Hi everyone,

Well here we are, just about at the end of another year. I hope every one of you had a very merry Christmas. After having to rush around the week before getting last minute things, it has been just lovely to have a very restful few days since Christmas.

Christmas here was the hottest one we have had since 1952 and reached nearly 100 degrees Farenheit in Melbourne. We still managed to stay fairly comfortable though, and we still had the traditional turkey and ham roast dinner. Mind you, the day before I was shopping with James, and was amazed to see the number of people buying fresh seafood at 9 o'clock in the morning. They were packed!!!! So a lot of families here seem to be opting for seafood instead. Poor old Santa still had his red suit on too, buy there were lots of fans on him so that he didn't melt. Anyway we had a lovely day with the family. It's always great to catch up with everyone.

At this stage I'm not sure when the next digest will go out. It will probably be a little irregular for the next few weeks whilst I'm on holidays as we will be away for some of the time. By the end of January though, we will be back to having weekly ones again. Please feel free to continue to send me your letters though any time.

Speaking of email, a couple of you have already noticed that my site has been updated, and I have a new email address connected to it. During the past few months we have been having a few problems with our ISP and decided to join with another one to see how it went. So far it seems fine, so I have decided to bring the Waltons Digest over to our new ISP. Both will work for a while anyway, so I will still get your email, but if you could start sending your mail to the new address, that would be good. It is: <kearney@alphalink.com.au> I will be sending out an email reminding everyone when I start using that one all the time.

On the subject of updating sites, I noticed that Ralph's has been updated just before Christmas and I would urge you all to visit and check it out.

<www.the-waltons.com>

Keep reading the digest for a letter from Alex and Marca too. They have also updated one of their sites and have added lots of fun Waltons things, so please visit their site as well.

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

Christmas must be a time for updating pages! If anyone else has added to their site and would like to mention it on the Digest, please drop me a line.

Happy New Year everyone. Keep safe and goodnight for now.

Karen.

Hello again from Geri Ann in Phoenix, Arizona!

This time of year always gets me to thinking about "The Homecoming." I understand there are a number of people on this list who either have never seen it, or haven't seen it in a long time. It is such a wonderful movie. Of course, if you've never seen it, it would take some getting used to, seeing Patricia Neal in the role of Olivia, Andrew Duggan in the role of John, Edgar Bergen as Grandpa, and different actors as Ike and the Baldwin sisters. I saw the movie the first time it ever aired, in 1971, when I was 10 years old, and I was completely enchanted by it.

Because I saw it first, it's not hard for me to see all these different people in these roles. I enjoy very much Patricia Neal's portrayal of Olivia, although she is very different from Michael Learned. While Will Geer is more memorable as Grandpa, because he played the role with such spunk and zest and energy and devilishness, I have to say that Edgar Bergen's version of Grandpa reminds me uncannily of my own two grandfathers, both of whom were short, bald, quiet, soft-spoken men, just exactly like the way Bergen played Grandpa. (It's interesting to think that no matter which one wound up with the role - Bergen or Geer- Grandpa Walton would have had to be written out of the show in 1977, because both actors passed away that year.)

I'm not sure how I feel about Andrew Duggan playing John, because he was only at the end of the movie, and I love Ralph Waite as Daddy so much. I've always thought, even when I was 10 years old, that Duggan looked silly with that red rinse on his hair! I guess they felt they had to do that to explain where all the Walton children got their red hair!

For anyone who hasn't seen this movie yet, I hope you will have the chance to one day; this movie is what gave us our wonderful Walton family, and it's a special experience to see this film.

KAREN'S COMMENT: It's a wonderful movie and one every Waltons fan should see. I liked Bergen as Grandpa too, although he was quite different to Will Geer of course. I hadn't realized that they both died in 1977. Isn't that a coincidence?

Speaking of Waltons Christmas movies, how was the Marathon on Christmas Day?

Hello fellow Digest members!

I just wanted to thank both Scott and Robin for verifying that it is Mary McDonough in the Honda ad I mentioned. I still haven't seen it since the first time I spotted it, and I'm dying to see it again...especially now that I have confirmation that it is Mary McDonough.

I also want to say that I share the disappointment not to have seen The Homecoming this season. Friday night, I spent quite a little while poring page by page through the TV Guide, hoping that SOMEBODY would be showing it during this last week before Christmas. [It was to no avail.]

Then something eerie happened... I was doing this search just prior to Friday night's airing of "Legacy" [which, by the way, is a new series on the UPN network which I LOVE...I recommend it highly if you haven't seen it yet]. Just as I put down the TV Guide after making my search, I looked up at the screen where Legacy was just getting underway, and the title of the episode was printed at the bottom of the screen. Guess what it was: "The Homecoming".

I couldn't believe it! That was pretty freaky!

Karen, I hope you and all the Digest members have a blessed Christmas and a most joyous New Year.

Claire

KAREN'S COMMENT: Spooky stuff Claire :-))) I'll have to look out for Legacy.

Hi Everyone,

This comment is to Geri Ann and Karen about the GW Haines character. You asked whether or not there was ever reference made to his becoming Erin's beau, after first being Mary Ellen's. I don't ever recall this being discussed during an episode. Mary Ellen and he were sweet on one another during their childhoods. But, GW and Erin fell in love after they were grown up. Therefore, there wasn't a need to explain. Also, Mary Ellen was already married to Curt.

During the Day of Infamy episode, when Grandma pats Mary Ellen's arm, I too think this represented the loss of Grandma's son Ben, and her learning of his death by a telegram. She knew just how Mary Ellen felt and by patting her arm, she helped give Mary Ellen strength to go on.

Happy Holidays to all the digest members.

Good night everyone,

Silvia

KAREN'S COMMENT: Even though GW was sweet on Mary Ellen all the way along, she never really seemed to return his feelings did she? Erin, on the other hand, did seem to be really in love with him when their relationship blossomed. I'm looking forward to seeing later seasons of the show again.

I want to add David Doremus to our list of guest stars on the site. I don't suppose anyone would have a decent photo of him that I could use? I can't find one anywhere!

In response to Scott's letter:

I too talked with Mary at the reunion...I mentioned that I saw her on an episode of Diagnosis Murder where she plays a pregnant woman expecting triplets. She is held hostage along with other women who were taking a Lamaze class. Anyhow, she was hilarious so I recommended that she do more comedy!

Cindy

KAREN'S COMMENT: I'll have to keep my eye open for her on Diagnosis Murder. I caught it for the first time on Christmas Day and really enjoyed it. I don't know what season we're at though.

I think another of the Touched By an Angel episodes with Richard Thomas is coming up too, for those in Australia. Keep an eye on it if you're interested. For all of you over in the US, you might be interested to know that we had a RT movie showing on Christmas Day...."Yes Virginia, There is a Santa Claus". I taped it, but haven't had time to watch it yet. I also caught him recently in a movie called (I think) "Down, Out and Dangerous".

He was fantastic!

Hi everyone. Hope everyone is having a Merry Christmas. I want to throw a question out to everyone. I know where some of the actors/actresses are of the Waltons. But we dont here about some of them like John Curtis, Amy, the Godseys, the Baldwin Sisters and so forth. I would like to know what all of these and many more of the Waltons actors are doing now? Keep up the good work Karen. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Good Night everyone

Rona

KAREN'S COMMENT: You're right Rosa, we don't hear a lot about some of the supporting actors.

Dear Waltons Fans,

Recently me and my husband updated on of our Waltons web sites. It's the Waltons Interactive site and we added more interactive things for you all to enjoy! First there's a new guestbook in which everyone can write their comments or suggestions. Second there is a new page with three so called 'Web Polls'.

These Web Polls are quite nice we thought and we created the possibility on our site to vote for three popular items: Favorite Waltons Child, Favorite Main Supporting Character and Favorite Waltons Special.

Each person can vote only once per 14 days and the poll runs until the end of January, so if you cast your vote before the end of this year you can even vote three times if you like! If you are very smart you can vote more often, but then you have to hack the system!!!

Soon there are some more items added you can vote for and we hope you like these three first ones. Also let me know if you have ideas about a new question we can use! Check our Waltons page at:

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

Have a great turn of the year and a wonderful 1999 !!

Marca.

KAREN'S COMMENT: I'll have to visit and vote Marca. The supporting character one is going to be tough. So many of them were just wonderful. Please let us know of further additions to your site...and of course please tell us when the results are up so we can all stop by and check them out. :-)

Greetings to you all!

Here in the UK I heard an item on the BBC radio news recently which suddenly reminded me of something which occurred in "The Children's Carol". You remember two young English children (the girl being played by an Australian, the boy by "Elizabeth's" brother - Jeff Cotler) were staying with the Waltons, recovering from their experiences in the London blitz during WW2. At the end of the episode, the children were in contact with London via Jim Bob's short wave radio, and heard their mother sending greetings to them. Apart from the geography being not quite right (which I commented upon earlier), and the girl's Australian "London" accent, I had completely forgotten one point. -

On the radio news it was announced that the regulations for amateur radio were being relaxed slightly, and it would now be permissible for other people besides the licensed radio operator to speak into the microphone. However this will apply only to contacts within the UK and its dependencies (we don't have an Empire or Commonwealth these days!).

So in 1940 when Jim Bob is supposed to have contacted London, it would have been illegal for the children's mother to use the microphone. But there's another much more important point which I had quite forgotten. With the outbreak of war, all amateur radio here was suspended, for reasons of national security, so for anyone to have used such apparatus would have been committing treason, and dire consequences for him or her would have followed! So the events portrayed in the episode just could not have happened!

Perhaps, if they read this, Alex and Marca might like to include this info on their site?

Arthur D

www.surflink.co.uk/users/arthurdungate/index.htm

(Basingstoke Canal site = www.surflink.co.uk/users/arthurdungate/bascan.htm)

KAREN'S COMMENT: What an interesting story Arthur. Imagine poor Tess and Pip...they've just found their mother again after thinking she'd died, only to find her hauled off to jail, or maybe an even worse fate!!!