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Post by eclectic on Mar 31, 2014 15:56:54 GMT -5
Unlike bloopers, these are mistakes where they got the history wrong.
One anachronism that sticks out immediately for me is in reference to how pregnancy is covered on the show. My mother, born in 1924, and who had my much-older brother in 1945, told me that back in the 1930s and 40s, that it was considered quite vulgar to use the word "pregnant" in casual conversations, especially in mixed company. Rather, people then said that a woman was "in the family way" or "expecting". Yet, everyone on the Waltons, except Corabeth, freely used the word, and Corabeth was viewed as old-fashioned because she was uncomfortable with it. I could see Mary Ellen and Curt using it in private because of their medical backgrounds, but it seems out of place for anyone else to use it.
Another pregnancy related anachronism is when Mary Ellen mentions Curt wanting her to watch her weight while pregnant which was not the usual advice doctors gave in 1939. I remember my mother telling me that the thought then was that a mother was eating for two and pregnancy was no time to be dieting.
What are some anachronisms you have noticed?
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Post by goodnight on Mar 31, 2014 16:40:08 GMT -5
Even though it was a show about the 1930's and 1940's, I think it reflected the mindset of the 1970's, which was when it was made. You can sort of see that in the hairstyles. I think people on this board have mentioned that before.
Probably the attitudes about races and bigotry were not accurate. There was this one episode where Verdie went somewhere and she was in the front of the bus. Even in the north, back then, she would have been required to sit in the back. Right? It doesn't make it right, of course, but that's how it was back then.
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Post by eclectic on Mar 31, 2014 17:53:06 GMT -5
Your mention of hairstyles is something that a lot of shows get wrong. I remember the men in MASH all had 70s hairstyles.
I'll have to say, though, that Corabeth in Season 8 had a proper 40s hairstyle, which really looked nice on her.
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Post by patriciaanne on Mar 31, 2014 18:46:41 GMT -5
Unlike bloopers, these are mistakes where they got the history wrong. One anachronism that sticks out immediately for me is in reference to how pregnancy is covered on the show. My mother, born in 1924, and who had my much-older brother in 1945, told me that back in the 1930s and 40s, that it was considered quite vulgar to use the word "pregnant" in casual conversations, especially in mixed company. Rather, people then said that a woman was "in the family way" or "expecting". Yet, everyone on the Waltons, except Corabeth, freely used the word, and Corabeth was viewed as old-fashioned because she was uncomfortable with it. I could see Mary Ellen and Curt using it in private because of their medical backgrounds, but it seems out of place for anyone else to use it. Another pregnancy related anachronism is when Mary Ellen mentions Curt wanting her to watch her weight while pregnant which was not the usual advice doctors gave in 1939. I remember my mother telling me that the thought then was that a mother was eating for two and pregnancy was no time to be dieting. What are some anachronisms you have noticed? |
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Post by patriciaanne on Mar 31, 2014 18:49:13 GMT -5
Even though it was a show about the 1930's and 1940's, I think it reflected the mindset of the 1970's, which was when it was made. You can sort of see that in the hairstyles. I think people on this board have mentioned that before. Probably the attitudes about races and bigotry were not accurate. There was this one episode where Verdie went somewhere and she was in the front of the bus. Even in the north, back then, she would have been required to sit in the back. Right? It doesn't make it right, of course, but that's how it was back then. |
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Post by carol on Mar 31, 2014 22:05:50 GMT -5
In the later seasons when the boys were in the military their hairstyles didn't fit the military. They should have had military style close shaved haircuts.
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Post by coriscapnskip on Apr 1, 2014 1:15:52 GMT -5
Well, most of mine so far are listed in the "Didn't People Wear Shorts?" thread, but there is one I remember clearly from first run for which I have been watching and haven't come across yet. It obviously takes place in Season 7 or later, and is a scene, if not a whole episode, of Olivia anguishing over the war. At one point she says she doesn't know what they're fighting for. I remember how indignant my mom became, saying, "They're Vietnamming on World War Two! We knew perfectly well what we were fighting for!"
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Post by eclectic on Apr 1, 2014 14:33:34 GMT -5
Even though it was a show about the 1930's and 1940's, I think it reflected the mindset of the 1970's, which was when it was made. You can sort of see that in the hairstyles. I think people on this board have mentioned that before. Probably the attitudes about races and bigotry were not accurate. There was this one episode where Verdie went somewhere and she was in the front of the bus. Even in the north, back then, she would have been required to sit in the back. Right? It doesn't make it right, of course, but that's how it was back then. My father, born in 1924, grew up in Anderson County, SC during the Depression. His father was a tenant farmer, as were many of the families who lived nearby. None had their own cars or trucks, except for one black family that was a bit better off than average and the man had his own pickup truck. On Saturdays, he would take all the white ladies in the area to town to do their weekly shopping. In return, the husbands of these women, my grandfather among them, would go help this black man work his fields because they couldn 't afford to pay him back in gas money. My father told me this was a respectful relationship between all involved and it was an early lesson in racial tolerance for him. Not everyone in the south sympathized with the Klan, even back then. John Walton, Sr reminded me of that sort of respect that my father told me about. |
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Post by patriciaanne on Apr 1, 2014 18:31:25 GMT -5
Yes, Earl Hamner said he lived in a segregated town, so there would have been no people of color there. You ask an interesting question about sitting on the bus. I'm not sure that there were ever "Jim Crow" laws in the north. For example, we never had segregated bathrooms/water fountains, etc. up here, which was commonplace in the south. My father, born in 1924, grew up in Anderson County, SC during the Depression. His father was a tenant farmer, as were many of the families who lived nearby. None had their own cars or trucks, except for one black family that was a bit better off than average and the man had his own pickup truck. On Saturdays, he would take all the white ladies in the area to town to do their weekly shopping. In return, the husbands of these women, my grandfather among them, would go help this black man work his fields because they couldn 't afford to pay him back in gas money. My father told me this was a respectful relationship between all involved and it was an early lesson in racial tolerance for him. Not everyone in the south sympathized with the Klan, even back then. John Walton, Sr reminded me of that sort of respect that my father told me about. |
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Post by coriscapnskip on Apr 1, 2014 19:02:26 GMT -5
After the Klan sprang up in a bunch of places up north where it had previously not been, following the movie The Birth of a Nation in 1915, not everyone flocked to join it either. My dad was from southern Indiana, a place almost as prejudiced as Mississippi, but he said the respectable people of the community considered the Klan uneducated, and not to be associated with. |
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Post by tonyas on Apr 2, 2014 12:39:49 GMT -5
Growing up in the 70's I still remember the word pregnant as being a bad word. All the adults I remember said they were expecting. I just don't recall anyone using the word pregnant until many years later. Also, as an adult, I too notice the long 70's hair that the boys had even while they were serving in the military. I notice overall that very little attention was paid to the casts' hairstyles. Mary Ellen and Erin both had "feathered hair" and perms at one point.  I think their hairstyles stand out the most, in regards to what would not have been in style for the period. |
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Post by eclectic on Apr 3, 2014 18:10:27 GMT -5
In the later seasons when the boys were in the military their hairstyles didn't fit the military. They should have had military style close shaved haircuts. I think the close shaved heads were just for boot camp. Once they graduated from boot camp and went into regular units, they could grow it longer. Below is a picture of my Dad in the Navy some time during the war. Note that hair was fuller on top, but short in the back. ![]()  |
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Post by Brenda on Apr 3, 2014 18:47:18 GMT -5
My parents grew up in the same time period as the Waltons. My dad was born in 1919 and my mother was born in 1923, and they both always said that the Waltons would not have been considered a poor family. Their house was too nice and they had electricity and indoor plumbing, something that was nearly unheard of in the places where my parents grew up, rural eastern Kentucky and rural eastern North Carolina.
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Post by eclectic on Apr 3, 2014 19:20:36 GMT -5
My parents grew up in the same time period as the Waltons. My dad was born in 1919 and my mother was born in 1923, and they both always said that the Waltons would not have been considered a poor family. Their house was too nice and they had electricity and indoor plumbing, something that was nearly unheard of in the places where my parents grew up, rural eastern Kentucky and rural eastern North Carolina. I fully agree. My Dad was born in 1924 and lived in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in South Carolina. He said many times that the Waltons were rich compared to his family. His father was a tenant farmer and they had to move a lot and never owned their own home or had a car. And the shacks they lived in never had indoor plumbing. But he also said that he had a close relationship with his grandparents who were much like Grandpa and Grandma Walton (she lived until 1965 and I got to know her a little bit). And his parents sacrificed to make sure he graduated from high school, including his yearbook and gold class ring. That might not seem like much to us nowadays, but it was a true sacrifice for him to get those things. But he didn't go to a one room schoolhouse, nor did he walk to get there. He went to the big high school at the county seat and took a school bus to get there. I've been through his yearbook countless times and they had most of the activities that high schools today have. My mother, also born in 1924, had a childhood closer to that of the Waltons. She grew up in the surburbs of Providence, RI and her father was a welder. They owned their own home and had a car, and there was enough money left over, even during the Depression for my mother and aunt to have piano and dance lessons. |
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Post by tonyas on Apr 3, 2014 19:51:57 GMT -5
Even today as an adult watching the show, I think the family was doing quite well. They had land, a home, a mill, livestock, cars. They were truly blessed, even by today's standards.
I've noticed that Earl Hamner's real childhood home is quite nice too. Not as large as the Walton home, but still very nice. I have only seen pictures, but did his family have a farm also? From the pictures I've seen, it looks like the home sits quite close to the street, so I wasn't sure if they had land at one time.
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I think their hairstyles stand out the most, in regards to what would not have been in style for the period.
