Little House on the Prairie just got a brand new Netflix reboot. It began airing earlier this month. With that current version has come renewed attention on the beloved original series. It starred Michael Landon and Melissa Gilbert, among others, and aired from 1974 to 1983. Based on the classic Laura Ingalls Wilder books, the drama focused on a close-knit family in the 1800s and all the challenges they encountered. You wouldn't guess that the set of the older show would be wild and wacky, but Alison Arngrim, 64, the actress who played bad girl Nellie Oleson, claims it was. Her insider comments may come as a startling revelation to many.
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Arngrim Made Her Surprising Remarks on a Podcast
When she was a guest on the Here's What Happened podcast, Alison Arngrim let loose about the set of Little House as she knew it. The more senior crew members "came from an era where everybody smoked and everybody drank, like all the time. There was no health food and no vegetarian options and gluten-free muffins." She also mentioned, "The prop men were in charge of the booze and the cigarettes, as well as the candy, so everyone was hanging out at their truck."
She Claims That Drinking and Smoking on Set Were Allegedly Commonplace
The actress claims that the adult actors, among them Landon, "were puffing Marlboros all over the place." Arngrim also said that the crew allegedly liked to swig beer. According to her, they "went through a couple cases" of the brew daily.
As for Landon himself, Alison Arngrim says he allegedly chose to frequently down a shot of whiskey on set. Nobody actually got drunk, however, she asserts. "They were burning it off or something, because these guys were going on ladders and hanging lights and I'm going, 'I know they're living on beer.'"
Arngrim added, "The prop truck had a whole bar and at the end of each day when they were done they'd put up like a bar with a board on a couple of saw horses and then start really drinking." She observed, "Their tolerance was God knows what. Because they were out of the '50s where you drank and you smoked. They did not think this was weird."
She also noted there were allegedly "insane" parties to mark holidays like Christmas.
