I watched The Homecoming again just recently, after not having watched it for such a long time. So interesting to see how little the children looked, especially the very young Kami, David and Eric. Those three actors playing the Walton children so beautifully really did look very young indeed. The Homecoming is such a simply told, honest story of a father missing at Christmas time, and his family waiting at home for him to arrive. Earl Hamner writes in his book Goodnight John Boy that it was based on a Christmas Eve that his family really lived through. The Depression and the closing of the mill in Schuyler necessitated Earl’s father seeking work elsewhere. He found work in Waynesboro, fifty miles away and would take the bus home each weekend, finishing the journey by either walking or hitchhiking. The Christmas Eve the the Homecoming is set, 1933, snow began early and fell steadily during the day, making it difficult for the Father to get home.

I loved the report written about The Homecoming script, which says in part:

It is obviously slanted toward Christmas Eve audiences and I believe it could potentially become a classic. It is filled with rich characterization and the warm family relationship is beautifully portrayed.”

How right the executive story editor, Joanne Brough, was. It has indeed become classic Christmas viewing for so many people.

Obviously we know that many of the cast from The Homecoming did not go on to reprise their roles on The Waltons, for one reason or another. Here’s a snapshot of The Homecoming cast for you:’

The beautiful Patricia Neal played Olivia Walton, seen above. I loved her crustiness in The Homecoming. She was very forthright and quite unsure of how to handle John Boy, who disappeared at times to hide behind a locked bedroom door. She knew that he was keeping secrets and wanted to know what they were. John Boy explained that he was just writing his thoughts, and that puzzled her a great deal. Patricia Neal did not reprise her role as Olivia Walton. Michael Learned was chosen as Olivia in the series of The Waltons.

Here’s the three older boys as they appear in The Homecoming. Ben (Eric Scott), Jason (Jon Walmsley) and John Boy (Richard Thomas). All three boys stayed with the series, and I have to say that I have always admired Richard Thomas as John Boy throughout the series. Earl was particularly taken with him when he saw him in the movie Red Sky at Morning. Apparently Richard wasn’t all that keen on becoming a part of television, as his film career seemed to be forging ahead, but he liked the script and decided to join the cast. I am so glad that he did because I think he is superb as John Boy. I have continued to follow his career over the years and have greatly admired his work since. He seems to choose a wide variety of character types and his work is always well worth watching. I was lucky enough to see him in Race on Broadway and again was struck by the intelligence he lends to his work. You can see a picture of Richard and myself here.

The two eldest Walton girls are pictured above – Mary Ellen (Judy Norton) and Erin (Mary McDonough). Mary looks just gorgeous as Erin, but this picture reminds me of how much she grew up on the set of The Waltons. She appears to be so young when The Homecoming was filmed. You can read more about her recollections in her book, published this year, titled Lessons From the Mountain, which is an excellent read. I loved the scenes in The Homecoming where the children went to see presents being given to children on Christmas Eve, in exchange for bible verses. Mary Ellen quickly tells the other children different bible verses to quote, so that they might receive a wrapped present.

Of course the two little ones were David Harper, playing the role of Jim Bob, and Kami Cotler, playing Elizabeth. Aren’t they both so tiny! They did such a wonderful job as the little ones in The Homecoming and both grew into fine actors during the run of The Waltons.

The roles of Grandma and Grandpa were played by Ellen Corby and Edgar Bergen. Ellen Corby went on to become the beloved Grandma in the series of The Waltons, but Will Geer was cast as Grandpa, and such a wonderful character he was. Waltons fans can quote many episodes where Grandpa featured and he was a much loved cast member and his character is well loved by fans.

Finally, the Baldwin sisters were played by Dorothy Stickney (Miss Emily) and Josephine Hutchinson (Miss Mamie). They are pictured above, trimming their Christmas tree, when John Boy and Hawthorne drop by in the hope of borrowing their car to go out and look for John Walton. They are wonderful characters, but both were replaced for the series by Helen Kleeb, playing Miss Mamie, and Mary Jackson, playing Miss Emily. It was interesting to note that Miss Emily’s reminisces of Ashley Longworth began during The Homecoming.

Finally I really should urge you to find a copy of Earl Hamner’s The Homecoming book and have a read.

Also pop over and have a look at the wonderful Homecoming website my good friend Shirley has put together. You’ll find it here. One thing you will find here of great interest is the recipe to Olivia’s Applesauce Cake. You’d be amazed how often I get asked about it. Can’t say I’ve ever made it but it does sound yummy and looking at the ingredients, I can just imagine it baking in the oven before Christmas Day.

Finally, you might like to have a look at this review, written about The Homecoming, and complete with some excellent photo still from the movie.

Reading the article I was struck by what a close, and very grounded, family Eric must come from. Such an asset for any child in show business I would think. I particularly share his mother’s ideas about education. Very sensible woman.

I also liked Eric’s comments about the critic’s statements that the show was sweet. His thoughts make interesting reading. And as a fan of Michael Landon as a storyteller, I also appreciated his thoughts on the work of Landon.

A great article!

You can can read about the reunion at in this article, and have a look at a gallery of photos from the evening here. One of the photos from the gallery is the one below, taken by Richard J McCormack, for The Jersey Journal.

You’ll find another article, complete with photos, here.

Finally, the cast did a special interview on the Today Show on Friday December 2nd, in the morning. The video of it can be seen here.

And hot off the press, here’s another link telling us more about this special event! Have a look here.

A special screening of The Homecoming will take place, along with guests: Richard Thomas, Judy Norton, Mary McDonough, David Harper, Jon Walmsley, Kami Cotler, Eric Scott and Michael Learned. The site is advertising a Q & A panel discussion after the screening of the film.

More information can be found at the Theater website, and also at this website from Monday.

It sounds like a really fun night. I love old theaters and would adore visiting this one. I did consider whether I would be able to manage to head over there for the weekend, but with only one more week of school left by then, here in Australia, I guess I’d better just wait for another opportunity.

The Hollywood Show is at the Burbank Airport Marriott Hotel & Convention Center. There are many other guests appearing, and you might like to check the entire list out at the website.

Please note that although the show runs over the whole weekend, October 7 – 9, the cast members of The Waltons will only be there on the Sunday.

If you do go, I’d love it if you’d drop by and leave me a comment.

The link for the show, with more details, is here.

Although I grew up on the other side of the world to Richard, and was just a little older, much of what he writes about is very familiar to me. A picture of Fred Flinstone and Barney Rubble is there. The Flintstones was always a favourite in our house, with the whole family gathering around the television to watch it. He writes about the marches which protested about the Vietnam War. We had many of these too, here in Australia. Richard writes that this was the year cigarette advertising was banned from radio and television in the USA. I’m not too sure when Australia banned such advertising but I do remember the debates surrounding it. And he mentions gathering together with family to watch the first screening of The Homecoming.

How wonderful that he was able to share such a fabulous Christmas special with his extended family. He comments that he was later to meet the great Patricia Neal and tell her that he loved her portrayal of Olivia Walton in The Homecoming. How lucky he was to meet her. I wonder if she knew how very special the show was to so many of us? I’m guessing that she probably did. I know that Earl Hamner and many of The Waltons cast know the very special place the show has in the lives of its fans.

Anyway, the reason I tell you all of this is because Richard has a fantastic post on his blog about The Waltons. He’s advertising Mary McDonough’s book signing which happened recently in New York. Mary was at Barnes and Noble with Richard Thomas, promoting her book “Lessons From the Mountain: What I Learned From Erin Walton“. Head on over to his blog. There are lots of Waltons related photos and video clips there, including a great video clip of Mary McDonough being interviewed on Connie Martinson Talks Books.

I wonder if Richard managed to get to the book signing. I hope so. I’m sure he would have enjoyed it.

So thank you for your trip down memory lane Richard. I enjoyed it very much and thanks so much for sharing. You can find Richard Skipper Presents… here.

Fantastic Zebulon episodes include:
The Statue
The Intruders
The Conflict (a 2 part episode)
The Separation
The Last Mustang
The Birthday

What a fantastic Grandpa lineup. I think the pick of these special episodes for me would be The Conflict and The Intruders.

I love The Conflict. It was the opening episode for season 3 and is the one where we first met the wonderful Martha Corinne Walton, played so beautifully by Beulah Bondi. Martha Corinne’s home is going to be torn down to make way for the Blue Ridge Parkway. The Government insists that they move, but she is steadfastly refusing. The Walton family come to assist her and try to stop the construction from going ahead. I was having a look in Goodnight John Boy, written by Ralph Giffin and Earl Hamner, and there was a piece by the writer, Jeb Rosebrook, explaining the background for this story. He says that he was once told of a story of a family who were in fact forcefully evicted from their home when the Skyline Drive was being built. He wrote the wonderful part of Martha Corinne, and apparently Earl Hamner’s mother offered further research which was built into the writing of the script. No wonder it is such a wonderful episode. This episode has since been crafted into a stage play and has been performed in Virginia. I think it’s a wonderful testament to a brilliant episode.

The second episode on this list that I love is The Intruders, the first prime-time dramatic television script, written by Seth Freeman. He comments that he had always been attracted to the character of Grandpa Walton and he writes Grandpa as a bit of a trickster in this episode, as he sets out to outsmart one of the new lumber companies. Along the way he teaches them all a thing or two. It’s a great, fun episode, and I always enjoy Grandpa’s respect for the land he lives on.

I hope you get to visit with Grandpa and the rest of The Waltons in this special marathon. Good news from Inspiration too, with them saying that the network is back on the DISH network.

Visit the INSP site for more information.

A wonderful article about Earl appears in the Broadside magazine, and is reproduced on Earl’s website. Please visit there and enjoy catching up with the great man himself.

1. The pony cart
2. The bequest
3. The parting
4. The foundling
5. The firestorm
6. The typewriter
7. The gift
8. The journey
9. A Walton’s family reunion (which I’m thinking will be a repeat of the reunion of the cast which was filmed by INSP when The Waltons joined their lineup.

So that got me thinking about how that compares with your favorites. There seems to be quite a mix of episodes, from varying seasons. How do you like the episodes chosen? Are there some there that you could do without seeing? Which are those episodes from the lineup that are must-sees for you?

Looking at the list, for me I think it starts with that wonderful classic episode of The Pony Cart, with the much loved Beulah Bondi as Martha Corinne. I think this episode is The Waltons at it’s very, very best, and I love that it brings back Bondi’s character, and also tells us a little bit about the history of the Walton family. Eric Scott (Ben) says that it was a real joy to work with Beulah Bondi, and I can imagine that it was. What a show business trooper to have joined the cast for this episode. Kudos to the director, Ralph Senensky and the writer of the episode, Jack Miller.

The Journey is another classic episode, and of course it has that special appearance of Earl Hamner in Maggie’s dream sequence (well not really a dream so much as remembering). In fact Earl claims that his debut was so traumatic that he never would act again! The episode shows how thoughtful John Boy is to an old woman who knows she is about to die. Interesting that it’s another episode about death, and I’ve just noticed that The Gift is also among the lineup. Keep a box of tissues by your side on the day!

I’m thinking that for me, The Firestorm would be my pick for the very best, and I really must watch this episode again. I think it is absolutely brilliant. Writers Rod Peterson and Claire Whitaker have created a story about John Boy wanting to keep the community informed on the news in Europe, so he prints parts of Mein Kampf in his newspaper. His own family reacts in a variety of ways to this decision. The Reverend Fordwick ends up holding a book burning, with surprising results. Rod and Claire gave some background to this story by saying that when Rod himself was at school he had a teacher who told the social studies class about Mein Kampf. That teacher was then accused of teaching Nazism and many people wanted him sacked. I like that one fan, Mrs Sam Harris, says in Goodnight John Boy that “This episode teaches how judging can destroy people. Hitler was judging the Jews, and Walton’s Mountain people were judging the Germans.” p.124 How right she is. This is one episode that gives me shivers every time I see it and would rank among my very favorite episode.

The Gift is always one to watch, with Ron Howard, but very sad indeed. Interesting to see the many reactions of family and friends to a child’s impending death. Ron Howard plays Seth beautifully.

The Typewriter would be among my first season favorites. It introduces us to the lovely Baldwin ladies, and they were such great characters throughout the whole series. I love how awful poor Mary Ellen feels when she realises she has given away the typewriter belonging to the ladies, as scrap. It also shows the difficulties which John Boy, and perhaps Earl Hamner, had initially getting publishers to read his work. A poor writer would not have been able to afford a typewriter in those days. If a publisher wouldn’t even read a manuscript that wasn’t typewritten, what would you do? Just another little snippet from Goodnight John Boy to go with this episode. Mary Jackson who played Miss Emily so beautifully, recalls getting on a bus one day and being offered a seat by a gentleman. As she sat down he said to her: “And how is Ashley Longworth?” Just gorgeous. How she must have laughed about that later.

Now it’s over to you. What are your thoughts on the episodes chosen? Let me know for the next digest, and I hope many of you get to enjoy the Labor Day Marathon.

I see from the website that the DISH Network has dropped INSP. If this affects you, then head over to the INSP website for some further information and an online petition that you can sign. I must say that I really like the family drama that they have with The Waltons, Highway to Heaven, Our House and Dr Quinn Medicine Woman, and wouldn’t be at all pleased if my cable network dropped them!

Looking at her site this morning http://judynorton.com I discovered that she is about to return to the stage shortly in both Hello Dolly and Annie Get Your Gun. In fact her site says that she will be directing both. I’m thrilled for her and would dearly love to see the shows, but it’s a tad too far to visit from Australia, so I’ll just have to see what I can find on the Internet about the shows.  I’ll post reviews if I find them.

If you are interested in seeing one or both shows, and both are fabulous pieces, very classic music theatre with some wonderful songs, then head on over to Judy’s website at these links, and then follow the links there to the theatre for your bookings. You’ll find Judy’s photo, all resplendent in her Hello Dolly gear at http://judynorton.com/2011/06/judy-returns-in-hello-dolly/ and the piece about her directing at http://judynorton.com/2011/07/judy-norton-will-direct-two-musicals/ .

If you happen to go to the shows, make sure you stop by here to share your comments.