Little House on the Prairie
Fun Facts & Trivia
FACT # 1 *sent in by Aaron*
Have you even seen the movie "Yours Mine, and Ours" (1968)? I bet you are
wondering how this movie could have something to do with the Little House TV
Series! Well, it does! If you have seen the movie then do you remember the
little boy Philip? Well, he played the role of Jason in the episode of Little
House on the Prairie entitled "The Talking Machine" (1974) Next time you watch
this episode, look real close I am sure that you could see that it's him! His
real name is Eric Shea and he was born on February 2, 1960.
FACT # 2 *sent in by Aaron*
The boy who played Tommy North in "Yours Mine and Ours", played the part of Johnny Johnson in episodes "The Love of Johnny Johnson" (1974) and "To See the World" (1975) His real name is Mitch Vogel and he was born on January 17, 1956.
FACT # 3 (sent in by AmyWalko@aol.com ) Updated by Turley@tcainternet.com
In the episode "Times of Change" (Season 4) Melissa Sue Anderson (Mary Ingalls) was on a train with a boy, (Michael Lookinland, who played Bobby from the "Brady Bunch" TV Series), at the end of the episode. She was accompanying Charles to Chicago to see John. She was heartbroken when they broke up while there, but on the train trip home she started a conversation with "that boy" and Charles knew she would eventually meet another boy and be ok.
FACT # 4 (sent in by AmyWalko@aol.com )
Do you remember Tracy Savage, who played Christy Kennedy in the first season?
She grew up to be a television newscaster. She reported in Dayton, Ohio for
years before moving on to another city.
FACT # 5 (sent in by AmyWalko@aol.com )
The boys who played Andy Garvey and Albert Quinn Ingalls were brothers in real life.
FACT # 6 (sent in by AmyWalko@aol.com )
Laura Ingalls and Willie Oleson were adopted brother and sister in real life.
Sara Gilbert, who played Darlene on a popular TV Series Sitcom, is also an
adopted sibling in the Gilbert family.
FACT # 7 (sent in by
Boombaby99@aol.com (updated by
kimbertan@earthlink.net
)
People do not have
autism only when they are children. It's not a disorder that you can outgrow. If
the Laborteaux brothers (Patrick and Matthew) were diagnosed as autistic when
they were younger, it was a misdiagnosis. Also, a person who does not speak
until they are 5 years old will not go on to develop normal language.
FACT # 8 (sent in by kpuddifant@home.com
)
Lindsay and Sidney Greenbush's brother was on one episode of Little House on the
Prairie!
FACT # 9 (sent in by Jeff )
In the Little House episode "The Dark Sage" Dr.LeDoux (Don Marshall) and Dr. Baker (Kevin Hagen) were both in a TV series called Land of the Giants back in the 1960s.
FACT # 10 (sent in by
Jeff )
Michael Landon's daughter Leslie was in a episode in the first season intitled "Plague". She played a neighbor kid that talked to Charles Ingalls when he was helping out in the church caring for the sick people... An interesting fact is that the name Charles was used when he talked to her in that episode is Leslie. Leslie Landon also plays a recurring role as Ms. Plum in Little House a New Beginning.
FACT # 11 (sent in by Charles Richardson )
There is a part in one of the earlier Little
House episodes where Dr. Baker comes to the house to check on Laura, who has a
fever. As he is coming down from the loft, he smacks his head on the ceiling. It
was quite obviously not planned! It was not suppose to happen. You can see
Caroline trying not to laugh, and she says "Are you OK doctor?" To which he
replies something like "I need to see a doctor"
I think it may be the one where Mr. Edwards comes back, and he thinks Laura is
really sick because of a little fever.
*NOTE
FROM AARON*- I believe you are talking about the episode
entitled "Mr. Edwards Homecoming". If I am right, this was one of the early
episodes of "Little House on the Prairie" from 1974 or 75.
FACT # 12 ( sent in by Hiphats@aol.com )
The Television Movie entitled "An Officer And A Gentleman" aired on a cable
station a few months ago, this year (1999). There is big connection between
"Little House on the Prairie" and "Officer". Louis Gossett Jr. won an
Oscar ® for his role as Sarget. Foley (he appeared years earlier in the Little
House Episode entitled "The Long Road Home" ) Mr. Edwards himself, Victor
French, plays Debra Winger's father in the scene where Zak (Richard Gere) eats
dinner with a Family Victor French only has three lines in this movie.
FACT # 13 ( sent by Rachel Haste )
Rachel Haste was able to meet Stan Ivar (the actor who played
John Carter ) two different times at some autograph signing collector shows and
she was able to get a chance to talk to him. Stan Ivar told Rachel that he
once asked Michael Landon what he was gonna do to it after the last show (Little
House: The Last Farewell) and Michael said that he did not want to blow it up.
Michael asked Stan if he wanted it. Of course, Stan said Yes! As of March, 1999
Stan has said, that he still had it (the Little House, used on the TV Series) on
his ranch in California and it was still apart and not built. He does not know
what he's gonna do with it. He thought of opening it up to the public as a
museum but was afraid of the wear and tear that would put on it. For more
information about this, please contact her at the address above.
*NOTE FROM AARON*
Please visit the web site devoted and with information on "Simi Valley"
for more information on the filming of the TV Series "Little House"!
Trivia Facts
1. "The Last Farewell" was the last LHOTP story filmed, but not the last to be telecast. "Bless All The Dear Children", the finelChristmas episode, shot before "...Farewell", sat on the NBC shelf until Christmas of 1984. "...Farewell" aired earlier that year during the Easter season.
2. James Karen, who played the evil Nathan Lassiter, played another land swindler of sorts...in Steven Spielberg's "Poltergeist", Karen portrayed the wicked real estate agent who sold Craig T. Nelson's "dream house" on the site of a former cemetery (the source of all the evil encountered throughout the film).
3. According to a "E! True Hollywood Story" special on Michael Landon, Landon wanted to bring everything to a conclusion, leaving nothing left to spare, which is why he devised the blowing up of the town as part of "...Farewell"'s storyline.
4. Sherri Stoner (Rachel Brown Oleson) would go on to write for the animated series "Tiny Toon Adventures".
5. "...Farewell" provides another hidden clue to Albert Ingalls' survival. In the scene where Charles and Caroline are on their way to Walnut Grove and pass the tree where Charles fell off of (in "A Harvest Of Friends"), they mention that both have visited the town before. Since "...Farewell" was the only TV movie sequel in which Caroline appeared, it is implied that their visit came sometime between "Look Back To Yesterday" and "...Farewell" and thus was never depicted in any LHOTP story, but it also implies that Albert came along with them too, thus supporting the theory that Albert returned to the town as the doctor as Laura mentioned in "Home Again".