Dean Butler and Melissa Sue Anderson

Hello Gang,

Sorry I've been away for so long, but at least I came back baring a gift. Two weeks ago I attended the Laura Ingalls Wilder celebration at Heritage Hill State Park in Green Bay Wisconsin. The featured guests at this years event was historical writer William Anderson and both Dean Butler and Melissa Sue Anderson from the Little House tv show. Knowing perfectly well that this was the first time MSA was together after all these years with any cast member from Little House made this a historical event in my eyes.

Dean and Melissa were together for two days doing presentations, answering questions and signing autographs. I happen to be present both days and witnessed someting quite amazing. Day one presented itself with an awkwardness from both cast members. Dean, being the perfect gentleman and having been to Heritage Hill last year, was sweet and kind of took Melissa under his wing.

I filmed an eight and a half minute video clip from their Q & A session on day one. You can see the nervousness in both Dean and Melissa. But let me tell you by day two when Dean introduced Melissa there was hugging and cheek kissing. I hope this is a sign that Melissa might do more LH appearances.

Enjoy this clip, Mike Purdy owns a Melissa Sue Anderson blog and he uploaded my video to his website with my permission. Let me know your thoughts.. The footage starts off with them both answering a question about Michael Landon.

Lorrie

http://melissasueandersonfan.com/Melissa%20and%20Dean%20at%20Wilder%20Days1.html

I loved this clip when I first saw it. I'm glad you posted it here.

Thanks for posting it here Lorrie! That is such a great clip!!!

Thanks for sharing your video, Lorrie. I really enjoyed watching it.

Thanks for posting. Unfortunately it only worked for a few seconds for me. It's good to see her at a LHOP activity!

Thanks for sharing!

That was entertaining! Dean and Melissa both look really good.

Thanks, Lorrie!

Thanks for sharing! Melissa Sue Anderson looks great and friendly...I always guessed why didn't she attend to other "Little House " celebrations. I like Mary's character very much and I've missed her so much when there were "Little House meetings". Dean Butler also looks really friendly. You were lucky to see them both!

Vanesa.

I had the amazing privilege of sitting beside you as you taped this live. It was soo good to see them together again after so many years. Dean indeed was a gentleman, as always and was so sweet to her. It was definitely a day to remember.

Dean and Melissa answer questions for the crowd at Heritage Hill. It was so cool to be there to see them together again for the first time.

This was a wonderful moment for me. Melissa is a very sweet spirit. It was amazing to meet her.

Her eyes are still those of Mary Ingalls! Melissa looks really interested in her fans. She is not a "star", but a very sweet down-to-earth woman. God bless her.

Vanesa.

LIWnut wrote:

Dean indeed was a gentleman, as always and was so sweet to her. It was definitely a day to remember.

I was telling Lorrie that it seems that Dean is just an encyclopedia of Little House information, not only with the real Laura Ingalls Wilder background, but the behind the scenes information of the show. I love that he has truly embraced the show's history and the Ingalls/Wilder history so thoroughly----a lot of actors would want to distance themselves as far as they can get from the show that 'typecast' them....he just accepts it for what it is and seems pleased to shared his knowledge and experiences.

LIWnut wrote:

This was a wonderful moment for me. Melissa is a very sweet spirit. It was amazing to meet her.

I can see why Marilyn! That must have felt surreal, standing there with her!! I still can't get over how great her skin looks---didn't she have a skincare line at one point? I could have sworn she did, but I couldn't find a thing online.

Amy wrote:

I love that he has truly embraced the show's history and the Ingalls/Wilder history so thoroughly----a lot of actors would want to distance themselves as far as they can get from the show that 'typecast' them.

It's always disappointing when actors seem so eager to put a role behind them - especially when it's a role that made them a star. I think it's more common among younger actors, because they'd rather look ahead than backward. I remember Ron Howard saying that, when he was a teenager, the worst thing anybody could do was call him "Opie." But later on he gained a deeper appreciation for the role, and embraced it.

I enjoyed the video and the pictures. Thank you.

Are they going to have this again next year? I didn't even know about them ever having such a thing. I know there is a Laura Ingalls day in Brookfield and every now and then there is a little something at Old World Wisconsin. I never knew this went on up there. It was an entire weekend, right?

I was out-of-town while this was happening. In fact, I found out a few days before I left. So there was no way I was going there. But if this will be an annual thing, and I know I won't be leaving the state on any big vacation next year (financially, it isn't going to happen), this would be a perfect thing for me to do that weekend.

Thanks for the video! It was great to see them together.

This is the second year that I know of that Dean has attended and the first for Melissa. I am sure that the event happens each year but not sure if any LHOP cast will attend next year. Last year it was only a one day event and the place was packed. My friend, who is related to Laura, was there signing siggys and the crowd was HUGE. This year they decided to have it a 3 day event, Thurs, Fri and Sat.

Well, there's hope then! The reason they extended the event was maybe because there were so many people there last year on one day. Were there a lot of people this year? I do hope so. I would like it to be another weekend event. And that would help me out a lot more just in case I could only make it for one day.

It was in July last year, too? I will have to keep an eye out for the info next year then.

It would be OK if none of the cast members would attend (it would be even better if they did, though ). I think I would still go. I am very curious to see what they have going on there now.

Thanks for posting that clip. I really enjoyed it. I would love for them to have a reunion show where the cast and crew just remembers anecdotes and such about the show (not where they are in character, as I don't think most of those kinds of reunion shows are successful).

Thanks for posting this.

That was great!! Thanks so much for showing it!