Big stars in a Little House
QUESTION What became of the cast of the TV series Little House On The Prairie?
LittLe House On the Prairie was one of the most successful tV series. it ran from 1974 to 1983 with 187 episodes and tV movie spin-offs.
it was based on the nine Little House books by Laura ingalls-Wilder (18671957), recounting the lives of Scandinavian and German settlers who founded the town of Walnut Grove, Minnesota.
ingalls-Wilder lived 1½ miles north of Walnut Grove along the banks of Plum Creek from the age of six to eight.
the tV series was based on Charles and Caroline ingalls and their daughters, Mary, Laura and Carrie.
Michael Landon, who played Charles, landed on his feet with this role after his long run as Little Joe in Bonanza. He’d found fame in 1957 as the werewolf in the film i Was A teenage Werewolf.
After Little House, he went on to another long- running tV show Highway to Heaven. He died from pancreatic cancer in 1991, aged 54.
Caroline, played by Karen Grassle, was seen last year in the film Lasso.
eldest daughter Mary, who went blind in the show, was played by Melissa Sue Anderson, who stars in upcoming film the Brits Are Coming. in 2010, she published the Way i See it: A Look Back At My Life On Little House, an autobiographical account of her years acting on the show.
Laura ‘Half-pint’ ingalls was played by freckle-faced Melissa Gilbert. She has since appeared in numerous tV shows and films. in 2008, she went from the screen to the stage, starring as Caroline ‘Ma’ ingalls in Little House On the Prairie, the Musical. Her 2009 biography is titled Prairie tale: A Memoir.
Carrie was played by twins Lindsay and Sidney Greenbush. After a film career in the eighties, they retired from acting.
the ingalls’ adopted son, Albert was played by Matthew Labyorteaux. He now has a successful career as a voice actor in video games and animations.
Other key characters were the store owners, the Olesons, and their brattish children Nellie and Willie. the father Nels Oleson was played by Richard Bull, who appeared in films and on tV until retiring in 2011. He died in 2014, aged 89.
His scheming wife Harriet was Scottie MacGregor, a fine stage actress.
Daughter Nellie was played by Alison Arngrim. Her latest film is the comedy/ horror Grizzled! Willie was played by Jonathan Gilbert, who gave up acting to become a stockbroker.
Many well-known actors had cameos on Little House, including singer Johnny Cash. Sean Penn also starred as a boy.
Danny Darcy, Reading, Berks.
QUESTION Why are some reservoirs in Los Angeles covered with plastic balls?
FOR years, reservoirs around Los Angeles were covered in plastic black balls. the largest, Los Angeles reservoir, has 96 million balls.
Originally, this was done to reduce pollution, but it was later discovered to prevent droughts.
in 2007, the Department of Water Protection (DWP) detected high levels of bromate, a carcinogen that forms when bromide and chlorine react with sunlight, in the ivanhoe reservoir.
Bromide is present naturally in groundwater and chlorine is used to kill bacteria, but sunlight is the catalyst that produces the harmful substance.
When the DWP realised the problem, it began building an underground reservoir. While this was being built, it had to devise a way to protect the water in the original reservoir from sunlight.
the idea of a floating cover was dismissed as too expensive and taking too long to install. DWP biologist Brian White therefore suggested the balls used by airports to prevent birds from congregating in wet areas alongside runways.
they are made of high- density polyethylene (HDPe). the type used to protect reservoirs also have a carbon black additive to protect the plastic from ultraviolet radiation.
the balls had other benefits, too. in drought-prone California, they reduced evaporation by 85 to 90 per cent, protected the water from dust and deterred birds and other wildlife from polluting the water.
in 2015, the federal government decided the balls would be replaced with floating covers. However, they remain at Los Angeles reservoir because it would cost £17 million to install a floating cover on the 175- acre reservoir, which holds 3.3 billion gallons of water.
Dr Ian Smith, Cambridge.
QUESTION How did music producer Joe Meek create the eerie sounds in the first and last 14 seconds of the record Telstar?
FuRtHeR to the earlier answer, i knew Joe Meek in the early Sixties when i was a junior sound engineer at iBC Studios.
Joe worked there, but left shortly after i arrived. However, he would call in at the studio from time to time to have a demo disc cut or to use one of the facilities he lacked to improve one of his tracks.
One time, i visited his home to deliver a recording or a disc. He showed me around his poky maisonette in Holloway Road, North London, which he’d turned into a makeshift recording studio.
He had two echo chambers, one in the kitchen and the other in the bathroom. His control room was the sitting room and the singer or group would be miked up in one of the bedrooms. He even used the stairwell when recording.
His equipment was fractionally better than that used by amateurs. i dare say he upgraded this after his big hit with telstar. Joe was a great talent and it is tragic that his story ended with him murdering his landlady and killing himself.
L. Frank Plugge, London W14.
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