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Post by eclectic on Apr 5, 2014 21:16:19 GMT -5
One scene I remember when Grandpa was the judgmental one and Grandma was not was in the first season, I think. Grandpa was listening to the radio where the announcer was talking about so many people out of a job and having to stand in bread lines. Grandpa said he'd never take charity and Grandma told him something to the effect that they should be grateful to have a roof over their heads, work to do, their own garden, and hunting nearby to get their own food and didn't need to stand in a bread line. That was one of my favorite Grandma moments.
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Post by Marilyn on Apr 5, 2014 22:14:15 GMT -5
I don't think Grandma is any different from any other grandmother I've known. They all are the voice of traditions, no shenanigans, no tomfoolery, blah blah blah. Grandma is the keeper of rules and reason. I see generations after me the same way, for the most part. Less rules, less respect, less reason. I see myself becoming crotchety a little more everyday.  |
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Post by patriciaanne on Apr 5, 2014 22:40:52 GMT -5
I don't think Grandma is any different from any other grandmother I've known. They all are the voice of traditions, no shenanigans, no tomfoolery, blah blah blah. Grandma is the keeper of rules and reason. I see generations after me the same way, for the most part. Less rules, less respect, less reason. I see myself becoming crotchety a little more everyday.  |
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Post by goodnight on Apr 5, 2014 23:03:52 GMT -5
Grandma was always the one who got on to Mary Ellen for having non-traditional aspirations for her life and for being a tomboy. I always got the impression that Grandma was probably very much like Mary Ellen as a girl, but such aspirations had not been possible in the 1880s for her as they would be for Mary Ellen in a changing world. I have the sneaking suspicion that a bit of envy was at the root of her sour grapes attitude toward Mary Ellen or perhaps she wanted to save Mary Ellen the heartache she experienced with her own unfulfilled dreams. I also remember that episode where John Boy got on to her for complaining all the time, which made me think of other times when she'd complained. I have to think that giving up her position as the female head of the house to Olivia had to have taken some getting used to and was probably a blow to her pride, too. Both her and Grandpa had to deal with that. I think this is a good point as well. She and Olivia clashed sometimes, like over Mary Ellen's quilting. |
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Post by awesomemixtape10 on Apr 6, 2014 3:36:10 GMT -5
I tell ya what, It might have been make up and stuff, but Ellen looked A LOT older than she really was.
If I did the math right, she was only 61 when the series started.
Will was almost 10 years older than her in real life , but they both looked like they were in their 70's.
Heck, look at a current pic of Richard Thomas...he is in his 60's, isn't he?
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Post by Alexis From Texas on Apr 6, 2014 7:19:18 GMT -5
I tried posting from my phone but oh my the autocorrect is a booger bear! I love Grandma Walton. Guess I maybe in the ol' minority with Patricia.
I know she's rough around the edges, but she loves her grandchildren and takes pride in them.(yeah yeah fictional character I hear you) I think a lot of you are right that she saw herself in Mary-Ellen and she was harder on her. I don't like the quilting episode very much probably because of that. Although the quilt was very pretty and it was sweet of the community to make it for her, the pressure that it put on Mary-Ellen and her mother was very obvious. There was no need for Grandma to be that darn stubborn and persistant.
They mentioned a few times that she would deliver babies and she did make her own medicine. (I know a lot of families did this, it was the only doctoring they had). The speech that grandpa makes in one of the episodes about how Grandma wanted so badly to be a dressmaker but married Grandpa and raised a family instead, how that makes me cry. Not that Grandpa and Grandma didn't love each other and had a great marriage but it makes you wonder what her life had been like had she been a dressmaker instead.
Grandma had a lot of tough love to give out but the lessons she gave were just as valuable as the ones Grandpa gave about having fun and enjoying mother nature. Like that time Jim-Bob made tomato perserves(wasn't it tomato perserves? having a brain fart here) and the other boys picked on him, Grandma tried her best to cheer him up saying a lot of the chefs in the world are men.
Just like Olivia, they hint that she was pregnant when Zeb went off to war at least once. I can't even begin to imagine, just like when they mention their son Benjamin that was lost in the world war one, and that his body was never brought home. Maybe it was grief that made her so tough. Who knows. I love the character to pieces.
And, yeah, it was a shock when I bought the movie Sabrina to see Ellen Corby with dark hair! I love that movie because I'm an Audrey Hepburn fanatic but it was a treat to see her in it.
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Post by patriciaanne on Apr 6, 2014 7:42:30 GMT -5
I tell ya what, It might have been make up and stuff, but Ellen looked A LOT older than she really was. If I did the math right, she was only 61 when the series started. Will was almost 10 years older than her in real life , but they both looked like they were in their 70's. Heck, look at a current pic of Richard Thomas...he is in his 60's, isn't he?  |
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bucky
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Post by bucky on Apr 6, 2014 8:50:02 GMT -5
Wow, you posters are really parroting some old stereotypes on this thread. I'm not old, but just reading this thread makes me feel cranky (and I raise my eyebrows at people in their 70s being called old in this day and age) and don't blame my age or my life experiences, blame me - that's who I am. I have a low tolerance for stereotypes of any kind. All the traits that Grandma Walton displayed were part of her character as written by a bunch of men who probably just wanted someone for fans to hate on. But that's another story. People don't just get cross because of age or because of their life experiences, it's part of who they are and how they respond to things. Age and what they experience may amplify a personality trait but it doesn't create it. An Oscar winning documentary was made this year about a Jewish woman who died recently at the age of 107- she had survived the death camps of Germany - it was about her great zest for life, her love of piano, and about how her experiences, surely one of the worst that anyone can experience, did not inform the rest of her life. I've known many young people who turned to their grandparents for advice because they knew they'd get a fairer hearing than from their own parents. My parents delighted in just enjoying their grandchildren and letting the parents be the disciplinarians. I've also heard many grandparents say they feel much freer with their grandchildren. One thing I've discovered about the generation who survived the Great Depression and WWI (there are few left) is that they all seemed to have a greater appreciation for life in general. If you want some background, read Tom Brokaw's "The Greatest Generation". My own parents both got up every day with a smile on their faces and a wonderment about what the day would bring. They really looked forward to every single day. I wish I'd inherited some of those genes . And if you've made it this far through my personal rant, I'm sorry that so many of you seem to have such miserable people in your lives, but really, if someone starts exhibiting personality traits that weren't there before, get them to a Doctor, something is seriously wrong. |
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Post by Sussie of Teckelhut Acres on Apr 6, 2014 9:38:58 GMT -5
I do not see Grandma as being any of that. My grandmother was the same way. My grandmother's whole life revolved around keeping a spotless house, making sure things were in order or made or mended, and cooking and putting food by. She also felt as though she needed to look strong and be strong as she was "the rock" of the family. I know she was happy. She died 5 months shy of her 101st birthday.
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Post by wmfan/waltonsportwriter on Apr 6, 2014 9:51:03 GMT -5
Thae episode where Grandma and Grandpa sat on a hill Grandma DIDNT want Grandpa to touch her leg at first even though they were married lol. Im glad my grandmas were sweeter people. WmFan
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Post by patriciaanne on Apr 6, 2014 9:57:13 GMT -5
Thae episode where Grandma and Grandpa sat on a hill Grandma DIDNT want Grandpa to touch her leg at first even though they were married lol. Im glad my grandmas were sweeter people. WmFan  |
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Post by Marilyn on Apr 6, 2014 12:22:47 GMT -5
I tell ya what, It might have been make up and stuff, but Ellen looked A LOT older than she really was. If I did the math right, she was only 61 when the series started. Will was almost 10 years older than her in real life , but they both looked like they were in their 70's.
Yes, she always looked much older than her age. |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 6, 2014 12:32:23 GMT -5
Wow, you posters are really parroting some old stereotypes on this thread. And if you've made it this far through my personal rant, I'm sorry that so many of you seem to have such miserable people in your lives, but really, if someone starts exhibiting personality traits that weren't there before, get them to a Doctor, something is seriously wrong. Thank you. No one that I know of is this way. |
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Post by Brenda on Apr 6, 2014 21:39:50 GMT -5
I'm sitting here watching "Grandma Comes Home" on INSP tonight. I've always felt that Ellen Corby's return to The Waltons was one of the most courageous moments in television history. After the stroke, Ellen could have just given up, but she worked hard and was able to return to the series - a stroke victim portraying a stroke victim. It made the storyline so believable because it was real.
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Post by tonyas on Apr 10, 2014 14:05:07 GMT -5
Unfortunately, I think it's often a part of aging. Moody, lack of patience, constantly negative, self absorbed, that sort of thing. I say bull on this. There isn't one person in my family, of that age group, that acts like what you describe. Not one. Consider yourself very fortunate. I can't say the same. |
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