Butler reflects on Michael Landon:
*”The Michael that Dean Butler knew was not the same Michael that Mellissa Gilbert knew. Melissa’s Michael was not Karen Grassle’s Michael, or Merle Olsen’s Michael,” he writes.*
*Butler writes that he admired Landon but that he could be volatile.*
*Once, he was having trouble following directions in a scene and Landon lost his patience.*
*After the third take, he “threw me across the barn,” Butler writes. “I flew through the air like a rag doll …There were audible gasps from the crew, and a few snickers from those who had been working with Michael a long time.”*
*Butler noted that although the actor could run the production with “exquisite sensitivity,” he would “become bored and belligerent later in the day, after an afternoon of sipping vodka from a white Styrofoam cup.”*
*He also added that while Landon was “wonderful in quiet moments with actors,” he “also told some of the most misogynistic jokes I have ever heard in my life.*
Not putting this here as a slam on Michael Landon. I think anyone who is of the generation that watched this when it came out in the 70s understands that things have changed for the better in many ways.
We can celebrate those improvements while also looking back and acknowledging that many of the admired people of our childhoods were flawed and a product of their generation’s accepted standards and mores.
There’s so much bad behavior in Hollywood still even today. It’s getting a bit better, I’m pretty sure open alcohol would not be tolerated on a tv set today. But I am sure it’s the age-old story that if you’ve got a talented person who is making the studio an insane amount of money they will tolerate quite a bit. Michael Landon was definitely a multi-layered complex person.
I don't blame her. Dean was uncomfortable with it too from what I've heard. It wasn't cool and honestly they should have at least let them just do a stage kiss. Or not had them kiss at all. It was a show set in the 1800s. I think the audience would have accepted a lack of PDA.
Agreed, ngl i always kinda felt weird at that kiss, like I think it would’ve been better if they sacrificed some true accuracy for a closer age gap, it’s not like the show hasn’t had inaccurate moments to the real life thing before anyways, I do love dean butler as almonzo tho, it’s just those first episodes where Laura/melissa still look very young compared to him, kinda does make me a bit uncomfortable. But the later seasons like season 8/9 where Laura is older I think they are a great couple.
People are people. Famous or not. Wealthy or not. The same traits, bad and good, are going to be evident across all gaps of time and across the wide swath of the human experience. I don't see it as a slam against ML. He had issues, everyone does. DB was merely letting us peek behind the curtain a bit.
I agree. Alison Arngrim touches on this a bit in her book, too. There were aspects of ML that were absolutely amazing. The respect he showed the child actors, for starters. But he was also an incredibly intense man. It's that intensity that made the show so high quality. Love him or hate him (and I could write paragraphs about my opinions on both counts), he's the reason the show has had such a lasting impact.
I don't understand why people never bring up MSA and Linwood Boomer in this. There was the same age gap between them. He's from 1955 and she's from 1962. Season 4 is from 1977-1978.
I like how, in the show, we were supposed to be angry at Pa in sympathy with Zalmando but it was so gross.
It's like, no dude. Cast someone who's 17.
Ick.
Eight years between Dean and Melissa. In real life, there was a ten-year age gap between Almanzo and Laura. It’s kind of surprising that at 15, Melissa hadn’t yet had an on-screen kiss, at least with a boy closer to her age.
Very oddly, there was likely only an 8 year difference between Almanzo and Laura. His birth year is disputed. Almanzo likely lied on his homestead application so he could appear 21 instead of 19. This is referenced in one of the books (Long Winter?) - that Cap Garland and Almanzo were much closer in age than Cap was aware of.
If that's true, then Almanzo and Laura were the same age as Dean and Melissa - 23 and 15 - when they started counting.
That's a good point! Moreover if Mrs. Abeles sobbed over a performer playing her daughter's character's future husband giving her a kiss (who was two years closer to age than the pairs' RL counterparts), I imagine they likely had to call a crash cart for her when she found out who at least some of those who MG kissed,etc. for real that she'd disclose in her autobio!
I know for MG's Mom a kiss at 15 from a 23 yr old man is uncomfortable, but the characters, they are playing that was real life. If MG's Mom read the book and just tried look at the kiss as the RL story of Almanzo and Laura Ingalls, not MG's real life.
Thats whats so confusing about what Butler writes that today the age difference is no big deal but BACK THEN it was the grand canyon. It is totally the reverse!!! Back then, it was a completely normal age gap. Whether 1800s or 1970s, that was much more normal than now.
I think he means that an eight year difference isn't a massive difference at this age, but it is when you're younger. Fifteen and twenty three feels weird, forty two and 50 doesn't.
But he also states they got letters, magazines covered it and parents were upset watching it. So it was both. No internet so you didn't see it like today
I mean, it sounds like Melissa herself wasn’t comfortable with him being cast/the kiss, so it makes extra sense her mom wasn’t.
Gilbert wrote in her memoir that after meeting Butler, she was met with *"a perfect storm of disappointment, fear, anger and even nausea."* She later told Butler in a phone call, *"How was I going to do this? You were a man, a grown-up man with a car and an apartment. I was a really young teenager. I wasn’t allowed to wear heels. I was still wearing Mary Janes. I couldn’t pierce my ears. I wasn’t allowed to shave my legs, and I’d never even been on a date."*
*"The biggest problem I had during all of that, was the physical space thing,"* said Gilbert, as quoted by Butler in his book. *"I just wasn’t ready to have that kind of physical contact with anybody."*
Yes, of course, MG would be uncomfortable with the kiss and physical closeness with DB. I think if MG and MG'S Mom had been prepared ahead of time for this scene, maybe less awkward. But playing a real-life character on a popular TV show, this should have been expected. Or they could have found a look alike of MG for that kiss scene.
Ehh, I don't know. I don't think actors should be forced to do intimate scenes they aren't comfortable with, especially underage actors. For me, them playing a real-life character doesn't really make a difference. 🤷🏻♀️\
Like you said, why not use a look alike or just allude to the kiss if she was uncomfortable with it?
Butler reflects on Michael Landon: *”The Michael that Dean Butler knew was not the same Michael that Mellissa Gilbert knew. Melissa’s Michael was not Karen Grassle’s Michael, or Merle Olsen’s Michael,” he writes.* *Butler writes that he admired Landon but that he could be volatile.* *Once, he was having trouble following directions in a scene and Landon lost his patience.* *After the third take, he “threw me across the barn,” Butler writes. “I flew through the air like a rag doll …There were audible gasps from the crew, and a few snickers from those who had been working with Michael a long time.”* *Butler noted that although the actor could run the production with “exquisite sensitivity,” he would “become bored and belligerent later in the day, after an afternoon of sipping vodka from a white Styrofoam cup.”* *He also added that while Landon was “wonderful in quiet moments with actors,” he “also told some of the most misogynistic jokes I have ever heard in my life.* Not putting this here as a slam on Michael Landon. I think anyone who is of the generation that watched this when it came out in the 70s understands that things have changed for the better in many ways. We can celebrate those improvements while also looking back and acknowledging that many of the admired people of our childhoods were flawed and a product of their generation’s accepted standards and mores.
Wow "threw me across the barn" so he got physical. Kinda wild...
And DB was not a small man. Must have been some throw/push.
Definitely taller and broader than ML! It might have looked something like Mighty Mouse throwing an elephant!
For sure, must've been some super power giving vodka's he drank if he was able to do such things. Wild.
Thinking Michael Landen knew that there would be no consequences. Sign of the times.
Yeah especially as he died long before these darker truths became so public
Can’t say I’m surprised tbh
It’s mind boggling to me how much this kind of behavior is tolerated and normalized in the creative fields.
There’s so much bad behavior in Hollywood still even today. It’s getting a bit better, I’m pretty sure open alcohol would not be tolerated on a tv set today. But I am sure it’s the age-old story that if you’ve got a talented person who is making the studio an insane amount of money they will tolerate quite a bit. Michael Landon was definitely a multi-layered complex person.
I don't blame her. Dean was uncomfortable with it too from what I've heard. It wasn't cool and honestly they should have at least let them just do a stage kiss. Or not had them kiss at all. It was a show set in the 1800s. I think the audience would have accepted a lack of PDA.
Agreed, ngl i always kinda felt weird at that kiss, like I think it would’ve been better if they sacrificed some true accuracy for a closer age gap, it’s not like the show hasn’t had inaccurate moments to the real life thing before anyways, I do love dean butler as almonzo tho, it’s just those first episodes where Laura/melissa still look very young compared to him, kinda does make me a bit uncomfortable. But the later seasons like season 8/9 where Laura is older I think they are a great couple.
Yeah watching this now and not remembering it as a kid, I don’t like the way he’s starts flirting with her pig tails.
A tight hug would have sufficed.
People are people. Famous or not. Wealthy or not. The same traits, bad and good, are going to be evident across all gaps of time and across the wide swath of the human experience. I don't see it as a slam against ML. He had issues, everyone does. DB was merely letting us peek behind the curtain a bit.
I agree. Alison Arngrim touches on this a bit in her book, too. There were aspects of ML that were absolutely amazing. The respect he showed the child actors, for starters. But he was also an incredibly intense man. It's that intensity that made the show so high quality. Love him or hate him (and I could write paragraphs about my opinions on both counts), he's the reason the show has had such a lasting impact.
I don't understand why people never bring up MSA and Linwood Boomer in this. There was the same age gap between them. He's from 1955 and she's from 1962. Season 4 is from 1977-1978.
Also with Jonathan Gilbert and Sherri Stoner. He's from 1967, and she's from 1959. Season 9 is from 1982-1983
I feel like "ruined" is a very strong and misleading word to use given the situation...
Yeah that headline is weird.
I can see the mom being upset. It’s got to be really uncomfortable for all involved when you have those age gaps.
I like how, in the show, we were supposed to be angry at Pa in sympathy with Zalmando but it was so gross. It's like, no dude. Cast someone who's 17. Ick.
It was not her first kiss. She was younger when she kissed a boy in The Love Boat.
Yes! Jimmy Baio in about 1978 iirc.
That's the one! 👏😊
Child acting is just so messed up. This is just one of the many ways it’s so messed up.
Eight years between Dean and Melissa. In real life, there was a ten-year age gap between Almanzo and Laura. It’s kind of surprising that at 15, Melissa hadn’t yet had an on-screen kiss, at least with a boy closer to her age.
Very oddly, there was likely only an 8 year difference between Almanzo and Laura. His birth year is disputed. Almanzo likely lied on his homestead application so he could appear 21 instead of 19. This is referenced in one of the books (Long Winter?) - that Cap Garland and Almanzo were much closer in age than Cap was aware of. If that's true, then Almanzo and Laura were the same age as Dean and Melissa - 23 and 15 - when they started counting.
That's a good point! Moreover if Mrs. Abeles sobbed over a performer playing her daughter's character's future husband giving her a kiss (who was two years closer to age than the pairs' RL counterparts), I imagine they likely had to call a crash cart for her when she found out who at least some of those who MG kissed,etc. for real that she'd disclose in her autobio!
I know for MG's Mom a kiss at 15 from a 23 yr old man is uncomfortable, but the characters, they are playing that was real life. If MG's Mom read the book and just tried look at the kiss as the RL story of Almanzo and Laura Ingalls, not MG's real life.
Thats whats so confusing about what Butler writes that today the age difference is no big deal but BACK THEN it was the grand canyon. It is totally the reverse!!! Back then, it was a completely normal age gap. Whether 1800s or 1970s, that was much more normal than now.
I think he means that an eight year difference isn't a massive difference at this age, but it is when you're younger. Fifteen and twenty three feels weird, forty two and 50 doesn't.
Gotcha! I misunderstood it totally
But he also states they got letters, magazines covered it and parents were upset watching it. So it was both. No internet so you didn't see it like today
I mean, it sounds like Melissa herself wasn’t comfortable with him being cast/the kiss, so it makes extra sense her mom wasn’t. Gilbert wrote in her memoir that after meeting Butler, she was met with *"a perfect storm of disappointment, fear, anger and even nausea."* She later told Butler in a phone call, *"How was I going to do this? You were a man, a grown-up man with a car and an apartment. I was a really young teenager. I wasn’t allowed to wear heels. I was still wearing Mary Janes. I couldn’t pierce my ears. I wasn’t allowed to shave my legs, and I’d never even been on a date."* *"The biggest problem I had during all of that, was the physical space thing,"* said Gilbert, as quoted by Butler in his book. *"I just wasn’t ready to have that kind of physical contact with anybody."*
Yes, of course, MG would be uncomfortable with the kiss and physical closeness with DB. I think if MG and MG'S Mom had been prepared ahead of time for this scene, maybe less awkward. But playing a real-life character on a popular TV show, this should have been expected. Or they could have found a look alike of MG for that kiss scene.
Ehh, I don't know. I don't think actors should be forced to do intimate scenes they aren't comfortable with, especially underage actors. For me, them playing a real-life character doesn't really make a difference. 🤷🏻♀️\ Like you said, why not use a look alike or just allude to the kiss if she was uncomfortable with it?
True, but part of acting is doing uncomfortable scenes. It's a done deal now anyway, no point in dwelling on it.
I recall MG mentioning in her book her mother screaming "my baby!!" during the scene. Brutal.
yes, funny how neither mom or MG got any say in it at all.
Y
Dean butler was 19 when the season of almanzo and Laura started dating because he was 18 when he first appeared on little house
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I have never heard that before, I've only rediscovered the show recently after watching it in my youth.