After concluding church service, Reverend Alden addressed the congregation with the following notion: the church ought to have a bell. He proposed they take up a collection. Screw that, Harriet jumped right in saying she and Nels would buy a big old church bell that would put St. Paul's Cathedral to shame, on condition that they include a plaque dedicated to whom donated the bell. Mr. Kennedy was dead set against that and so they commenced to arguing. Kennedy suggested that if Harriet got her way, she'd try to change the name of the town to Olesonville. Guess it's a good thing Kennedy didn't stick around until Season 9, when such an event does occur. Harriet refused to let others donate to the cause and stated that either they accept their bell or they'll attend church elsewhere, the same went for Kennedy, so it looks as though Reverend Alden's got a holy war on his hands. Both sides threatened to go over the reverend's head if he didn't accept either offer. Desperate for help, he appealed to Charles, who held a town meeting that night to hear from both sides in a calm, civil manner. What he got instead was an all-out childish display of arguments and insinuations. The loudest of all being Kennedy. Neither side would budge. Needless to say, the meeting did not go as planned.
Thanks to Kennedy, half the congregation did not attend church. Well, that did poor Reverend Alden in and he decided to move on. En route home, Caroline decides to have a talk with Mrs. Kennedy, see if the women can't reach a compromise, and it might have worked, had Mr. Kennedy not walked in on them. Despite causing the town feud and costing Reverend Alden his job, he didn't care a bit. Mr. Kennedy was a stubborn, bull-headed prick who wouldn't listen to reason, so after talking down to Caroline the way he did, she stormed out. Now in all this madness, there's somebody I forgot to mention: the title character, Tinker Jones, a kindly young man who peddles his goods around town, and he's Walnut Grove's most gracious citizen, never says a bad word about anybody, because he can't. Mr. Jones is deaf-mute, but I think he can hear better than most of the folks in town right now. Tinker Jones is also a whiz at carving animals out of tin, which the kids all gathered round to watch him do. As they watched, they began pointing fingers about the bell situation just like their childish parents. Harsh words were exchanged, until Jones managed to shut them up by unveiling a plan: he would build the stinkin' bell, and the kids were allowed to help. Nellie even agreed to keep her mouth shut, lest she have no friends to play with or lean on. So Operation: Ding-a-Ling was in full effect. To acquire the necessary elements of making a bell, the children resulted to thievery. The kids scrounged up all the metal and tin they could find, even the tin animals Tinker had made. This cause called for the supreme sacrifice. So they melted all those goods down to liquid and poured it into the molding, and as soon as it hardened, they had themselves a beautiful bell! Saturday night, Tinker hoisted bell up to the rafters and come Sunday morning, the Ingallses, Olesons, Reverend Alden, the Kennedys, everybody heard it ringing. The whole town gathered in front of the church. They learned that Tinker Jones made the bell to bring everybody back together. Harriet and Kennedy realized how selfish they'd been, so all was well again, amends were made and they all gathered into church for one of Reverend Alden's endearing sermons.
That ending was beautiful, showing unity, regret and forgiveness, and hardly any words were exchanged. It was wonderfully acted by all involved. In fact this entire episode was acted very, very well. The Emmys really cheated the series and this is one instance, because I believe Chuck McCann and Wayne Heffley, not to mention Leo Penn should have won Emmys for this episode. McCann was outstanding as Tinker Jones, a character we sadly never see again, but every time we hear that bell ring, we'll remember who made it. Heffley was great as that tyrant Kennedy, and it's surprising that for once it wasn't Harriet adding fuel to a fire, but rather it was this guy. Leo Penn did a great job of directing, and one of the kids is played by his son, Sean, who appeared in a couple of movies. So if you like Little House, you wonder how they got that bell and you even wondered how bells are made, then I urge you to see The Voice of Tinker Jones. It's outstanding in every sense of the word. Wonderful from beginning to end. This one does not disappoint.
Thanks to Kennedy, half the congregation did not attend church. Well, that did poor Reverend Alden in and he decided to move on. En route home, Caroline decides to have a talk with Mrs. Kennedy, see if the women can't reach a compromise, and it might have worked, had Mr. Kennedy not walked in on them. Despite causing the town feud and costing Reverend Alden his job, he didn't care a bit. Mr. Kennedy was a stubborn, bull-headed prick who wouldn't listen to reason, so after talking down to Caroline the way he did, she stormed out. Now in all this madness, there's somebody I forgot to mention: the title character, Tinker Jones, a kindly young man who peddles his goods around town, and he's Walnut Grove's most gracious citizen, never says a bad word about anybody, because he can't. Mr. Jones is deaf-mute, but I think he can hear better than most of the folks in town right now. Tinker Jones is also a whiz at carving animals out of tin, which the kids all gathered round to watch him do. As they watched, they began pointing fingers about the bell situation just like their childish parents. Harsh words were exchanged, until Jones managed to shut them up by unveiling a plan: he would build the stinkin' bell, and the kids were allowed to help. Nellie even agreed to keep her mouth shut, lest she have no friends to play with or lean on. So Operation: Ding-a-Ling was in full effect. To acquire the necessary elements of making a bell, the children resulted to thievery. The kids scrounged up all the metal and tin they could find, even the tin animals Tinker had made. This cause called for the supreme sacrifice. So they melted all those goods down to liquid and poured it into the molding, and as soon as it hardened, they had themselves a beautiful bell! Saturday night, Tinker hoisted bell up to the rafters and come Sunday morning, the Ingallses, Olesons, Reverend Alden, the Kennedys, everybody heard it ringing. The whole town gathered in front of the church. They learned that Tinker Jones made the bell to bring everybody back together. Harriet and Kennedy realized how selfish they'd been, so all was well again, amends were made and they all gathered into church for one of Reverend Alden's endearing sermons.
That ending was beautiful, showing unity, regret and forgiveness, and hardly any words were exchanged. It was wonderfully acted by all involved. In fact this entire episode was acted very, very well. The Emmys really cheated the series and this is one instance, because I believe Chuck McCann and Wayne Heffley, not to mention Leo Penn should have won Emmys for this episode. McCann was outstanding as Tinker Jones, a character we sadly never see again, but every time we hear that bell ring, we'll remember who made it. Heffley was great as that tyrant Kennedy, and it's surprising that for once it wasn't Harriet adding fuel to a fire, but rather it was this guy. Leo Penn did a great job of directing, and one of the kids is played by his son, Sean, who appeared in a couple of movies. So if you like Little House, you wonder how they got that bell and you even wondered how bells are made, then I urge you to see The Voice of Tinker Jones. It's outstanding in every sense of the word. Wonderful from beginning to end. This one does not disappoint.
