Susan McCray talks to fans of Getting to Know You & Little House

Susan McCray and the program director at KSAV.org are opening up the phone lines in February for fans to call in and talk to Susan. Susan was the Casting Director for Michael Landon's Little House on the Prairie and many other popular shows from the 70's and 80's.





Date: Tuesday, Feb 19th, 2008
When: Live at 6:30 p.m. pacific and 9:30 p.m. eastern.
Call toll free at (1-800-407-KSAV)

Once again, Susan will field questions about Little House, Michael Landon, guests on Getting to Know You, the shows she's worked on, and other great topics that you'll want to know all about.

So, mark your calendar for Tuesday, February 19th and call in and talk to Susan McCray. For more information about Susan McCray and her show visit http://www.susanmccray.com You'll find KSAV on the Internet at http://www.ksav.org




And coming soon to Getting to Know You -- interviews with Ruth Foster on February 26th and March 4th. Ruth played Mrs. Melinda Foster the popular Post Mistress of Walnut Grove. And also look for Susan's interviews with Gil Gerard (a.k.a Chris Nelson from "The Handyman")often remembered as Buck Rogers from "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century". Gil's interviews will air after Ruth's.

New project for Little House on the Prairie fans from Dean Butler and Legacy Documentaries

Actor Dean Butler, who portrayed Almanzo Wilder on the classic TV show, Little House on the Prairie, is now busy behind the camera these days as Executive Producer and Founder of Legacy Documentaries. Dean has already filmed some of the bonus features found on the Little House on the Prairie DVDs which were released by Imavision http://www.imavision.com/en/ and he has recently been working on other film projects which seek to preserve the legacy of Laura Ingalls Wilder.

His latest project seeks to focus the attention on the fans of Michael Landon's Little House on the Prairie. Dean is looking for input from fans of the show to "tell me how old you were and what was happening in your lives when you discovered Little House on the Prairie and what was it about your life experiences and aspirations that bonded you to our program."

If you are interested in contributing to this project, please visit the Legacy Documentaries blog, which can be found at http://legacydocumentaries.com/blog/

Getting to Know You with Susan McCray Live Show Tomorrow

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: COMING IN OCTOBER - SUSAN MCCRAY WILL HOST A LIVE CALL IN SHOW ON KSAV.ORG INTERNET RADIO.

On Tuesday, October 23rd, Susan will have a live version of "Getting to Know You" where listeners can call in and ask her questions about the shows she has cast, Michael Landon, past guests on "Getting to Know You", and about her father--Academy Award-winning composer, Harry Sukman. Susan Sukman McCray is the former Casting Director for Little House on the Prairie and the wife of Executive Producer Kent McCray.

Call 1-800-407-5728 starting at 6:30PM Pacific and 9:30PM Eastern. Susan will also accept questions about her past guests on "Getting to Know You" via email at susan@ksav.org.

Susan has also written a charming children's book titled, Harry's Piano, which is about the young life of her father and would make a fine holiday gift for young musicians. For more information about Harry's Piano and to order your autographed copy, go to http://www.harryspiano.com/

Free Land by Rose Wilder Lane

I snagged a copy of Free Land by Rose Wilder Lane from the Worcester Public Library. I thought it might help me to figure out how I felt about Holtz's claims in The Ghost in the Little House and the amount of Rose's involvement in her mother's books.

If I remember right, there are two versions of this novel--the 1938 copy (which I have) and a later version printed as Young Pioneers after a 1976 movie of the same name. The book tells the story of David Beaton, a young man who leaves his father's farm to set out on his own with his new wife Mary. As I had mentioned in other posts on my blog, Rose's father Almanzo is the inspiration behind this book. The curious thing is that many of the names are the same. David's father is named James, David has two sisters named Alice and Eliza, and a brother named Perley. As far as I can tell, the only names that were changed in this novel are Almanzo's (David) and Royal's (Raleigh). David's mother is simply referred to as mother.

I've made it to Chapter 16, which is found on page 83 of this 332-page novel. I wish I could say it's been easy reading. I guess I had this silly thought it would be so much like the Little House books that I would love it. But, this is an adult novel, not fiction for children, so the difference is clear. Lane does provide a good amount of detail so that you can get a picture of what it was like for David and Mary as they suffer through a blizzard while on the way to their claim shanty. They are forced to seek shelter underneath their sleigh because they cannot find the railroad camp--which unknown to them they passed 11 miles back.

Since I only have until April 20th to complete the reading of this novel, I best get moving on it. That's one of the problems with borrowing a book from the Virtual Catalog--there are no renewals. I'm hoping that there will be a moment where I suddenly find myself so interested in the novel that I can't put it down. It hasn't happened yet, but it took me over 600 pages to get into Stephen King's The Stand, and I still think it's the best book I've ever read.

I'll be checking in here as I progress through the novel, giving you my thoughts as I did with The Ghost in the Little House. Perhaps reading Lane's book will help me make up my mind one way or the other about Rose's connection to the Little House series.

And I will close with one little bit of trivia. According to the IMDB, Blanche Hanalis was a writer for the TV movie Young Pioneers. She is also the one credited with adapting Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House books for Landon's Little House on the Prairie.

Cheryl