Welcome back, Little House fans. Today, we’re recapping Little House on the Prairie, Season 1, Episode 7, “Town Party, Country Party.”
Before we get into it, I am kind of blown away. I was today years old when I learned that there are a ton of people who watch Little House on the Prairie like, all day, every day. Or whenever they watch TV, anyway. They either stream it or watch the DVDs, and when they are done, they start all over again. It’s the only thing on in their homes. And then they get on Facebook and discuss it in different groups. That’s some dedication, right there.
Now, where were we?
Town Party, Country Party
We open “Town Party, Country Party” in the schoolyard.
Wait, is it a schoolyard if it’s the front of a church that doubles as a school, with no fence or any kind of yardage to speak of?
Anyway, back to the five-times aforementioned “Town Party, Country Party.” We are in front of the church/school building, and the kids are playing… something. Oh, I see, a girl is choosing to see who is picking first. And she picked Laura until Nellie pushed Laura out of the way. “Nellie first, Laura second!” As if no one saw what really happened. Laura said that Nellie pushed her, and Nellie called her “sour grapes.” I thought Laura nipped this poor sportsmanship in the bud towards the end of “Country Girls,” but I guess not.
The girls pick. They’re supposed to pick three on a side, but Nellie picks four. Nellie suggests Laura pick the little girl named Olga, whom we’ve never seen before and never will again after this episode. Olga is played by the adorably young and future hot mess Housewife, Kim Richards.
No Olga’s Allowed
Laura doesn’t want Olga on her relay team because she’s not very good. Ouch. She’s sitting right there, Laura. Besides, as the fastest runner in the school, Laura doesn’t need Olga anyway. She and Nellie start it off, and Laura easily beats Nellie, while Olga looks on wistfully in the background. The relay continues, and Olga limps up the steps into school. Gotcha. Something is wrong with Olga’s leg.
We either have a plot or a subplot going here; the writers are anything if not subtle. After school, Laura skips home, the other kids walk, and Olga limps slowly behind them. There is no other reason for this plot device scene than to impress upon us all that, again, Olga is limping.
The Crosstacean
Back at Plum Creek, Laura and Jack are running by the water. Laura shooshes Jack. As they lean over the water, a strange creature that appears to be attached to a string comes into view. It’s like a crossover between a crab and a lobster—a crosstacean, if you will. Which is apparently a thing, but not the thing I thought it was. Harkening back to On the Banks of Plum Creek, I remember what this thing is (a crab) and why it’s relevant (we’ll get to that).
Laura pokes the crosstacean with a stick, even though Jack isn’t having it. Mary calls for her, and the crosstacean runs away. Laura says that, between Mary and Jack making all that noise, she’s never going to find out if it can snap a stick in two. I like a girl with goals.
Mary warns Laura to stay away from the crosstacean before it snaps her in two. Laura calls b.s on that ever happening. The girls head into the house because, apparently, Ma has some news for them.
A Surprise Invitation
Back at home, Ma and Carrie are making something white that looks like a bunch of dough that’s slapped flat, but it turns out that they’re apple fritters. And they’re taking quite a bit of abuse. Is that Ma’s news? No, no, it’s not. The surprise is that the girls are invited to a party! A real one! Ma was in the Mercantile, and Mrs Oleson invited both girls. Weird that both the girls were just with Nellie at school, and she didn’t say anything for once, but this show likes to rely on plot devices, so let’s just go with it.
Even weirder is that the party, which is for Nellie’s birthday, is taking place tomorrow. So everyone gets no days’ notice? I didn’t realize Harriet Oleson was so spontaneous. She seems more like a plan-ahead type of girl, especially if it’s something that should include a present. Mary also wonders about a present, but Ma suggests she pick some flowers.
You know what would have been a sucky present when I was seven years old and had a birthday party? Flowers that someone picked on the way to my house. But if Harriet Oleson wanted her daughter to have presents, she wouldn’t have invited everyone the day before the party.
It’s dinner, and the Ingalls are once again eating corn – this time with their apple fritters, and this time we get to see Carrie have a go at the corn. There is also bread and something brown. Laura inquires about the crosstacean and wonders if it could snap a stick in two. Pa thinks it depends on the size of the stick. Laura wonders if it could bite off her big toe, which Pa doesn’t think so, but it would give her a pinch she’d never forget. Again, I read the book, so I know where we’ll be going with all this—an occasion that should be marked since it’s one of the extremely rare occurrences that Little House on the Prairie, the movie, followed one of the books.
Mary can hardly wait until Nellie’s party, but Laura isn’t feeling it, and I don’t blame her. Oh, I see. Mary is more interested in getting a look inside the Oleson house than anything else. Pa isn’t impressed with all the talk about boughten rugs and curtains because he has his apple fritters—also, we get to see Carrie gnaw at her corn again.
Next scene, naked Laura is bathing outside in a wooden tub, which is kind of surprising to me. Not that we’re going full frontal here, but this scene would never fly in 2025. Ma towels off Laura and brings her inside. Outside, a fully dressed Carrie is in the tub with a sad-looking Jack, splashing him with Laura’s dirty, soapy water, while her parents look on in delight. And I have to pause right here to wonder how Jack even got in the tub. I can’t see Carrie lifting him.
Papa Crankypants
We are now looking at a well. A strange man whom we’ve never seen before and will never see again after today is drawing up some water before walking into what we assume is his house. He doesn’t appear to be a man who smiles, but he does appear to be Olga’s father. Olga is having her dress sewn by someone I will assume is her grandmother, because she looks too old to be her mother.
The unsmiling man tells Olga he wants her to stay home from Nellie’s party. Oh, that’s nice. Nellie invited Olga when none of the kids wanted anything to do with her yesterday. Wait. Maybe I’m overthinking this show, but how did everyone receive an invitation when Nellie didn’t tell anyone at school? Am I to assume Harriet walked to everyone’s house? Or that every parent in Walnut Grove stopped into the Mercantile yesterday? Too many things happen off camera for my inquiring mind. I need to be in the room where it happened.
Olga tells her father that she doesn’t want to miss the party or the games. Her cranky old dad wants to know what kind of games. Running games? Like he sees them play at school. Olga says she’ll sit and watch if they play running games.
After Olga leaves, her grandma shoots Papa Crankypants a look that would cut a b****. He tells his mother that Olga doesn’t need to go to school and that everything she needs to learn she can learn at home. I’m thinking Olga also needs an escape from her miserable father. I mean, can you imagine? She goes to school where no one asks her to play with them, and then comes home to Papa Crankypants.
Grandma thinks Olga needs friends her own age, but Papa Crankypants thinks she has no friends in that school and that she’s better off staying home with them. His mother thinks she has a fool for a son, and her son thinks he has a mother who doesn’t listen. At the party, Olga will try and keep up and run with the other kids, and she will fall and hurt herself. Papa Crankypants admits that he had schooling, but he learned more from people and animals. I don’t think he took his lessons from the right kind of either. He’s seen that a flock of chickens will kill a chicken that is different from the rest. Nice.
Town Party
We are now at the “Town Party” portion of “Town Party, Country Party.” Laura and Mary, along with a few other stragglers, enter the Oleson house. Mary’s jaw drops as they all look around at the boughten stuff in the Olesons’ parlor. A grandfather clock chimes, and the kids are in awe.
Nellie and Willie are sitting on the boughten-rugged floor playing. Nellie walks over to the girls and gives a small, un-Nellie-like curtsy. Mary and Laura give Nellie the flowers, and Christy hands Nellie a, I guess, cross between a stuffed animal and a doll that she and Cassie made themselves. Nellie looks unimpressed as she tosses them aside. Mary writes off her rudeness as being excited.
Boughten Toys
To Laura’s delight, the kids are playing with a Noah’s Ark toy. To which Willie informs her that it’s not Noah’s, it’s his. Nellie and Willie argue back and forth about what happened to the Ark’s missing giraffe, when Mrs Oleson tells them they have plenty of other toys. Nellie informs her that they can’t play with her toys, and Willie bans the kids from his velocipede—something I only knew what it was because I remember looking it up in the dictionary many, many years ago, after reading the books.
Harriet suggests that Nellie show the girls her birthday doll, which Nellie informs them they can’t touch. Laura, who is sitting on the floor, looks on in wonder and reaches out to touch the doll’s dress. Nellie yells at her for touching and pushes her over, which puts a minuscule rip in the doll’s dress. Nellie tells Laura she did it on purpose because she’ll never have a doll this nice.
Nellie tells Laura she wishes she hadn’t asked her to her party. You didn’t, Nellie. Your mother told Laura’s mother. Harriet, probably for the first time ever, tells Nellie she shouldn’t be so rude. Harriet gives Laura a mini-lecture about being careful with things that don’t belong to her and suggests they all go outside, where they can’t damage anything.
Nothing to See Here…
Laura is limping from that absolute nothing burger of a push that Nellie gave her, where she wasn’t even standing up. I mean, she was sitting criss-cross applesauce, so how is that push going to cause a limp-worthy injury? Another plot device ensues. This will put her and Olga on equal footing.
Laura and Olga sit on the Mercantile steps in limping solidarity, and Laura asks Olga how long she’s been that way. Olga tells her she was born that way. Laura suggests they walk slow to the waterwheel and catch frogs while the other kids run and play tag.
Grumpy Papa Rides Again
Good gravy. Olga is back at home, and Grumpy Papa is asking about the party and insists Olga tell him the truth. She was sitting and watching all the other children play. Olga tells him that inside she watched, which is odd because can’t she sit on the floor and look and not touch at the Olesons’ toys without having to walk? Olga goes on to say that outside, she talked to a girl. “Just one girl,” her father asks. Great googly moogly, this chronic malcontent is never happy, is he? Who wants to go home to that sad sack?
Olga told Grumpy Papa she spoke with a very nice girl named Laura Ingalls. Grumpy Papa said she should have stayed home, even though Olga insisted she had a very nice time and that she made a new friend. One friend, Grumpy Papa reminds her, which is one more than he probably has.
Another Surprise
Back at the Little House on the Prairie, the girls must be in bed. Ma is telling Pa that the doll incident was more Nellie’s fault than Laura’s and that the dress could have been mended in an instant. Pa said that it’s going to take Laura’s ankle “injury” longer to heal. Laura, who seemingly made it home and also climbed the ladder to her bedroom loft, probably won’t be able to walk to school for two to three days. Ma says Laura was unhappy about that until she promised to teach her how to make oatmeal cookies.
Ma asks Pa what he thinks of the girls having a party of their own, to which Pa replies that it’s a fine idea. The girls are obviously listening. Laura wants to know how they can have a party when it’s not anyone’s birthday yet. Pa tells her the best reason to have a party is to just let your friends know you want them around. Mary asks if they can invite who they want, all by themselves, and Ma says of course, and then names all the people they would want to invite. Then she mentions Nellie, which Laura isn’t feeling, and I’m not blaming her. Ma says it’s the polite thing to do, and Laura correctly reckons Ma knows best.
Giving proper notice, Mary promises to invite Nellie on Monday, and the girls head off to bed. They can hardly believe it! Their own party! Wait. Is it the weekend? Then why is Pa so worried about Laura walking to school for the next couple of days?
Back to School
Mary and Olga are walking to school together, presumably because Laura is so lame from her “injury” that she can’t walk. Mary invites Olga to the party, and Olga promises to ask Papa Crankypants. Olga thinks it’s good of Mary to invite “poor Nellie.” She says thinks Nellie is poor because she’s unhappy inside, and her grandma says you can tell a lot about a person by the face they wear.
Mary runs home after school to tell Pa everyone said yes.
Pa, who can add “Farrier” to his list of skills, is shoeing a horse. Ever inquisitive, Laura wants to know why Patty keeps throwing her shoe. Wait? Patty? Patty, who was traded to Hanson for a team of Oxen? That Patty? Or is this a new Patty that I somehow missed?
Anyway, Pa explains something-something about horseshoeing, and Laura asks for a favor, something that’s been on her mind for a long time. She wants to know what makes cripples—like being born crippled. Pa doesn’t have an answer other than folks just come into the world that way. Laura mentions to Pa that Olga walked across a plank and didn’t limp at all. Pa sends Laura back in the house to rest her plot device injury.
Pa walks to Olga’s family’s house and introduces himself. Grandma is very happy to meet him but Papa Crankypants is his usual friendly self. Pa starts talking about lame horses and asks if he can work on one of Olga’s shoes. Papa Cranklypants is as cooperative as you might guess. Pa gives one more try, but Papa Crankypants kicks Pa off his property.
Olga Gets a Shoe
Later, Pa and Ma are sawing a log together, because nothing says love like sawing a log together. As they’re sawing, Olga and her Grandma approach the Ingalls, and Grandma would like a word. Ma takes Olga back to the house to say hi to Laura.
Grandma apologizes for her son and uses the death of Olga’s mother as an excuse for rudeness. She hands Charles a shoe and says, “You will make a shoe for Olga.” Pa promises to try. He measures the distance between Olga’s foot and the floor and begins to make a shoe. Pa’s resume continues to grow.
Back at Casa Crankypants, it’s now the day of the party. Grandma is helping Olga with her dress. Papa Crankypants wants to know why Olga isn’t helping her grandma since there’s no school. Olga tells him it’s a party day. Pa questions the time since it’s before noon, and Grandma lies and says she was asked to come early to help. At the Ingalls house, Olga walks perfectly on her extremely heavy-looking new shoe and rewards Pa with a big hug.
Country Party
And now the “Country Party” portion of Town Party, Country Party begins. Mary goes out to greet the girls while Laura stays inside with Olga. She has an idea for how they can surprise the other kids.
Outside, Nellie shakes Pa’s hand and curtsies. As the girls come in, Laura wonders if Mary didn’t tell the still-curtseying Nellie that this wasn’t a dress-up party. But Nellie’s mother wants her to dress up for all parties, even country ones. Because of course she does.
Nellie asks to see the girls’ room, and Mary takes the girls up to see the loft. Laura tells Olga to go outside and get ready to surprise the others with her running. I was thinking that Olga might like to see the loft too, but maybe we’re saving that for another time.
Laura is asked where her dolls are, and Laura says that she doesn’t play with dolls; she plays in the creek. Upstairs, Laura, channelling my mother, tells the girls it’s too nice to hang around inside. The girls go outside where Olga is sitting on a bench. Laura suggests they play “Three O’Cat,” whatever that means. Maybe a variation of baseball?
Nellie tells the girls that she’s a guest, so she gets to choose first. I don’t know why the other guests aren’t challenging that, but here we are. She chooses Mary, and Laura chooses Olga. Despite her handshakes and curtsies, Nellie hasn’t found her manners and tells Laura that she’s only choosing Olga so that when she loses, she can blame it on her. Olga’s sitting right there, Nellie.
“Who says I’m going to lose?” asks the ever-confident Laura. And I’m just going to aside right here to wonder how we even know Olga can run at this point. I mean, she’s literally never run before. I get that she is wearing her bionic shoes, but all I’m saying is that maybe there should have been a little practice in private first.
The girls get on with their choosing. Laura says that Olga should go first, and in news that will surprise no one, Olga, who has never hit a ball or tried to in her life, hits the ball. A home run! The girls continue their game, and Olga now has more than one new friend, now that she’s not limping. There’s something to be said about that, but I’ll leave the lectures to Pa. Laura’s team wins and Nellie fumes.
The girls think about what they should do next, and Nellie looks at Olga’s shoes and suggests they all take off their shoes and go wading in the creek. All the girls except Laura and Olga think that’s a great idea. Laura offers to wait with Olga until the others are done, but Olga sends her on her way. Personally, I find it rude to host a party and then leave a guest alone. Play together or don’t play at all, that’s what I think. Olga walks and then runs the bases, obviously thrilled at her newfound freedom.
At the creek, Laura has an axe to grind. Nellie is in the middle of the creek, complaining about the splashing girls because her precious hair is getting wet. Laura goes over to the crosstacean log and tells Nellie she can’t go near the log, which, of course, is the equivalent of a triple dog dare. On cue, Nellie comes over to the log. Laura says that since Nellie is her friend, she’ll show her what’s in the log and encourages her to look closer. Who could have predicted that the crosstacean was going to come out of the log? Laura tells Nellie to run so it doesn’t get her, and Nellie runs and falls in the creek. All the girls laugh.
There’s nothing sweeter than the smell of comeuppance. “Let’s go have some cake,” says Laura.
All’s Well That Ends Well
Back at Olga’s house, Papa Crankypants is suspicious and going through Olga’s trunk. There’s a shoe missing! Grandma doesn’t lie and loudly admits she gave the shoe to Pa. Papa Crankypants marches over to the Ingalls homestead and begins to give Pa a piece of his mind. As Papa Crankypants and Pa go at it in the barn, the girls gather and play tag. Papa Crankypants stops fighting long enough to watch Olga having a blast playing with all her new friends.
Olga freezes when she sees her Papa and walks over to him and hugs him. She wants to know if he saw her run. Papa almost smiles as he says he saw her, while Pa admires his handywork. Papa Crankypants’ heart grows three sizes as a tear appears.
The girls say goodbye and Nellie, in parting, tells Pa that his creek is dangerous. Then she curtsies and leaves with the rest of the girls. Olga wants to walk with the other girls, and Papa Crankypants agrees. “My mother is right,” he said. “She has a fool for a son.” And so, in Town Party, Country Party, another lesson is learned.
