S01.E20: Child Of Pain

[Primetimer]

When a drunk neighbor abuses his child, Pa figures out how to cure his alcoholism.

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[EAG46]

Wasn't the idea of curing alcoholism anachronistic for 1870? Never mind intervening in child abuse. Back then children were pretty much property of the parents to do with as one wished. [And sadly some families feel that way today.]

[Stowaway]

17 minutes ago, EAG46 said:

Wasn't the idea of curing alcoholism anachronistic for 1870? Never mind intervening in child abuse. Back then children were pretty much property of the parents to do with as one wished. [And sadly some families feel that way today.]

At the risk of revealing myself as the biggest nerd on the planet. . . there's an Anthony Trollope novel from the 1850s where a pretty major plot line is the country doctor trying to cure alcoholism. He has some wrong-headed notions about how to do it, but he certainly understood what alcoholism was (without the modern vocabulary for it).

[LAFR]

So I was looking around to find the original air date for this episode as I was wondering how it impacted my young understanding of the DT's and alcoholism. I'm not sure if I watched this when it aired but in my googling I learned this bit of information, which I find disappointing as I wanted Nellie's curls:

Nellie Oleson originally had her hair carefully styled each day, however during Season 1 they had a wig custom ordered for her. This allowed her elaborate hair style to maintain it’s styling through long hours of shooting. It was, at the time, one of the most expensive wigs created for a TV show as it was constructed lock by lock to match her natural hair colors as much as possible.

[wanton87]

Way to go Mary. Pawn the rooster off on the biology challenged kid (No one wants those).

Damn. Was that not the most terrifying case of the DT’s that anyone has ever saw ? :D