http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rO72KBtUmHk
If you are feeling blue, are fed up with depressing news and the world around you – watch Little House on the Prairie. It will cheer you up, make you think and give you back the belief in the good that exists in the world. Though a lot of drama happens to the Ingalls family during the 8 seasons, the stories have mostly happy endings, a positive outlook on life and there is a strong community spirit. The series doesn’t adhere completely to the book and stories have been added. There are also historical inaccuracies as pointed out in this Wikipedia entry, which gives a detailed summary of the whole series and cast: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_House_on_the_Prairie_(TV_series)
I re-discovered this childhood favourite of mine because a friend lent me her box set of the first season. I used to love this show as a child and looked forward to my Saturday afternoon fix of Laura and co. I identified with the feisty tomboy Laura. My aunt, who is five years older, and I used to play LHOTP and there was little dressing up required as we actually had dresses, which resembled those of the girls on the show- minus the pinafores. I loved wearing those dresses and they were tailor-made by a friend of my gran’s, who was a dressmaker. I loved the idea of living on a farm with lots of animals. Some episodes made me laugh and some cry. I remember one of the saddest episodes was the one where Laura’s older sister goes blind. I cried buckets. I guess as soon as I reach that episode (series 4 if I remember correctly) I will cry again.
I wanted to find out what happened to the main cast. While some actors like director and actor Michael Landon are no longer alive, others like Melissa Sue Anderson (Mary) and Melissa Gilbert (Laura) are still acting. Melissa Gilbert see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melissa_Gilbert and http://www.gilbertboxleitner.com/melissa/index2.html had a dramatic life herself – which was completely the opposite of her on-screen persona. She was adopted as a baby by a comedian, dated stars such as Rob Lowe, Tom Cruise and John Cusack and had problems with alcohol and drugs. She managed to carve out a TV career after LHOTP and was appointed as President of the Screen Actors Guild twice. Today she plays the mother “Ma” CarOline Ingalls in the musical version of LHOTP.
Fans of LHOTP can visit the various sites the stories are set in: http://www.laurasprairiehouse.com/ and a museum devoted to author Laura Ingalls Wilder: http://www.lauraingallswilderhome.com/
This website http://www.littlehousebooks.com/ gives an overview of the books.
Recent Comments