‘ American Masters’ tackles Laura Ingalls Wilder’s extraordinary life
She was 65 before she published her first novel, but the world knows Laura Ingalls Wilder as a little girl in pinafore and pigtails. Based on Wilder’s books, “Little House on the Prairie” was the popular TV series that aired from 1974 to ‘ 83 starring Melissa Gilbert as the plucky little Laura. But how much of that was true and how much fiction? PBS’ “American Masters” will aim to answer that question when it airs the bio- doc “Laura Ingalls Wilder” on Tuesday.
Gilbert, who was 9 years old when she was cast as Laura in the series, says she’d already read one of the books by then. “I first read ‘ Little House in the Big Woods,’ it was a school assignment, actually. And as you know, those books are still, I think, assigned in middle schools today; ( they’re) still read. And I absolutely loved it,” she says.
“I read it with my mom because they had been her favorite books growing up. So she was so excited when I got the assignment, to be able to sit with me and read it with me. I just thought Laura was this incredibly fun, spunky, spirited — she actually reminded me a lot of myself at that time,” she recalls.
“But then also the way she wrote — her descriptions of life and food especially, and games and sights and sounds and the world around her was so vivid. I could see myself there, and ... it really got my imagination stirred up.”
Gilbert went back later, reading subsequent books and poring over minute details about the writer.
“I wish I could say something deeper than this about what surprised me about Laura, but really what surprised me about Laura is how tiny she really was. She was a tiny little woman. Her husband Almanzo had all of their homes made with custom countertops so she could comfortably stand and cook.
“And to me she seems like just a giant influence, not only in my life, but in the lives of everybody all over the world and in America especially. So to think of her being this tiny little diminutive woman was just shocking to me.”
Mary McDonagh Murphy, director and producer on the documentary, says that although Wilder came from humble beginnings, she proved to be a rich storyteller.
“Laura’s life is extraordinary, and the fact that she became a bestselling author at 65 — after everything she endured and went through: She was a chicken farmer. She had to do two or three jobs her whole life to make ends meet with her beloved Almanzo. When I think about what any of us have been through in the test of our pioneer spirits lately, what she endured was really remarkable.”
Although Gilbert spent years portraying Wilder’s alter ego, she says she continually discovers new things about the author.
“I am constantly amazed how much more there is for me to learn because I have had the opportunity to come at the ‘ Little House’ stories in so many different angles in so many different ways,” she says.
Once she was cast, Gilbert concentrated on the scripts and not the books.
“We strayed pretty far from the truth of the books, which also strayed far from the truth of the actual experience, because we had to create this whole world that television shows have a tendency to do,” she remembers.
But in 2009, Gilbert performed in the musical version of the tale, portraying Caroline, Laura’s mother.
“I got to revisit the stories when I did the musical version... and I got to go back to the books and the subsequent books that had come out about all of them to see the whole experience through a new set of eyes. So that really was fascinating for me. And I have done consequently a great deal more research. Every time a Laura book comes out, I buy it and read it and try to learn even more of
what was going on,” she says.
Gilbert thinks the reaction of the public to the series has only increased since COVID- 19 hit.
“I can tell you that since March of this year, since the world and our nation in particular have been dealing with this pandemic, I began hearing more and more on social media from people saying, ‘ I am rewatching “Little House on the Prairie.” It is bringing me so much comfort. I am finding my way through.’
“So I think when we ... have this opportunity
to see this extraordinary documentary, I think it is going to be, again, another source of great comfort and a reminder of where we came from. I mean, these are people who built the nation, and it’s a reminder of how that is done. And that’s only done with community and love and understanding. And that if we did that, we can make it through this, just like we made it through the ‘ 50s, the 1960s, the 1970s, and on and on and on.”