Little House on the Prarie

[Dee4707]

I liked LHOTP but always wondered what happened to the little girl, the one that rolls down the hill at the beginning of the scene. Here today, gone tomorrow. Does anyone know???

I loved Nellie's character, what a snot and her mother, can't remember the name.

Granny, I love the Golden Girls, still watch evey episode I can. Each of the women played such an important part.

I also liked the Nanny, especially the grandmother, Yetta.

Dee

 

[show 42]

Dee, the little girl rolling down the hill at the beginning of LHOTP was Carrie, one of the younger sisters......42

 

[Grgranny]

Nanny - hated it - can't stand her voice.

 

[Tonichelle]

the nanny was good! LOL

Heyang, what made you cringe? The courtship? I don't remember ever seeing the courtship part of the show... but the way she wrote it in the book was so cool!

 

[Grgranny]

I also was wondering. The most I can remember about the courtship is how he kept rejecting her because she was "just a little kid". And how his sister, the teacher, gave up her job so Laura would have one.

 

[Tonichelle]

that's creative license because in the book Almanzo's sister for some odd reason hated Laura and did what she could to make her miserable. He persued her more than she did him in the book... even though there was the age difference(but he also lied about his age so he could own some land LOL)

 

[Grgranny]

Since I never read the books, I didn't know the difference. I never heard of the books until it was on tv.

 

[show 42]

GrGranny, that was the one big positive thing the television series did, was make people aware of the books. They didn't become popular until after the series was aired. Before that, they were only read by library visitors......42

 

[Ptichka]

As I've said before, I have no problem with the series being different from the book. However, in 19th century there is NO WAY a girl from a good G-d-fearing family would ever think of putting herself out there like this with a man. This is producers giving her purely post-WWII values.

 

[Tonichelle]

I never saw the courtship of Laura and Almanzo (she called him "Manny" in teh book, I think) I never realized they got that far... I just remember Mary getting engaged to her blind co-worker (or something like that) and then fearing that if they had children they couldn't properly care for the child and so she wants out of the whole thing... but then marrys him at the end... that was my favorite episode. I also remember when Mary first went blind and she kept screaming she couldn't see... that made an impression on me when I was little! LOL

 

[cygnus]

As I've said before, I have no problem with the series being different from the book. However, in 19th century there is NO WAY a girl from a good G-d-fearing family would ever think of putting herself out there like this with a man. This is producers giving her purely post-WWII values.

I didn't see that part of the series (I had given up by that time), although I LOVE the books. In the books, they only kiss after they are engaged, and of course there are no other details.

But I would disagree that this was necessarily the general rule at the time. As an amateur geneaologist and social historian (who has traced family lines back to the 1400s both in NA and Europe), believe me, I can count.. And the number of babies who appear er.... quite close to the wedding date in the 19th century and earlier might surprise you. I haven't done a statisitical analysis (maybe I will some day), but it is obvious that... anticipating the wedding day, shall we say, is no 20th century phenomenon. And of course back then, many girls would have been lucky enough not to get pregnant early, so nobody would have known- and probably even more went further than we might think today, if not "all the way". Human nature hasn't changed much.

 

[Grgranny]

Did you know that Chris Bowman was one of the children in the blind school. I didn't know it until the show was done and so never got to see him.

 

[Tonichelle]

wow! how random!

 

[Grgranny]

Boy, I don't remember anything risque. Back in my day you didn't know about most "naughty" girls. I remember a few. You pretty much knew which guys but I never knew with whom. And it usually wasn't any of the "farm" girls.

 

[show 42]

Laura never called Almanzo "Manny" in the original books that end with "These Happy Golden Years". She always referred to him as Almanzo. I've read her (Laura's) journal that she wrote when she and her family migrated to Missouri and later when she visited her daughter Rose in the early 1900's, and she referred to Almanzo as "Manly"...........42

 

[Tonichelle]

that's the name I was thinking about, thanks Show!

 

[show 42]

I just remember Mary getting engaged to her blind co-worker (or something like that) and then fearing that if they had children they couldn't properly care for the child and so she wants out of the whole thing... but then marrys him at the end... that was my favorite episode. I also remember when Mary first went blind and she kept screaming she couldn't see... that made an impression on me when I was little! LOL

Here's another example of stretching the truth. Mary did indeed become blind after a serious bought of scarlet fever, that claimed her eyesight. She lost her eyesight gradually and was actually very calm and resigned about the whole thing. (she must have been very stoic). She attended a college for the blind when she was old enough, and then returned to live with her parents until she died. She never had a child and was never married.......42

 

[show 42]

No problem Toni.........as you can see, I am a big fan. The series of books by Laura Ingalls Wilder are a wonderful read, for any age. I highly recommend them for very light but enjoyable reading........ 42

 

[Tonichelle]

Show I have read the books several times... when I was little I identified totally with Laura's childhood--the tomboy/daddy's girl aspect--and now as a teenager/young adult I identify with her "grown up" self even more... I just hope I have a devoted guy like "Manly" someday!

 

[Grgranny]

Years ago, my family stopped at the place in Minnesota where they have a place they supposedly lived in and thouroughly enjoyed it. Their story was that after she went blind and attended the school she went to live with the parents, her father didn't live very long after that and after her mother died, she went into a deep depression and was that way until she died. Laura only had the one child, Rose, and she never married. She went east and was famous, don't remember if she was an author or artist, but after she died there were no descendants at all. There is also a place in southeast (Independence) where they lived at one time but I have never seen it. Always wanted to but never did and now probably never will.