- Welcome to another segment
of behind the scenes of the Waltons.
Today, I'm going to be talking
about the episode from Season 5, "The Vigil,"
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"The Vigil" was written by Kathleen Hite
and directed by Harry Harris
who probably directed more episodes of the Waltons
than any other director that we worked with.
In this opening shot here early on,
where you see John Boy in the window,
when we pull back and pull across and see the house,
that was shot outside on the back lot,
and that would have used a big crane shot
so that they could get that kind of height elevation
and movement.
Drones weren't in existence yet,
so we had to work with things like ladders and cranes
and whatnot in order to get these big, tall moving shots.
I had mentioned once before that Harry Harris
seemed to get all of the episodes involving chickens
and there was an ongoing thing with Harry about,
"what are we going to do about that those chickens?"
In this case you see Grandma there in the pen,
feeding the chickens
before she has a moment of abdominal pain
and Jim Bob comes over to to see if she's okay.
So this would have been another time
when sound would have been
dealing with the clucking chickens
and Harry would have been dealing
with whatever those chickens were doing
that he didn't want them doing.
Here you notice that John Boy is,
Richard Thomas is using a cane.
He talks about it having been from motorcycle.
I'm not sure that we ever saw him
ride a motorcycle on the show,
but in fact, it was from an injury
that Richard had in real life
and so they just added in this little explanation
for why he was using a cane.
Early on in the episode
John Boy goes to talk with Doc Vance,
played by Victor Izay.
Victor was with us for a number of seasons as Dr. Vance.
And I had quite a lot of work that I got to do with him
and he was just a wonderful actor
and I just always loved working with him.
I was sorry when they wrote his character out,
but that led for the opening of Tom Bower coming in
as Curt Willard,
who of course I ultimately married on the show.
Dr. Vance's wife was played by actress Dee Carroll.
Now Dee Carroll and I,
this was not the first time we worked together,
when I was young,
one of the first things I did was
in the movie "Hotel" and Dee Carroll played my mom.
So a little bit of revisiting with a former mom.
As Erin runs around trying to find Sheriff Bridges,
this area where she is,
is on the back lot of Warner Brothers
and what we called Western street.
You would've seen this particular section
in a number of episodes, including the "Wager,"
where Mary Ellen and Erin both start and finish
that horse race.
And also in the "Motorcycle Race"
it sometimes also was utilized when
someone went to Rockfish
or various different things like that.
I believe the recruiting office
when Jim Bob tries to join the Air Force,
and I believe it was also used
in "The Carnival" when late at night -
when we sneak the carnival performers onto the train
that it was probably this very same corner.
So a much utilized section of the backlot of the studio.
The character of Fanny Tatum appeared in earlier episodes,
but at this point, she is played by actress Sheila Allen
who was actually the wife of famed producer, Irwin Allen
of the big,
Blockbuster action films
like "Poseidon Adventure" and "Towering Inferno"
and some of those big films.
So it was very exciting to have Sheila Allen as a guest
and evidently Irwin Allen actually came
and visited her on set at some point.
I didn't get to meet him,
really, a disappointment.
I spoke recently about the clothes on the Waltons
and the hats.
And here's a wonderful example of Ms. Fanny Tatum
wearing a rather bold dress print,
and then a fascinating hat.
This is not a hat I would've pictured Ms. Fanny wearing,
it seems a little whimsical and frivolous
for Ms. Fanny, who was usually very stern
and very professional about her job as a telephone operator,
but here you see another side of her
as envisioned by the costume department.
When we have to take Grandma to the hospital,
this entrance to the Virginia Hospital,
you might recall seeing
also as the entrance to Boatwright University,
another case of repurposing a building
on Midwest street on the Warner Bros lot.
In Ike Godsey store, Reckless has joined the family
as they wait for news about Grandma.
You see that as Elizabeth - Kami is petting this dog
that the dog is very much focused forward.
When we worked with animals, particularly dogs,
the dog knew where that trainer was
and the trainer would move around
based on where he could be
and where he could give signals to the dog.
So the dog is obviously being given signals by the trainer
and is focused to see whether there's going to be
another signal coming.
In this case, clearly the trainer is telling the dog
to just stay there and relax.
This episode's main story is the misdiagnosis
by Mary Ellen of Grandma's illness.
She thinks it's intestinal flu
because Dr. David Spencer, her upcoming flame,
and future fiance has described to Mary Ellen
the symptoms of intestinal flu,
which is having a bit of a rise in numbers of cases
in this particular episode.
So she misdiagnosis Grandma
who is experiencing similar symptoms
as having intestinal flu,
and this leads to a much more severe situation
when Grandma who actually has appendicitis
has her appendix burst
and must be rushed to the hospital for emergency surgery.
So, there's a lot of intensity about this subplot
when you know my character just,
is so devastated by realizing
that I have made this horrible mistake
and that my Grandma's life is in serious danger.
Fortunately most of us don't have those
moments in our lives where we potentially feel responsible
like that, but Mary Ellen does own up to it
and doesn't try to brush it off or anything like that,
which I thought was really, really nice.
I had a wonderful scene with Will Geer in the chapel
when we go to pray for Grandma,
and where I ask forgiveness of both Grandpa and God,
and then a little later when I talk with Grandma - finally
face going in to talk to Grandma
and to my surprise,
she asks my forgiveness
for having put that responsibility on me,
and expecting me as just a nurse
to be able to know what is going on with her.
So just a beautiful scene
and working with Ellen on a moment like this
was very special to me.
I also really loved the scene between John Boy and John
when they talk about life
and are reflecting about
intense moments like that in our lives.
And it struck me as I was watching it
because many of us have had those moments in this past year
as we deal with the pandemic that we've all been facing
and the way that it has impacted our personal lives
and our families.
And I think most of us have known people
who have lost their lives to this horrible pandemic.
So it just shows that cycle of life
and that these situations
do come up in most of our lifetimes,
and what do we do with them?
So a beautiful moment on the Waltons.
So that's what I have for you on this latest segment
of Behind the Scenes of the Waltons,
the episode, "The Vigil"
I hope you'll join me again
for more "Behind the Scenes of the Waltons"
and more "Ask Judy".
In the meantime, thanks for watching.