The Waltons
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- ''This article is about the TV programme "The Waltons". For the various bands named "The Waltons", see The Waltons (band)
The family, consisting of Olivia and John Walton and their seven children, as well as John's aging parents, Esther and Zeb, struggles to live a decent life during the Great Depression and the Second World War (roughly from the early 1930s to the mid-1940s in the continuity of the series). The audience follows this family's existence through the eyes of John-Boy, the eldest son and an aspiring novelist. The signature scene that closed each episode conveyed the warm, wholesome family values that the show promoted. The viewer sees the family house draped in darkness, save for one light in an upstairs window. Through voice-overs, each character bids the other good-night: "Good night, Mary-Ellen." "Good night, Jim-Bob." "Good night, Elizabeth." "Good night, Ben," etc., until the last good-night from John Walton, Sr. to his son: "Good night, John-Boy." "Good night, everyone" -- and the last light in the house clicks off.
The series started with an episode featuring a deaf girl who appeared to be abandoned at the Waltons' home. More stories with a message of social value followed.
The Waltons were always low on money. On occasion this caused John Walton, Sr. to work extremely hard until he collapsed. At another time he took up a part-time job in an office; however, the harsh conditions did not agree with him and he soon quit the job.
Occasionally, the Waltons would make the acquaintance of people who had a very different view of the world. They encounter gypsies, a group of acrobats from a circus and an actress who is absolutely broke. Another connection to the world outside Walton's Mountain is John-Boy who first attends (the fictional) Boatwright College (most likely modeled after The University of Richmond where Earl Hamner attended) and later goes to New York to work as a journalist.
The Waltons were always helpful. For example, the day they celebrated getting out of debt, they discovered that local merchant Ike Godsey had been cheated when he bought a number of refrigerators which did not work. They helped him by taking out another loan.
Alcohol was also an issue on the show. The women, most notably Olivia and Esther, were very strictly against it, but the men, most notably Zeb, would sometimes visit the Baldwin sisters who brewed their late father's wonderful "recipe" (which was, in fact, whiskey).
For the better part of the 1976-77 season Esther Walton, the clan's grandmother, was not seen on the series due to the stroke which actress Ellen Corby suffered (which was also written into the storyline). However, Esther returned from the hospital after a while, just before her husband Zeb died (in 1941 in the continuity of the series) due to the death of Will Geer. Esther has a very hard time getting over it. Subsequent episodes featured the character dealing with her diminished ability to move and speak.
World War II deeply influenced the family. Mary-Ellen's husband Curtis "Curt" Willard, a physician, is called up. He is sent to Pearl Harbor where he dies during the Japanese attack on December 7, 1941. Later on though, it was found out that Curtis wasn't actually killed, but suffered amnesia which resulted in him not returning home and being reported as killed. Some time after Pearl Harbor, Mary Ellen tracked him down after finding this out, but this was the last time Curt was ever seen on the show.
Several of the younger Waltons enlisted in the military. In addition to World War II, a number of other historic events were incorporated into various storylines, including the explosion of the Hindenburg.
The show was created by Earl Hamner Jr., after his book Spencer's Mountain, and a 1963 film of the same name starring Henry Fonda and Maureen O'Hara. After a long television run, some additional made-for-TV movies aired between 1993 and 1997 showing the Walton children's own children as well as most of the surviving stars of the original show. The first of these movies was set in 1963, during the weekend of President John F. Kennedy's assassination (John-Boy is a reporter covering the event). The most recent movie brought the story up to 1970.
Cast
- Richard Thomas¹ as John 'John-Boy' Walton, Jr. #1
- Robert Wightman as John 'John Boy' Walton, Jr. #2 (1979–1982)
- Ralph Waite as John Walton, Sr.
- Michael Learned as Olivia 'Livie' Walton
- Ellen Corby¹ as Esther 'Grandma' Walton
- Will Geer as Zebulon 'Zeb/Grandpa' Walton (died 1978)
- Judy Norton Taylor¹ as Mary Ellen Walton Willard
- Jon Walmsley¹ as Jason Walton
- Mary Elizabeth McDonough¹ as Erin Walton
- Eric Scott¹ as Ben Walton
- David W. Harper¹ as James Robert 'Jim Bob' Walton
- Kami Cotler¹ as Elizabeth Walton
- Joe Conley as Ike Godsey
- Ronnie Claire Edwards as Corabeth Walton Godsey (1974→)
- Helen Kleeb as Mamie "Miss Mamie" Baldwin
- Mary Jackson as Emily "Miss Emily" Baldwin
- Earl Hamner Jr. as Narrator
- Beulah Bondi as Aunt Martha Corrine Walton
- John Ritter as Rev. Matthew Fordwick
Trivia
- Earl Hamner Jr. grew up in the unincorporated community of Schuyler, in Nelson County, Virginia. His family and the community provided many life experiences which aided in the characters, values, area, and human-interest stories of his books, movies, and television series. While Walton's Mountain itself is fictional, Schuyler and the surrounding area bear a striking resemblance. A small museum is located in a former school building at Schuyler, not far from Virginia State Highway 6.
- John-Boy Walton's fictional alma mater, Boatwright University, is patterned after Richmond College, which became part of the University of Richmond on Boatwright Drive, near Westham Station in The West End of Richmond, Virginia, about 70 miles east of Schuyler. The University of Richmond also has a Boatwright Library and is also located not far from Virginia State Highway 6.
- In the German dubbing version, the name of Zebulon "Zeb" Walton was changed to Samuel "Sam" Walton. The television network ZDF which first aired The Waltons in Germany was worried that the name "Zeb" could be mistaken with "Sepp" which is a Bavarian short form of the name Joseph and could be seen as being cliché. Also, a few minutes were cut from each episode in the German version so that the show would fit into its designated time slot. There were further cuts when the show was re-run on Pro 7.
- Whenever Cracked Magazine parodied the Waltons,they invariably had a celebrity or character as an adopted son,adding the suffix "-boy" to his name.
DVD release
The Waltons is being released on DVD by Warner Bros. As of 25 April 2006, the first three seasons have been released.See also
External links
- [Fan site]
- [The Waltons Webring Homepage]
- [Encyclopedia of Television]
- [Walton's Mountain Museum official website]
- [The Waltons Forum]
- [A Walk with Grandpa Walton and the Walton family]
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