Happy Easter!

It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown Part 1



Part 2



Part 3

Melissa Gilbert's Prairie Tale

You may remember that last month I read Alison Armgrim's book Confessions of A Prairie Bitch. Click here to see what I wrote about that fabulously entertaining book. Arngrim made her fame on television playing the nasty role of Nellie Olsen on Little House on the Prairie. After indulging myself in those TV memories from the 1970s, I was inspired to read Melissa Gilbert's recent memoir, Prairie Tale. Of course, we all remember Melissa Gilbert as the child actress who brought Laura Ingalls, also known as Half Pint, to TV screens in the 1970s TV series Little House on the Prairie. She has also starred in countless TV movies in the decades since LHOTP.

Though Melissa has worked steadily in Hollywood since the early 1970s, her book focuses on her relationships and her internal life. (This lack of ego in the minutiae of her work may be a key to her career longevity!) That's not to say she doesn't include comment about her participation in Little House on the Prairie or the scads of TV movies she's made through the decades. However her book centers more on the details of her emotional life and her personal struggles over the years. I couldn't put the book down! The highlights include her passionate relationship with Rob Lowe in the 1980s as well as her more recent time served as Screen Actors Guild President. But I won't say much more to spoil the details in the book except to say...I loved it when she dishes the dirt and names names. Which she does.

Her book also reminds me of just how many Christmas entertainments Melissa Gilbert has been involved in. She mentions that her first TV show appearance was on The Dean Martin Show's Christmas special. Her grandfather, Harry Crane, was Martin's head writer. (I haven't seen it but I believe she is referring to the 1970 holiday episode.) Gilbert also mentions that she auditioned for the 1973 TV movie Miracle on 34th Street but didn't win the role--losing out to Suzanne Davidson. On page 66 of her memoir, Gilbert begins an anecdote from her work in the 1977 holiday movie The Christmas Coal Mine Miracle, also known by its original title, Christmas Miracle in Caufield, U.S.A. She also recounts the 1996 TV movie Christmas in My Hometown also called A Holiday for Love. However, she doesn't mention in her book her work on 1979's Nutcracker Fantasy nor the 1985 episode of "The Snow Queen" on Faerie Tale Theater. But that's okay.

The work Gilbert is perhaps most known for is her role as Half Pint on the long-running series Little House on the Prairie. That series has several Christmas episodes but one touching moment comes to mind. In the 1981 holiday episode "A Christmas They Never Forgot," the Ingalls family and friends are stranded together indoors during a severe snowstorm. They begin to entertain themselves by sharing their favorite memories of Christmases past. See below for Part 1 of this episode from Youtube.

"The Christmas They Never Forgot" Part 1

My favorite segment in this episode is Laura's memory of her family's first Christmas together in Kansas, spent with Mr. Edwards. Fans of the show should recognize this flashback as a clip taken from the two hour pilot movie from 1974. What many may not know is that this Christmas story line is originally from the book The Little House on the Prairie from the passage entitled "Mr. Edwards Meets Santa Claus." For me, this holiday scene is poignant not only because Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote it but also because we are watching a very young Melissa Gilbert who brought Wilder to life for an entire TV generation.

Christmas clip from the 1974 two hour pilot movie

Darlene Love

Congratulations Darlene Love! She is one of the new inductees into the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame in 2011. Of course, she's being honored for her work as a singer. She has a long list of hit songs as a member of the girl group The Blossoms as well as her solo work.

Darlene Love also has several connections to Christmas on TV. Her annual appearance on Letterman's late night talk show where she performs the 1963 hit song "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" has become a much anticipated tradition.

Love on 'Late Show with David Letterman' Christmas 2010

Love's vocals are also the attraction to the Robert Smigel stop motion animated segment that appeared on Saturday Night Live as a TV Funhouse short in 2005. This parody song is entitled "Christmastime for the Jews." This short remains a viewer holiday favorite and can usually be found among the clips in the Best of SNL Christmas shows.

Animation from 'Saturday Night Live'

And, it is the same Darlene Love who took up the role of Trish Murtaugh (Danny Glover's wife) in the 1980s Lethal Weapon buddy cop films. Many people still enjoy watching the first in the successful franchise of action movies, released in 1987, which took place at Christmas.

Again, congratulations to Darlene Love on her most recent success and much deserved place among rock n' roll royalty. I can hardly wait for December to see her perform on Letterman again.

The Pee-Wee Herman Show on HBO

Tonight is the big premier of The Pee-Wee Herman Show on HBO. Pee-Wee's new live stage show first debuted in Los Angeles in early 2010 and continued on Broadway in late 2010. Now this same show is taped and airing on HBO tonight.



I was one of the unlucky fans to have tickets to the first proposed comeback show--for Los Angeles in November 2009. The show was canceled in order for it to be rescheduled in a larger venue--and my opportunity to see it was eliminated. A friend of mine was able to see the show on Broadway last November and gave me the above Playbill from the show. Thanks again to Ande for her generosity. My only hope to catch the show is to now watch it on HBO. Here's hoping someone who gets HBO will invite me over so I can watch it :(

I've written about 1988's Pee-Wee's Playhouse Christmas Special before. It's one of my ultimate favorite Christmas TV specials ever. Click here to see that post. If you've seen the special, you already know why it's a favorite. It's an amazing star-studded, tongue-in-cheek tribute to musical variety Christmas TV specials of the past. It's also Pee-Wee at his best. What's today's Word of the Day? How about "comeback."

"Merry Christmas Everybody, Merry Christmas Every One."

The Leprechaun's Christmas Gold

Happy St. Patrick's Day! As we celebrate Irish heritage today, we can reflect on the many influences Irish culture has had on Christmas traditions. Not only do we have Bing Crosby's hit song "Christmas in Kilarney" but we also enjoy the 1981 Animagic classic TV special The Leprechaun's Christmas Gold. This stop motion animated special sometimes airs on Freeform's 25 Days of Christmas marathon schedule each year--and clips are often available for viewing on youtube.

This half-hour complex story is derived from Irish folklore and includes characters such as leprechauns, a sailor and a terrible banshee. It also features the recognizable voice talents of Art Carney and Peggy Cass. Of course, you may remember Art Carney as the actor who played the neighbor Ed Norton on The Honeymooners. He also appeared in everyone's favorite Christmas episode of The Twilight Zone--1960's The Night of the Meek. But cult TV fans will remember Carney for his role as the trading post owner in the much maligned The Star Wars Holiday Special. Here, Carney voices the leprechaun narrator Blarney Kilakilarney.If you haven't seen it in a while, here's a TV preview. Enjoy.

Eva Marie Saint and Alfred Hitchcock

Tonight I had planned on attending the TCM Road to Hollywood show in Cleveland, OH. A local theater was screening Alfred Hitchcock's masterpiece North By Northwest, hosted by TCM's own Robert Osbourne and featuring the Oscar-winning actress Eva Marie Saint. I know, right? Despite our best efforts and arriving an hour early, we couldn't find parking AND the long line of people out the Cleveland Institute of Art entrance and down the block was too disparaging. The promise of standing in that endless line--in the cold--brought my evening's plans to an abrupt end. (I saw my future: just as I stepped up to the theater entrance, a shade is lowered: SOLD OUT!)

Eva Marie Saint and Marlon Brando in 1954's 'On The Waterfront.' Go and watch the breath-taking scene again where these two talk by the swing set--GO NOW!

Despite my frustration and sadness, I'd still like to share here with you the tremendous contributions Eva Marie Saint and Alfred Hitchcock have made to Christmas programming.

Actress Eva Marie Saint has appeared in five Christmas TV movies:

--2000's Papa's Angels (see page 521 in my encyclopedia Tis the Season TV). This movie also stars Cynthia Nixon and Scott Bakula. It can still been seen each year on television (either Lifetime or the Hallmark Channel--maybe both).

--1988's I'll Be Home for Christmas (see pg. 327). This is my favorite World War II drama that takes place at Christmas. It also stars a very young Courtney Cox.

--1978's A Christmas to Remember (pg. 157). I haven't seen this one so if anyone else has, let me know!

--1964's Carol for Another Christmas (see pg.106). This is the VERY rare TV movie written by Rod Serling. Saint's role is small in this ensemble cast. It is a 1960s political adaptation of the Dickens classic.

--1947's A Christmas Carol. Rumor has it this TV version of the classic Victorian Christmas tale was Saint's TV debut. So little can be verified about this production, I wasn't able to put it in the encyclopedia. If you have seen it, let me know. IMDb says John Carradine also starred in it!



The anthology series, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, known for its dark tone and suspenseful stories, produced three amazing Christmas episodes:

--1955's Santa Claus and the Tenth Avenue Kid
--1956's Back for Christmas
--1958's The Festive Season

All three are located in my encyclopedia Tis the Season TV on pages 13-14. All three are also easily available to watch on DVD. If you've read my book The Christmas TV Companion, you'll know I love the episode Back for Christmas which originated as a story written by John Collier and was later adapted into another TV episode--on Roald Dahl's TV series Tales of the Unexpected. (This episode is also available on DVD for viewing).

I'm a huge Brando fan--ENJOY!

Confessions of a Prairie Bitch

I don't just have a voracious appetite for watching television but I also read books about TV.

I recently completed the 2010 release Confessions of a Prairie Bitch: How I Survived Nellie Olsen and Learned to Love Being Hated by Alison Arngrim. Every person who has ever watched the 1970s TV drama Little House on the Prairie has been touched by the nasty villainous character Nellie Olsen. Now fans of the TV series and character can find out what it is like to be the actress who brought that bitchy character to life.

Alison Arngrim today, embracing her ability to bitch about AIDs and sexual abuse.

This autobiography is everything you want it to be. It is written in a strong voice that is both clever and culturally literate. She dishes not just about her own personal experiences as a Hollywood child actress but also about those she worked alongside including Michael Landon, Melissa Gilbert and Melissa Sue Anderson. Arngrim and Gilbert (the actresses who play Nellie and Laura) were actually best friends on the set! Arngrim also includes details from the most remembered scenes of our favorite episodes from Little House that feature the wicked Nellie Olsen.

My favorite section was Chapter Eleven where Arngrim describes the behind-the-scenes experiences on filming everyone's favorite Nellie moment: when Laura pushes the nasty Nellie, who is seated in a rickety wooden wheelchair, down a hill and into a frog pond. This is the 1976 episode entitled "Bunny." If you will remember, this third season episode's story starts when Nellie falls from her horse Bunny and pretends to be paralyzed. Since the horse used to belong to Laura, the middle Ingalls daughter feels guilty for Nellie's injury and agrees to help the paralyzed child now stranded in a wheelchair. Laura eventually discovers that Nellie isn't actually immobilized but is just using Laura as her own personal slave. The episode climaxes when Laura pushes Nellie in a wheelchair over the edge of the hill in order to prove to everyone in Walnut Grove that the blonde bitch has been faking it the whole time. This is everyone's favorite nasty Nellie moment because it's one of the most satisfying scenes where Nellie gets what she deserves at the hands of Laura.

Nellie pushed down the hill in a wheelchair. Don't feel sorry for Nellie--she deserves worse!

Fans of Little House on the Prairie will remember that this hilarious episode's story picks up from the Christmas storyline in the 1974 episode "Christmas At Plum Creek." Nellie Olsen acquired Laura's pony after Laura traded it to her for a Christmas gift for her mother. "Christmas At Plum Creek" is a heartwarming story about sacrifice with a hint of O.Henry's popular tale "The Gift of Magi." Not only does Laura feel the loss of her cherished pony at Christmastime but she must face, in this later episode, the indignity of Nellie claiming Laura's horse is not just untrained and dangerous but Nellie also heaps guilt on poor Laura for her phony paralysis.

I know I'm not the only one who jeered each time the villain Nellie Olsen came on my TV screen in the 1970s. It's a wonderful read to learn just how the actress that brought this delicious bitch to life feels about being one of TV's most hated characters. Not only has Arngrim grown to embrace the strength of her TV character but she's been able to use this courage to speak out for those suffering from AIDs and those who have been sexually abused. Who could have anticipated that this insufferable TV character would be brought to life by an actress that inspires the best in all of us?

Part 1 of "Christmas At Plum Creek" from Little House on the Prairie