- Welcome back to another segment
of "Behind the Scenes of The Waltons".
Today, in honor of Thanksgiving,
I thought I would cover one of our reunion specials;
"A Day of Thanks on Walton's Mountain."
This episode was done the year after the series ended.
So in 1982, NBC brought back the cast of "The Waltons"
to do three TV movies,
including this special for Thanksgiving.
The year is 1947, the war is over,
all the boys are back home.
In this case, Mama is in Arizona for her health,
she's recuperating from tuberculosis,
and Daddy has gone out there to be with her.
Grandma is supposedly touring around,
visiting various different cousins,
and is currently in Buckingham County staying with cousins.
And of course, Grandpa is no longer with us.
Cindy, Ben's wife, is living at the house as well.
Paul, who married Erin in one of our first reunion specials,
he is living in the house.
So he and Erin have taken over the grandparents' house.
Jonesy and I got married
in the second of the reunion specials,
and it's not quite clear whether we're living
at the house or not, we seem to be.
So I'm not sure whose room we're in,
possibly the parents' room.
So some of these bedroom arrangements
are just a little unexplained,
unless they became a story point, but everyone's there.
Elizabeth wants the rest
of the family home for Thanksgiving,
and she's worried that John-boy is still in New York,
that Mama and Daddy aren't gonna be there,
and that some of the other members of the family,
Erin and Paul are talking about maybe going
to be with his father.
So Elizabeth is feeling the lack of family at Thanksgiving
and how, to her, family is Thanksgiving.
In this particular special,
I loved how there were sort of storylines for everybody.
Elizabeth wants everyone to be home for Thanksgiving.
Jim-Bob now has his garage open with Jody Foster,
but Jody is, he's not there at this point for some reason.
And Jim-Bob has an opportunity to buy all these spare parts.
These two guys come along
and say they've closed out a garage,
and they're trying to sell all these goods
at a real bargain.
Yancy Tucker happens to be there,
and tells Jim-Bob that he should
absolutely make this happen,
and that Yancy will become his partner.
And so Jim-Bob's trying to figure out
how to make this happen, so he's got that going on.
Paul and Erin are struggling because Paul is experiencing
what Curt experienced at one point, of too many Waltons.
And Paul is working with Ben in the lumber mill
and he's also living in the house,
so he feels like he never has a chance
to get away from the Waltons or be alone with Erin.
So he's going through all of that,
which is putting a lot of stress on Erin as well,
who loves her family, but loves her husband, so she's torn.
All seems to be well with Ben and Cindy.
They have two children,
they have Ginny and they have Charlie.
These two children - that raises the whole thing about
in the other reunion specials later,
where supposedly Ginny had drowned
and Charlie just disappeared completely and went poof.
And so what happened to the children?
So all of those.
At least in these reunions,
we were close enough to the original series
that the producers and the writers were all very consistent
about what we did know about the family.
John-boy is in New York, and he has horrible writer's block.
He's getting nowhere with his next novel,
and he is working for a TV station.
Or a radio station.
He's supposed to be writing scripts
and he is completely blocked on getting scripts written.
So he is struggling and doesn't know what to do.
Jason owns the Dew Drop Inn,
but he is feeling restless and unsettled,
like he wants more from his life
than just owning the Dew Drop
and playing popular music of the time.
He's interested in going further with his music
and doing more with composition.
So he talks to Corabeth about the possibility
of selling the Dew Drop Inn.
The Godseys are feeling a little unsettled
because Aimee's away, and she's at college
and they feel like they're gonna be alone at Thanksgiving,
so they're looking at potentially going away
for Thanksgiving.
So again, a lot of unsettled things going on
with members in the community and the family.
A few points along the way with this episode.
In a couple cases we see stock footage of New York,
because when they're going back to a scene in New York,
they establish it with one of these pieces
of stock footage of New York.
Always a challenge for the editors to blend stock footage
with the footage we're shooting,
and making it look sort of seamless.
I think they did a pretty good job.
Because it's a different city and a different feel,
I think it makes it work.
Now, John-boy has a girlfriend, Jane.
Now, interesting that Jane is the name
of Earl's wife in real life.
Now, later on, when John-boy actually got married,
I think perhaps because it wasn't the same actress
and wasn't supposed to be the same person,
they named the character that John-boy
actually married as Janet.
So close, Jane, Janet, but for whatever reason,
they decided to not stick with Jane
when he actually got married.
We see this new girlfriend of John-boy's,
and she seems like a lovely woman,
and she encourages him in his work
and in his need to figure out
how he's going to unblock his writing.
Around about this time, Jason shows up.
Jason has gone to New York, first of all, to see John-boy,
but also because he's meeting with a very prominent teacher
who teaches composition,
and trying to see if there's any possibility
that he could study with this renowned teacher.
So along the way,
he and John-boy have a really beautiful scene
where they talk about home,
and how difficult and what home means to each of us.
'Cause to John-boy, he's like,
"If I go home, it's not home."
Because to him, home is what he remembered it.
And this really resonated with me,
that we have images and feelings about our past
and how we would like things to be,
but we know that they're not that way anymore.
So to John-boy,
he talks about how home was Mama and Daddy both there.
It was Grandpa and Grandma both there.
It was all of his siblings being there
and in each other's lives,
and we can't go back in that sense.
So, I think when we try to recreate something
that doesn't exist anymore, we're disappointed.
As opposed to trying to find how to make what really is
as enjoyable and as fulfilling as we can make that,
that we really can only go forward.
We can remember fondly the past,
but John-boy has to find a way to bridge
this situation for himself,
and Jason is very helpful in that
and talks John boy into going home with him.
At one point, Jonesy, and Jason and then Ike
are all watching Jim-Bob try
to put a rope around this Turkey.
Yancy has traded Isabelle?, Isabella? his Turkey
for an inner tube that he needs for a flat tire.
And for whatever reason,
Jim-Bob is trying to rope this Turkey
and having a lot of trouble.
Now, in this case, Jonesy has become a veterinarian,
which is interesting because when he was introduced
he was geologist.
But I'm thinking that they decided
to make him a veterinarian
because what do you do with a geologist?
What do they actually do,
and how do you keep on Walton's Mountain?
So in this case, him being a veterinarian means
that there's reasons for him to be around
and always something for him to do.
He has sort of set up the barn at the Walton's
as his little clinic.
And so because he is around,
Mary Ellen is studying to be a doctor.
So she comes and goes as her classes are.
Jonesy is spending a lot of time with John Curtis,
who he calls Johnny, which is is very sweet.
Johnny, John Curtis has an imaginary friend.
He keeps running off and disappearing into the woods
to talk to this imaginary friend.
At one point, he takes Ginny with him, who is just too cute,
and the two of them disappear into the woods.
So Mary Ellen's always running off trying to find
John Curtis who has disappeared again. (chuckles)
So we're back trekking through the woods,
as I recall we did when John Curtis was very little
and wandered off.
Of course, it wouldn't be a "Walton's"
without the Baldwin sisters.
Jim-Bob and Yancy go by their house to put a proposition
to them to fund these spare parts
that they want for the garage.
And so we get to see the Baldwin sisters,
who do end up investing.
And then when Jim-Bob finds out that the parts,
that they got taken, he's in a tough situation
because he borrowed money from the Baldwin sisters.
A fun moment when Corabeth and Ike are both dressed
in colonial restoration costumes
because where they're planning to go for Thanksgiving,
I guess is some sort of colonial restoration event.
And so where Corabeth is in her element,
Ike just feels stupid.
But then Aimee comes home in a surprise visit.
So all of a sudden,
their trips going away are completely canceled.
The family has a wonderful surprise
when Daddy arrives back home to spend Thanksgiving with us,
which means that now Erin doesn't wanna go away,
and Paul decides that he's going to just get away.
He needs some space, which is really tough on Erin.
But I do love seeing John surrounded
by his children and his grandchildren.
He has John Curtis, and Ginny, and Charlie.
And he's just, Ralph was always so adorable working
with the the young children,
and the toddlers and the babies.
And so just sweet, sweet stuff there.
Another wonderful surprise is when Grandma comes back,
she arrives back for Thanksgiving as well.
So Elizabeth is just having this dream come true
in that her family is gathering for Thanksgiving.
And just sweet, sweet scenes.
There's a point where Elizabeth has Ginny helping
her prepare some things for Thanksgiving.
And to me, this scene seems like
there's just so much ad-libbing going on.
I always remember that sweet moment
when John Curtis says to Daddy, to his grandpa,
"Hey, I got new pants."
And Ralph and young John Curtis, the actor,
had this little ad-lib interchange.
And in this case, same thing.
Elizabeth, I'm sure that a lot of this was ad-libbed,
and she's just getting Ginny to be involved
in what she's doing at the kitchen.
And the little actress was just,
Angel was so precious and engaged in giving the director
all this wonderful material with a toddler,
which is very hard to do.
Once Daddy is back home, he sort of makes his presence felt
as he helps the various different members
of the family sort out difficulties they're having.
Whether it's Jason or John-boy, or Erin and Paul,
that he really makes his presence felt.
Ultimately, he helps Paul and Erin resolve
their difficulties by finding Paul up at a cabin
in the mountains and convincing Paul,
"Well, if you want some place to be alone with your wife
and work through this, that how about this place?"
And basically gets Paul to work creating a space
that will be comfortable for both of them,
and where they can really spend time working
on themselves as a couple.
So a lot of help there from Daddy.
Thanksgiving wouldn't be Thanksgiving
at the Walton's without a big family dinner.
Turkey and all of the fixings,
and everyone in the community.
So all of a sudden, we have this enormous table,
extended table, and I don't know how many people,
about 20 something people around the table.
And everybody crammed onto the seats.
The Baldwin sisters are there, the Godseys are there.
Yancy Tucker comes by.
Yancy, they think that this Turkey that we're going
to be having was the one that Yancy gave to Jim-Bob,
and that then Jonesy was taking care of in fattening up.
But in the long-run, Jonesy couldn't do it,
and he bought a Turkey.
So Isabella makes a cameo appearance there
outside the window.
Yancy is thrilled to have his pet Turkey back,
and everyone enjoys Thanksgiving
and what it means to all of them,
and how grateful they all are to have family and each other.
My message to you as we celebrate the holidays also,
may you enjoy the love and the company
of your own home and family.
I recently did a little addition
to the episode "The Shivaree"".
And as I was doing that, I realized that something else
I forgot to mention about "A Day of Thanks" was
the wonderful, little, sweet moment at the end.
When in looking through pictures of the family,
John Curtis recognizes Grandpa as his imaginary friend.
And what a wonderful sweet way that was
to have Grandpa included, and to feel his presence
in this very important family gathering.
So I couldn't let this episode go without mentioning that.
That both John Curtis and Ginny go,
"Yeah, that was the imaginary friend that we saw."
So we all felt Will's presence.
And that's what I have for you for this segment
of "Behind the Scenes of The Waltons".
I will be back with more "Behind the Scenes of the Waltons"
and more "Ask Judy".
Happy holidays, thanks for watching.