The original LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE gave viewers a family to root for, but bringing Walnut Grove to television took everything from clever camera tricks to a producer in disguise.
“I based this character on my own mother,” actress Karen Grassle, who played Caroline “Ma” Ingalls, told BuzzFeed.
That personal touch was only one ingredient in the show’s familiar world. Here are nine behind-the-scenes details that might change what you notice on your next visit to the prairie.
- Actress Alison Arngrim, who played Nellie Oleson, first auditioned for Laura Ingalls and then Mary Ingalls. Instead, she landed the role of Laura’s sharp-tongued rival — and she wasn’t sorry about missing out on the sweeter parts.“I think it would have been exhausting!” she told From the Desk about playing a nice character for all those years.
- Carrie’s opening-credits tumble came with a wardrobe mishap. Actress Rachel Lindsay Greenbush, who shared the role of Carrie Ingalls with her twin sister, Sidney Greenbush, said Sidney’s shoes were on the wrong feet after their mother hurried to get her ready for the camera. Sidney picked up too much speed on the hill and toppled over, creating that familiar little spill.
- Nellie’s perfect ringlets weren’t all Arngrim’s own hair: she wore a wig. In her From the Desk interview, she described working outdoors in Simi Valley’s summer heat while wearing an 1800s dress, a petticoat and the wig. Looking picture-perfect on the prairie wasn’t necessarily comfortable.
- The frightening well accident in “Little Girl Lost” relied on a much smaller drop. Greenbush said she jumped from a disguised board into a hole only about a foot or two deep, then crouched out of sight. The butterfly Carrie chased stayed within the camera’s frame because the production tied it to her dress with fishing line.
- Ma’s steady presence had a real-life model. Grassle drew on her mother’s experiences with childhood poverty, teaching in a one-room school and becoming a businesswoman. She said the moral lessons her mother taught her helped motivate Caroline, even when the dialogue never spelled those lessons out.
- An Arizona location nearly became the pilot’s prairie — until nature exposed the wrong scenery. Producer Kent McCray recalled finding a meadow with a creek and trees, then returning after a frost had stripped the leaves and revealed a hill of cactus.“Not good for Kansas,” he recalled.
- Carrie’s doll had backups for a surprisingly practical reason. Greenbush said there were three dolls: one for production and one for each twin. The crew swapped in the production doll for scenes, then returned the girls’ own dolls afterward so taking away the prop wouldn’t leave them in tears.
- The pilot’s crew needed wartime equipment to reach the cabin set. After production trucks sank into mud, McCray arranged for surplus World War II landing mats to help build a passable road. He said the crew still completed the pilot on schedule despite the muddy ordeal.
- McCray didn’t always stay behind the camera. The producer played the bearded Grizzly Kowalski in “Men Will Be Boys,” shooing the boys away from their campsite and eating their food.“You wouldn’t have recognized me, I had a big beard on and the whole thing,” he recalled.
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