Books Versus TV Show: Laura and Almanzo's Courtship - These Happy Golden Years versus Season 6 of Little House on the Prairie & the Episode "Laura Ingalls Wilder" (Season 7)

 

The courtship of Laura Elizabeth Ingalls and Almanzo James Wilder is part of the reason we are still talking about them, their families, Wilder's books, and the shows based upon them. 

As already discussed in a post from earlier this month, the courtship of Laura and Almanzo is portrayed very differently in the books than on television. Almanzo pursues Laura in These Happy Golden Years, but Laura is the one pursing Almanzo in Little House on the Prairie. This necessitated changes in how TV Laura and Almanzo acted toward one another. 

For TV Laura, it is love at first sight when Almanzo pulls into town in his rig looking for his sister, the new school teacher, Eliza Jane. Book Laura first noticed Almanzo's horses. When TV Laura is introduced to Almanzo in the episode, "Back to School," Laura accidentally calls him, "Manly," instead of Mannie. The next day, he, in turn, tells her that now he must give her a special nickname. Asking what her full name is, Manly christens her, "Beth." These will be the nicknames they call each other throughout the Little House on the Prairie show. 

For book lovers, however, these pet names will not appear until the final book in the series, The First Four Years, and Almanzo calls Laura "Bess" to avoid confusion with his older sister, who is also named Laura, not "Beth." I can only imagine that the years in which the show originally aired played into the change in her nickname. 

Eager for Almanzo to see her as a woman, in "Back to School," Laura studies for her teaching exam, which she fails miserably thanks to Nellie's interference. For three episodes in Season 6--"Annabelle," "The Werewolf of Walnut Grove," and "Silent Promise," Laura yearns for Almanzo to see her as older than she is and hopes he will wait for her to grow up... much to the dismay of her pa. 

Almanzo's perspective begins to shift in the episode, "Wilder and Wilder," when his younger brother, Perley Day visits Walnut Grove unexpectedly. Perley Day reminds Almanzo that Laura--who Manly had just called a kid--is almost 16, and when Almanzo is later caring for Barnum at the Ingalls farm after his brother nearly cripples him, he tells Charles that Laura is one "grown up young lady." It will, however, be driving Laura to her first teaching job in "Sweet Sixteen," that finds Manly's friendship with Beth blossoming into love. 

With a new hairstyle and boots, and with a week spent apart, Laura suddenly looks older to Almanzo when he picks her up in Curry. Struggling with his newly discovered feelings for Beth, he punches a student who he thinks is making advances to Laura, which he later admits to Charles. 

When Charles arrives on Laura's birthday to pick her up, she is disappointed that Almanzo hasn't come, but she is encouraged when Charles tells her he believes Almanzo might be in love with her. That night, at the church social, Almanzo and Laura share their first dance and their first kiss. 

Two more, two-part episodes will focus on their courtship: "He Loves, He Loves Me Not" and "Laura Ingalls Wilder." The latter is the opening for Season 7. Like viewers will see in the early days of their TV marriage, Manly and Beth have temporarily life-altering disagreements during their courtship as well, which wasn't as much of an issue for book Almanzo and Laura. 

At the end of seventh book of the series, Little Town on the Prairie, Laura earns her teaching certificate. By the opening of the next book, These Happy Golden Years, she has her first teaching job at the Brewster settlement. In Chapter 4, Almanzo is the one bringing her back and forth to Brewster, just like TV Almanzo brought Laura back and forth from Curry. 

Laura is quick to correct her friends, who call Almanzo her beau (pg 39).  Later in the book (pg 62), she tells Almanzo that she wouldn't be riding with him anymore once she is back in town permanently. So, she is surprised when he arrives to bring her home again (pgs 69-70). They have a small disagreement (pgs 76-77), and he asks her if she thinks he is the kind of guy who would leave her in Brewster, while she is missing home, just because there is nothing in it for him. And this is where the reader gets insight into Laura's thoughts, because she admits to herself, she never really thought about him because he is older and a homesteader (keeping in mind that Almanzo lied about his age when he went west because a man had to be 21 or head of the family to make a claim). 

Though TV Laura saw herself getting married to Almanzo, in These Happy Golden Years, when Mary suggests she write a book, Laura says she will be an old maid schoolteacher like Miss Wilder. (pg 136).  Which is so funny, because men keep showing up at her family's home to take her for rides (pg 170). 

Unlike Laura and Almanzo's TV courtship, readers see the seasons and regular activities for courting couples in the book. Winter means they go out on sleigh rides, which become buggy rides in the spring. They have singing school, which Almanzo invites Laura to attend with him (pg 199). 

We see a bit of Almanzo's temper when Laura's Uncle Tom comes to visit. Manly doesn't realize it is her uncle, so he gets teased by Laura's friends because he is jealous (pg 112). Seems book Almanzo and TV Almanzo have that in common. 

Just like TV Laura, book Laura is not afraid to assert herself when needed. A few times, Almanzo shows up to take Laura for a buggy ride with Nellie Oleson. One day, she tells him not come if Nellie will be with him (pg 177). So, next time, he shows up alone. Once they get engaged (pg 214), see plainly tells Almanzo that she will not say the word "obey" in their vows because she can't make a promise she won't keep (pg 268). 

Book readers also get to see Laura's mischievous side. While riding with Almanzo in his buggy, he puts his arm around her shoulders. Laura shakes the buggy whip, causing the colts to jump, so Almanzo must use both arms to bring the colts under control (pg 166). Reminds one of the cinnamon chicken incident in "Back to School" or how Laura "accidentally" forgot to sew Christie Norton's skirt to the bodice of her dress in "Annabelle." 

I previously spoke about Ma's reaction to Almanzo in Little Town on the Prairie, because we see Caroline as supportive of Laura's desire to make Almanzo see her as a woman in the show. In These Happy Golden Years, she isn't thrilled about Laura riding with Almanzo while he is breaking in a new team. She actually tells Laura that she thinks he is trying to break her neck, and that she hopes he breaks his own first (pg 186). Ouch! After Laura receives an engagement ring from Almanzo, Ma asks her if she is sure she doesn't care more for his horses. Having not read this book for decades, this suspicious, stern Caroline is foreign to me, especially in light of how loving Grassle's Ma is. 

The winter before Almanzo and Laura get married, he and his brother Royal decide to visit their parents in Spring Valley. They plan to be gone until spring, but on Christmas Eve, Almanzo returns to surprise Laura (pg 229). This is one of those scenes I wish Little House on the Prairie had reimagined, despite it not being practical. Side note: In "Wilder and Wilder," Perley Day said he visited the folks in New York, but they had moved to Spring Valley in the 1870s. 

After Almanzo's return, book Laura and her family get busy preparing for the wedding day. Mary comes home from college, and Pa gets Ma a new sewing  machine so she can make Laura's new things (pgs 241, 246 & 265). This is another everyday life detail I wanted to catch a glimpse of in the show. Instead, we had Almanzo losing his crop on the land he bought when the man who sold it to him cut off his water supply ("Laura Ingalls Wilder"), and a major disagreement between Laura and Almanzo as she takes a job in Radner to help earn money so she and Almanzo can get back on their feet. This will cause the first rift between Eliza Jane and Almanzo since we have met them. She tells him he is wrong and he is being stubborn. 

Laura and Almanzo call off their engagement. She plans to take the job in Radner and stay there so she can forget about Manly, and it looks like he plans to go on living with his sister for all eternity. That is, until Eliza Jane tells him she is moving to St. Louis to marry Harve Miller, which means Laura and Almanzo can have the house in Walnut Grove, and Laura can teach in town. Thrilled, Almanzo grabs Laura's engagement ring, races after the stage, and proposes to Laura. 

Then, in an odd bit of writing, Laura and Almanzo agree to drive to Sleepy Eye to tell Ma and Pa, who are at the blind school celebrating Mary and Adam's anniversary, picking up Eliza Jane before they drive the 40 miles to Sleepy Eye. Keeping in mind that a wagon could travel about 5 - 8 miles per hour, and that Laura was over an hour away from Walnut Grove when Almanzo stopped the stage, I don't think they would make it. But in the end, Laura Elizabeth Ingalls becomes Laura Ingalls Wilder. 

The television courtship seems to take place over a year and a half. Charles told Almanzo in "He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not," that they had to wait one year to get married, which would make Laura 17. Now, we won't know how much time passed between "Sweet Sixteen" and "He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not," but we know six months has passed since Charles gave his permission for them to get married in a year--based on Laura telling Ma she would be Laura Ingalls Wilder in six months ("Laura Ingalls Wilder"). Laura had applied for a teaching job in Radner while Almanzo was plowing the field to plant his first crop in "Laura Ingalls Wilder," so that must be spring time. Later in the episode, Laura also talks about the mid-year break coming up and going to teach in Radner in a few weeks, so at least a few months have passed. 

On page 270, Laura mentions that she and Almanzo had been together for three years by the time they rushed their wedding to avoid Eliza Jane's arrival in De Smet to plan a big wedding with Almanzo's mother. Laura feels anxious as she realizes she will be leaving home for good (pg 276), just like TV Laura realizes at the beginning of "Laura Ingalls Wilder" that not only in six months would she be married, but she wouldn't be teaching anymore, which as fans know was not the case until later in the series. 

As we compare the books and the Little House on the Prairie television show, we see how much Michael Landon and his team honored the source material the show is based on up until this point. I feel like once we get into The First Four Years, it will be more challenging to find similarities. 

Big News for Little House on the Prairie Fans

 

Photo credit: PLP

Dean Butler (Almanzo Wilder) and Alison Arngrim (Nellie Oleson Dalton) recently announced Prairie Legacy Productions, LLC as the new home of officially licensed LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE™ fan events.

With Butler and Arngrim as Co-Managers, this venture has already begun coordinating its first 2025 Little House on the Prairie Cast Reunion, taking placing in June 2025 at the Columbia State Historic Park in California. Event information can be found here.

Books Versus TV Show: The Long Winter & Little Town on the Prairie Books Versus Season 6 of Little House on the Prairie

Just like we did last week, we are going to compare some of the Little House books to the Little House on the Prairie television show. If you missed our first post, which compared Little House in the Big Woods and Little House on the Prairie to the pilot, you can find it here. 

Wilder's readers were introduced to her future husband in the second book of the Little House series, Farmer Boy. While readers meet Almanzo and his family--Mother, Father, Royal, Eliza Jane, and Alice, other than setting up the beautiful Morgan horses that Laura finds so attractive when we see Almanzo again in The Long Winter and Little Town on the Prairie, and his love for farming, television viewers don't meet Almanzo until Season 6 of Little House on the Prairie, when he is an adult. The only glimpse viewers will get of Almanzo's childhood is in the Season 8 episode, "A Christmas They Never Forgot." 

The first noticeable difference between the books and the show is the location. The Long Winter and Little Town on the Prairie take place in the town of De Smet, South Dakota. With rare exception, the television show remained in Walnut Grove, Minnesota.

As Season 6 of Little House on the Prairie opens, it is the start of a new school year with a new teacher, Eliza Jane Wilder. Book readers will recall, however, that Almanzo and his older brother Royal were "batching" it in De Smet (pg 59) prior to Eliza Jane taking a homestead in town (pg 124). 

Unlike his TV counterpart, book Almanzo can cook--at least pancakes (pg 101), and has a set of beautiful Morgan horses named Prince and Lady. Though TV Almanzo never hunted, in The Long Winter, he joins the men to hunt antelope and almost loses Lady, who he had allowed to be ridden by a man in town. 

Readers of The Long Winter don't see much of Almanzo again until Cap Garland and he travel to get the seed wheat that saves the town from starvation when the trains can't make it through (pgs 264-285 & 295-302). 

In the episode "Family Tree," Miss Wilder assigns the schoolchildren a project to work on their genealogy. She pulls down a chart of her family tree. Now, keeping in mind that this episode aired close to four years prior to the Internet being invented, lovers of Laura Ingalls Wilder history will find some mistakes. 

• Perley Day Wilder's name is spelled Parley.
• Their paternal grandfather's name is incorrectly stated as Parley Day Wilder, instead of Abel Wilder. Their paternal grandmother is listed as Alice Wilder instead of Hannah (Payne) Wilder. 
• Their maternal grandparents are shown as Royal and Angeline Martin, not Justin Day II and Diadema (Bateman) Day.
• Some birthdates are incorrect: James Wilder's should be 1813; Angeline's should be 1819; Eliza Jane's is actually 1850; Almanzo's is 1857; and the youngest Wilder brother, Perley Day, was born in 1869. 

Almanzo's oldest sister, Laura, was never mentioned in the books, because the author felt it would be too confusing. She does, however, appear on Miss Wilder's family tree in that episode, despite not appearing in the Season 8 Christmas episode. 

Book readers see more of Almanzo Wilder in Little Town on the Prairie. They will be quick to notice that Almanzo is captivated by Laura in the books, versus Laura being captivated by Almanzo in the show. It will be Almanzo who offers her a ride to school and gives her his name card (pg 197). Almanzo will start asking to see Laura home from community events (279). So, despite Nellie taunting Laura and her classmates that she will be seen in Almanzo's new buggy, Laura will get that honor. Laura, however, is more impressed with the horses.

In the show, Almanzo dates a couple of young women from town, Christie Norton ("Annabelle") and Sarah ("Silent Promise"), while Laura pines away, hoping he waits until she gets older. Their friendship won't blossom into love until she gets her teaching certificate, which happens at the end of Little Town on the Prairie and in the episode "Sweet Sixteen." Though show fans will get that satisfaction at the end of the "Sweet Sixteen" episode, book fans will need to wait until the next book in the series, These Happy Golden Years, for them to be a couple. 

As long time fans of the show have heard, Michael Landon proceeded with caution in portraying Laura and Almanzo's relationship, considering fans had watched Melissa Gilbert (Laura) grow up on television and the age difference between the characters and Dean Butler (Almanzo) and Gilbert in real life. 

The show also portrays Caroline's and Charles's reactions to Almanzo differently. It is book Caroline who is concerned about Almanzo walking Laura home, because she is still young (pg 279), versus the numerous episodes where Charles expresses concern for Laura's infatuation with the much older Almanzo. He even tries to push Laura toward Perley Day Wilder when he shows up in Walnut Grove unexpectedly ("Wilder and Wilder"). 

Eliza Jane Wilder arrives as the new school teacher in De Smet (pg 124) and befriends Nellie Oleson, who readers had met in On the Banks of Plum Creek. Nellie's circumstances have changed, and so have Laura's to some degree. Laura finds herself the town girl, versus Nellie now being the country girl. In the show, Laura remained the country girl, and Nellie lived in town. Miss Wilder couldn't build a friendship with Nellie on the show, because once she arrived, Nellie had passed her final school exam and graduated, giving a commencement speech before being given Walnut Grove's first--and only--restaurant as a gift from Harriet and Nels. 

Though Laura and Eliza Jane were seen as having a friendly relationship on Little House on the Prairie, their book relationship was tumultuous. Nellie led Miss Wilder to believe that Laura felt she could run the school because Charles was on the school board (pg 180). As a result, the teacher, who could not manage her classroom, took it out on Laura and Carrie. 

Little House on the Prairie worked in some of the shenanigans that the book Miss Wilder experienced into the episode "The Werewolf of Walnut Grove." Some of the school days unfold in chapters 13 - 15 of Little Town on the Prairie. Lack of discipline creates an environment where the older boys are constantly causing issues, like Bart Slater did in the television episode. The show's writers have Albert Ingalls sit on a tack placed on his seat by Bart, just like Charley did in the book. They even have Bart chant the poem Ida and Laura created in the book based on Eliza Jane's school nickname. 

When the school board decides that Bart Slater will stay in school, Miss Wilder resigns, meaning that she and Almanzo will leave Walnut Grove. Ultimately, the rest of the schoolchildren stand up to Bart, which allows the Wilders to stay in town. In the book, Miss Wilder decides to return to Minnesota (pg 185), and two other teachers will take over the school in De Smet as the book progresses. 

While there are definite differences in how the books were brought to life by Michael Landon and his team, it's nice to see much of what happened in the books ends up in some fashion in the show. 

Books Versus TV Show: Little House in the Big Woods & Little House on the Prairie Books Versus Little House on the Prairie Pilot

 

The pilot for Little House on the Prairie opens with Caroline saying goodbye to their family in the Big Woods of Wisconsin as they head west by covered wagon. Though this actually doesn't happen until the beginning chapter of Laura Ingalls Wilder's book, Little House on the Prairie, it is in Little House in the Big Woods that readers are first introduced to the Ingalls family and their extended family. 

Little House in the Big Woods, which I reviewed here, shares four-year-old Laura's story of growing up in their little gray house made of logs. For the sake of its connection to the television show, we meet the immediate family unit--Pa, Ma, Mary, Laura, Carrie, and their dog Jack. The roles of Pa as the playful and capable father and Ma as the caretaker of the home and disciplinarian are outlined. We see Laura's jealousy over her older sister's golden hair and how Laura saw Mary as a good girl (pg 174). This all makes its way into the show in one way or another.

Scenes from Wilder's Little House on the Prairie book make it into the pilot movie, even if they are reimagined in some way:

• The Ingalls family trades for Pet and Patty before crossing the creek, where Charles must hop off the wagon and lead the ponies to shore. (pgs 19-23)
• They think Jack has drowned because Charles didn't put him in the wagon, and Pa worries about what they will do without a good watchdog. (pgs 25 and 27)
• They are surprised when Jack returns. (pgs 34-36) 
• The family stops in Kansas (pg 52), and after Caroline gets hurt helping Charles lift logs to build the house, he brings Mr. Edwards over to help him. (pg 63) 
• While Charles is away from home, Native Americans pay visits to the house and help themselves to food and supplies. (pgs 140 and 227-229) 
• Pa scolds Laura for thinking of untying Jack when the Native Americans stop by the house because he told the girls not to untie him. (pgs 145-146)
• Charles takes a job working with cowboys. In exchange he gets some beef and a cow. (pg 168)
• Mr. Edwards comes for Christmas, bringing presents for Mary and Laura and sweet potatoes for Christmas dinner. (pgs 245-251)
• Charles and Caroline put out a prairie fire. (pg 276) 
• Soldat du Chene, second chief of the Osage, convinces the tribes not to attack the white settlers. (pg 300)
• The family watches as the Native Americans leave the area on horseback. This chapter includes what some might think is the most offensive scene in the book--Laura begging to keep the papoose. (pgs 302-311)
• In the final two chapters, Charles learns he is miles over the line into Indian Territory and decides to leave the next day. (pgs 312 - 335)

There might be a few others, but these were what stuck out to me as I skimmed the first two books of the Little House series. 

As far as differences go between the Little House on the Prairie book and the pilot, I will point out the following:

• Along their journey, the television Ingalls family lived out of their covered wagon. However, in the early days of their journey in the book, they camp overnight in an abandoned house. (pgs 7 - 8)
• In the book, the Ingalls family has neighbors, Mr. and Mrs. Scott, who live two miles away from them. Mr. Scott helps Charles dig a well. Mrs. Scott takes care of them when they are sick and brings the doctor. Mr. Scott also ends up taking the cow when Charles packs up to leave Kansas, versus Mr. Edwards taking the cow in the show. 
• When the prairie fire happens in the show, Caroline puts Carrie in the creek while the rest of the family works to put out the fire. Then it starts raining, which saves the house. In the book, Charles and Caroline fight the fire while all the girls are in the house. A stick comes down the chimney and lands on the floor, putting Mary and Carrie--who are sitting in the rocking chair--in danger. Laura bravely pulls them out of harm's way and throws out the burning stick. Charles starts a back-fire, which saves the house. (pgs 276 - 282)
• In the show, Soldat du Chene comes to their house with two members of his tribe to tell the Ingalls family that he convinced the tribes not to kill the white settlers. In the book, Charles meets a member of the Osage tribe in the woods, who tells him all about it. (pg 300)
• While Charles learns from Mr. Edwards and Mr. Scott that he is three miles into Indian Territory in the book (pg 316), at the end of the pilot, Charles is visited by soldiers with a letter. 

Laura might have been younger in the books than she is on the show. It's hard to tell because we know her age as four in Little House in the Big Woods, but I didn't specifically search for it in Little House on the Prairie, and I don't recall it being mentioned in the show. In Laura's narration in the Season 8 episode, "The Christmas They Never Forgot," she says she was eight years old when she was in Kansas. 

Michael Landon's Charles has a more emotional reaction to Jack returning after they thought he drowned than book Charles, but book Charles has an angrier--at least to me--reaction to learning he is three miles into Indian Territory than TV Charles does. Landon's reaction comes off more as distraught. Either seems valid, as the family needs to start over again unexpectedly. Both book and television Charles accept the Native Americans and appreciate their help. 

Book Caroline seems more stern than television Caroline, though as we know, Grassle's Ma can show her temper upon occasion. Book Caroline appreciates Mr. Edwards from the start, but TV Caroline doesn't care for him much until he brings Christmas gifts for the girls, showing her a different side to him. Of course, television's Mr. Edwards is known to frequent saloons, whereas the only mention of a saloon in the book is when he says he saw Santa Claus by the light of the saloons. 

In the book and in the pilot, Mary is more fearful of new situations, whereas Laura shares her Pa's sense of adventure and is excited and curious about new places and people. 

The pilot seemed to stick closer to the source material than as the series progressed. I will continue this analysis with other books and episodes. 

Little House: Fifty for 50 Anniversary Podcast

 

Have any of you been listening to the Little House: Fifty for 50 Anniversary Podcast with Dean Butler (Almanzo Wilder), Alison Arngrim (Nellie Oleson Dalton), and host Pamela Bob? 

Honestly, I'm not much of a podcast person. I tend to fall in love with one, binge listen, and then wander off. I like catching the short clips on social media, though. Dean and Alison are such amazing supporters of the Little House on the Prairie world and in keeping the love of the show alive decades later. Pamela is a great host, and the conversation flows so naturally. If ever I fell in love with a podcast, it would probably be this one. 

Here is the website for the podcast: https://littlehouse50podcast.com When you visit, you will find other places where you can listen. Hope you enjoy it!