| Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House On The Prairie Period Hair & Fashions |
| Karen Marie Shelton |
| Date: 2/24/2005, 2/19/2006 |
Introduction
 I
am fully willing to admit that I have my own share of reality TV
addictions. Luckily, as the craze continues, I have found
myself paring down my viewing to cover just a handful of the "real
life" series.
(Image of Kyle Chavarria (Laura
Ingalls) and dog Jack from Little House On The
Prairie - Copyright ABC
- Kimberly French - all rights reserved)
Lately I have found myself craving
old fashioned, high quality television viewing. You know, the
kind where the family gets together, you make popcorn and light a
fire. Those types of television mini-series or epics where
everyone from young to old can enjoy the story, the richness of the
scenery, the top notch acting and of course the hair and make-up. Did I
say hair and make-up? Well of course. Neither topic
leaves my brain for more than a few seconds at any given time.
Especially when considering the ramifications of hair care back in
the early 1900s in the wilds of Kansas.
 Just
in time to satisfy my craving for first rate television viewing is
the upcoming limited ABC's series about famous writer Laura Ingalls
Wilder and her pioneer family as they braved all types of challenges
in the rugged Kansas Territory at the turn of the 20th century.
(Image to the side L-R from top to
bottom - Erin Cottrell as Ma Ingalls, Kyle Chavarria as Laura,
Cameron Bancroft as Pa and Danielle Ryan Chuchran as Mary Ingalls
(Copyright ABC
-Kimberly French - all rights reserved).
The limited series, based on Laura
Ingalls Wilder's book, Little House on the Prairie, airs as part of
ABC's The Wonderful World of Disney premieres with a two-hour
telecast on Saturday, March 26th, 2005 (8:00 -
10:00 pm, ET) on the ABC Television Network.
Additional episodes will air on subsequent Saturdays, April 2, 9, 16
& 23, 2005 (8:00-9:00 p.m., ET each night).
It is important to note that the
upcoming series is in no way related to the television show of the
1970s that had the same name. This upcoming series is very
closely tied to the autobiographical book penned by Ms. Wilder.
(Image above: LR, Danielle Ryan
Chuchran, Kyle Chavarria - ABC/Kimberly French - All rights
reserved).
Originally published in 1935,
Little House on the Prairie was the third in a series of books
by Laura Ingalls Wilder about her childhood years. The Little
House books have been published in more than 21 languages and
have become literary favorites.
 The first episode --
"Night One" -- chronicles
dad Charles Ingalls' decision to uproot
his wife, two young daughters and faithful dog, Jack, from their
Wisconsin home to claim a new parcel of land on the Kansas
prairie.
(Image to side Kyle Chavarria,
Danielle Ryan Chuchran - ABC/Kimberly French - all rights
reserved).
The expedition is decidedly perilous - rough terrain,
wild animals and complete isolation are faced with only the aid
of whatever they could fit in the covered wagon. But to two
young girls (Laura and Mary, see image above), this land of high grass, mysterious Indian hunting
trails and limitless sky is full of magical adventure.
Young
Laura and her sister Mary are dazzled by their father's ability to build
their new home, hunt skillfully and begin the process of farming
the wild land. He also befriends their most entertaining
neighbor, Mr. Edwards, whose sense of humor makes up for his
lack of manners - to everyone except Ma Ingalls.
To give the film as much period
reality as possible, the limited series was actually filmed on location in a pristine
region of Calgary over more than four months. This epic
production of " Laura Ingalls Wilder`s Little House on the
Prairie " recaptures the scope and magnitude of the frontier and
recreates the literary saga with painstaking accuracy.
Although I am a huge Laura
Ingalls Wilder fan and have read all of her books back in the
day, I am most fascinated to see the way that the producers
recreated the period sets along with the costumes, hair and
make-up.
After
all, just imagine what it was like back in the days of the
Ingalls women when it came to dealing with taking care of their
hair, skin and clothing.
The wilds of Kansas obviously
didn't come fully equipped with electricity for hot showers, the
latest ionic blow dryers, thermal strand straighteners or hot
rollers. In fact, the weather conditions made it difficult
to handle bathing let alone complicated hair styling.
 Research into that time in pioneer living nets the information
that hair was generally worn long and naturally. You
basically made the best of whatever hair texture that you were
born with whether it was long and stick straight, wavy or super
curly.
(Image to the side Erin Cottrell,
Danielle Ryan Chuchran and Kyle Chavarria from Laura Ingalls
Wilder's Little Hours on the Prairie - Saturday, April 2, 2005
(8:00 - 9:00 ET) on the ABC Television Network (ABC/Kimberly
French - all rights reserved).
Because of the severe weather conditions, a variety
of headgear was often utilized such as straw hats and the
traditional pioneer bonnets that tied under the chin.
The limited series stars Cameron
Bancroft as Charles Ingalls, Erin Cottrell as Caroline Ingalls,
Kyle Chavarria as Laura Ingalls and Danielle Ryan Chuchran as
Mary Ingalls. This series, destined I'm sure, to win tons
of awards, was executive produced by Ed Friendly and is an Ed
Friendly Production in association with Voice Pictures, Inc.,
Productions.
Emmy Award-winning producer Hans
Propper (ABC's Anne Frnak" miniseries) produced. Wendy
Hill-Tout is co-executive producer. Katie Ford wrote the
scripts and David L. Cunningham directed.
Make sure you have lots of
popcorn and firewood on hand to settle in and enjoy this
fabulous series. Or if you prefer, set up your Tivo so
that you can enjoy the epic whenever you wish. Whatever
you do, don't miss this opportunity to see a fabulous show. |