Airdate: 12/2/76
Martha Corinne, Zeb’s
sister-in-law, comes to the Waltons for a visit. With her immediate family
deceased or moved away, she’s become lonely of late, and her stay with such a
large family ruffles a few feathers as she’s used to having everything done her
way. When John-Boy offers to take her home to visit her late husband’s grave,
he discovers of her ill health and weak heart; concerned for her well-being and
contrite over the way the he has treated her, he insists that he take her back
to his family, with the promise that he not tell them about her health issues.
Olivia catches on, though, and after he spills all, Martha is outraged. Before
she leaves, she wants to help Ben paint his pony cart; after they take it out
for a test drive, she finds some daises to pick, and dies on the field as she
inhale the sweet aroma of the flowers.
Martha Corrine, as
played by Belulah Bondi, was such a scene-stealing character in The Waltons third season opener, “The
Conflict,” that the producers wisely wrote a return for her. This is a
charming, simple story whose best moments are the family stories Martha tells;
they have an authentic antiquity about them, tinged with the curdled edges and
sepia tones of old family photographs. We can’t help but think of our own
family histories, and might even pause to consider the immeasurable value of
our elders, as they are the caretakers of our history, familial, societal and
cultural.
This was to be Bondi’s
last film or TV performance. She died 5 years later at the ripe young age of
92.
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