"The Small House on the Grass" is a film adapted from the novel of the same name by writer Laura Ingalls Wilder. In 1974, the film was adapted for the small screen and became a hit.
The film tells the story of Ingalls' family of farmers on a Minnesota farm in the United States in the late 1800s. They and many other families spent difficult days in the vast grassland to devastate the town of Walnut Grove.
Life in The Small House in the Grassland is poetic and beautiful, like a fairy tale in real life. However, behind that dreamy scene are hidden corners that few people know about.
Behind the curtain of happiness
In 2021, nearly 40 years after the final part ended, actress Karen Grassle (playing mother Caroline Ingalls) spoke up to accuse co-star Michael Landon of bullying her on set.
Ms. Karen Grassle shared in her memoir that Michael Landon criticized her appearance, lowered her remuneration, joked impolitely and had the intention of disregarding women.
With Michael Landon taking on the role of director, the relationship between the two actors became even more tense. Gradually, Ms. Karen's role as a mother in the film was cut down on scenes, and there was not much room to act.
At the same time, Karen Grassle's alcoholism severely affected the actress's spirit and health. "The more I drink, the more I feel that my life is so wrong and terrible," she recalled.
Meanwhile, Michael Landon also has an unrequited relationship with the young actress who specializes in mass roles in films - c c c c c clerico.
Clerico was only 18 when she joined the film crew, she is 20 years younger than Landon. At the time the two developed feelings for each other, Michael Landon was still married to his second wife, Marjorie Lynn Noe.
After that, the actor broke up with his wife to officially marry young lover Cindy Clerico in 1983,
When the love scandal of Michael Landon was exposed, the audience and the media could not believe it because before that, the role of a devoted, loyal father Charles Ingalls helped him have a beautiful image in the eyes of the public.
A tragic real story
Writer Laura Ingalls Wilder, author of the novel Little House on the Grassland, used the materials in her life to paint a beautiful picture of life on the grassland.
Wilder Ingalls was born in Wiscosnin in 1867 and grew up with his parents and sisters Mary, Carrie, and grace. This family lives in small wooden houses and grows vegetables for food themselves.
Living in steppe, they have to be completely self-sufficient, from sewing clothes to making furniture.
However, the real events in the Wilder family's story are much harsher and more difficult. In the autobiography "Pioneer girl", the author tells about the hidden corners of her life - the things that were lost in "The Small House on the Grassroots".
She shared the bare story of the lives of farmers in the steppe of the western United States, including a drunk neighbor who often beat his wife, a tragic love triangle, or her father - Mr. Charles Ingalls - who sometimes "faces off" not paying the debt to the landowner...
The autobiography even talks about the girl Laura Ingalls taking care of a sick woman, when her husband almost raped her.
Perhaps many audiences laughed when Laura used her hair as a cleaning cloth, cried when she saw Mary was blind, and was moved by the scene of Laura working hard to help her family send Mary to schools for the blind.
Decades have passed, but the setting of the film still makes the audience feel nostalgic and emotional. It is known that the wooden house in the film still retains all the images and souvenirs of the Ingalls family.
