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I Smell Pop Culture: The Waltons · I Am All In with Scott Patterson

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: I Am all In again.
• 0:09
  Speaker 2: Oh, I guess you.
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: I Smell Pop Culture with Eastern Allen and iHeart Radio podcast.
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: Hey everybody, it's Easton Allen.
• 0:25
  Speaker 3: This is I Smell pop Culture under the I Am
• 0:28
  Speaker 3: all In umbrella. Thank you Scott Patterson for leaving me
• 0:31
  Speaker 3: the keys to the podcast. I promise I'll bring it
• 0:33
  Speaker 3: back with a full tank. Here's what we do here, everybody,
• 0:35
  Speaker 3: if you're just getting on the ride for the first time.
• 0:38
  Speaker 3: Gilmore Girls has pop culture references. It's overflowing with them.
• 0:42
  Speaker 3: It's every other line is a pop culture reference. We
• 0:44
  Speaker 3: are going to take one. We're going to expand upon it.
• 0:46
  Speaker 3: We're going to zoom in. We're going to pinch to
• 0:48
  Speaker 3: zoom and we're going to talk to the people behind
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  Speaker 3: these pop culture references. The movie stars, the musicians, the artists,
• 0:56
  Speaker 3: the creators, the dreamers that make these things pop culture.
• 0:59
  Speaker 3: We're going to he learned all about it. We're going
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: to go deep. We're going to go behind the scenes.
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  Speaker 3: And that's what we're doing.
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: Now. This is a show.
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  Speaker 3: This week, we're going to highlight a television show from
• 1:09
  Speaker 3: the nineteen seventies. You may not be familiar with this.
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  Speaker 3: A little show called The Waltons. Have you heard of
• 1:16
  Speaker 3: the Waltons? Do you love the Waltons. If you don't,
• 1:18
  Speaker 3: you should. The Waltons is incredible. It's such a good show.
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  Speaker 3: Before I tell you the connection to Gilmour Girls, I'm
• 1:25
  Speaker 3: going to explain a little bit about the Waltons. It
• 1:27
  Speaker 3: was a historical drama set in a Great Depression, the
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: Great Depression era the nineteen thirties, in the Appalachian Mountains
• 1:35
  Speaker 3: Blue Ridge Mountains region of Virginia. It first premiered on
• 1:38
  Speaker 3: CBS in nineteen seventy two. This show won thirteen Emmys,
• 1:42
  Speaker 3: including Best Drama in nineteen seventy three. Paved the way
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: for A Little House on the Prairie. We've talked to
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: people from a Little House on the Prairie before that
• 1:49
  Speaker 3: premire just a few years later. It was a kind
• 1:52
  Speaker 3: of a throwbacky show to a simpler time in America,
• 1:56
  Speaker 3: a difficult time for many people. But this show was
• 1:59
  Speaker 3: full of so much warmth and love of the Walton family.
• 2:03
  Speaker 3: If you haven't seen the show, you've probably seen the
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: way they say goodnight. Every episode ended with them saying
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: good night, John Boy, good night Mary Elle, and just
• 2:11
  Speaker 3: going through the house ping ponging back and forth saying
• 2:13
  Speaker 3: good night. What a fun thing to do. I come myself.
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: I come from a family of fours, me and my
• 2:19
  Speaker 3: sister and my parents, and we lived in a small
• 2:22
  Speaker 3: cabin in the mountains. And you know, if we did that,
• 2:25
  Speaker 3: it would be very short. It would just be good night, Kimberly,
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: good night Easton. But the Walton's six kids in the
• 2:31
  Speaker 3: Walton family, they when they say good night, it's a
• 2:34
  Speaker 3: lot of fun. And every episode ends that way. But
• 2:36
  Speaker 3: check this out. Here's the pop culture reference we're exploring
• 2:39
  Speaker 3: this week. We're going back to season one, episode six,
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: Rory's Birthday Parties. We're celebrating Rory's birthday. You probably remember
• 2:47
  Speaker 3: this this season one nugget, Loreli is recounting the magic
• 2:52
  Speaker 3: of pregnancy, the miracle childbirth. She's laying in Rory's bed,
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  Speaker 3: it's early.
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  Speaker 1: In the morning.
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  Speaker 3: She's trying to like paint a picture of what it
• 3:01
  Speaker 3: was like to be pregnant with Rory and to give
• 3:03
  Speaker 3: birth to her. She's telling this in vivid detail, and
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: she says, and while some have called it the most
• 3:09
  Speaker 3: meaningful experience of your life, to me, it was something
• 3:11
  Speaker 3: more akin to doing the splits on a creative dynamite
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  Speaker 3: and Rory says, I wonder if the Waltons ever did this.
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: Here's the okay. So that's a question that Rory wonders.
• 3:20
  Speaker 3: We're going to get the answer to that because today
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  Speaker 3: we are talking to Judy Norton. Judy played Mary Ellen
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: Walton on The Waltons. She was the oldest daughter and
• 3:30
  Speaker 3: she was in every episode. She was in the movies.
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  Speaker 3: She is a hardcore member of the Waltons and we're
• 3:37
  Speaker 3: going to talk to her today because the Waltons has
• 3:39
  Speaker 3: another connection to Gilmore Girls that is very, very exciting,
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  Speaker 3: and we are going to get into this right away
• 3:45
  Speaker 3: because I cannot wait. We are going to talk to
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  Speaker 3: Judy Orton right now. She is in the waiting room.
• 3:51
  Speaker 3: Let's bring her in. Judy, it's I smell pop culture.
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  Speaker 3: Thank you so much for doing this. It is so
• 3:55
  Speaker 3: nice to meet you.
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  Speaker 2: Oh, thank you, thank you for having me.
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  Speaker 1: So there's so much to get into.
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  Speaker 3: There is so much in the world of Walton's, the
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: world of television at large. But first we got to
• 4:07
  Speaker 3: clear something up. This is a Gilmore Girls podcast where
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: Gilmore Girls uh focused here. As much as I want
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  Speaker 3: this to just be entirely Walton's uh so much in
• 4:17
  Speaker 3: common with Gilmore Girls that blew my mind kind of.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, uh, set in a small town with quirky
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  Speaker 3: townsfolk Walton's Mountain Virginia for the Waltons and starts Hallow,
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: Connecticut for Gilmore Girls. John Boy, Your Maine, your protagonist
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: went away to a university and became a journalist, just
• 4:34
  Speaker 3: like Rory Gilmore did. And of course both of these
• 4:38
  Speaker 3: shows filmed on the Warner back lot. We were talking
• 4:42
  Speaker 3: about this before we started The Walton House which people
• 4:46
  Speaker 3: can't see this, but behind me is the is the
• 4:48
  Speaker 3: house and in my zoom window that became the dragon
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  Speaker 3: fly in.
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  Speaker 4: Uh?
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  Speaker 1: Is that?
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  Speaker 4: Like?
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  Speaker 3: Do you ever go to the because the dragon fly
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  Speaker 3: in I'm saying this in quotes is at the Warner
• 5:02
  Speaker 3: back lot? Still, would you ever go after the show
• 5:05
  Speaker 3: wrapped or would you ever go back to the Warner
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  Speaker 3: back lot and kind of like relive those sets?
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: Did you ever do that?
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  Speaker 4: I didn't because you can't just get on the lot.
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: Oh yeah, you know.
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  Speaker 4: You have to passes. You have to somebody has to
• 5:18
  Speaker 4: send a pass. You can't just drive up and go Hi.
• 5:20
  Speaker 4: I used to work here you let me in, They're like,
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  Speaker 4: who are you? That was a million years ago? I
• 5:26
  Speaker 4: mean it was literally forty years ago that I was
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  Speaker 4: on that lot. So and sadly that back lot that
• 5:38
  Speaker 4: doesn't exist anymore. That section of the back lot of
• 5:40
  Speaker 4: Warner Brothers was torn down to put up progress buildings
• 5:45
  Speaker 4: and parking lots. They still have sections of Warner Brothers
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  Speaker 4: Midwest Street where we use where we did some of
• 5:52
  Speaker 4: our other shots, and I'm sure Gilmore Girls used that
• 5:56
  Speaker 4: as well. In fact, I think I've seen certain things.
• 5:59
  Speaker 4: Midwest Street gets used all the time. That's where the
• 6:02
  Speaker 4: central park is with the gazebo that they used. You
• 6:05
  Speaker 4: know what that gazebo was in what famous movie? I
• 6:08
  Speaker 4: mean a lot of.
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: Movies, but tell me the music Man.
• 6:13
  Speaker 4: Yes, that was river City that was marching around and
• 6:17
  Speaker 4: when they went by the whole seventy six Trombones went
• 6:20
  Speaker 4: right by there, and so iconic locations, iconic houses that
• 6:26
  Speaker 4: get reset decorated for other shows.
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  Speaker 3: Was that so fun when you were filming the Waltons?
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: Was it cool being on like a lot like that?
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: Did you enjoy that?
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  Speaker 2: I did?
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  Speaker 1: Yeah.
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  Speaker 4: I love studios, I love back lots, and it does
• 6:43
  Speaker 4: make me sad when I hear that so many of
• 6:45
  Speaker 4: the studios, their back lots have been let fall to
• 6:51
  Speaker 4: weeds and ruin, and sets are falling down because it
• 6:55
  Speaker 4: is so anybody on Gilmour Girls who doesn't want to
• 6:58
  Speaker 4: know something about that house, plug your ears right now,
• 7:01
  Speaker 4: because this is a spoiler. Okay, if you ready. That
• 7:05
  Speaker 4: is a facade. There's nothing inside that house. I mean
• 7:09
  Speaker 4: it goes around the sides and then it's just got
• 7:12
  Speaker 4: sort of you can it's got I think some piece
• 7:15
  Speaker 4: of plywood in the back or whatever inside on the ware.
• 7:20
  Speaker 4: For us, and I don't know if that was entirely
• 7:22
  Speaker 4: true for the Gilmore Girls. I didn't study their house
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  Speaker 4: as much. There was a back porch entrance, and for
• 7:28
  Speaker 4: the Waltons, we came in the back porch and that
• 7:30
  Speaker 4: went into the kitchen area. On that set, you came
• 7:33
  Speaker 4: into a little sort of holding area and then you
• 7:35
  Speaker 4: went around a corner and there was sort of a
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  Speaker 4: rough walled room that we used for our makeup room
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  Speaker 4: when we were on the back lot filming, so that
• 7:44
  Speaker 4: was where our makeup and hair people would set up
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  Speaker 4: in there. You could go in the front door, but
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  Speaker 4: it didn't go very far and then there was a
• 7:52
  Speaker 4: wall there and you could see little stairs heading up,
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  Speaker 4: but again they went up two or three steps, and
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  Speaker 4: then they turned a corner and there was nothing there
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  Speaker 4: to I think, climb a ladder to get up to
• 8:02
  Speaker 4: those to make use of those windows. And there was
• 8:05
  Speaker 4: like a platform up there in the upper section of
• 8:08
  Speaker 4: the house where if somebody was talking up you know,
• 8:11
  Speaker 4: shouting and you could tell it was an exterior shot,
• 8:15
  Speaker 4: then you could get up onto there and stick your
• 8:17
  Speaker 4: head in the window and talk. But beyond that there
• 8:20
  Speaker 4: really weren't any rooms in there.
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  Speaker 1: What a trip, you know.
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  Speaker 3: I was thinking about like little house in the Prairie
• 8:27
  Speaker 3: kind of had this too, like like when you when
• 8:29
  Speaker 3: you watch these shows where like they have a town
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  Speaker 3: and there's like streets and feel it feels very very
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  Speaker 3: lived in.
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  Speaker 1: And with the Waltons, it's the same thing.
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  Speaker 3: But the thing that blows my mind is you guys
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  Speaker 3: are so good it like like I would have believed
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  Speaker 3: those are full homes, like like furnished homes that you
• 8:46
  Speaker 3: could like just move into. And thinking about how like
• 8:48
  Speaker 3: the walls just stop after the front door. It's so
• 8:51
  Speaker 3: crazy to me, but that's acting.
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  Speaker 4: I have a sort of a podcast, a YouTube channel
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  Speaker 4: that's about behind the scenes of the Waltons, so kind
• 9:00
  Speaker 4: of like this, and I do it about the Waltons,
• 9:02
  Speaker 4: and I do sometimes have other people on. So maybe
• 9:06
  Speaker 4: I'll have to grab some Gilmore girls people and we'll.
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: Call your notes.
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  Speaker 1: Yes, yes, oh my god, you absolutely should.
• 9:12
  Speaker 4: We'll have to talk and you're at who might want
• 9:14
  Speaker 4: to come do a crossover episode?
• 9:16
  Speaker 3: Oh my god, the fan Let me tell you, the
• 9:18
  Speaker 3: fans would love that. And if you guys aren't following
• 9:21
  Speaker 3: Judy on Instagram Official Judy Norton, she drops trivia there
• 9:24
  Speaker 3: all the time and plays plays trivia from the Waltons.
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  Speaker 3: It's so fun. So one of the thing I I
• 9:31
  Speaker 3: wanted to ask this, this is a question from the
• 9:34
  Speaker 3: world of Gilmore, and I want to see if I
• 9:36
  Speaker 3: can clear this up as a member of the Walton family.
• 9:40
  Speaker 3: So in one of the episodes, Rory the daughter and
• 9:44
  Speaker 3: Laural the mom celebrating Rory's birthday, and this is in
• 9:48
  Speaker 3: the first season, and Laura is laying in the bed
• 9:52
  Speaker 3: and she's kind of like retelling the night of her
• 9:55
  Speaker 3: other night she gave birth, like how it felt to
• 9:57
  Speaker 3: be pregnant, and she says she's something like. Some have
• 10:02
  Speaker 3: called it the most meaningful experience of your life, but
• 10:04
  Speaker 3: to me, it was more kin to doing the splits
• 10:06
  Speaker 3: on a creative dynamite. And then Rory says, I wonder
• 10:09
  Speaker 3: if the Waltons ever did this, would they ever say,
• 10:13
  Speaker 3: have a conversation like that?
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: Not like that?
• 10:15
  Speaker 5: No, No, but my character did have a child, and
• 10:25
  Speaker 5: I remember, yeah, shooting that scene, and I wanted to
• 10:30
  Speaker 5: I wanted to have the baby at home, and my husband,
• 10:32
  Speaker 5: who was a doctor, wanted me to have it at
• 10:35
  Speaker 5: the hospital because of the safety aspects of the equipment
• 10:39
  Speaker 5: if there's emergencies, things like that.
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  Speaker 4: But for whatever reason, I went into labor and it
• 10:44
  Speaker 4: was so fast and so advanced that they didn't have
• 10:46
  Speaker 4: time to get me to the hospital. It's amazing how
• 10:49
  Speaker 4: fast we give birth on TV. Three pushes, and it's
• 10:53
  Speaker 4: out if life were only like that. But we did
• 11:02
  Speaker 4: not comment on We didn't get to have that kind
• 11:06
  Speaker 4: of a quirky sense of humor because of the time period.
• 11:09
  Speaker 4: We had a lot of other cute things that we
• 11:12
  Speaker 4: would say, but at that point we were still just
• 11:16
  Speaker 4: barely into the nineteen forties.
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  Speaker 3: So yeah, limitations and if people listening, if you haven't
• 11:22
  Speaker 3: watched The Waltons. It's first of all, it's so good.
• 11:25
  Speaker 3: It's great, it's you can watch it on Peacock now.
• 11:28
  Speaker 3: It's such a good show, and it captures this moment
• 11:31
  Speaker 3: in history that you don't get to watch television shows like,
• 11:35
  Speaker 3: there's not many great depression shows on right now, and that.
• 11:39
  Speaker 4: Sounds like an oxymoron. Great depression show. Yeah, but you
• 11:42
  Speaker 4: won't be depressed watching it. No, it's Kleenex, but you.
• 11:46
  Speaker 3: Know, yeah, it's It's something I wanted to ask you.
• 11:49
  Speaker 3: I was talking to a lot of people that are
• 11:51
  Speaker 3: fans of The Waltons, and something I kept hearing over
• 11:53
  Speaker 3: and over again is like it made me want to
• 11:56
  Speaker 3: live in the Depression. It made the Depression look so fun.
• 11:59
  Speaker 3: You guys have such that the family is, there's so
• 12:02
  Speaker 3: much love there, there's so much warmth, and you forget
• 12:05
  Speaker 3: about this is like the Depression going into World War
• 12:08
  Speaker 3: Two like a very a difficult, a dark time in
• 12:10
  Speaker 3: American history, but you guys made it look so fun.
• 12:14
  Speaker 3: And is that something you've heard from people A lot.
• 12:17
  Speaker 4: Yes, a lot of people say they would like to
• 12:20
  Speaker 4: go back and live in that period. Now. We did
• 12:23
  Speaker 4: talk about this on the show in episodes about how
• 12:27
  Speaker 4: fortunate the Walton family was, and for Earl Hamner, who
• 12:33
  Speaker 4: created the show and based it on his actual childhood
• 12:36
  Speaker 4: in growing up in Virginia, that it was tougher for
• 12:41
  Speaker 4: people in the city than in the country because in
• 12:44
  Speaker 4: the country we could grow our own vegetables, they could
• 12:48
  Speaker 4: go hunting. So it wasn't oh, my goodness, can we get.
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: Food this week?
• 12:54
  Speaker 4: We might not be able to have everything we wanted
• 12:57
  Speaker 4: because things were and then into the world or things
• 13:00
  Speaker 4: were rations, so money was tight. But it just showed
• 13:05
  Speaker 4: it was a simpler time and so people were already
• 13:08
  Speaker 4: used to creating their own entertainment in simple ways. If
• 13:13
  Speaker 4: we went out in the front yard after dinner and
• 13:17
  Speaker 4: caught lightning bugs, or we played There were seven of us,
• 13:21
  Speaker 4: so we always had someone to play with. So there
• 13:24
  Speaker 4: was there was always that, and there were chores, and
• 13:26
  Speaker 4: so I think it was it was great from that
• 13:29
  Speaker 4: standpoint of everybody had to contribute to that family and
• 13:36
  Speaker 4: they're being food on the table and the chores getting done,
• 13:39
  Speaker 4: so there was responsibility for everybody.
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: Uh.
• 13:42
  Speaker 4: And and there weren't eight million electronics. We got a radio,
• 13:48
  Speaker 4: but we didn't we'd never had a TV because TVs
• 13:50
  Speaker 4: weren't around yet. We finally got a telephone at one point,
• 13:54
  Speaker 4: but it isn't as if we sat and talked on
• 13:55
  Speaker 4: the telephone to our friends.
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: Of course, a very different era, and I.
• 13:59
  Speaker 4: Think that there is a charm to that for a
• 14:01
  Speaker 4: lot of people who feel potentially overwhelmed and stressed by
• 14:06
  Speaker 4: today's society. And I was going to say when you
• 14:09
  Speaker 4: were talking about Laurali and Rory that I think you
• 14:15
  Speaker 4: could have fast forward if you put Mary Ellen into
• 14:19
  Speaker 4: that time period. She could have been Laura Lai.
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: Yes, she I.
• 14:23
  Speaker 4: Could see her being that type of independent you know,
• 14:26
  Speaker 4: she made a mistake, you know, she was too young,
• 14:29
  Speaker 4: but she said, by goodness, I'm going to raise this
• 14:31
  Speaker 4: child and I'm going to be the best mother. And
• 14:33
  Speaker 4: I mean I could I totally. She had similar characteristics
• 14:38
  Speaker 4: of independence and and you can't tell me what I
• 14:41
  Speaker 4: can't do. And that was very much like my character
• 14:45
  Speaker 4: of Mary Ellen.
• 14:47
  Speaker 3: I just earlier today, I watched the season six finale
• 14:51
  Speaker 3: when Grandma comes home. You know a lot of people
• 14:56
  Speaker 3: say it's like it's one of the best Walton's episodes,
• 14:59
  Speaker 3: and we can get into the details of why it's
• 15:01
  Speaker 3: such an important episode. But there's a part where Grandma Esther,
• 15:04
  Speaker 3: and Grandma Esther in the show has a stroke and
• 15:07
  Speaker 3: it mirrors the real life stroke of the actress Ellen Corby,
• 15:11
  Speaker 3: and this is our first show back right after having
• 15:13
  Speaker 3: that stroke. There's a part where you come out to
• 15:16
  Speaker 3: introduce your child to Grandma Esther, and it's so it's
• 15:21
  Speaker 3: such a special moment and you're so proud of your
• 15:25
  Speaker 3: child and you're so happy to be reunited, and it
• 15:27
  Speaker 3: was like it was such an emotional moment and I
• 15:30
  Speaker 3: was like, oh my god, Mary Ellen, filming, that was
• 15:33
  Speaker 3: that a heavy moment for you to film that particular scene?
• 15:36
  Speaker 3: Do you think of it often?
• 15:38
  Speaker 4: Well, the interesting thing with filming is that you've read
• 15:43
  Speaker 4: the script, you're doing multiple takes, you've rehearsed it. And
• 15:49
  Speaker 4: that wasn't my first reintroduction to Ellen on the set, yes,
• 15:55
  Speaker 4: because we shoot out a sequence, so I believe we
• 15:59
  Speaker 4: start did on interior scenes on the sound stage. So
• 16:05
  Speaker 4: it wasn't as if that moment stood out like this
• 16:08
  Speaker 4: is for real when I'm finally seeing my grandmother back home.
• 16:12
  Speaker 4: And also because I was a nurse I was involved
• 16:15
  Speaker 4: in I saw her theoretically regularly as a character at
• 16:19
  Speaker 4: the hospital. Yes, so I wouldn't say that that was
• 16:25
  Speaker 4: specific in terms of that moment. But anytime you did
• 16:29
  Speaker 4: a scene with Ellen when I mean, she was always
• 16:33
  Speaker 4: so present and so engaged in the scene and so
• 16:38
  Speaker 4: committed that any scene you did you felt that from her.
• 16:42
  Speaker 4: And after her stroke, I just was so in awe
• 16:47
  Speaker 4: of watching her work and admiring how she did so
• 16:54
  Speaker 4: much with no words that you know, a look and
• 16:59
  Speaker 4: a because she literally people think that they were pretend
• 17:02
  Speaker 4: she was pretending she couldn't talk them. That was she
• 17:05
  Speaker 4: struggled to get those few words out. She had to
• 17:10
  Speaker 4: work it and practice it, and she'd get somebody in
• 17:12
  Speaker 4: front of me, she go say it again, Sadie, and
• 17:13
  Speaker 4: she'd try and watch your mouth say those words as
• 17:17
  Speaker 4: she tried to form them. I mean, it was just
• 17:20
  Speaker 4: it was amazing.
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: Yeah, tremendous. Uh yeah, it really.
• 17:26
  Speaker 3: I mean again, if you're if you haven't seen The Waltons,
• 17:28
  Speaker 3: you should watch that episode. It's the last one in
• 17:30
  Speaker 3: season six. I have so many more questions for you.
• 17:33
  Speaker 3: In the Walton Verse, we're talking to Judy Norton, she
• 17:36
  Speaker 3: played Mary Ellen Walton. We are hanging out here in
• 17:40
  Speaker 3: Walton's Mountain. It's I Smell pop Culture. We'll be back
• 17:43
  Speaker 3: in a second. These are some fun commercials. Everybody, It's
• 17:54
  Speaker 3: I Smell pop Culture. My name's Eastern Allen. I'm hanging
• 17:56
  Speaker 3: out here with Judy Norton. She played Mary Ellen on
• 17:58
  Speaker 3: The Waltons Waltons, which ran on CBS starting in nineteen
• 18:03
  Speaker 3: seventy two. How did you get involved with because it
• 18:07
  Speaker 3: was a movie first, right, it was like a TV
• 18:09
  Speaker 3: movie before it was the show.
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: So how'd you get involved in this?
• 18:13
  Speaker 4: I had been acting since I was about six or seven,
• 18:18
  Speaker 4: and so it was, you know, you go a new
• 18:20
  Speaker 4: audition and I lost more jobs than I got, but
• 18:24
  Speaker 4: you know that can be the nature of it. And
• 18:28
  Speaker 4: so I was brought into audition for the Homecoming, which was,
• 18:32
  Speaker 4: as you said, it was a TV CBS TV movie
• 18:36
  Speaker 4: for the holidays. It was it was going to be
• 18:39
  Speaker 4: like shown around Thanksgiving time or the beginning of December
• 18:43
  Speaker 4: and family of seven children, and so they were basically
• 18:49
  Speaker 4: seeing me bring in the usual cast of suspects, and
• 18:52
  Speaker 4: everybody came in and auditioned, and so I auditioned for
• 18:55
  Speaker 4: that role, and there was just something about me and
• 19:01
  Speaker 4: the way I kind of came in and cut off
• 19:03
  Speaker 4: shorts and my hair and pigtails and barefoot and whatever,
• 19:06
  Speaker 4: and we read a scene from the Homecoming of people
• 19:09
  Speaker 4: are familiar with it when the whole fan all the
• 19:11
  Speaker 4: kids are cracking walnuts in the barn for Mama's apple
• 19:15
  Speaker 4: sauce cake because she's going to make that. Daddy is
• 19:18
  Speaker 4: we're waiting for him to come home for Christmas. It's
• 19:21
  Speaker 4: like Christmas Eve, and then he's late and she's going
• 19:25
  Speaker 4: to make this apple sauce cake. So we're cracking walnuts
• 19:29
  Speaker 4: and it was Mary Allen had a bit.
• 19:30
  Speaker 2: Of a meltdown.
• 19:31
  Speaker 4: So it was a great scene because I could really
• 19:35
  Speaker 4: get my teeth into something, which helped because the whole
• 19:41
  Speaker 4: one of the story points in that was that all
• 19:44
  Speaker 4: the children had red hair, and I was one of
• 19:47
  Speaker 4: three of the actors who were cast that didn't have
• 19:50
  Speaker 4: red hair, so interesting obviously they saw redheads for the role,
• 19:55
  Speaker 4: and so I, you know, you never know how much
• 20:00
  Speaker 4: that's going to come into play, of course, so fortunately
• 20:05
  Speaker 4: Earl Hamner said at one point in an article, he said,
• 20:09
  Speaker 4: Judy walked in and that's that's her. So something about me.
• 20:14
  Speaker 4: I had a good day and the character fit me well.
• 20:18
  Speaker 4: I was a tomboy in real life. I was really
• 20:21
  Speaker 4: comfortable with that. I could have an I could I
• 20:23
  Speaker 4: could have an attitude big time, you know. So I
• 20:28
  Speaker 4: mean it was fun to do.
• 20:29
  Speaker 2: I always say it was.
• 20:30
  Speaker 4: I was nowhere near as rebellious as Mary Ellen, but
• 20:32
  Speaker 4: I wanted to be. But I didn't have the nerve too,
• 20:34
  Speaker 4: because I didn't like to get in trouble. So the
• 20:36
  Speaker 4: great thing about playing that kind of a character, it's
• 20:39
  Speaker 4: guy like playing a villain or a bad guy. You
• 20:41
  Speaker 4: can do all of that and there's no consequences.
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: In real life, doesn't agree.
• 20:46
  Speaker 4: It's wonderful. So I got I got cast, you know,
• 20:51
  Speaker 4: and then we shot that, and then when they went
• 20:54
  Speaker 4: to do the series, they invited us all to come
• 20:56
  Speaker 4: do the series.
• 20:57
  Speaker 3: So that yeah, I mean, like, so I'm curious, how
• 21:04
  Speaker 3: when you make the movie and then what's the time
• 21:07
  Speaker 3: frame between making that and doing the series, Like how
• 21:10
  Speaker 3: big of a because you didn't know it was going
• 21:12
  Speaker 3: to be a series, right, you thought it was just
• 21:13
  Speaker 3: a one time thing.
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: Yeah, over two hundred episodes of your life.
• 21:20
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I don't know what it would have been if
• 21:21
  Speaker 4: it was an audition for the series, because I never
• 21:25
  Speaker 4: none of us. We didn't go to network. You hear
• 21:28
  Speaker 4: about people having to go audition for the network. We
• 21:30
  Speaker 4: didn't because we were just being doing this TV movie.
• 21:34
  Speaker 4: So and then since they invited us back in our
• 21:37
  Speaker 4: having done the Homecoming was like our screen test, which
• 21:42
  Speaker 4: was great because it was really directed. So when we
• 21:48
  Speaker 4: are last week of filming was the first week of
• 21:51
  Speaker 4: October in Jackson Hall, Wyoming, because we there was a
• 21:54
  Speaker 4: lot of snow sequences. So the rest of what we
• 21:57
  Speaker 4: shot CBS Studios Studio City, Radford. I don't know if
• 22:01
  Speaker 4: you're familiar with where that is, yes, yeah, So that's
• 22:04
  Speaker 4: where we shot all our interiors. And then we went
• 22:06
  Speaker 4: to Jackson Hallwayoming and we spent a week there shooting
• 22:09
  Speaker 4: all the exteriors. And while we were there, in the
• 22:14
  Speaker 4: last few days, started hearing rumors about a series that
• 22:18
  Speaker 4: they wanted to turn it into a series. Wow, just
• 22:21
  Speaker 4: rumor around you know, around the set. And so that
• 22:26
  Speaker 4: was beginning of October. I think around the beginning of January.
• 22:31
  Speaker 4: They put us on hold, like they put us kind
• 22:34
  Speaker 4: of under contract on hold, so that if it went
• 22:38
  Speaker 4: to series, we were committed and we started filming. I
• 22:43
  Speaker 4: remember I was I was in ninth grade. I was
• 22:45
  Speaker 4: just graduating junior high school. So I remember going to
• 22:49
  Speaker 4: my junior high school graduation, which was about mid June,
• 22:51
  Speaker 4: back when school ended in June, and we started filming
• 22:56
  Speaker 4: almost immediately after that.
• 22:58
  Speaker 2: Wow, yeah, that's it's.
• 23:00
  Speaker 4: So it was not super super quick, but they had
• 23:03
  Speaker 4: not sold it to the network yet. They had not,
• 23:06
  Speaker 4: so Earl Hamner and Lee Rich you know, they had
• 23:08
  Speaker 4: to go to New York and pitch it and do
• 23:10
  Speaker 4: a sales and you know, put everything in place then.
• 23:13
  Speaker 4: So it was so it was fairly quick, but not
• 23:16
  Speaker 4: not like, you.
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: Know, a couple of months, and it's fascinating.
• 23:20
  Speaker 3: I assumed it was like you make the movie, you
• 23:22
  Speaker 3: show the movie, it's a big hit, and then they're like, oh,
• 23:24
  Speaker 3: let's let's make this a series. But like, even before
• 23:27
  Speaker 3: the movie aired, they were believing in it.
• 23:29
  Speaker 4: I think the producers had that sense. I don't know
• 23:32
  Speaker 4: if network did yet, but I mean the other factor
• 23:36
  Speaker 4: that came into play was this was early because we
• 23:40
  Speaker 4: did The Homecoming in nineteen seventy one, so there was
• 23:43
  Speaker 4: a lot of pressure coming down from some of the
• 23:46
  Speaker 4: sort of moral majority groups that were complaining about the
• 23:50
  Speaker 4: amount of sex and violence on TV, that there wasn't
• 23:53
  Speaker 4: enough good family programming, and so that was part of
• 23:58
  Speaker 4: I heard the reason why said yeah sure. It was
• 24:01
  Speaker 4: kind of like, all right, we're getting all this pressure.
• 24:03
  Speaker 4: We'll take this nice, wholesome, little corny show. Put it
• 24:07
  Speaker 4: on in an impossible time slot. We started out against
• 24:11
  Speaker 4: Flip Wilson and Mod Squad, which were two very popular shows.
• 24:15
  Speaker 4: Thursday night, eight o'clock, it'll die and then we can
• 24:18
  Speaker 4: go see nobody wants to watch family programming and they
• 24:22
  Speaker 4: just go back business as usual. We did when we
• 24:26
  Speaker 4: started airing. Our first show was like way down at
• 24:31
  Speaker 4: the bottom of the ratings, but they had given us
• 24:34
  Speaker 4: a commitment for twenty five or twenty six episodes for
• 24:38
  Speaker 4: season one, all right, so we had that time, thank goodness.
• 24:43
  Speaker 4: And our producers went out and they did a whole
• 24:47
  Speaker 4: grassroots campaign. They took out ads and stuff in newspapers, magazines,
• 24:53
  Speaker 4: whatever in the heartland and the parts of America, the
• 24:56
  Speaker 4: rural parts of America, the smaller areas where they felt
• 25:00
  Speaker 4: was really our fan base, and just said, hey, this
• 25:04
  Speaker 4: is this is such a beautiful show. Please don't let
• 25:06
  Speaker 4: it die, you know, please support it. And people did
• 25:09
  Speaker 4: and it started climbing and climbing in very soon. We
• 25:11
  Speaker 4: were like, number one, it's not incredible.
• 25:15
  Speaker 3: And then I mean, you guys paved the way for
• 25:17
  Speaker 3: like A Little House on a Prairie, which comes out
• 25:18
  Speaker 3: a couple of years later. And then and if America
• 25:20
  Speaker 3: has rural Fever at that point and we can't get
• 25:23
  Speaker 3: enough with this? Do you something about the Waltons that
• 25:26
  Speaker 3: stands out to a lot of people At the end
• 25:28
  Speaker 3: of the episodes when everyone says good night?
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: Can I John Boy?
• 25:31
  Speaker 4: Uh?
• 25:32
  Speaker 3: Like, like my parents said that to me and I
• 25:33
  Speaker 3: had no idea what that was. You know, that was
• 25:36
  Speaker 3: my for introduction to the Waltons. Is it when you're like,
• 25:39
  Speaker 3: when you meet fans, do you find people wanting to
• 25:41
  Speaker 3: say good night to you?
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: Is that something that happens but they want.
• 25:44
  Speaker 2: Us to say it?
• 25:44
  Speaker 4: A lot of times if we do interviews or we
• 25:47
  Speaker 4: do panel discussions and stuff like that, it comes up
• 25:52
  Speaker 4: or at the end of it, will all collectively say
• 25:54
  Speaker 4: say good night, And.
• 25:56
  Speaker 3: Yeah, was that something that like what was the impetus
• 25:59
  Speaker 3: of Like was that something that came from from the
• 26:02
  Speaker 3: creator or was that something is that.
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: From his real life?
• 26:06
  Speaker 4: That was his real life?
• 26:07
  Speaker 5: Wow?
• 26:08
  Speaker 4: That he said that they did. And the house that
• 26:10
  Speaker 4: he grew up in is much smaller than the one
• 26:13
  Speaker 4: behind you. I've been to it. It's in Skylar, Virginia.
• 26:20
  Speaker 2: It's a two.
• 26:20
  Speaker 4: Story house, but there were not that many bedrooms and
• 26:23
  Speaker 4: there was one bathroom. I'm not sure when that one
• 26:26
  Speaker 4: bathroom was put in. That was downstairs. I think there
• 26:29
  Speaker 4: were two maybe three bedrooms upstairs. There might have only
• 26:35
  Speaker 4: been two, and then I think a bedroom downstairs. So
• 26:37
  Speaker 4: I think all the kids shared two bedrooms upstairs and
• 26:40
  Speaker 4: the parents were downstairs. The grandparents did not live with them, okay,
• 26:45
  Speaker 4: and then just sort of a fairly small living room
• 26:49
  Speaker 4: area and then a pretty good sized kitchen and the
• 26:52
  Speaker 4: table was in the kitchen. So that's by the time
• 26:55
  Speaker 4: I saw it, which was not until like early nineteen
• 27:00
  Speaker 4: because we never went back there. But so yes, so
• 27:04
  Speaker 4: he said, because it was a small house, you could
• 27:06
  Speaker 4: hear all of the house, and so I guess they
• 27:09
  Speaker 4: really did do that.
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: It's so fun though really quick.
• 27:22
  Speaker 3: I was fascinated by this. You are a superstar of
• 27:26
  Speaker 3: Battle of the Network star a super Oh my something
• 27:31
  Speaker 3: I A phrase I kept seeing in my research was
• 27:33
  Speaker 3: the greatest athlete to ever compete on Vala Network.
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: Starts femail athlete.
• 27:38
  Speaker 3: I'm saying athlete, Wow, no qualifiers here, greatest athlete. I mean,
• 27:45
  Speaker 3: where does that athleticism come from? Like we always athletically inclined.
• 27:49
  Speaker 3: Did you play in in school? Like, where does that
• 27:52
  Speaker 3: come from?
• 27:53
  Speaker 4: I always say that I am I'm a little better
• 27:56
  Speaker 4: than average at a lot of things, but not great
• 27:59
  Speaker 4: at anything. I was never good enough that I could
• 28:02
  Speaker 4: have pursued anything professionally or you know, to high competition level.
• 28:07
  Speaker 4: But I just always did a lot of sports, and
• 28:09
  Speaker 4: I was always very coordinated. I had dance classes when
• 28:13
  Speaker 4: I was little, so that I think helps with coordination,
• 28:17
  Speaker 4: and then just a lot of sports and I just
• 28:19
  Speaker 4: it was stuff I enjoyed. Those were my hobbies. They
• 28:21
  Speaker 4: still are. I mean I still jump horses and compete
• 28:25
  Speaker 4: and you know, so yeah, and so those sports and
• 28:30
  Speaker 4: age wise, I was only like in my early twenties
• 28:36
  Speaker 4: when I was doing that, And that helps too. So
• 28:38
  Speaker 4: a lot of the other athletes, a lot of the
• 28:41
  Speaker 4: other stars who were celebrities who were competing were playing
• 28:46
  Speaker 4: the grown ups in the shows, not the kids in
• 28:49
  Speaker 4: the shows. And I have to say, I would have
• 28:51
  Speaker 4: to debate it because I competed against Christy McNicol at
• 28:56
  Speaker 4: least a couple of times, and to me, I think,
• 28:59
  Speaker 4: I think she's the best of the women who competed
• 29:02
  Speaker 4: because I could never beat her in the obstacle course. So,
• 29:06
  Speaker 4: you know, she was like a monkey. I mean I
• 29:08
  Speaker 4: mean that in a very respectful way. She was just
• 29:12
  Speaker 4: so fast and so agile, and she just dove under
• 29:14
  Speaker 4: this like you know thing.
• 29:15
  Speaker 2: She had to crawl.
• 29:16
  Speaker 4: I'm like, and she's hand over hand. I'm like, what
• 29:20
  Speaker 4: are you doing? You know. So, but it was nice
• 29:25
  Speaker 4: and I enjoyed it, and I took it very seriously
• 29:28
  Speaker 4: because you know, sports, to me, I didn't want to
• 29:30
  Speaker 4: look stupid.
• 29:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and I was.
• 29:33
  Speaker 4: I mean, I'd done almost everything, but I never worked
• 29:36
  Speaker 4: with a football, and so I literally I took a
• 29:38
  Speaker 4: football to work set, and I said, I don't have
• 29:43
  Speaker 4: to be able to throw it, but I have to
• 29:44
  Speaker 4: be able to catch it. So I had guys on
• 29:45
  Speaker 4: the crew, you know, just throwing me a football and
• 29:47
  Speaker 4: you know, and helping me learn how to catch football.
• 29:50
  Speaker 4: And I did sort of learn to throw it. I
• 29:51
  Speaker 4: don't have a lot of distance, but I can throw
• 29:53
  Speaker 4: a spiral, all right. Yeah. And I used to the
• 29:57
  Speaker 4: Walton's had a softball team and I used to play
• 30:00
  Speaker 4: on that, as did most of the cast. And then
• 30:03
  Speaker 4: I also played for radio station for a number of years.
• 30:06
  Speaker 4: I played on UH on their softball team.
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: Which radio station?
• 30:11
  Speaker 4: It was some Kiss.
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: Kiss I work at KISSFM. Now that was, yes, that
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: I was.
• 30:17
  Speaker 3: I was hoping it was one of two point seven
• 30:19
  Speaker 3: KISSFM for everyone listening to the Los Angeles area.
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: When you were on the.
• 30:22
  Speaker 3: Waltons softball team, who would you play against? Did you
• 30:25
  Speaker 3: play against other shows or like just amongst each other?
• 30:27
  Speaker 4: We did the Waltons, I mean we I remember playing
• 30:29
  Speaker 4: against Star Trek Happy Days. I remember we played against
• 30:35
  Speaker 4: some team that was must have been a mash up
• 30:39
  Speaker 4: team of of like rock stars, because I remember playing
• 30:42
  Speaker 4: that Alice Cooper I met him because you know he
• 30:47
  Speaker 4: was he was playing. Or I think we played against
• 30:50
  Speaker 4: guys from sean Anah, Oh my god, oh it was.
• 30:54
  Speaker 4: It was kind of random. I don't remember all of
• 30:56
  Speaker 4: who we played against, and and Kiss that radio station
• 31:01
  Speaker 4: would play against a variety of different things. I got
• 31:04
  Speaker 4: to play like they usually had a Hollywood All Star
• 31:08
  Speaker 4: game at like before a Dodger game, but it was
• 31:13
  Speaker 4: I don't remember if it was softball, and they didn't
• 31:15
  Speaker 4: let the girls play. The girls were just like cheerleaders.
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: Of course.
• 31:20
  Speaker 4: But when I played for Kiss, we did a couple
• 31:23
  Speaker 4: of games before Dodger games and I did get to play,
• 31:28
  Speaker 4: so I did get to play at Dodger Stadium.
• 31:31
  Speaker 3: Wow, that is incredible, Judie Norton a star of the
• 31:38
  Speaker 3: screen and a star athlete as well. I mean, what
• 31:42
  Speaker 3: an incredible career. Thank you so much for hanging out
• 31:44
  Speaker 3: with us today. This has been so much fun. How
• 31:48
  Speaker 3: can people find your YouTube channel? Because I want to
• 31:51
  Speaker 3: hang out with you all day along and I know
• 31:52
  Speaker 3: everyone else is going to new as well.
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: Where can we find you on YouTube?
• 31:56
  Speaker 4: Well, if you just search my name Judy Norton YouTube
• 31:58
  Speaker 4: channel or behind the Scenes.
• 32:00
  Speaker 2: Of the Walt And I think if you just pull
• 32:02
  Speaker 2: up my name and you.
• 32:03
  Speaker 4: Scroll down a little bit, you'll start seeing various different
• 32:07
  Speaker 4: of the of the segments that I've done. I think
• 32:10
  Speaker 4: I have over four hundred or something like that now.
• 32:13
  Speaker 4: I started it during COVID as a way to sort
• 32:16
  Speaker 4: of reach out to people when we were all shut in,
• 32:18
  Speaker 4: and of course so and everything else I was supposed
• 32:21
  Speaker 4: to be doing was canceled, so it was just a
• 32:27
  Speaker 4: way to kind of do something creative and keep in.
• 32:30
  Speaker 2: Touch with people.
• 32:31
  Speaker 4: So and it's it's sort of group people seem to
• 32:33
  Speaker 4: like it, and so I have continued it, so I think, yeah,
• 32:37
  Speaker 4: you can kind of just find it there and then
• 32:39
  Speaker 4: dig around. And I've spoken to most of the cast,
• 32:42
  Speaker 4: so if you want, you can when you get on
• 32:44
  Speaker 4: my channel if you want to see you know, when
• 32:47
  Speaker 4: I'm talking with Richard Thomas or Michael learn It or
• 32:50
  Speaker 4: you know, any of the cast. And then I've been
• 32:51
  Speaker 4: starting to interview people who did an episode or a
• 32:55
  Speaker 4: couple episodes or did a recurring people I can find.
• 32:58
  Speaker 4: You know, it's hard to after all these years find people.
• 33:01
  Speaker 2: It's nice.
• 33:01
  Speaker 4: I'll reach out and never hear back from somebody. So
• 33:04
  Speaker 4: I'm like, well, either they don't want to do it
• 33:06
  Speaker 4: or I didn't really reach them. You know.
• 33:10
  Speaker 2: The agent will go, oh, I passed that along.
• 33:12
  Speaker 4: It's like, okay, maybe they did, maybe they didn't, and.
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: It's amazing.
• 33:17
  Speaker 3: Okay, so everybody go check that out. And then I
• 33:19
  Speaker 3: have one final question for you. This it's kind of weird,
• 33:21
  Speaker 3: and I apologize, but I just have to ask it.
• 33:24
  Speaker 3: What does pop culture smell like to you? Like, the
• 33:28
  Speaker 3: concept of pop culture. If you if it had an odor,
• 33:30
  Speaker 3: what would it be?
• 33:31
  Speaker 4: Wow, Well, the first thing I thought was popcorn, yeah,
• 33:36
  Speaker 4: which is probably nothing related to it other than the word.
• 33:41
  Speaker 2: I think.
• 33:44
  Speaker 4: I don't know, maybe like I think of summer picnics,
• 33:48
  Speaker 4: you know, at points in time when like during what
• 33:53
  Speaker 4: we see at happy days or what we see on
• 33:57
  Speaker 4: things from the fifties and sixties, when people are out
• 34:00
  Speaker 4: side and doing things and there's the smells of you know,
• 34:04
  Speaker 4: things grilling and and maybe fresh grass or you know
• 34:09
  Speaker 4: grass ground.
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: I love it, and so things like that. Yeah, I
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: love it so much. That great here, Yes, I want
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: to inhale that now. Oh my goodness.
• 34:21
  Speaker 3: Thanks again, Julia nor And this has been so much fun.
• 34:23
  Speaker 3: You're the coolest person in the world. I hope you
• 34:25
  Speaker 3: have a great rest of your day.
• 34:27
  Speaker 2: Thank you
• 34:56
  Speaker 3: Everybody, and don't forget Follow us on Instagram at I
• 35:00
  Speaker 3: Am all In podcast and email us at Gilmore at
• 35:04
  Speaker 3: iHeartRadio dot com.