Hi everyone,

This will be a very short digest today, as there are only a few short letters. I was going to hold them over until the weekend, but I know that many of you look forward to the digests, so I thought that I'd just send you what I had anyway. We can't complain though, as the last few digests have had lots of letters in them.

I was on the chat line with some of you this morning and it was great talking to you. We talked about all sorts of things, including The Waltons, of course. :-) It really is a lot of fun when several people are on together. It was great to hear from Dot that many of our regular Digest people are becoming involved in the chat. It's a wonderful new forum for fans to get together, and Dot tells me that Marion Hamner has visited too, which would have been exciting. If you still haven't tried it, it is definitely worth the effort.

Life is terribly busy here at the moment, but holidays are coming up again in a few weeks time. Till next time,

Goodnight everyone, Karen.

From Jane:

Hello, can you tell me about the book that is supposed to be out soon, it has Earl Hamner's quotes from the beginning of the show and after the show in it. I wrote to Ralph and he said that he would have it on the Digest, but I haven't seen it yet. I don't even know who wrote it.

KAREN'S COMMENT: I'm not quite sure about this Jane, but Earl does have a new book coming soon. Read Ralph's letter below to find out more.

From Ralph:

Talked to Earl today. His new book, "The Hollywood Zoo" will be ready for distribution by end of September over the Internet using credit cards over a secured server.

CBS has given the OK for the next special to be filmed and aired in 1998. Script approval is almost complete and the story-line sounds very interesting. Sorry, I can't reveal it yet but will give particulars as soon as Earl says it is OK.

KAREN'S COMMENT: Great to hear that there will definitely be a new special to look forward to. We'll all just have to be very patient and wait for further details. Hope the new book goes well for him. I'm sure it will.

KAREN'S COMMENT: I'm first this time. :-)) I have included the letter below which was sent to me by a fan of the show. This person has two dolls that they are wanting to sell, so if you are interested, please email the person directly. I didn't even know that these dolls existed, but I was told on the chat line this morning that there were three different sets: John Boy & Mary Ellen; Olivia & John; Grandpa & Grandma. Several of our list members seem to have them.

I was cleaning out my attic and I found two dolls. They are marked 1974 and are about 8 inches tall. They are similar to Barbie dolls. Their knees bend and feet and hands, etc. John Boy has on blue overalls and a matching hat. His mole is present. Mary Ellen is in perfect condition and has on black stockings and a green and red plaid dress. John Boy is missing half of a leg. If you know anyone interested, or could provide me with any information, I would appreciate it. Back of dolls says Mego Corp. Lorimar inc. 1974 I would consider best offer for price.

Email: glenbern@ncentral.com

(Karen: Sorry I don't have a name for this person. It just said "glenbern")

KAREN'S COMMENT: I'm first again! I also received another letter telling me about a new book about books based on TV shows, so I am including this as well. Kurt tells me that it includes the Waltons books which were published. The site is interesting and the book seems fairly comprehensive. I haven't seen a copy of the book though so I'm not in any position to endorse it. :-) I am, however, in the process of adding a link to this page, so people can check it out, especially since I have some memorabilia listed on my site. Kurt tells me that he will ship overseas, but to add $5.00 for postage for the first book, and $1.50 each for any others.

Hi Karen:

My new pop reference book, "TV Tie-Ins: A Bibliography of American TV Tie-In Paperbacks," has just been published by Neptune Publishing, and is available through mail order. "A fascinating and useful reference" in the words of Library Journal, the book is featured in my website: http://www.mindspring.com/~tvtieins.

Included in the work are of course the Waltons books published by Avon, Bantam, and Whitman, along with a brief write-up about the books and Earl Hamner.

I'm writing in the hopes you might be interested in linking your web site to mine, perhaps as a news flash of some sort (the Waltons books are featured in Kurt Peer's new pop reference book TV Tie-Ins...) I'll be linking my web site to Yahoo's Waltons main menu page, which lists your site.

I hope this is agreeable to you - we're all trying to keep classic TV alive. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me.

Best wishes, Kurt Peer

kpeer@mindspring.com

From Alison:

About G.W. One of my favorite semi-regulars in the early seasons was GW Haines, played by David Doremus (of Nanny And The Professor). The 2-hour episode when Olivia has polio and Mary-Ellen is trying to teach GW how to dance is one of my favorites. I love the scene when they are practicing in the woods on that cold winter day. I never thought it was necessary when they killed the GW character off in later years (by having an accident at boot camp).

I thought the episode where GW was killed was very good. I still have it on tape and it makes me cry every time. I feel so sorry for Erin ( and I confess, G.W.'s horse at being left alone after his death).

I have just returned from my holidays and have read several digests at once. I too did not really like Erin when I first watched the series but on second ( and now third) viewing I have grown to like her a lot but only as an adult. ME was excellent as a feisty female while in her teens but this got lost as she grew up. Possibly it returned in the episode where she is determined to be a doctor despite the barriers the recruitment officer at Boatwright tried to put in her way. Ben is a favorite of mine, he always was, I think he had a lot of Grandpa in him !

I always thought that the whole family was so well cast. There is a real similarity between John-Boy and Jim-Bob, Jason and Ben and ME and Erin. Elizabeth also has the coloring of Ben and as she grows up Erin's hair "reds-up" and she starts to look more like Elizabeth and less like ME. I don't know how much henna was involved in this though. I noticed in "The Homecoming" even Richard Thomas has a red tinge. Considering the task of finding seven individuals to play the family I think the people responsible for casting did an excellent job.

The name McDonough: Wow! I thought McDonough was an uncommon name. And Eileen and Michael are not included.

McDonough is a massively popular name in Ireland. Especially amongst Irish travelers ( tinkers in the old days). I am a teacher and very close to my school is an "official" travelers site ( in a very ridiculous piece of recent legislation travelers in the UK are only supposed to stay on proper sites and the local councils have to provide these sites ( this is extremely unpopular with travelers as it hampers what they see as their traditional lifestyle ) ). Although my school is in England a lot of Irish travelers do use this site and I would say that about 40% of them have the surname McDonough. It is possible to get books about the McDonough Clan, it is a lineage going back a very long way.

KAREN'S COMMENT: Thanks for this information Alison. I wouldn't have thought that McDonough was an Irish name, but then, what do I know? :-)) You're right about the actors looking like a family though. It probably helped that they all really grew up together on the series and would have spent so much time together. I wonder how Richard Thomas got along with the others? He was a bit older and wouldn't have had to go to school whilst filming as the other children would have.