"CIRCUS MAN"

“Circus Man”


A traveling circusman, O'Hara, comes to Walnut Grove and tries to get everyone to believe he has magic healing powders. However, he is really found out when Mrs. Oleson almost loses her life when she tries his healing powders instead of having an operation.















This was an okay episode. I didn’t like how Mr. O’Hara made people believe he had this magic potion and I can’t believe some people fell for it. I was on Doc Baker’s side on this one… and didn’t like what Mr. O’Hara was doing one bit. Poor Laura, she really believed in him so it hurt her to know the truth.
And what in the world does his black bird say? It sounds like “AOL” to me, hee hee…

What book is this? Little House on the Priaire?........

This is an episode from LHOTP, not from the books.......It stars Red Buttons as the circus man.....he is an old vaudville actor...... :cpatch:

i didn't really like this episode! at all it sorta creeped me out

Not my favorite one...Sad and scary. I was cared to death when I believed that Harriet could have died if she followed what "the circus man" saids to her at first. And I was too sadenned when I saw poor Jack so ill and Laura so desperate about him being suffering. I can't see a suffering animal.

Vanesa.

I liked this episode. I just saw it again Friday night. I hadn't seen it in quite a while, and I had forgotten much of it. The best parts were Laura staying with Jack all night and Laura's acceptance that the powders had no special powers. I noticed another of those writing inconsistencies in this episode. Doc Baker was able to perform an emergency appendectomy on Mrs. Oleson. Yet in "The Faith Healer", he tells the sick boy's father that the boy needs to go to Mankato for the surgery. Did Doc Baker suddenly forget how to perform appendectomies?

Yes...I thought exactly the same...But maybe the boy from the "Faith healer" already had a peritonitis... :think: :unsure:

Vanesa.

I saw this episode again last week, and I noticed a goof in the scene where O'Hara tells Laura that the powders are worthless. The scene goes back and forth with Laura facing the camera and O'Hara facing the camera. In the early part of the scene, Laura's left pigtail is hanging behind her and her right pigtail is hanging in front of her when O'Hara is facing the camera. However, when Laura faces the camera, both of her pigtails are hanging in front of her. The end of the scene is the same when O'Hara is facing the camera -- Laura's left pigtail is hanging behind her, and her right pigtail is hanging in front of her -- but when Laura is facing the camera, her pigtails are reversed -- her left pigtail is in front of her while her right pigtail is on her back. This can be seen in the last picture in the opening message of this thread. I can only guess at what happened here, not knowing much about how TV shows are filmed. My guess is that all of the shots with Laura facing the camera were filmed before all of the shots with O'Hara facing the camera, or vice versa. There could very will have been several minutes or hours between these two filming sessions as cameras, sound equipment, etc. were repositioned. It looks like somebody would have caught this and they would have gone back and refilmed part of the scene.

This is an OK episode for me too...not a favorite, but not one I absolutely hate either. I liked seeing Red Buttons; it seems like I saw him in some more things when I was a kid, but I can't remember exactly what.

I agree about Doc Baker...in the early seasons, he seems to be able to do much more than he can in later seasons. He can do appendectomies (even though, historically speaking, no one could do them yet!), he can "take" babies (caesarians, I presume), but yet in Dark Sage and some other episodes, only Dr. Ledou and other doctors can do surgeries...Doc Baker is pretty much only a general practitioner/country doctor with limited skills. Kind of a step down for good ole' Doc, unfortunately...

not really my favorites

This episode seemed to move slowly to me and I did not find it that interesting. I like THE FAITH HEALER much better. They seem similar to me, but there is much more depth to THE FAITH HEALER, with having to deal with Revd. Alden's feelings as well as the risk of people trusting the faith healer guy (and I think a child dies in that one, if I remember correctly).

I think this one could have been better if what actually happened in the episode took place in maybe the first 35-40 minutes and then maybe more drama of Mr. O'Hara struggling with what he does for a living....maybe even deciding to give it up or something. He wanted to be accepted - maybe he could have found a legitimate way of earning people's acceptance? I don't know....it just seemed that something was lacking. Or maybe have the town people really buying up his powders before the big crisis with both Harriet and the separate crisis with Jack?

And it would surprise me that Doc Baker could perform an appendectomy right there in Harriet's bedroom and know immediately that she was going to be all right. They did not even have antibiotics, so I'm sure that there would be a big risk post-operatively of her yet dying from infection, etc. because it would not exactly be a sterile environment that the surgery was performed in.

A great episode! It shows how Harriet will belive anything. I wish the show would have explored Nel's feelings though about the fact his wife was close to death. I would have loved a scene where he shows her his love after surgury.

Harrietfan wrote:

A great episode! It shows how Harriet will belive anything. I wish the show would have explored Nel's feelings though about the fact his wife was close to death. I would have loved a scene where he shows her his love after surgury.

Yes, when things seemed to get bad to worse, Nels and Harriet showed a true love to each other. I like those moments a great deal. I think the Oleson's couple was very united, as much as the Ingalls one was, but ina different style.

Vanesa.

You know Nels had to really love Harriet to continue to put up with her all the time!

amyk wrote:

You know Nels had to really love Harriet to continue to put up with her all the time!

My favorite Nels qoute from is from Mortal Mission. "I don't put up with you Harriet. I love you."

I think Nels was able to see deeper qualities in Harriet that she probably did not reveal to many other people in general. But she could also sure be very spiteful. But I think it was good for her to be married to Nels. If she had been married to a hateful man, who knows what would have happened to her? And I think, in general, Nels did have a happy marriage.

He was the voice of reason,espesialy in this episode.

amyk wrote:

I think Nels was able to see deeper qualities in Harriet that she probably did not reveal to many other people in general. But she could also sure be very spiteful. But I think it was good for her to be married to Nels. If she had been married to a hateful man, who knows what would have happened to her? And I think, in general, Nels did have a happy marriage.

good point

Harrietfan wrote:

amyk wrote:

You know Nels had to really love Harriet to continue to put up with her all the time!

My favorite Nels qoute from is from Mortal Mission. "I don't put up with you Harriet. I love you."

I totally agree with you........I think Nels and Harriet had a mutual understanding of one another

ChristineLovesLHOTP wrote:

Harrietfan wrote:

amyk wrote:

You know Nels had to really love Harriet to continue to put up with her all the time!

My favorite Nels qoute from is from Mortal Mission. "I don't put up with you Harriet. I love you."

I totally agree with you........I think Nels and Harriet had a mutual understanding of one another

!
:) I just hapened to listening to All You Need is Love

Some Nels quotes on this page, always makes you smile:

http://www.quotefully.com/tvshow/Little+House+on+the+Prairie/Nelson+%22Nels%22+Oleson

Not one of my favorites.