Little House On The Prairie - General Discussion

[mustbeme]

They have looped around to the beginning again today....man I really needed A Harvest of Friends, I love that first season.

[debraran]

Me too, I left it this morning after the awful Baby Rose gets stolen episode and came home to Country Party. ; )

 

[tearknee]

Sad what happened to Sarah Coleman. Losing her twin must have been devastating to Jennifer. Sarah lives on as Baby Rose in LHOTP.

[Blergh]

On 11/8/2024 at 3:39 AM, tearknee said:

Sad what happened to Sarah Coleman. Losing her twin must have been devastating to Jennifer. Sarah lives on as Baby Rose in LHOTP.

What interesting is that after the show was over, Miss Donati and her late sister were able to grow up without any spotlight and it would only be during the 50th Anniversary celebrations when Miss Donati brought the proof to Dean Butler,etc. that she and her late twin had played his infant daughter Rose that she opted to make this known. Thankfully, the surviving cast has appeared to have embraced her for her (and her late twin's) earlier contributions and this may bring comfort to her.

[jason88cubs]

https://www.walnutgrovecast.com/charles-puts-a-little-something-special-in-pipe-finally-understands-carrie/

 

Hilarious

[jason88cubs]

Just realized they could have a episode where Caroline puts the banker and Miss Beadle together

[Blergh]

19 hours ago, jason88cubs said:

Just realized they could have a episode where Caroline puts the banker and Miss Beadle together

I'm not sure Mr. Sprague would have been interested.

However, I'm a bit surprised that there never was an episode with Miss Beadle attempting to get together with Doc Baker- even if they wound up crashing and burning but wanting to resume a platonic bond, it still would have been an interesting ep,IMO.

[shipmate]

Watching Sweet 16, which is arguably one of my favorite episodes in the whole series. Like others, I really wish we would’ve had a handful of episodes at least with the courtship between Laura and Almanzo versus going straight to engagement and marriage.

on a different note, one of my best friends was able to attend one of the cast reunion events and just surprised me with an autographed photo from Dean Butler. It will be treasured!

[debraran]

40 minutes ago, shipmate said:

Watching Sweet 16, which is arguably one of my favorite episodes in the whole series. Like others, I really wish we would’ve had a handful of episodes at least with the courtship between Laura and Almanzo versus going straight to engagement and marriage.

on a different note, one of my best friends was able to attend one of the cast reunion events and just surprised me with an autographed photo from Dean Butler. It will be treasured!

That's so cool! I never got to see him in CT (except in passing) but I hope to one day.

I didn't like how Almonzo was so pigheaded in that episode, ordering her to pick him or her dad but I like that it wasn't rushed. I hate when everything happens in 2 wks. 

And Percival arrives which is nice too.

 

12 hours ago, Blergh said:

I'm not sure Mr. Sprague would have been interested.

However, I'm a bit surprised that there never was an episode with Miss Beadle attempting to get together with Doc Baker- even if they wound up crashing and burning but wanting to resume a platonic bond, it still would have been an interesting ep,IMO.

I think Sprague might have courted Harriet's niece but seemed to like his quiet life. Doc was such a nice man, educated and kind and caring and no single woman in town wanted to at least have a conversation with him or ask him to have a picnic lunch or something acceptable? I liked Mr Simms but wish it was at least thought of. They did with Grace and Mr Edwards. I still hoped Stanley's wife had him come by to check on her and baby and they started to have feelings over time. But alas, we can only hope wherever they were walking too in the end, he ended up with someone who appreciated him.

Edited November 13 by debraran

[Blergh]

3 hours ago, debraran said:

That's so cool! I never got to see him in CT (except in passing) but I hope to one day.

I didn't like how Almonzo was so pigheaded in that episode, ordering her to pick him or her dad but I like that it wasn't rushed. I hate when everything happens in 2 wks. 

And Percival arrives which is nice too.

 

I think Sprague might have courted Harriet's niece but seemed to like his quiet life. Doc was such a nice man, educated and kind and caring and no single woman in town wanted to at least have a conversation with him or ask him to have a picnic lunch or something acceptable? I liked Mr Simms but wish it was at least thought of. They did with Grace and Mr Edwards. I still hoped Stanley's wife had him come by to check on her and baby and they started to have feelings over time. But alas, we can only hope wherever they were walking too in the end, he ended up with someone who appreciated him.

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.

[tearknee]

Then what did the kids do for those 18 months -- Nellie would have been a lot less restrained for one with no teacher.

[Blergh]

2 hours ago, tearknee said:

Then what did the kids do for those 18 months -- Nellie would have been a lot less restrained for one with no teacher.

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!

[tearknee]

"Walnut Grove being ruined by a monsoon forcing the three main families to relocate to Winoka".

don't they drift in off the sea?

ML = Baldrick?

 

[debraran]

Love this ! https://www.facebook.com/share/r/7be32qnAWraGcYTW/?mibextid=UalRPS

[Blergh]

13 hours ago, debraran said:

Love this ! https://www.facebook.com/share/r/7be32qnAWraGcYTW/?mibextid=UalRPS

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.

[debraran]

Here are some pictures of one in France that Alison highlighted a few years ago. I don't know about bathroom but I am assuming if meant to be used it does somewhere. Pictures are a bit dark but I love how they copied the walls that are undone and Carrie's bed so close to parents, the carvings, the shepherdess.

https://laurasprairie.com/little-house-replica-france/

This is a video in French and Alison has a cameo but there is a better one I remember but can't find right now. She went there years ago and was amazed.

https://www.facebook.com/M6MediaBank.fr/videos/283310859312830/?extid=CL-UNK-UNK-UNK-AN_GK0T-GK1C

 

[Blergh]

18 hours ago, debraran said:

Here are some pictures of one in France that Alison highlighted a few years ago. I don't know about bathroom but I am assuming if meant to be used it does somewhere. Pictures are a bit dark but I love how they copied the walls that are undone and Carrie's bed so close to parents, the carvings, the shepherdess.

https://laurasprairie.com/little-house-replica-france/

This is a video in French and Alison has a cameo but there is a better one I remember but can't find right now. She went there years ago and was amazed.

https://www.facebook.com/M6MediaBank.fr/videos/283310859312830/?extid=CL-UNK-UNK-UNK-AN_GK0T-GK1C

 

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?

[debraran]

6 hours ago, Blergh said:

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?

Now that would be something...they could sell things to the fans. ; ) No using commode though!! lol

We have Sturbridge Villiage in MA near me that is like that type of town. They used to have before Covid, sleepovers in a home to be like the pioneers. I loved their store, OUR prices unfortunately but quaint and old fashioned candy etc.

On another note the podcast with Dean and Allison has a patreon version for those who pay money and they gave a sneak peek on youtube. Discussed Michael and his funeral and how he is like Jim Henson.

I heard last podcast they'd like to get Charlotte Stewart which would be nice. She has a lot of stories.

 

Edited Saturday at 10:35 AM by debraran

[Blergh]

8 hours ago, debraran said:

Now that would be something...they could sell things to the fans. ; ) No using commode though!! lol

We have Sturbridge Villiage in MA near me that is like that type of town. They used to have before Covid, sleepovers in a home to be like the pioneers. I loved their store, OUR prices unfortunately but quaint and old fashioned candy etc.

On another note the podcast with Dean and Allison has a patreon version for those who pay money and they gave a sneak peek on youtube. Discussed Michael and his funeral and how he is like Jim Henson.

I heard last podcast they'd like to get Charlotte Stewart which would be nice. She has a lot of stories.

 

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).

[debraran]

I don’t know how I missed this, but what a lovely interview and pictures. I love picturing her at the spa with Katherine McGregor.😊

https://walnutgroovy.com/2023/06/26/charlotte-stewart-the-walnut-groovy-interview/

[Blergh]

On 11/18/2024 at 2:20 PM, debraran said:

I don’t know how I missed this, but what a lovely interview and pictures. I love picturing her at the spa with Katherine McGregor.😊

https://walnutgroovy.com/2023/06/26/charlotte-stewart-the-walnut-groovy-interview/

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.

Edited Wednesday at 03:00 AM by Blergh

[Blergh]

On 11/16/2024 at 4:34 AM, debraran said:

Now that would be something...they could sell things to the fans. ; ) No using commode though!! lol

We have Sturbridge Villiage in MA near me that is like that type of town. They used to have before Covid, sleepovers in a home to be like the pioneers. I loved their store, OUR prices unfortunately but quaint and old fashioned candy etc.

On another note the podcast with Dean and Allison has a patreon version for those who pay money and they gave a sneak peek on youtube. Discussed Michael and his funeral and how he is like Jim Henson.

I heard last podcast they'd like to get Charlotte Stewart which would be nice. She has a lot of stories.

 

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!

[debraran]

8 hours ago, Blergh said:

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!

Yes that would have to be when she was nicer....but I loved when Mr Rogers had Hamilton on, he showed her both ways and taught the children what was real and not real. I wasn't as afraid of her after that ; ) I'm so glad AA had that encounter and I know she treasures it.

 

Edited 17 hours ago by debraran

[Blergh]

The odd thing about the SS Margaret Hamilton guest spot was that TWotW actually  temporarily transformed herself into the cute little old lady [like Cora the Maxwell House Storekeeper] that Miss Hamilton had become to 'infiltrate' the Street. Yes, if they had done a segment in which she came on the show and did a step by step transformation like she did on Mister Rogers, it would have worked fine and been apt AND had not scared the viewers. However, that show DID scare the viewers enough to keep it from being rerun!

Back to topic, I'm also glad that AA got to have that convo with Mr. Spinney- and it's interesting that he seemed to consider his iconic characters of Big Bird and Oscar to be callings for him to do for the sake of the children (despite the very real struggles of having to perform totally encased in costume) in much the same way AA has considered Nellie  (despite the tortuous  wig,etc.)to have been a calling for her to use for good!