Hi everyone,

Well it's certainly been a quiet weekend this weekend here, and I mean literally. At the moment I have laryngitis, and my husband says that all his prayers have been answered. Isn't he mean!?! Fortunately I managed at school on Thursday and Friday, and don't work again until next Thursday. It's a beautiful sunny day as I write this, although it has been very cold overnight. Still no sign of rain though.

By the way, I hope to have all the digests on the Internet some time this week. If you haven't checked them recently, there are now about 20. The others are ready to go and I'll try and get them done early in the week. Karen.

From Kim:

Some inconsistencies of The Waltons: I wonder if the inconsistencies have to do with Mr. Hamner's narratives sometimes being about his actual family rather than the television series. Is the character of Mary-Ellen based on Mr. Hamner's sister Marion (because she is married to a professor and has two sons)?

On a different note, these digests are a lot of fun (and they must be a lot of work too, Karen.) I've been especially enjoying reading the past digests. One of them answered a question I had about the show "The Typewriter" where Grandpa makes mention of a girl who died of scarlet fever when she was seventeen. I always wondered who she was and one of the digests had the answer. Thank you.

KAREN'S COMMENT: I enjoy the digests too Kim. They're fun to put together, and everyone on the list is so nice and friendly. As I have been editing the digests, preparing to put them onto the web, it's been interesting reading some of the things we've talked about in the past. We've certainly covered lots of things.

From Ellen:

Hi all, this is Ellen in Pennsylvania. I have just read the latest digest, and I have to agree with some of you, about Leslie Winston. I really liked her. I thought it was kind of funny though, with the first girl that played Cindy. I think she was only in the first episode and I definitely DIDN'T like the girl who played that part. She seemed like a real floozy! Then when Ben brought her home and said that they were married, the part was played by Leslie Winston. I really thought she did that part well. Someone asked if she was ever in anything else. I do know of one thing that she played in, and that was a small part in James Michener's, "Centennial". She played the best friend of Ellie Zendt. That is the only other time I saw her in anything.

KAREN'S COMMENT: I think I've only seen the later episodes once, and a long time ago at that. I don't recall another girl playing Cindy. Who was she? What episode was she in? Why did Cindy and Ben elope? All answers welcome. :-)

From Alison:

I love to know what happened to all the Waltons. I'm sure a new series could happen because they could, and should, include characters like Jonsey, Cindy and Toni. I liked all three of these. I hope this is not covering old ground but please could someone help me out here. When we first meet Jonsey, in the episodes where Mary-Ellen rediscovers Kurt ( I don't believe it was Kurt, I think it was a case of mistaken identity :-))) ), Jonesy seems to be a geologist and considers going to do some lecturing at Boatwright. However in the 1982 specials he is clearly a vet ! Is there ever a reason given for this ? Incidentally does Boatwright really exist ?

KAREN'S COMMENT: Anyone know the answer to Alison's question? I don't. Perhaps it is just one of those TV things.

From Shirley:

I have seen Leslie Winston appear twice on the show called "Quincy, M.E." She played a teen hooker in one episode and an USSR girl in another episode.

On the week-end I was watching an episode of the show called "Gunsmoke" when who did appear on there, ' Will Geer' he played Ben on the show.

KAREN'S COMMENT: Was Michael Learned also on Gunsmoke? I have seen her on one of those old westerns, but not being a westerns fan, I'm not sure which one it was. Interesting about Leslie. I had a feeling that she might also be a singer, but I could be wrong here.

From Lee:

I just found the episode with Lapinski and his telling about how his grandpa from Poland dies in Trablinka (sp?) camp. It is in The Unthinkable. This is before Jason gets involved with Toni. Actually it is 3 episodes before he meets Toni. In it, everyone has a hard time believing the death camps existed, especially John. I guess the original question was there some anti-Semitism in the Waltons because of their reaction to Toni. Like every one else I would say "no" based on their actions in the Lapinski story line.

I seem to remember someone asking about how many kids were valedictorians. I just found the episode where Jim Bob graduates and is the Valedictorian for his class. Who else was, and whose graduations did we see. Did they show John Boys? I don't remember. There was Erin's and I don't think she was. I remember an episode that mentions Ben's when he then goes to work in the ship yards. Any one help with this?

KAREN'S COMMENT: I think there were 2 valedictorians in the Walton family: John Boy and Jim Bob. I'm pretty sure that we also got to see John Boy's graduation because a cow got sick at the same time.

From Lori:

Hello, fellow "Waltons" fans! I'm so excited that there's finally a place for those of us who love that show. I live in Israel, where unfortunately the show isn't broadcast, but I grew up in St. Louis, MO and never missed an episode. Luckily, the reunion movies have been shown here- we haven't gotten the Easter special yet, but I'm hoping it'll be soon! I loved all of the family-type shows- I think the only show I loved more than "The Waltons" was "Little House on the Prairie".

Since I haven't seen the show in a long time I have to rely on my memory as to which episodes I really liked. One episode that comes to mind is "The Shivaree", in which the groom is kidnapped on his wedding night- did people really do that back then in that part of the country? It sure was fun to learn about the customs of those living in the Waltons' neck of the woods- like when everyone walked John-Boy and Janet to their cabin after their wedding, while singing. I enjoyed watching the Walton kids get married and have kids of their own.

By the way, for a while "The Man from Snowy River" was shown here and I really enjoyed it. And to Karen and the other list members from Down Under: quite a few Australian shows that I never heard of before either were at one time or are now being broadcast here, like "Home and Away", "Paradise Beach", "Flying Doctors", and one that I particularly like, "Heartbreak High".

Enjoy the rest of the summer (or winter, as the case may be)!

KAREN'S COMMENT: Welcome Lori. At least you can have your "Waltons fix" over the Internet now. :-) We still have no sign of A Walton Easter, and my fellow Aussie Walton fan, Trisha, tells me that the network which has screened the later specials does not have the rights to it yet. Perhaps it will be picked up when they do their big buy up later in the year. As for the other shows you mention, the only one I watched was Flying Doctors which was really good. Man From Snowy River is screening on Pay TV (cable) and is excellent, Home and Away is still going strong, Heartbreak High, I think has only just survived, and changed networks, and Paradise Beach (dreadful show) was put in an 11p.m. time slot for a few weeks before it was completely dropped. However, I think it was sold overseas (poor people!) and it may still be in production.

From Marca:

Hello everyone. In reply to Arthur's letter from Digest 30 about the inconsistencies I can remember the narration after one episode (I really don't know which one) where Earl Hamner told us that all the children eventually left Waltons Mountain. In my country we are only in season 5 but when I looked at the list with all the episodes it tells us that some children did stay on Waltons Mountain, like Jim-Bob (starts a garage across Ike's store), Ben (taking over the mill), Jason (taking over the Dew Drop Inn). Well I heard from you all that John-Boy moved to New York. I am not really sure about Mary-Ellen, Erin and Elizabeth. Can anyone tell me who saw the specials, where the children went to live after they got married? Anyway I do agree with Arthur that such things do not detract from the quality of the series.

KAREN'S COMMENT: Little things like this don't worry me either. Most of the children seemed to settle on the Mountain, with the exception of John Boy. Elizabeth also seemed to be on the move a bit too. I'll leave the other members to fill you in on this Marca.

From Arthur:

While looking through my tape of The Boondoggle (Season 4), I came across this little gem. --- Jim Bob is trying to start up a business selling fresh fish to the locals, so he's collecting fish in a small pond. He makes a list of them and calls the fish the Inventory. Elizabeth asks him if, when the fish are sold, do they become the Outventory????? Little gems like this are scattered unexpectedly throughout The Waltons! Anybody got any favorites they'd like to share?

KAREN'S COMMENT: That story line was a really nice one. I liked the way she kept giving them names. In one of the shows, could be the pilot, Elizabeth keeps asking why her cat or dog (my memory's a bit vague today) can't have baby rabbits. I'm still looking for bloopers in the show. I mustn't be very observant because I can't find many. I think I might have spotted only one.

From Brenda in West Virginia:

I have put some photos of The Waltons Mountain Museum at Schuyler on a webpage. The URL is:

http://www.oocities.org/Heartland/Meadows/7604/waltons.html

KAREN'S COMMENT: I'll check it out next time I'm on Brenda.