I could talk about political figures who I believe contributed to how we got in this mess. However, at this time, I'd like to talk about some who I think should be blamed rather than further lionized. Lenny Bruce, George Carlin and Howard Stern. Why? Because instead of holding these up as examples of folks using speech that needed to be legally protected in spite of being vile, they got held up as some kind of free speech warriors! I understand that there have been folks who've used profanity, ethnic slurs,etc. from Time Immemorial in their own circles (and I don't claim that I've not let out stuff I shouldn't have in times of stress,etc)but until the mid-1960's that was considered at the very least disrespectful if not outrightly offensive to use these terms in the presence of clergy, government officials, the elderly, women and children out of respect for them (and even those who DID use those terms KNEW they were being deliberately hurtful, rude and offensive)! But instead these folks and those who followed their example got held up as some kind of heroes and now we're having to deal with politicians and others who are LAUDED for being deliberately hurtful, rude and offensive! Can anyone imagine even 20 years ago a would-be politician not having been booed and considered finished for having used unquestionably vile terms? But after decades of 'anything goes' being celebrated in the public sphere. ..we'll here we are and we're ALL paying the price- especially the younger generations who are bereft of positive examples of civil speech! I've said it before and I'll say it again: I don't care how technologically advanced we may get, without civility, civilization can't endure! Period.

I wonder if anyone will try to make their own 'Oleson's Mercantile'- complete with store, storeroom. . raucous parlor, three upstairs bedrooms and bathroom complete with its own tub and shoddily installed commode?

I didn't say that Zeb wasn't resourceful or cunning (and definitely saved the day on more than one occasion). However, I can't help but believe that had he not been married to Esther, he wouldn't have been as motivated to used his energies for the betterment of the family rather than stayed somewhat feral. Of course, it was interesting how Zeb and John DID include Esther and Olivia (and sometimes John-Boy) when they needed to make important decisions involving the entire family rather than one or both unilaterally making said decisions and considering Esther and Olivia's POVs unneeded.

That's amazing what this family has done and nice of them to give them a tour of their home to the 'son-in-law' Dean Butler. They sure made the basic Little House actually look cozier and more livable than the show's with even modern amenities included. Of course, since it IS a private home, it can't be toured by fans like a museum. At least though with Mr. Butler's video, viewers have a better idea of what the inside of the LHOTP home might have looked like than with the pile of wood sitting in Stan Ivar's storage shed.

Aww, Siegfried's father's died. Yes, the elder Mr. West was the father of Samuel West the current Siegfried in All Creatures Great and Small (2019- Present). Interesting they both had links to the original Siegfried in the first series (1978-1990). Before making his mark as the original Siegfried Robert Hardy (1925-2017) played Albert, the Prince Consort in the series Edward the Seventh (1975)(which was surprisingly more historically accurate than many dramatizations with much of the principles' dialogue quoted verbatim from letters,etc. ) that would have Timothy West play the title character from his 30's until his death at age 69 with gusto though he never shared any scenes with Mr. Hardy due to his character's father having died when he was 20. On a more sombre note, it seems that the late Mr. West's wife of 64 years, Prunella Scales has been stricken with vascular dementia but Mr. West had been taking care of her the last ten years after the diagnosis. RIP, Mr. West and I hope the rest of your loved ones will take up the reigns to make the best of your widow's twilight.

That's a good question! I know the focus of those roughly 12-18 months was on the birth of Grace, Mary losing her sight then becoming a blind school teacher, and then Walnut Grove being ruined by a monsoon forcing the three main families to relocate to Winoka . However it was a big FAIL of ML not to even once have had the script allude to the possibility that there might have been some other teacher guiding the school age kids between Miss Beadle's getting Simmed and Mrs. Garvey's newfound calling after Winoka!

Charlotte Stewart has said that she was always told that Miss Beadle would eventually make her exit so that Almanzo Wilder's sister Eliza Jane could take over as teacher and this would set the stage of Laura meeting Manley. Hence, since she was about due for her exit, Miss Beadle couldn't have seriously courted Doc Baker since HE was going to stay around. Thus they had to bring in the newbie Adam Simms to woo then wed her! Still, I have to wonder how (or if) ML was so sure that the show would have lasted so long as to be able to have Laura's eventual meeting with her new teacher's brother happen. P.S. While (of all folks) Mary was depicted as being a substitute for the heavily pregnant new Mrs. Simms, oddly enough there was no mention of who (or even IF) there was a Walnut Grove teacher from the time Mrs. Simms permanently retired to have her son/ Mary went blind then went to blind school to the time Mrs. Garvey returned from Winoka with her family. I mean, that was roughly a year or even 18 months with NO teacher depicted or mentioned.