Waltons 2.19: The Cradle

Airdate: 1/31/74

Olivia takes up a job selling a soap product door-to-door, but must give it up when she learns she is pregnant. Excited by the news, the entire family contributes gifts for the new arrival: John-Boy builds a cradle, Elizabeth bequeaths her old rag doll, and Ben and Jim-Bob offer to sell the rest of the soap. Excitement turns to disappointment, however, when Olivia suffers a miscarriage and must come to terms with her loss; once again, it is Grandpa who must offer words of comfort and homespun philosophy.

A sad episode, particularly in retrospect, as we all know from the get-go there never was an eighth Walton child. Solid performances all around, notably from Michael Learned, who deservedly won an Emmy later that year for Outstanding Performance by an Actress – Drama Series. There truly is something about her demeanor that seems to make her perfect for this role. (I can’t imagine anyone else playing her.) If you recall, she did bow out of the series early to star in the CBS series Nurse, which I have vague memories of. As far as I know, the series is totally out of print, bootleg or otherwise, so if anyone knows where to get this series, let me know.

Pop culture alert: Mary Ellen, dreaming of becoming a professional dancer, makes repeated references to Isadora Duncan, credited as the creator of modern dance, who met an untimely end when her long silk scarf became tangled in the wheels of a car she was riding in, breaking her neck.