Hi everyone,

Welcome to the extra special edition of the digest for the Waltons Mailing List. I received this wonderful interview with Ellen Geer, prepared by our digest members Alex and Marca, and they have asked that I send it out to all list members. On behalf of everyone on the list, I would like to thank them for taking the time to prepare this treat for us. I hope that you will all enjoy reading the interview as much as I did. So without further ado, I'll pass you over to them.

Goodnight everyone, and happy reading,

Karen.

Dear Waltons fans,

Some months ago we met Mike and Charmaine from California through the internet and they write editorials for music magazines and more. Because they live nearby Will Geer's Theatricum Botanicum they offered us to interview Will's daughter Ellen Geer who is an actrice herself, as you all know, and who played in two Waltons episodes.

We wrote down some questions for Charmaine and when it fitted into Ellen's very busy agenda she finally did the interview with her. Ellen runs the theater all day long, 7 days a week. Afterwards Charmaine needed some weeks for the transcription of the tape and here it is.

We thought it would be nice to give you all the honour to read it first. Soon you, and everyone else, can reread the interview on our Waltons web site 'A Dutch Fan's page' at:

http://www.oocities.org/Heartland/Meadows/1196

This is also a good moment to ask everyone's attention again for our second Waltons web site '83 Blue Ridge Parkway - The Waltons Interactive' at:

http://www.oocities.org/TelevisionCity/3436/

Here you can find several things among which a page with favorite quotes and scenes as well as a page with production errors and mistakes from Waltons episodes. Many people have sent their favorite scenes already and we hope you will send us one or more of your favorites too. Thanks and have a nice holiday.

Interview with Ms. Ellen Geer on May 21th, 1998 by Charmaine Ham.

Questions drawn up by Alex and Marca van Haren.

Q: Can you tell us any anecdotes about your father?

What I can tell you was when he was much younger he was doing a show, they had these old shows that used go from town to town when he was just a kid. They were Biblical shows, and he was playing Moses. One of his friends was playing the part of Jesus. Wherever town they would go into, they would find a camel, and they'd also have to get a mule. As they were traveling, they came to this one town, but they were actually supposed to have two camels, instead I made a mistake, they were supposed to get two camels, but instead in one town they had a mule. Well, they're mortal enemies from what I gather, these two particular animals. So they were out there, and Jesus had just left the stage, and he left the camel, then Papa rides with a mule, playing Moses. They got into a huge battle, and then the camel peed. It rolled down, and it was in the old days when they had the footlights, and the lights started to pop. It was quite hysterical, and so Pop had to go on with the play. He lifted up his robe and said, "Moses crossed the River Jordan" and then he got on with the play. They got rid of mule and that never happened again. That's one anecdote that is kind of fun. It was when he doing his Stewart plays many, many years ago. He must have been about 18.

Q: Tell us about the McCarthy Era Blacklisting of the 1950's and about the facts that moved your late father to open the Theatricum Botanicum?

He was a man of great morals to me plus a real true American in the sense that he wouldn't do what he was requested during the McCarthy Era and that was to rat, be a stool pigeon in a time of hysteria when our American creed is that we can think and believe how we want. During that period, McCarthy had gotten everybody so hysterical that the Communists were going to take over, which was ridiculous at that time. So Papa had always done things like help form unions, he had worked with the immigrants all through Southern California and across the country, and he'd done a lot for, like the Furriers' Union in New York City. He worked all the time trying to get people for trying to have their fair share. It didn't matter to him what race, religion, creed, or how they thought or what they felt. If they were trying to get a better and a fair shake in life, that was enough for him.

He was blacklisted, and he did not become a stool pigeon. His work was taken away from him when we were very, very young. That's when we moved up to Topanga to try to recover. Of course, he was a great horticulturist, he had a degree in horticulture from the Chicago University, and he began the Geer gardens. We learned about the plants, he knew the Latin names of plants. He spoke about plants as if they were his friends. That's how we made our living there. He landscaped about, and some of his friends who were in the film business who weren't frightened, would hire him to come out and landscape their Hollywood homes. We were quite poor, we were living from hand-to-mouth, lived on the farm.

Q: Was that hard for you since you were a child at the time to understand what was going on?

Oh yeah, it was pretty awful because during that period there was a whole group of young people who were affected that way, the children, so to speak. You were isolated from society and automatically you were under the banner your parents were under and that was one of isolation. That was very sad such a thing like that happened in America.

Q: Was it your father's ambition to become an actor when he was younger?

Oh yeah, he always told tall tales. He always did that. He was acting when he was in high school and all throughout his college years and his only other thing he was interested in was horticulture. But rather than decide, they both became a huge part of his life.

Q: Was he doing that during the Depression?

Yeah, fresh and young. Then they had that WPA (Works Progress Administration), he was doing that when Haley Flanagan had the theaters going in New York, the Federal Theater days and he worked with John Houseman's group and what's his name, I can't think of it. He worked with John Houseman's group on "Let Freedom Ring," and "Cradle Will Rock." That's what he was doing.

Q: Do you have any siblings (brothers and/or sisters)?

Yes, I have an older sister and a younger brother.

Q: Are either them involved in [acting]?

We all work here at the theater.

Q: You're all involved in acting. What interests did your father have in his spare time?

No, just people. People were his big interest too.

Q: I've got that impression. I've read some things about Woody Guthrie, and of course, his relation with Woody.

They were good friends. We have at the Theatricum Botanicum a shack called "Woody's Shack," where Woody stayed just as he was getting quite ill, and he had Huntington's Cholera, you know, the disease that makes you shake. There's no cure for it. When he started to get real bad, he came out here for a while before they hospitalized him in New York.

Q: I remember reading about some of that. Of course, it's one thing for me to read it but obviously for someone like you saw this happen.

It very, very sad.

Q: What relations did he have with folk music and Shakespeare? Did he play music himself or did he play in a Shakespeare part once?

He didn't play an instrument but he played on the hearts of people. He sang, he charged out his music. We always had singing in our life growing up when we were traveling in the car, we would sing rounds. He did a lot of musicals [like] "110 [Degrees] in the Shade," sang in that. Singing was elevated speech to him.

We do one or two Shakespeare every year out here. We were brought up with it. He was the kind of man who, if he did a lecture at a college he would take me along and he said, "Let's do [Gentlemen of] Verona, Act II, Scene 1" and I had to be ready to do it which was the best training in the world.

Q: It's thrown at you and you do or die.

That's the folk part of Pop. It was very improvisational and sudden. You had to be on you toes (laughs), and it was fun.

Q: Talk about learning acting, you really learned.

Yeah.

Q: I want to ask you about some of the Shakespeare parts he played. I'm getting the impression that he played a lot of different roles.

He played a lot of different roles. He was a young character actor until he became a character actor. He did [Sir Andrew] Aquecheek, he worked for Minnie Mann of Frisco, (inaudible) one of the great actresses years and years ago. He worked for Becky Sharp, that's where he learned a lot. For instance, what Minnie Mann of Frisk would teach young actors is Becky Sharp loved to have young men around her and so she would have the lovers come in one at a time, that's the way the play was written. Poppa was one of the young lovers and what she would do if she felt frisky is she would whisper to them, just as they were leaving the exit line she would say, "Improvise your way out." She wouldn't let them out the door until they did a good job of improvising.

Q: Is there any favorite Shakespeare roles?

He was brilliant as Le Beau. He did Sir Andrew Aquecheek, he did John of Gaunt, you name, he's done it. He's done so many Shakespeare parts. He was always learning more.

His favorite poet was Walt Whitman and [writer] Mark Twain and he was always doing one man shows one both of those.

Q: Doing things like scenes, reciting lines from Whitman's "Leaves of Grass"?

He would do a whole evening. He could go anywhere at any time and do a whole show. He would dress up as both characters.

Q: Did your father in real life look much like the character "Grandpa" he played in the series The Waltons?

Poppa always looked like who he was playing. He looked like what he was playing.

Q: How much did your father like the character "Grandpa" in comparison with other roles he played in all other movies?

He always looked like Pop to me, sure. Grandpa was very unique. He just slipped beautifully into that role. Actors act the material they're given. That's the way we are. We put on some of the colors of the part we're given.

Q: What were some of the other kinds of roles he played in?

He played a wonderful part where he was very mean. He was very good at evil roles in seconds. Marvelous match, he was marvelous in that role. He could do anything. He played the devil, I can't remember the name of that Broadway play he did. He's marvelous, whatever he does, he's good.

Q: What thoughts do you recall about the recording of the Waltons episode "The Ceremony" from 1972 in which you played the character "Eva Keen"?

It just fun, it was such fun working with Pop. It was great. We always loved to work together, whether it was on stage or on film. We loved to work together.

Q: I hate to say it, but you'll have to jar my memory banks. What was that episode was about?

They were Jews, and they were kind of in hiding.

Q: It was set during World War II. Were you playing the mother or daughter?

I was the mother of a child.

Q: What relations does the Geer family have with Germany? Do you know if your family originally came from Germany or perhaps Holland? In Holland there are several family names with "Geer" in it, like "Van der Geer", "De Geer", "Geers".

Poppa's name is Ghere. It was changed when he came over here by his father, Roy. I don't know (if) the family came from Germany. He would say German, English, and he was born in Frankfort, Indiana. He was a Hoosier (it's a name of a college sports team).

Q: Do you want to tell or write down your thoughts about the recording of the Waltons episode "The Pledge" from 1980 in which you played the character "Ronie"?

I don't even remember that [episode].

Q: Did you play in other series or movies yourself?

I just finished doing something called "Practical Magic." I did both Harrison Ford films, "Patriot Games" and I can't remember that name of the other one, [it] was the one that came out right after that particular series. I've done the "Phenomenon," and I did the "Postman" with ...

Q: The one with Jack Nicholson?

No.

Q: The Italian movie?

I can't think of his name. Kevin ...

Q: Kevin Costner?

Yeah. I've been busy.

Q: What part did you play in "Patriot Games"?

I played Rose. She was the CIA agent.

Q: Now you've got me real curious. I have to go rent that.

I can't remember the other one after that. I always forget the name of it.

Q: Do you have an Internet account? If you do, do you have an e-mail account?

I do but I don't know how to use it very well.

Q: Do you want to tell or write down some stories/ anecdotes you can remember about the time the series The Waltons was recorded in the 70's?

No, not really. There were days I would drive him to work or pick him up. I knew all the people in the program and they've come up here since Poppa's death. They've come up here, come to the theater and watch the shows. Earl Hamner is on our advisory board.

Q: What else is he doing nowadays?

He's always creating something.

Q: At what date did you father pass away exactly? What was the cause of his death?

It was on April 22, 1978. His aorta burst. He had a stroke down in Costa Rica. He was doing something he's always wanted to do. The head of the botany program at UCLA took him down there and there was 5,6,7 [people]. They went on a tour. He had always wanted to go down to Costa Rica and his love was plants, and he went up to the rainforest. He was just so happy. She said he was running around like a mad fiend, climbing trees and getting cuttings. He had a stroke. Then he came back and he never really quite recovered from that.

Q: From the time he was in Costa Rica to the time of his death, was that a matter of months?

A month and a half but we were all with him when he died.

Q: How did your Dad meet your Mom [Herta Ware] ?

Mom was 17. She was just a young thing in New York City and they were doing a play together and she asked him to marry her and he did. She adored him.

Q: I understand that even after they divorced they were still friends.

We were all up here together. Just as I said, we were all up here when he died.

Q: Is she also an actress as well?

Oh, yes. She's doing a lot of films now.

Q: What films has she played in?

She was in "Cocoon," and we both did "Practical Magic" together. She works a lot on television. She's great. She's 81.

Q: She does character actor roles on TV then?

Oh God, yes. She's wonderful.

Q: She must have an interesting background then. It must have been hard on her going through the McCarthy Era.

It was very bad. It was not one of the brilliant times of America.

Q: Is your husband also an actor? What is his name?

He's a singer-songwriter and he does work with children. He's Peter Alsop.

Q: That's your husband? I didn't know that. I'm a little familiar with him. Ok, thank you very much for the interview and for your time.

The interview ended suddenly because of Ellen's busy schedule. She could not go into more detail about her father Will and we would have like to hear more anecdotes about him and his work on the Waltons. Ellen's spouse is a known folk and children's music performer in the US and by accident Charmaine's sister knows much about him and follows his career because sheis a children's librarian.

Something else now. Because they live in California they also hear and read about Ralph Waite's congressional race. You all know he lost from Sonny Bono's wife Mary recently. But now he is again in the news. The first race was only to finish the last few months of Sonny's term. Both Waite and Bono just won the primary election for their party and will face each other in the general election in November again.

Hope you all liked it. Greetings from a real cool Holland - 18C / 64F!

Marca and Alex.