Prairie Tale: Part 1

I rarely watch tv or go to the movies. I have no interest in the Hollywood scene, never have. I pay no attention to actors and actresses, and have no idea who plays in what.

With one exception.

I grew up watching Little House on the Prairie, and I mean that literally. The show began the year I was born, and my mother watched it, so from infancy, I’ve always watched it.

I felt like the little girls on the television show were my friends. And I especially identified with Melissa Gilbert.

I really don’t know how much my interest in the Little House television show intertwined with my interest in the Little House books as a child, but as long as I can remember, I viewed them as two distinctly different entities — after all, the show and the books had very little in common other than the names of some of the major characters. Laura (of the books) and Melissa were not one and the same to me, and when I played Little House with my cousin, I was role-playing the real Laura, not the Melissa Gilbert version.  But still, Melissa Gilbert always seemed like a friend to me somehow — again, Melissa, not Laura. I didn’t view her as Laura. I knew there was a real little girl playing Laura, much as I played her myself, and I just had a feeling that if I met that little girl in real life, we would be friends.

I was interested in Melissa beyond Little House, too. The movies she did during the Little House years, such as The Miracle Worker and The Diary of Anne Frank, were among my favorites.

And then she grew up, and I grew up, and I didn’t follow her life any longer. I never heard much, but what I heard told me that she and I were no longer much alike, and I lost interest in the grown Melissa Gilbert. I still loved the child Melissa, however, and just held onto that image of her, ignoring whatever happened to her after the Little House years.

And then I began to hear rumors about her involvement in the Little House on the Prairie musical. And my interest started to grow again. Was Melissa returning to her roots? Was the grown Melissa looking back to her childhood with fondness and remembering the little girl that she was, or at least that I thought her to be?

When the musical went to the Guthrie, I knew I had to see it, and I added Melissa on a social networking site to follow any updates she might post related to the musical. And then, out of the blue, I dashed off a quick note to her — a note I didn’t know if she’d ever even see. I certainly didn’t expect a response. After all, she’s Melissa Gilbert, and I’m just me. An ordinary girl from West Virginia that grew up watching her on tv, like millions of other girls.

Imagine my surprise when she not only wrote back, but said to come back and meet her after the show. Of course I did so, and was so pleased to find her so friendly and down-to-earth, just as I’d always thought she’d be when I was a little girl. I’ve wondered since that time about Melissa, and her journey from the Little House years to today. How did she get there, and what happened between then and now? What brought her back to her beginnings?

So when I heard that Melissa was coming out with an autobiography, I was thrilled. What a great chance to get to know the little girl I always thought I could be friends with if only we knew each other in real life, to find out what happened to her after the Little House years, and learn firsthand what drew her back…

To be continued…

Update: Read Part 2 here.