| WALTONS DIGEST 32-2001: Hi everyone, It's been another busy couple of weeks here with James having his performance exams over now. He feels that it all went well and was happy. He starts the written exams this coming Friday morning when all Year 12 students all over the state sit for their English exam. Then there's written papers for each subject over the next 3 weeks. James has 6 in all because Maths Methods has two exams. He has this week off to study which is helpful, although he has been working very well all year. During this past week there's been a lot of celebrations for them at school. They had their Graduation Mass on Wednesday evening, then a group of his friends and us went to see Clue - The Musical on Thursday night. Friday was their last day of school and they had breakfast with the teachers, an assembly which parents were invited to, followed by lunch. Naturally they were all running around with their cameras and all sorts of novelty things like streamers, bubble pipes, glitter etc, and having lots of fun. It's also been a huge week for the College too, with celebrations for their 40th year happening during last week as well, and there were lots of organized reunions and special events, including Clue - the Musical. Speaking of reunions, the Waltons Reunion Weekend is over for another year now, and seems to have been very successful. Go to the forum at http://www.voy.com/6854/ to find more comments about it. Some people seemed to have been disappointed when some of the expected actors didn't turn up, but we really should be happy to see those who were there I think. We need to remember that the actors who starred on The Waltons so many years ago, are people just like us who have unexpected things crop up, just like we do, and sometimes have to break appointments they have made. Sometimes things just happen beyond their control and there's no point in being nasty about it. Somehow I think the main drawcard for me would be that I would be meeting so many of the Waltons fans who I have only spoken to via email, and also seeing the Waltons Mountain Museum. There was some interesting discussion on the forum about which room was best liked in the museum. Well which room do you like best in the Walton home? It's a good talking point I think. One thing I did want to ask though was about a parchesi board which someone mentioned being on display in the living room. I don't recall the family playing parchesi, although I'm sure that they must have at some point. Does anyone remember any episodes when this board would have been used? Just one other piece of news from the forum...congratulations to Eric Scott, wife Cindy and daughter Ashley on the safe arrival of baby Emma on the 22nd September. Another happy chapter to be added to Eric's life. What wonderful news. And with that I'll leave you all for another week. Have a great one. Goodnight everyone, Karen.
Hello Everyone!!! Always good to hear from you all, and Krys- Best to James and his exams!!! So proud to hear about another performer in training... :) What is life like over there at the moment? There continue to be a lot of reports in our papers here, and of course the anthrax outbreaks are not sounding too good at all. I really can't see what these terrorist people hope to achieve. As others have said, I'm very saddened for the people of Afghanistan that have been brought into this. It's very sinful the way the terrorists are convinced that they are doing this for God...even though I know we must defend ourselves, I would never say that God wants America to bomb Afghanistan... The Anthrax is a scary threat, yes, but I think it is getting more publicity now because of September 11. At the end of August the Police Department in my town was warning the people of receiving a blue envelope that contained Anthrax... so this has been going on since before Sept 11.. So far it seems as the Anthrax cases are not related to terrorism.... and terrorists don't have a history of mailing out such things. Nicole wrote: I am also comforted by the words of President Bush, in bringing countries together in times of Crisis. I am also moved by the outpouring of support from all over. In November, I plan to bus down to NYC from the east coast, to see for myself the massive effort of recovery. My hat goes off to Mayor Rudy Jiuliani for pulling the city together, and work for a common goal of recovery. I agree wholeheartedly!!!! I think this has been Bush's best time in office... he's being forced to show his true colors, and I am now looking at him in a new light. It is really amazing how much love and effort has out poured since the recent tragedy... I only hope it continues. Nicole, when you do come to the city, I think you will be extremely moved by what you see, as I was: I went down as far as I could to Ground Zero last Friday, and to see so many men, at 12:30 AM working endlessly.... I was speechless, to say the least. I have been out of touch with the digest and with tv for a while...did TNN drop Walton's altogether? I can't seem to find it here in America anymore, or is it just changed in time slot? Thanks for any help. Julie I am very curious about this myself. I know that the Waltons is supposed to be on at 11 am now, but I haven't seen it on yet here in New Jersey... maybe it just didn't come back YET I hope.... How weird that I have a new way to relate to War, know that we are amidst war ourselves... It is a great way to get away from it all... Beth wrote: Karen, Since I wrote last, we got some better news about my cousin. He will be staying on his base in the states training those who are going over to do whatever needs to be done to resolve this. Beth: I'm very happy to hear this. I'm sure you're very proud of your cousin- he's really giving back to his country, God Bless him. As well as our firefighters of the country!! I visited a station in Manhattan recently that lost 15 men on Sept. 11- 1/4 of their entire crew... and the outpour of love for the firemen from the New Yorkers brought tears to my eyes.... Firemen and Police officers don't receive nearly as much credit as they deserve- if you ask me. I don't know how you do it... you have this amazing bravery that I can't begin to comprehend... any fireman is a beautiful person. Looking forward to hearing all the stories about the reunion.... even though I'm green with envy!!! <g> That's all from me for now..... Cheers and my best to everyone! Pax,Viv KAREN'S COMMENT: I hope you've been able to see The Waltons by now Viv, otherwise drag out all those tapes. :-))
Hello everyone! just got some interesting info ... from the Waltons Mountain family club on Yahoo. The Waltons are on the Hallmark station in the evening, 11:00 p.m. Eastern time! Now we have some variety as far as times to watch go!! I may actually get to see the Waltons regularly now!! And if there was ever a time to see the show it is now, it is comforting to me!! I live in the midwest, so 10:00 p.m. is a great time!!!! So glad that another channel has "seen the light " and added them to their line up! That's all for now! Take care all! Love, Judy KAREN'S COMMENT: I had heard that they were on Hallmark over there, so perhaps we'll get them on Hallmark here eventually. At the moment they play mostly movies but have the odd series like Promised Land (season 1) and Little Men (both seasons). It's a nice change to movies and mini series, but I do love a lot of the stuff they have on.
Hi Karen, I always enjoy hearing about James and his acting interests. My grandson was into acting all through school. When he was a senior he had the opportunity to go to Los Angeles and anchor the news on Channel One (that news goes into all high schools and junior high schools in the USA). Anyway, he was hired to be their student anchor for the remainder of the school year. The TV station paid for him to come home to his prom and graduation and hired 3 tutors for his schooling. He went to London to report on Tony Blair and the General Elections, Puerto Rico to do a story on the rain forest, and all over the USA. He became a world traveler while he was a teenager. He met lots of actors while he was in Los Angeles.That's when he decided to become a journalist instead of an actor. So he came home, went to college and got his degree in 3 years. Richard is now a tv reporter in Waco, Tx. He hopes to eventually become an anchor. I love to watch him on TV doing his stories. He has done everything from jumping out of an airplane to greeting Pres Bush. He is a busy young man. I love to see the young people performing in the plays and such. I admire them because I know it is hard work. And I still support the Theater Arts at our high school. They never get as much attention as athletics. I wish James much luck in his future career and I will be looking forward to updates from you. I am sending you some pictures of my grandson. Have a good day! Doraine KAREN'S COMMENT: Thanks for your comments Doraine. You must be very proud of your grandson too. It's not an easy industry. I'm with you. I think we need to support theatre in our schools too and no they don't get as much attention as athletics or other sport. I'm happy to say though, at Aquinas College where James attends, they have given a lot of acknowledgement to the performing arts at the school. They have been blessed with such a lot of very talented performing arts students in James's year level and he's had a fantastic school life because of that. They were particularly acknowledged by the Principal during the past week too and he commented on just how much they had added to the school life. It's nice that the school has special awards for academic excellence and performing arts excellence, as well as sporting excellence and community work throughout the school. I had a look at the photos too. What a handsome young man. For others who would like to share Doraine's photos of Richard, go to http://www.chooseyourdestiny.com/rakatwork.htm
I am a great fan of both The Waltons and Little House on the Prairie. If you watch both shows, you may have noticed that there are a number of actors who portray characters in both shows. For example, Todd Bridges (Willis from Different Strokes) plays a young orphan who wants to live with the Waltons and a runaway slave who works for the Ingalls' for a time. Charlotte Stewart plays the young mother who leaves her deaf daughter at the Walton's house in an early episode and also plays the schoolteacher on Little House on the Prairie. Have you ever noticed this? My uncle and I play a game with it where we describe one of the characters and make the other guess who they played in the opposite show. I think this would make a cool link to your web page. Connie KAREN'S COMMENT: I can only agree with you Connie, and sometimes there are similar storylines too.
On October 20th and 21st, the Waltons International Fan Club sponsored its annual reunion in the hills of Virginia. On Saturday and Sunday, cast members and fans gathered at the Walton's Mountain Museum in Schuyler to chat and sign autographs. On Saturday night, there was a banquet at the Radisson Hotel in Lynchburg. In attendance were Lynn Hamilton, Jon Walmsley, Lisa Harrison, Judy Norton, Eric Scott, Mary McDonough, Kami Cotler, and Deanna Lund, who guest-starred on an episode of "The Waltons". Naturally with the tragic events of September 11th, the banquet took on a patriotic theme. The room was decorated with American flags. Patriotic songs were sung. Lynn Hamilton spoke eloquently of the current crisis. This got her a well-deserved standing ovation. Fans and cast members had an opportunity to mingle as cast members signed their autographs and had their pictures made with fans. It was Eric Scott's 43rd birthday, so we sung "Happy Birthday" to Eric. Carolyn Grinnell presented Eric with a birthday gift. A great time was had by all in attendance. The "Walton children" offered their recollections of working on "The Homecoming" as this year is its 30th anniversary. This was my fourth reunion and I believe the best I've attended. God bless and I'll chat with you later. Patrick KAREN'S COMMENT: Thank you for your report Patrick. Glad you had a great time.
Hi Karen and All, I have 2 Waltons sightings (of sorts) for this week. The first was on Entertainment Tonight. RT was at the Lupus fundraiser, and they asked him how the recent events had affected him. My second "sighting" was actually a crossword puzzle. In my TV guide crossword book, they have a whole puzzle just on Will Geer. The puzzle was one of their theme puzzles called Loveable Old Fella.
WARNING FROM KAREN: If you want to see how you do with the Will Geer answers, just scroll down from here using the down arrow key rather than the side scroll because the answers are directly under each question. I've left a space before the questions start so you can't peek. :-)) Have fun everyone, and thanks for the quiz. Here are the clues and answers: 1. Clue - Loveable one's TV-movie: Isn't It _____? Answer - Shocking 2. Clue - His '49 film: _____ Lucasta Answer - Anna 3. Clue - Loveable one who starred in a Richard Thomas series Answer - Will Geer (of course, we knew that) 4. Clue - Lovable one's famous tv role Answer - Grandpa 5. Clue - His ' 78 TV-movie: A Woman Called ______ Answer - Moses 6. Clue - His ' 73 TV-movie: Gift _______ Answer - Of Terror 7. Clue - Full name of 16 across (number 4 on our list) Answer - Zebulon Walton (of course, we knew that too) 8. Clue - His ' 72 horror film: _____Delilah Answer - Dear Dead 9. Clue - His ' 50 feature: To Please _________ (2 words) Answer - A Lady 10. Clue - His ' 66 Rock Hudson film Answer - Seconds 11. Clue - His ' 51 Western: ________ Target Answer - Tall 12. Clue - His ' 72 Western: ________ Johnson Answer - Jeremiah (This is one of my favorites that he is in) 13. Clue - His ' 72 film: Napoleon and ________ Answer - Samantha (I own this movie) So, that is all for this week as far as sightings. But, Ebay has a quilt up for bid that was supposed to be in The Homecoming. I think I remember seeing it. I really feel that if it is one that was in the movie, it should be at the Walton's Museum. It would be a great exhibit. That's all from here. Good Luck to your sons on all their exams, Karen. Good Night All, ------Jennifer KAREN'S COMMENT: Thanks again Jennifer. I'm obviously not up with my Will Geer stats because I got hardly any right.
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