- Welcome to another episode
of "Behind the Scenes of The Waltons."
Today, I'm going to be talking
about the episode, "The Best Christmas."
If you're enjoying these, please do like and subscribe.
Of course, Christmas is where it all started for us
with "The Homecoming," that made for TV Christmas movie
that launched it all back in 1971.
It seems like a long time ago, (laughs) because it was.
I look back on some of those early episodes
in "The Homecoming," and it's hard to believe
I was ever that young, but weren't we all?
I'm always so excited when I hear that new generations
are discovering "The Waltons"
and passing it on to their families.
That's very heartwarming to me that the legacy continues.
So, if you have not seen "The Homecoming,"
it's the holidays, I recommend giving it a look.
It's a beautiful movie.
Patricia Neal starred as Olivia Walton
instead of Michael Learned.
Andrew Duggan was our father instead of Ralph Waite.
And Edgar Bergen was our grandpa instead of Will Geer.
But despite those changes,
it's lovely and you should see it.
(laughs) That's my pitch for "The Homecoming."
And for those of you who watch it every holiday season,
thank you.
I know I do.
We sit down and that is part
of our Christmas tradition as well.
So in the episode, "The Best Christmas,"
our mama is recognizing that things are changing.
And this may be one of the last Christmases
where we can gather the whole family
before things do change.
She can tell John-Boy has
foreign places in his eyes.
He wants to get out into the world and start exploring
and spreading his wings.
So she sees that.
Mary Ellen is already married
and is already dealing with that conflict
of Curt's family versus her family.
And who are they going to spend which holiday with?
So those are all things that touch all of us as families
as our kids grow up and get married
and we have to share them with their girlfriend, boyfriend
spouse's family as well.
So gathering a whole family together can always
be challenging at the holidays.
So that's kind of the core theme
of this particular Christmas episode.
This episode was written by John McGreevey
who wrote some of our best episodes
and was nominated for Emmys, won Emmys.
He's just a beautiful writer.
And directed by Larry Dobkin
who was one of my favorite directors on "The Waltons."
He directed a number of episodes.
Some of the things that stood out to me
when I watched this episode again were - the snow.
We don't have snow in Southern California,
so I knew that we were dealing with fake snow.
Anytime outside the house
where you see what looks like snow, it wasn't real.
Now they do have a snowball fight,
so they must've brought in some sort of -
or were creating crushed ice to create those snowballs,
because in order for those to stick together
and look like real snowballs,
that would have been real packed ice or snow or something.
But what's on the ground and all of that,
that's not real.
It was some form of fake snow.
At one point, someone comes in the house,
and you see snow blow in with them.
That would have been some sort of machine
blowing some form of fake snow into the house
to give that illusion.
And I must say, it's very effective.
I found myself watching it,
and if I hadn't known it was fake,
I would have went, "Wow,
look at all that snow there." (laughs)
And I don't remember.
They used a number of different types of fake snow.
Sometimes it was soap bubbles.
Those never looked real.
Sometimes it was kind of a plastic of some sort,
so it didn't really melt when it landed on you.
So I'm not sure which one, which version of it this was.
In this episode, Grandma and Grandpa
go to visit Maude Gormley.
Merie Earle, who played Maude Gormley, was such a character.
I get asked about her a lot.
She was just a trip.
She sometimes struggled to remember her dialogue,
and she had this lovely endearing quality
that she tended to close her eyes when she spoke.
So if you watch her when she's talking,
she's usually got her eyes closed.
Another one of her sweet little habits
was that to remember her lines,
she often also said the other people's lines,
not out loud, but her lips would move
and she would be mouthing the other people's dialogue.
So sometimes in the edit, they would have to (laughs)
cut away from her when someone else was talking,
so that you didn't see her lips moving.
And in some of these cases,
obviously, she managed to not do that.
So you actually saw her
when someone else was talking. (laughs)
She was full of life and energy
and had a real sense of humor.
Quite the character in real-life as well.
I loved the storyline of Ben
going to deliver the present to Yancy.
And I mean, everybody got stuck some place
on this Christmas Eve and wasn't able to get there
for the Christmas Eve dinner.
But Ben ends up at Yancy's house
and Yancy with all of his animals
inside his little one room house there.
Eric, Ben, had a lot of fun storylines with Yancy Tucker.
And Bob Donner who played Yancy,
he wasn't like Yancy,
but he did such a brilliant job of creating that character.
I just love all the animals in his house there. (laughs)
Quite a way to live, but it makes some sense
that if he didn't have someplace warm for the animals
to be outside, then he had to bring them in. (laughs)
I don't know that I would want to live in a house
where I shared exactly the same space with so many animals,
but Yancy didn't think twice about it.
Then there's that point when Miss Fanny's car goes
into the pond, and they had it on like a platform.
They had some sort of scaffolding or something in there
to put the car in on that angle.
And I expect they warmed that water,
so that with the actors having to be in it
for some period of time that it wasn't quite as cold
as it would have been naturally.
What looked like ice floating in the lake,
those would have been fake ice flows.
So another case of just special effects.
Another example here of times
when there were a lot of ad-libs.
- Surprise, surprise!
(all cheer)
(all chatter)
What you done?
You been into the presents already?
You're in it too far, Elizabeth.
- [Jason] We didn't get to open our presents.
- So they did happen at certain points in shows
where it wasn't really scripted,
but there was just supposed to be
a regular group reaction to something.
And that would be up to us to decide
what our character might say at that point.
This episode has such a beautiful message
of the spirit of the holidays of love and family
and caring and community and helping
where each of the family members who isn't able to be there
in time for Christmas Eve dinner,
it's because they are helping someone else
in need that John-Boy and Mary Ellen and Curt and Harley
and Verdie are all there to help Miss Fanny
and her niece get out of this freezing lake,
and then take care of them, make sure they're okay,
that Jason, and then our father
are there with the Reverend to help fix the roof,
so that there can be a Christmas service,
that so many people pitch in to help their neighbor.
That's what it's about.
That's the spirit of Christmas
more than the gifts or anything else.
I think it's important for us all to carry that
with us during this holiday season
and those who are in need to be there for them
and let others know that they are cared for,
supported, and that - how much of a difference we can make
in other people's lives.
I send you with that Christmas wish and all the best
from my family, the Walton family, to your family.
May you have a wonderful holiday season.
I'll see you next time.