Hi everyone,

Hasn't the week just flown? We have been without our computer for the last few days this week. The poor old thing (well not so old really) decided it had had enough and kept blacking out on us. We finally narrowed down the problem and after getting costs, decided to have it rebuilt and upgraded. As Rod said, it was like we gave the computer a heart transplant! Anyway its going really well again now. Well so far anyway. We've only had it back for a few hours.

Anyway the real reason that I'm telling you all about our computer hassles is to let you know in case anything may have gone astray. If you don't see your letter here, and it has been sent, then please could I get you to resend it to me. I am still getting a few letters at the other email account too. Could you please all make sure that you have this current one? It is:

kearney@alphalink.com.au

Our other account will be disappearing altogether over the next few weeks so I guess any mail will be returned. It's only a couple of Waltons letters coming through to it, so most of you have updated it already...thank you for that.

I'll talk to you all again next week. In case you're following our Waltons seasons out here, we are now up to season 4. We finished season 3 with "The Conflict" instead of starting it with that one. Talk about messed up!

Goodnight everyone,

Karen.

John Curtis disappearance and Virginia's death have been hashed over and over again and have invited numerous cases of wild speculation, such as John Curtis moved to Florida, Virginia died of diphtheria (why wasn't she protected by the Schick test and vaccines) or scarlet fever(why wasn't she protected by the sulfur drugs and the Dick test). I know how they thought it was scarlet fever-a sister of John Walton Sr. died of it before the series began. But the easiest way to find out what happened to the children is to go to www.the-waltons.com and go to the recent developments since January 12,1999. There you will find FAQ and learn that it was not possible to bring back every one to every reunion. Some have even speculated that Harley Foster died sometime between 1945 and 1963 because he was not in the 1963 Thanksgiving story even though Verdie was.

Donald

KAREN'S COMMENT: Donald you are, of course, quite correct in what you say, but many of the newer members have no way of even knowing what we have discussed before, unless they have pored over two years worth of digests. Interesting though they are, I don't know if I could or would do that. <LOL>

I guess we could come up with all sorts of ideas as to why they weren't there, but the fact is, they weren't, and people watching these movies for the first time, or seeing these people for the first time during the episodes, do wonder what has happened to them. It's good that Ralph has added the FAQ to his site...I found it very interesting. As we go through the series again on TNN, which I believe will be starting shortly, I'm sure that many of the same things that we have discussed before will pop up again.

One of the members of the Forum made a comment that the Valediction showed that the writers were not keeping in touch with one another. But Graduation evokes both joy and sadness. Joy that we have our future to look forward to, sadness that we will never be in the same school again as students. Oh we will probably return in 5,10,or 20 years for a reunion but we will never again sit in the same classrooms where we had so many happy times. At graduation we realize that that part of our life has come to an end.

Donald

KAREN'S COMMENT: I found The Valediction a really moving episode.

Karen,

I have had the fortunate pleasure of buying one of the Walton's hardback books off of E-Bay. I check every day, hoping to get the rest of the collection, I understand there were only 6 of them. I not sure what a good price for them would be, but with $3.00 shipping/handling, I try not to bid over $3.00. Are they worth more than that?

Allysen

KAREN'S COMMENT: Allysen, it's good to hear some success stories. I recently received some second hand Waltons books, which I bought over the Internet, and am really pleased with them. They are the Robert Werverka ones, all three of them.

Hello to Karen and everyone!

I'll bet that those of you watching The Waltons on TNN last Wednesday, when they got around to showing "The Last Straw," must have said to yourselves, "Hooray! Now Claire will keep her mouth shut about missing that episode on tape." :-) :-) I had set the timer for the 1pm showing and couldn't wait to get home to see what they actually showed! I was so thrilled that they went back to show that episode for us. OK...I'll finally keep quiet about it. :-)

Karen, you asked for more of the "one actor in two roles" sightings since I mentioned the actor who showed up as both the Army "expediter" in The Children's Carol and the soldier sitting next to John-Boy on the bus in The Furlough. The other two that I can think of are Peggy Rea playing both cousin Rose and the landlady of the apartment that Erin and Maryellen moved into briefly (I think it was The Empty Nest episode)...and the actor who played Curt Willard having played a pilot in an early episode. Other Digest members who are more eagle-eyed may be able to think of others.

And, I just wanted to say Wow! to Shirley B.!! Good job with the cradle research that you did. I'll bet you're right, Karen, the show's makers probably never imagined 25 years ago that we'd be dissecting it so much now!

Have a great day, everyone!

Claire from Massachusetts

KAREN'S COMMENT: I'd forgotten about Peggy Rae, but you're quite right of course.

Hello Karen,

I have a couple of comments this week. First, I'd like to confirm that Claire is correct about the same actor playing John-Boy's seat companion in The Furlough and the delivery man in The Children's Carol who dated Erin. In The Children's Carol, David A. Cramer plays Alan Timmons and in The Furlough David Cramer plays The Soldier.

Secondly, with all the talk lately about Lisa Harrison (Toni) nobody has yet mentioned that Lisa and Jon Walmsley are actually married in real life. I mentioned this once before just after you started the list but I guess there's a lot of new members now.

Rob from Winnipeg, Canada

KAREN'S COMMENTS: Lisa and Jon are indeed married, and quite happily by the looks of it. I think they only have one child, but I am happy to be corrected if that's wrong. Thanks for confirming David Cramer as being the same actor in those two episodes.

Karen,

I'm curious about something that may have come up in member discussions and I may have just missed it. Forgive me if this is the case. Do you or anyone else know if any network has ever considered doing an updated version of the Waltons with John Boy and his wife raising a family during the 60's?

Since we saw John Boy covering the death of President Kennedy in one of the reunion shows, it seems that would be a great thread for an updated version of the show. They could cope with keeping their traditional family values while struggling through the turbulent sixties--and they were turbulent here in America. I think that would make a great series!

Fondly,

Nanette in Indiana

KAREN'S COMMENT: Nanette, I don't believe that this has ever been given any serious consideration, nice though it would be. Personally I agree with you, but I suspect that Richard Thomas would never agree.

Karen, I have a quick question. You mentioned in your most recent digest that you had seen the Walton's Playhouse go on eBay for over $120. I was curious about this because I have one in a box that has never been assembled. I tried to find one that had sold on eBay and searched both current and completed auctions, but could not find one. Do you remember offhand what category you've seen them in? I'm considering selling mine if I can establish that they've sold for that much. Thanks for any help you can offer.

KAREN'S COMMENT: They only keep the completed auctions on for a month, so it is possible that it was a couple of months ago, maybe around Christmas. I'll check for you. Just checked but I can't get the pictures to come up. However there are two that I saw, both selling at about $150 to $160. Have a look for these item numbers: 60829496 and 61590808. Hope that helps.

Dear Karen and Walton Friends,

I just found out, that Richard Thomas is to host this show called "It's a Miracle". It is to be on Sunday nights at 9:00pm (EST) on PAX TV (a channel, that I don't get).

The following URL can tell you a bit more about the show:

http://www.pax.net/itsamiracle/

Also, Richard Thomas is to be in the movie called "Linda" to be shown on Feb 17th on the channel WTBS (Now this is a channel, that I get).

Last Monday and this Monday I was able to see and record "Murder She Wrote", and they had Michael Learned last Monday and this Monday had Ralph Waite in.

Also TNN has John Boy's Wedding to be shown this Saturday (13th) at 9pm EST with it being repeated again at 1am in the morning.

Plus, TNN will not be showing the Waltons on Monday February 15th, so it is planned that we make a chat date with Dot at 1pm and 7pm when TNN would have the Waltons on.

Good night

Shirley

KAREN'S COMMENT: Thanks for the tips Shirley. Which season of "Murder She Wrote" were they in? I don't think I've seen either of them in it.

Hi! I'm a big fan of the Waltons, even after the sad loss of Grandpa, Grandma, the original John Boy and Olivia. But this note is just to ask how to pronounce the name of a particular guest star - Sian Barbara Allen. Does Sian rhyme with Dan or Dane? Does it have an sh sound? Shan?

Of course, you may not know. I was just asking.

Sincerely,

David

KAREN'S COMMENT: Here we go on pronunciation of names again. :-) Remember the number of different ones we had for Mary McDonough's name way back? I would have thought that "Sian" is said like "Sharn", as in "barn". That's how we would say it here anyway. What do others think?

Hi Karen and everyone. Greetings from Indy. Last night while watching an old rerun of ADAM-12 I saw a young Jon Walmsly, JASON WALTON. This was from 1968-69. It was real interesting to see him there.

Eric

KAREN'S COMMENT: Wow he must have been quite young when he did that one.

Hi Everyone,

I want to thank Karen again for the digests, with almost 300 members now its must be a labour of love compiling it weekly and sending it to us all.

Onto my Waltons thoughts...

The Episode "The Return" John Boy (R Thomas makes a guest appearance) where he organises work at the old Guthrie Mine. I am wondering about the scene at the Dew Drop Inn where John Boy asks Jason if "his Mama lets him drink this stuff yet?" (referring to beer). Jason shrugs as if to say "You know she doesn't" so John Boy orders him a ginger ale. Does this mean Jason was legally able to drink but it was a restriction Olivia put on him or would have Jason not been of legal age, if the latter was the case would Jason be allowed by law to be employed as a piano player at the Dew Drop Inn?

Does anyone know what the legal age for drinking was in the 30s and 40s in USA?

Another two questions...does anyone know how Corabeth is related to the Waltons. And also the relationship with Rose to the Waltons.

On the subjects of Erin's romances, I would have really likes to see her end up happily married to Hank Buchanan (minister). I thought he was just lovely and what a handsome couple they would have been.

For Claire in Massachusetts, I too think that the soldier sitting next to John Boy in the Furlough was the same actor that played Allan in the Children's Carol".

Going by my video collection, (I do not have series 1 so I could be wrong with this statement), has anyone noticed that John refers always to Olivia as "Livvy". There is only one episode in my collection that he calls her Olivia and that was when he was a bit angry due to her buying books of a salesman.

I have also noticed that the kids sit at the same place at the table generally. I think the only time I can think of when Grandpa's seat was taken and that was when Erin was going to marry Ashley Longworth Junior and he was invited to dinner but could not say a prayer.

Well that's me done for this week

Good night all

Kaz in Oz

KAREN'S COMMENT: Hi Kaz, hope you're enjoying the summer weather too. It's positively roasting down here. The legal drinking age is an interesting question. I would have thought though, that no matter how old her boys were, Olivia wouldn't like them to be drinking! She doesn't like John drinking either. I was watching "The Prize" the other day (I think its that one...about the county fair), and I was quite surprised to see Grandma's attitude to Zeb having a little stash of "the recipe" hidden. He was so funny though, trying to smell her breath when he knew that a little of his recipe had gone missing. You're right, John doesn't seem to call Olivia by that name. He obviously prefers Livvy. I like it when Zeb calls her "daughter" even though she really isn't his daughter.

Hi Everyone:

Although I'm pretty new to the Digests, I've been reading lots of the old ones and enjoying the discussion about Mary Elizabeth McDonough and her various family members who were involved in The Waltons. I thought you might be interested in an excerpt from a 1979 TV Guide article about her that mentions both the Hamners and members of the McDonough family. Here goes:

"Mrs. Langdon Hankins of Roanoake, Va., the original Erin (really Audrey) is delighted with Mary's portrayal of her youth. 'She even looks like me at that age,' says Mrs. Langdon [I think they mean Mrs. Hankins], 'and she's as introverted as I was then. But I grew out of it, and I suspect Erin will too.

"Sunday. A heat wave has locked the San Fernando Valley, where she was born, in temperatures that range into the 90s. Mary, just in from swimming, wears a bright-red swimsuit. Her wet hair flashes auburn in the sunlight that pours through a living-room window. Brother John, a 21-year-old college student, and sister Elaine, 14, wander in and out. The other brother, Mike, 24, lives in Idaho.

"On this yellow Sunday afternoon, they are remembering the night in 1971 when 'The Homecoming' was shown.

"I remember watching the show," John says teasingly, "and thinking she was just being the same brat kid she was at home. I figured I was more famous than she was. I played basketball in high school.

"She's stayed pretty normal," Elaine adds, meaning it as a compliment.

"Well, thanks a lot," Mary replies in mock indignation."

A question for you, Karen. Would this have been before Elaine appeared on the show?

KAREN'S COMMENT: Tricky question. If it was written in 1979, then I suspect it would have been after Eileen had appeared on the show. Now I'm assuming that they have her name wrong too as she is billed as Eileen. It would put Mary at about 17 or 18 I would think.