Albert becomes a pen pal with a paraplegic girl.Albert becomes a pen pal with a paraplegic girl.Albert becomes a pen pal with a paraplegic girl.
- Mary Ingalls Kendall
- (credit only)
- Carrie Ingalls
- (as Lindsay Sidney Greenbush)
- Carrie Ingalls
- (as Lindsay Sidney Greenbush)
- Albert Quinn Ingalls
- (as Matthew Laborteaux)
- Leslie Barton
- (as Suzy Gilstrap)
- Mr. McGinnis
- (as Olan Soulé)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaSuzy Barbieri, who portrays Leslie Baron, is a real-life paraplegic, as a result of a tree branch falling on her and breaking her back at the age of 11, when she was crouched down feeding some ducks.
- GoofsWhen Albert becomes pen pals with Leslie, it is around 1880 to 1881. Leslie tells Albert in her letters that she is captain of the basketball team. This is impossible, since basketball was not invented until 1891, ten years after Albert and Leslie became pen pals.
- Quotes
Laura Ingalls Wilder: I was just checking to see if you'd grown overnight. Apparently from the first line in your letter you are... uh... six feet, one inch tall?
Albert Quinn Ingalls: I can explain.
Laura Ingalls Wilder: And you're the fastest and tallest and most popular boy in Walnut Grove!
Albert Quinn Ingalls: If you'll just let me explain...
Laura Ingalls Wilder: And obviously the bravest since only yesterday, you saved your sister's life by leaping onto the back of a runaway horse, and you practically tore his ears off trying to get him to stop?
Albert Quinn Ingalls: Now, will you just listen for a minute and stop sounding like a sister?
That said: It really puzzles me how certain technological advancements are seen on the show. I checked and the events are supposed to be set between 1870-1890. So, we shouldn't see anything that'd belong with the Mid-West setting of any later years.
However, in this episode, there is mention "playing basketball" as Albert and the crippled girl correspond. That really got me curious and I checked when that became a thing. I recalled the origins of basketball to belong quite into the 20th century, but well, Wikipedia said this:
"Basketball began with its invention in 1891 in Springfield, Massachusetts, by Canadian physical education instructor James Naismith as a less injury-prone sport than football. Naismith was a 31-year old graduate student when he created the indoor sport to keep athletes indoors during the winters."
Okay... So there WAS something called "playing basketball", at least for a few people, early as 1891 in the USA. But still, this doesn't make sense... And I'm not mentioning the one year difference here - even if someone HAD invented basketball earlier, in 1885, could it have made from a populated Eastern city to inland America so fast?
A similar issue I have is with the phones: In this episode, we see almost common people (bit wealthy maybe, but not statesmen or something to that effect) have phones in their households. The girl's mother gives Albert their phone number, and he calls from somewhere in the city (maybe a post office, I don't recall).
And here's the data on that:
"Bell began his research in 1874 and had financial backers who gave him the best business plan for bringing it to market. In 1877-78, the first telephone line was constructed, the first switchboard was created and the first telephone exchange was in operation. Three years later, almost 49,000 telephones were in use."
Okay, that one makes more sense. But still, is the MidWest of the Ingalls family so close to catching up with innovations? Ms Oleson literally operates the phone lines for Walnut Grove, and in nearby cities a kid can call a houseline from a post office, etc.
I'm okay with a little bit of stretch when it comes to fiction. However, I'd really like to know if the research they made for this series involved that kinda stretch, or their surrounding was in fact more advanced than my childhood memories of the show suggested.
Therefore, I'd be glad if someone else posted a review about this for this episode, particulary regarding the basketball thing.
- muratmihcioglu
- Sep 30, 2023