The episode aired on November 30th 1972 with the words. Growing up on Waltons Mountain in those, Depression years when times were lean and money was scarce I learned early that hard work was a central fact of life and a key to survival. I wasn't afraid of work but, above everything else, I wanted to be a writer. Gripping a book, reading and re-reading the wonderfully colored sentences... this was as close as I could get to another writer; until, one afternoon, I met someone who showed me the way I must take to be a literary man. A stranger, A.J. Covington, who plays Good Samaritan when John-Boy's truck breaks down, says he is a writer. He entertains John-Boy with his tales of adventure and the famous authors he has known. His advice to the fledgling writer, John-Boy Walton, is to try to write about what he knows: his life, his family, and his friends. Fortunately, A.J. Covington is on hand when Jim Bob develops a severe stomachache. Covington suggests that it is likely to be ************and realizes that Jim Bob needs to go urgently to the ******** to have his ******** removed. Can John and Olivia afford what Jim Bob needs? Will this writer make John Boy forget about being a writer and concentrating on his family instead? The episode was better then the last one and I give the episode 7 weasel stars.
2 Reviews
Thought-provoking show about how writers work
FlushingCaps7 February 2014
Warning: Spoilers
This was one of the first excellent episodes of the series, one that really delves into John-Boy's interest in becoming a writer, as he receives abundant advice from a visitor who knows a lot about a wide variety of matters. The visitor is played by David Huddleston, who happened to play Ep Bridges in the series pilot TV movie, The Homecoming.
It begins with John-Boy having been buried in reading the copy of Moby Dick that the carnival man left him in episode 2. He was not around when he was needed to load the truck with lumber, but he eagerly jumps into the loaded truck to take it to the railroad.
We see a man in a suit riding on the back of a farmer's truck being let off, obviously having accepted a free ride, and this man starts walking down the road. Meanwhile, John-Boy's truck breaks down and while John-Boy is underneath it, the man comes up and offers to help. He gets the truck working and accepts John-Boy's offer of a ride.
He introduces himself as A.J. Covington and illustrates a knowledge of writing and literature so much that John-Boy asks, "Are you a writer?" A.J. answers, "Some have called me that." He winds up at the Walton home and accepts an offer of a free meal, later volunteering to help with a big lumber order by working a few days there, asking only for room and board. He declines the offer of staying in John-Boy's room, preferring to sleep on fresh hay in the barn.
A.J. tells wonderful stories about the many places he has been. He is pleasant and John-Boy is clearly enthralled to meet a real writer and hear stories about his encounters with other writers, including Carl Sandberg. A.J. tells John-Boy that he comes from Indiana, on a farm, and when he was 17 he realized that he needed to cut all ties to "kith and kin" and go out to find the one great story he is to write, but that he is still searching for it.
The next day, while working at cutting timber for the mill with John-Boy, they take a break and get so caught up in A.J.'s advice on how John-Boy can make his writing crisper by not using too many adjectives, that they spend too much time talking and they return home late, without a full load of wood.
The secondary plot concerns the health of Jim-Bob, who has been getting worse. When A.J. comes into the room where Jim-Bob rests, he offers to help. Grandma says, sarcastically, "So now you're a doctor, and a writer, and a woodcutter?" He explains that he isn't, but that he has worked in a hospital. He makes a brief examination of the boy and suggests that he has appendicitis and needs to be taken to the hospital right away. I guess I won't be spoiling anything by revealing that Jim-Bob does come out O.K.
Before he leaves, A.J. gives John-Boy more advice, contradicting his earlier advice to an extent, after he learns that John-Boy has taken his talking too much to heart, believing that what seems right for A.J. must be right for himself. Maybe I liked this episode so much because it really got me thinking, today when I saw it again, and back when it first aired because at that point, I too wanted to be a writer. To me, A.J. was about the most interesting visitor the Waltons ever welcomed. He wasn't dishonest at all, and everything he did was a sincere effort to help—unlike many others. He just wasn't quite as successful as he seemed to be, at least not to John-Boy.
I think it gave us some great insight into how writers function and was one of the most memorable of the first season's episodes. I thought Mr. Huddleston deserved an Emmy for his wonderful guest role here.
It begins with John-Boy having been buried in reading the copy of Moby Dick that the carnival man left him in episode 2. He was not around when he was needed to load the truck with lumber, but he eagerly jumps into the loaded truck to take it to the railroad.
We see a man in a suit riding on the back of a farmer's truck being let off, obviously having accepted a free ride, and this man starts walking down the road. Meanwhile, John-Boy's truck breaks down and while John-Boy is underneath it, the man comes up and offers to help. He gets the truck working and accepts John-Boy's offer of a ride.
He introduces himself as A.J. Covington and illustrates a knowledge of writing and literature so much that John-Boy asks, "Are you a writer?" A.J. answers, "Some have called me that." He winds up at the Walton home and accepts an offer of a free meal, later volunteering to help with a big lumber order by working a few days there, asking only for room and board. He declines the offer of staying in John-Boy's room, preferring to sleep on fresh hay in the barn.
A.J. tells wonderful stories about the many places he has been. He is pleasant and John-Boy is clearly enthralled to meet a real writer and hear stories about his encounters with other writers, including Carl Sandberg. A.J. tells John-Boy that he comes from Indiana, on a farm, and when he was 17 he realized that he needed to cut all ties to "kith and kin" and go out to find the one great story he is to write, but that he is still searching for it.
The next day, while working at cutting timber for the mill with John-Boy, they take a break and get so caught up in A.J.'s advice on how John-Boy can make his writing crisper by not using too many adjectives, that they spend too much time talking and they return home late, without a full load of wood.
The secondary plot concerns the health of Jim-Bob, who has been getting worse. When A.J. comes into the room where Jim-Bob rests, he offers to help. Grandma says, sarcastically, "So now you're a doctor, and a writer, and a woodcutter?" He explains that he isn't, but that he has worked in a hospital. He makes a brief examination of the boy and suggests that he has appendicitis and needs to be taken to the hospital right away. I guess I won't be spoiling anything by revealing that Jim-Bob does come out O.K.
Before he leaves, A.J. gives John-Boy more advice, contradicting his earlier advice to an extent, after he learns that John-Boy has taken his talking too much to heart, believing that what seems right for A.J. must be right for himself. Maybe I liked this episode so much because it really got me thinking, today when I saw it again, and back when it first aired because at that point, I too wanted to be a writer. To me, A.J. was about the most interesting visitor the Waltons ever welcomed. He wasn't dishonest at all, and everything he did was a sincere effort to help—unlike many others. He just wasn't quite as successful as he seemed to be, at least not to John-Boy.
I think it gave us some great insight into how writers function and was one of the most memorable of the first season's episodes. I thought Mr. Huddleston deserved an Emmy for his wonderful guest role here.
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