Hi everyone,

Just a short message this week as we've been very busy over here this weekend. James has been performing in "The Freedom of the City" all week. He has been studying it in English and they decided to put on a performance to help some of the other students studying it. It's much easier to understand a play after you've seen it performed. Anyway it was very successful with lots of other schools coming to see the various performances. We saw it last night and the production was very good indeed.

It's turned very cold over here too, and we've got the heaters going tonight. It's been quite wet too. The first real lot of rain we've had for quite some time.

I can't say that I've had a real Waltons-watching week because I really just haven't had the time. We have a break coming up soon though, so maybe I'll catch up then on some more episodes.

Actually having said that it hasn't been a Waltons week, I did hear the "Goodnight Jim Bob" on Survivor on Wednesday night, which was fun. I think it's just wonderful that people still joke about the ending like that. It was obviously a very catchy, and memorable, part of the show.

So...until next week...

Goodnight Jim Bob, goodnight John Boy, goodnight Survivors, goodnight everyone.

Karen. :-)

Hello Karen,

When I read the delicious recipes for the cobblers I asked myself if there is anything near the same in Germany. I went to the dictionary-page and put in the word "cobbler". What do you mean? I got as the answer: a cobbler is a shoemaker! :)

I hope the cakes don't taste like soles. :) Anyway, I will try to bake the following weekend and I think it will be a good apple cobbler.

Keep up the good work, I like reading your digest.

Silke

KAREN'S COMMENT: Thanks for sharing that with us Silke. I've said before that English is a very funny language at times and you've managed to find just another instance of it. Yes, a cobbler is a shoemaker, so I wonder where the name Apple Cobbler came from? Hope you enjoy it anyway!

Hi Karen and Waltons fans,

I've never written in before but have received the digest for a while now and enjoyed every one. So let me introduce myself, I'm Vicky, 34, my husband and I have 3 boys 12-11-6, and live in Utah. I have been a Waltons fan for as long as I can remember. My husband teases my sometimes about being a fan but he is what I call a "closet fan", he likes the show too but doesn't want me to know. In watching the show, I've picked up a few insights into the mothering business, some of the episodes are very close to our real lives, we struggle with our kids and so did they, Jim Bob didn't care for school much and neither does our oldest son. There are times when our budget is tight and so was theirs, but Olivia seemed to deal with all of it with love and a sense of humor.

I have one question and have been racking my brains for some time now and was wondering if any of my fellow fans could help me out. What was the name and the circumstances of Miss Mamie's beau? I know it's mentioned in the series but can't remember the details.

Thanks Karen, for all of the love and hard work that you put into this digest.

Have a great day all!

Vicky

KAREN'S COMMENT: Now I'm wondering if you mean Miss Mamie or Miss Emily because it was Miss Emily and Ashley Longworth who were mentioned such a lot. Can anyone let us know a brief history of this romance please? I'm still piecing it together too.

Dear Karen:

I have so enjoyed The Waltons Digest, sence joining several months ago and appreciate all the time and energy you put into it for the enjoyment of all the rest of us. Thank you.

I heard some time ago that Ronnie Claire Edwards, (Corabeth) was writing a book.

A memoir I seem to recall. I can't imagine she'd write such a book without recalling her experiences as part of The Waltons. I wonder if anyone out there knows if it has been published and under what title by whom. Better yet, if anyone has run across it, might they give us all a thumb nail review. I had the pleasure of meeting her at one of the Waltons Reunions in 1997. What an interesting and gracious lady she was.

Had the pleasure of meeting Earl himself and many of the real family and a lot of the cast members. It was my second trip to The Museum and The Hamner home place and I enjoyed it as much as the first visit. Hope to go again in the future as it is only about a 5 hour drive from Northeastern North Carolina, and if you get to go in the fall the colors are beautiful through this great mountainous area.

Hoping someone knows about "Corabeth's" book and can share about it with me.

Thanks again Karen for doing such a great job.

Sandy

KAREN'S COMMENT: I can imagine that the autumn (fall) in the Schuyler part of the world is just glorious. Sandy I'm glad you reminded me about this. I checked on Amazon and yes, it has been published. They have it: "The Knife-Thrower's Assistant" by Ronnie Claire Edwards for $19.95. There is an Editorial Review by Earl Hamner (very brief) and a lengthy review by a reader. There is no mention of any stories about The Waltons though, so maybe none are included. I'd be interested to know. Sounds like a good book anyway.

Hi Karen, love the articles you send me. TNN here is Dallas has went from 4 shows a day to 2 and I am at work at noon and at 2am I am asleep.

But where can I sign up to get the Blue Ridge Chronicles. Thanks and keep up the great work.

Rona

KAREN'S COMMENT: Rona, the address for it is:

Waltons International Fan Club,

PO Box 1182,

Grove City, Ohio 43123-1182

The current fees (2001) are US $20 or outside the US, $23.

Hi Karen and everyone!

My mom sent me Lewis Arquette's obituary from the Los Angeles Times. It is full of interesting information about him. I will type it out, but Karen, feel free to edit it if it is too long for the Digest.

"Lewis Arquette, character actor, comedian and the connecting generation in a long Arquette acting lineage, has died. Arquette died Saturday of congestive heart failure at UCLA Medical Center. He was 65.

The son of the late Cliff "Charley Weaver" Arquette, Lewis Arquette is probably best remembered for his recurring role from 1978 to 1981 as J.D. Pickett in the television series "The Waltons."

But like his father, whose indelible shtick was a staple on Jack Parr's "Tonight Show," Arquette was an eclectic entertainer, working as an actor and director in drama as well as comedy on stage and in film and television, and as a musician and even a puppeteer.

He also took great pride in encouraging the careers of his progeny: actors Rosanna, Richmond, Patricia, Alexis and David Arquette, and Patricia's young son, Enzo.

'I've always been a kind of quadruple threat guy, doing anything I could do,' he said in 1996.

His eclectic interests extended into genealogy, and in doing the family tree, he traced his roots to explorer Meriwether Lewis--for whom he was named--of the 1804-06 Lewis and Clark Expedition.

Arquette was the grandson of a vaudeville team, Arquette and Clark, also billed as the Funny Hebrew and the Singing Soubrette.

Born in Chicago, young Lewis grew up in Hollywood, where his father patented his Charley Weaver persona for "The Tonight Show" and later "Hollywood Squares." After graduating from Hollywood High School, Lewis went to New York to study at Lee Strasberg's famed acting studio; Marilyn Monroe was a classmate.

Arquette worked as a waiter while acting on the New York stage. He also did summer stock and a Chicago variety show, then moved back to Los Angeles in the 1970s.

He was very adept at improvisation, working in the Committee and with Viola Spolin, often called the mother of improv and theater games, and her son, Paul Sills.

Arquette worked with Sills' Story Theatre, which performed at the Los Angeles' Mark Taper Forum and on Broadway in the early 1970s, and later with his Sills and Company.

Arquette, who once shared a Dramalogue award for ensemble performance, won critical praise from The Times for directing "Spokesong" at the Pasadena Playhouse in 1986 and for his acting in "The Arrangement," a four-character drama at Hollywood's Lex Theatre in 1993.

A versatile character actor, Arquette appeared on television as a police commissioner in "Matlock," as a customs agent in "L.A. Law," as a priest in "Beverly HIlls 90210" and as an appliance merchant Leapin' Larry on "Seinfeld."

In films, Arquette appeared in "Johnny Got His Gun," "The China Syndrome," Tango and Cash" and "Waiting for Guffman." Last year he voiced "Escape from Monkey Island" and acted in "Little Nicky," "Best in Show" and "Ready to Rumble."

In addition to his five children, Arquette is survived by a brother, a sister and two grandchildren.

Services were private. The family has asked that any memorial donations be made to the Organ Donation Center at UCLA Medical Center, in care of Dr. Ronald W. Busuttil."

I hope everyone is doing well! Spring has sprung in California!

Valerie

KAREN'S COMMENT: Thankyou so much for sending this. I looked for an obituary but couldn't find one on the internet. I have Escape from Monkey Island here. I'll have to have a look at it and find which character he did the voice for.

Hi Karen and Walton family,

In case anyone ever wondered about the town Cora-Beth mentioned she is from--Doe Hill--there really is such a place. My husband and I went to the Highland County Maple Festival last week-end here in Virginia. It's in the Allegheny Mountains and we had a very enjoyable day. The festival is many small towns that work together for two week-ends to promote their area and show how maple syrup is made. Doe Hill is one of those towns. Most of the time it's not even listed on a map because it's so small. The town itself is a stretch of road that goes down a hill and then up a hill with a little general store, a post office, a church, a cemetery and a few homes along this stretch. As we were riding thru this area, I tried to pick out the house that Cora-Beth and her parents had lived in. I don't think it was a very grand home (like the Baldwin sister's) because when the parents died and she moved to Walton's Mountain, all she had to her name were a few suitcases. This made me think she was in the same financial situation as most people. As her character evolved, one certainly got the impression she did come from a very refined and cultured, educated family or at least this is the impression she wanted you to believe. She sure put some spunk in the show!! Anyway, there is such as place as Doe Hill.

Joyce

KAREN'S COMMENT: I always loved her attempts to add culture to the lives of the Waltons Mountain people.