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Don's TV Little House on the
Prairie
This is a very cute and slightly different story for a Little House episode. Though the orangutan gets the most amount of screen time, Don appears in two lengthy scenes.
Mr. Edwards (Victor French) meets a man named
Buffalo Bill, who has just returned from Africa after 40 years.
Unfortunately, the man is dying, and he gets Mr. Edwards to promise he will
look after his three-year-old girl, Blanche. Blanche, it turns out, is an
orangutan, but a loveable one, and Mr. Edwards brings her home with him.
Mr. Edwards asks if he can do the shooting himself and the Sheriff obliges him. But Blanche has many talents and one of them is "playing dead." The sheriff is gone but now Mr. Edwards need a place to hide Blanche until he can find a zoo that will take her. Jenny convinces her Uncle Almanzo to let them hide the fugitive orangutan. While she is in their keeping, Blanche pulls baby Rose out of the house when a fallen lamp starts a small fire.
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Buffalo Bill: Eddie Quillan
Almanzo
(Dean Butler) offer's the services of his neice, Jenny (Shannen Dohorty) to
look after the energetic animal. Jenny gets permission from the school
teacher to bring Blanche to school. All the children are thrilled except for
Nancy Oleson (Allison Balson). She slaps poor Blanche, who promptly hits her
back. And Mrs. Oleson tells the sheriff (Don), who has no choice but to put
the wild animal down.
The evil Nancy overhears Jenny telling some friends about
Blanche's heroics and once again, runs off to tell her mother. The sheriff
returns, and this time he is going to put an end to Blanche himself. Blanche
is led to her fate. Suddenly a wagon races up, with Jenny
shouting that the Chicago zoo wants Blanche. The sound of a rifle shot stuns
them all. Luckily, it is followed by the angry sheriff calling for Mr. Edwards -
Blanche has gotten away and is in a tree. She comes willingly to Mr. Edwards
and is sent off to her new home.