Need Your Feedback: Which Character Should I Profile Next?

Character profiles tend to be popular at Laura's Little houses. So far I have profiled:

Laura Ingalls Wilder

Mary Ingalls Kendall

Almanzo James Wilder

Caroline Ingalls

Nels Oleson

Help me decide who to profile next.

Charles Ingalls

Harriet Oleson

Reverend Alden

Doc Baker

Eliza Jane Wilder

Nellie Oleson Dalton

Leave a comment on this post to let me know. Thanks for your feedback!

Dabbs Greer Tribute - May 2007

This is a tribute to Dabbs Greer I created when he passed away in 2007. If I recall correctly, Susan McCray read part of this during her Dabbs Greer Memorial in May 2007 on her radio show, "Getting to Know You with Susan McCray."

 

Kind, understanding and full of wisdom, Reverend Alden embodied all that we laypeople might seek in a spiritual leader. Remember the time he thanked the children for getting him a box to carry his Bible in. Mary and Laura had taken the Sunday School money and bought patent medicine with it so that they could get him a better gift, but it didn't turn out the way they had planned, and the only thing they had left was the box that held the medicine.

Another great Reverend Alden memory was when he spoke to Charles about Mary right before she went blind. He admitted that his human mind could not comprehend why God was allowing this to happen to Mary, but that he was sure God had chosen her for a very special purpose. Charles could not accept that at the time, but Reverend Alden was right--Mary helped Adam open up a new blind school in Dakota Territory.

The scene in "The Last Farewell" where his character walks around the blown up town of Walnut Grove crying at the destruction gets me every time. If I live to be 100, I'll never get the pain-filled face of Reverend Alden out of my mind as he looks upon the demolished town he has called home for so many years.

Dabbs Greer brought Reverend Alden to life for me. While he was talented in so many other shows and films, my fondest memories will be from his role as the spiritual minister of Walnut Grove.

Can't We All Be Friends?

I'm in the midst of reading a memoir of a person who followed the travels of Laura Ingalls Wilder. I'm enjoying it. Every "Laurafan" seems to have his/her own story and I like learning of how others discovered Wilder and how that impacted their lives.

Spend enough time in Lauradom and you'll find distinct camps of "Laurafans"--those who love the classic family television show, Little House on the Prairie, and those who wish it never happened. At some point, I wish we could all shake hands and get along.

Why do those who don't care for Little House on the Prairie and how Michael Landon and his producers portrayed historical figures and events feel the need to rip it to shreds? Isn't the show just one more way to honor the legacy that Wilder left behind? Despite its historical inaccuracies, didn't the show capture the romantic, little girl view that Wilder portrayed in her books? I feel it did.

The book I'm reading has so far spent two pages decrying how television Laura wasn't anything like real Laura. Reverend Alden, Mr. Edwards and Charles didn't look like the real people any more than TV Laura did, and there was too much "histrionics and tragedy." Maybe the author gets it right about the histrionics, but I'm fairly sure the life in which the historical Laura lived had tragedy up the ying-yang, so is the problem with the show that it's not authentic enough or that it's too authentic? The author compares Little House on the Prairie to a soap opera. I've watched both genres of television. They are only alike in the fact that television allows you to suspend common sense if you're creating a great storyline. Remember in Season 9, Royal Wilder returns to Walnut Grove with a daughter named Jenny in tow and Almanzo tells Laura he hasn't seen his brother in 10 years. I guess he forgot that time right after Laura and he were married when Royal and his wife Millie dropped off their two sons (or should I say monsters) for the newlyweds to watch while they went off on a trip? But, Millie was dead by Season 9 and Royal was dying and they needed somewhere for daughter Jenny who no longer will have any family once Royal passes away (I guess Myron and Rupert died too) to live. Look at all that tragedy.

Perhaps it's because I discovered the books after the show and those books sparked my interest in Laura and Almanzo's real life that it doesn't matter to me that Little House on the Prairie and its creators went off into their own world to celebrate Wilder. Maybe I'm too forgiving of a medium that depends on action more than description and internal thought to propel the plot forward. I think they'll have to figure out peace in the Middle East before we can expect it in Laura World.