Family Tree

In this episode, Ms. Wilder gives the schoolchildren a project where they have to research their family trees. Laura wants to get right to work on hers, but Albert is not sure about what he should do. Nellie teases Albert because he doesn't know who his real parents are, and this is when the Ingalls family decides to adopt Albert. After going to the city to file for Albert's adoption papers, Charles recieves a letter that says Albert's real father has been found. Mr. Quinn wants Albert to come live with him, just so he can have an extra pair of hands to help on the farm. He does not really love his son. When Charles brings Albert back to the city so he can go home with his real father, Albert pretends to be blind, and his father decides he does not want Albert to live on his farm. The Ingalls family adopts Albert and he goes back to their farm.

I really liked this episode! I wasn't happy when Albert's real father showed up and only wanted to take his son because he needed help on the farm. I was happy, though, when Albert used his smart mind to trick his father so he could go back and live with the Ingalls family.

I liked this episode. I don't know what Laura would have done without Albert, it seemed like they were such good friends, always playing and scheming together. I was happy when Albert finally became an Ingalls! I thought he made a nice part of the family.

A great episode.

Albert you sneaky little pup!! Pretending to be blind because he knew his birth fathers true intentions were to work him, not love him. Albert is one smart cookie.
Is anyone here on the board lucky enough to be adopted into a loving family? If so, did LHOTP influence you in any way while you were growing up?

("In character) "Well thats how I got the money in Winoka. Yelling the blind school is burning down, then I just stole the money that the gambling kids left"

(Out of character)

That's the one thing I love about Albert. No matter what the problem is he always gets away with it. He's a clever fox

Yes. This is what I like about him. It reminds me a lot of Artful Dodger from "Oliver Twist", except that Albert was much nicer than Dodger and more childish. I like children being children, and not little men in childrens bodies.

Vanesa.

Just don't forget Albert is "a little man".
Just like Lura (trying to be seen as a woman) Albert is trying to be seen as a man

Sorry about talking in the present when season 6 is not going on right now, I just started season 6

I don't remember this episode. So funny, when Mrs. Olsen gets all wet from flushing the toilet. Albert was clever, when he pretend, he was blind.

Another example of Albert's terrific cunning mind. He was really a good character even if adding him to the family is so far off from reality and the books.

he was such a good little actor.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOm4prh_GvQ
Why they cut this scene out in Family Tree on the DVD
is beyond me. How can u cut a scene like this one. Another
example of one of Matt's tearjerkers.....

Buttercup wrote:

I don't remember this episode. So funny, when Mrs. Olsen gets all wet from flushing the toilet. Albert was clever, when he pretend, he was blind.

loved that part

It's really hilarious! What would LHOTP become without the Olesons in it?...I mean..".without HARRIET " in it?

Vanesa.

Vanesa wrote:

It's really hilarious! What would LHOTP become without the Olesons in it?...I mean..".without HARRIET " in it?

Vanesa.

the show be boring and dull with out them

Davetucson wrote:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOm4prh_GvQ
Why they cut this scene out in Family Tree on the DVD
is beyond me. How can u cut a scene like this one. Another
example of one of Matt's tearjerkers.....

I watched it from youtube and the episodes was from the DVD so I didn't see that part. Thats just as sad as one of the lighter parts after Mary's baby dies in May we make them proud. (I said lighter parts not happy)

The boy shouldn't have gotten whipped as many times as he did. I can't imagine how bad that hurt.

Davetucson wrote:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOm4prh_GvQ
Why they cut this scene out in Family Tree on the DVD
is beyond me. How can u cut a scene like this one. Another
example of one of Matt's tearjerkers.....

I agree. It shouldn't have been cut. I have never seen that scene before.

I thought it was odd that Albert's dad didn't hear about his blindness before and in real life probably would have asked about it when he left.
Did Albert say when or how he became blind to his Dad? My only recollection was him acting blind and his Dad backing off...no "when did this happen?" He wasn't blind before.

I did love seeing him adopted though...just didn't make sense to me at the time with his Dad.

That scene in the loft when he asked Charles to adopt him. "If it isn't asking too much" was something else. I'll always believe that Matt being adopted allowed him to put all he had into that scene. The result was was one of his BEST performances. When his eyes welled up it was all over for me. He was really something!

Why would be cut that out...I know commercials are longer now, but why such a good scene? Two good scenes with him and his adoption gone.

I hadn't read this before about Albert and the show:

Where did Albert come from?

One of the biggest blows for TV show fans seems to be that Albert Ingalls did not exist in real life. Like many other characters and plots on the show, he came from Michael Landon’s imagination and I think probably in answer to a similar thought to one Dean Butler will express in the next issue of “The Homesteader”, “What’s Little Joe doing on a show with a bunch of little girls?” Here’s what Landon himself said about the creation of the character shortly before his debut on the show. (The People article also features information about the other kids in cast and more background on the Laborteaux brothers, but you’ll have to get a copy for yourself!)
“Michael Landon’s Gutsy TV Kids Have Faced Bigger Problems in Life than on the
Prairie” by Sue Reilly. People Weekly Sept. 11, 1978 This quote appears on p. 96.

“Patrick [Laborteaux] joined the Little House cast last year, and then Landon remembered a promise he’d made to some friends whose son was killed in a car crash – ‘that if I ever found a boy who had Albert’s qualities I would put him on the show and call him Albert.’ Matthew [Laborteaux], who had already played Landon himself as a boy in flashbacks, debuts this fall as Albert

It wasn't a blow for me. In my opinion it was one of the best moves Michael ever made. Real or not, he was in some great stories. I've read the article you are referring to and Matt's history. he was a special kid, and Michael Landon knew it.

I agree.

Cut Scenes in Family Tree and I Get To Watch it In German!
Albert Saying Goodbye to Laura just before Leaving to See His
Real Father..............You'll Never See It On Hallmark!

Are there any uncut versions out in the market? I can see on TV with the commercials, but DVD can have longer scenes.

The scene is cut from the dvd's and television. They are not available in North America.
Commercials do not have anything to do with the cuts on TV in this particular episode.
According to Alex this scene is on Australian DVD's but there is one small problem. They
won't play on North American DVD players. Same goes with the "Can I Call You Pa" scene
in Fagin.