I’ve been a fan of Little House on the Prairie since I was a kid, watching them in reruns as a teen, buying the DVDs as an adult, and then recently revisiting the (almost) entire series with Carolyn during our first year together. Having said that, it is rather surprising that with all of the celebrities I’ve met, the cast of Little House has been pretty good at eluding me. Beyond meeting Charlotte Stewart and Shannon Doherty and a few assorted guest stars, the main cast had never has the pleasure of making my acquaintance. Besides the frustration of purposely not meeting Patrick Labyorteaux (major blunder) when I had the chance, the other annoying thing was that I had never ran into Alison Arngrim, although she had made numerous appearances.
Alison was of course the deliciously evil Nellie Oleson, arch nemesis of Laura Ingalls, through most of the series. Any plotline that was going to revolve around Nellie was going to be good. It was fun to watch her turn from young spoiled brat, to spoiled young teen, and then ultimately into a nice young lady, who you found yourself having quite an affection for.
Suddenly in 2014, Carolyn and I, after lamenting not getting the chance to meet her together, were faced with two scenarios where it was going to be possible to finally meet her in person. By this time I felt like I knew her, after watching many contemporary interviews, and following her on Facebook (my friend John Marshall was on a first-name basis with her).
I guess feeling like we knew her – when we really didn’t – was what led Carolyn to be slightly disappointed in the encounter at the Chiller Theatre show on April 26, 2014. I too was disappointed to see that photo ops with her – which was all I needed; I had acquired a signed photo (as seen above) from my friend Steve Cox about 17 years earlier – was running $25. The autographs/photo op combo was $40 so I went ahead and bought Carolyn a signed photo of one of her favorite icons.
But here’s the thing. I think at this point, we both felt like we should be sitting down with Nellie over coffee and chatting about our lives. It’s the major pitfall of meeting someone you like. I resented having to shell out so much, when I knew full well that he she had just made an unscheduled appearance at the Hollywood Show and was posing for free photos with any attendee who asked. We had mutual friends, for crying out days!
She was pleasant enough though. I asked her about the upcoming Little House reunion that Carolyn and I would be attending (and seeing her again). I asked about her Nasty Nellie tour that she gives in Hollywood (Carolyn and I have been dying to take it). And I even asked about our friend John Marshall. She gave nice, friendly, patented responses to all of these questions. But somehow we wanted more. It was not a reasonable request, but we still wanted it. We wanted to shout like Laura did, “You’re my best friend Nellie!”
But having said all that, even if we couldn’t be best friends, I am super glad to finally meet her. I breathed a sigh of relief that, despite the cost, I had finally gotten a picture with Alison Arngrim. And she even posed for an extra one with Carolyn. I was glad to get this under my belt, because even though we’d be seeing her again in a few months, that encounter would prove rather fruitless.
Celebrity encounters from the Spring 2014 Chiller Theatre Show will continue…
let’s charge each other $20 next time we get together.
Eric Hubble
January 22nd, 2015