She was 65 before she published her first novel, but the world knows Laura Ingalls Wilder as a little girl in pinafore and pigtails.
Based on Wilder’s books, “Little House on the Prairie" was the popular TV series that aired from 1974 to ’83 starring Melissa Gilbert as the plucky little Laura. But how much of that was true and how much fiction?
PBS’ “American Masters” will aim to answer that question when it airs the bio-doc “Laura Ingalls Wilder” on Dec. 29.
Gilbert, who was 9 years old when she was cast as Laura in the series, says she’d already read one of the books by then. “I first read ‘Little House in the Big Woods,’ it was a school assignment, actually. And as you know, those books are still, I think, assigned in middle schools today; (they're) still read. And I absolutely loved it,” she says.
“I read it with my mom because they had been her favorite books growing up. So she was so excited when I got the assignment, to be able to sit with me and read it with me. I just thought Laura was this incredibly fun, spunky, spirited ‑‑ she actually reminded me a lot of myself at that time,” she recalls.
“But then also the way she wrote -- her descriptions of life and food especially, and games and sights and sounds and the world around her was so vivid. I could see myself there, and . . . it really got my imagination stirred up.”
Gilbert went back later, reading subsequent books and poring over minute details about the writer.
“I wish I could say something deeper than this about what surprised me about Laura, but really what surprised me about Laura is how tiny she really was. She was a tiny little woman. Her husband Almanzo had all of their homes made with custom countertops so she could comfortably stand and cook.
“And to me she seems like just a giant influence, not only in my life, but in the lives of everybody all over the world and in America especially. So to think of her being this tiny little diminutive woman was just shocking to me.”
Mary McDonagh Murphy, director and producer on the documentary, says that although Wilder came from humble beginnings, she proved to be a rich storyteller.
“Laura's life is extraordinary, and the fact that she became a bestselling author at 65 -- after everything she endured and went through: She was a chicken farmer. She had to do two or three jobs her whole life to make ends meet with her beloved Almanzo. When I think about what any of us have been through in the test of our pioneer spirits lately, what she endured was really remarkable.”
Although Gilbert spent years portraying Wilder’s alter ego, she says she continually discovers new things about the author.
“I am constantly amazed how much more there is for me to learn because I have had the opportunity to come at the ‘Little House’ stories in so many different angles in so many different ways,” she says.
Once she was cast, Gilbert concentrated on the scripts and not the books.
“We strayed pretty far from the truth of the books, which also strayed far from the truth of the actual experience, because we had to create this whole world that television shows have a tendency to do,” she remembers.
But in 2009, Gilbert performed in the musical version of the tale, portraying Caroline, Laura’s mother.
“I got to revisit the stories when I did the musical version... and I got to go back to the books and the subsequent books that had come out about all of them to see the whole experience through a new set of eyes. So that really was fascinating for me. And I have done consequently a great deal more research. Every time a Laura book comes out, I buy it and read it and try to learn even more of what was going on,” she says.
Gilbert thinks the reaction of the public to the series has only increased since COVID-19 hit.
“I can tell you that since March of this year, since the world and our nation in particular have been dealing with this pandemic, I began hearing more and more on social media from people saying, ’I am rewatching “Little House on the Prairie.” It is bringing me so much comfort. I am finding my way through.’
“So I think when we... have this opportunity to see this extraordinary documentary, I think it is going to be, again, another source of great comfort and a reminder of where we came from. I mean, these are people who built the nation and it’s a reminder of how that is done. And that's only done with community and love and understanding. And that if we did that, we can make it through this, just like we made it through the ‘50s, the 1960s, the 1970s, and on and on and on.”
AMERICAN RESILIENCE CELEBRATED
Tired of all the negativity around? PBS has a balm for you. On New Year’s Eve the network will present “United in Song: Celebrating the Resilience of America,” featuring some awesome talent -- all of whom have personified that American resilience.
Those include violinist Joshua Bell, soprano Renee Fleming, Patti LaBelle, Josh Groban, Tony winner Audra McDonald, famed cellist Yo-Yo Ma, and Grammy winner Juanes.
Filmed outside George Washington’s Mount Vernon (with the audience maintaining the mandated distances) the program will also feature David M. Rubinstein interviewing some of the performers about music and how it unites us.
“When George Washington was leaving office to return to Mount Vernon, he asked that we look to each other and find what we share in common as opposed to what makes us different,” says Rubinstein.
Although he’s an old pro, Groban says he still gets butterflies when he’s about to perform before an audience.
“When I think back now to how many hundreds of performances I’ve done and how many concerts, I still get just as nervous. But the nerves now are an excitement. I’m able to channel the nerves now to a place of really wanting to go out there and take control of the night and have a good time,” he says.
“Before the nerves would be debilitating. Before I would second guess, and I would get tight... Now it’s just more of a pacing and, ‘I can’t wait to get out there’ kind of thing.”
‘DOCTOR WHO’ KICKS IN THE NEW YEAR
A “Doctor Who” holiday special will kick off New Year’s Day at 8 p.m. on BBC America and AMC+ with Jodie Whittaker as the Thirteenth Doctor and John Barrowman back as Jack Harkness.
“The Revolution of the Daleks” takes up where the series left off. We saw the doctor locked in an alien prison with no possible hope of escape. And there are more evil plans afoot.
Barrowman, who first appeared as Jack Harkness in 2005, may be Scottish by birth, but spent much of his youth in America.
His family moved to Illinois when he was 8.
“My father was general manager of Caterpillar Tractor Co. He was the first non-American citizen to head an American corporation,” says Barrowman.
“He came over and it was in 1976 we moved and first went to Aurora, Illinois, then Joliet, Illinois, then they finally were in Peoria, Illinois -- those three cities are the three biggest facilities of Caterpillar Tractor Co.,” he says.
“The aspect of that is I came from a background of business, my father being a businessman and my mother organizing the house. We called her the ‘house executive,’ she organized their social life and things like that. But I see myself as being in the entertainment business, that’s why I like all facets of it because I am my own company. I enjoy doing it. If people say, ‘You can’t do that, you do this.’ I say, ‘No, you can't tell me to NOT to do that.’”
‘THE MASKED DANCER’ WALTZES ONTO FOX
“The Masked Singer” has been such a hit for Fox that it’s conjured up “The Masked Dancer,” set to premiere on Sunday. The series is similar in that the celebrity panel is charged with identifying the person behind the flamboyant masked costume with only a few hints to clue them in and a sample of the subject’s buck-and-wing.
Brian Austin Green was one of the masked marvels on “The Masked Singer,” and now finds himself a panelist on “The Masked Dancer,” tasked with identifying who can trip the light fantastic and who can’t.
It’s a difficult challenge, says Green.
“There's a different way of viewing this show than ‘The Masked Singer’ and sort of a different focus for people to put on (to determine) what it is they are watching. And at the end of the day, even though this show is more difficult as a panel, we did a pretty good job. We surprised ourselves. We were expecting it to be a lot tougher than it was. And once we got into the rhythm and the understanding of what we were looking for and what made sense, then the show was really fun. It was really fun for us and hopefully really fun for people watching.”
Paula Abdul, who’s a dancer herself, also serves on the panel. She says she’s amazed how the contestants are able to perform in the cumbersome costumes. “The limited range of motion with the costumes for the head has to be so secure because spotting is everything for dancers, “ she says.
“Especially when they are turning. So it was amazing for me to see that they could have their core balance and not get vertigo. I mean, it was crazy because they are turning all over the place. They are doing the skillful pirouettes, and it's like they have this little window to see out of.”
