Throughout the course of The Waltons television show and movies, Corabeth Godsey often fancied herself a writer in the making. She even attempted a romance novel, with disastrous results.
Ronnie Claire Edwards, on the other hand, has a second career as respected writer and playwrite. Her play, "Idols of the King," a two-person comedy about Elvis fans co-written with Allen Crowe, is currently on tour around the United States with the Arkansas Reperatory Theater. (Click here for author bios from this show.) She also penned the award-winning one-woman show, "The Knife Thrower's Assistant, or Life on the Cutting Edge," loosely based on her own life.
In 1999, Ms. Edwards put pen to paper once more to write the novelization of her play, called The Knife Thrower's Assistant, or Memoirs of a Human Target. The characters are of the tall tale variety, larger than life and seen through the idealized vision of Edwards' memory. Her father, a successful Oklahoma lawyer, is charismatic, shrewd, and clearly her childhood hero. While you couldn't call either her mother or grandmother "Corabeth," you do see traces of the character in the brilliant mother and exacting grandmother.
The memoirs are touching, hilarious, even poignant. As the narrator (Edwards) sifts through the belongings of her deceased parents, you see the journey of a woman searching for and finding herself in the memoribilia of three generations.
Edwards has also written a cookbook, Sugar and Grease(paint), filled with pictures, anecdotes, and recipes guaranteed to clog your arteries and bring a smile to your lips.
Both The Knife Thrower's Assistant and Sugar and Grease(paint) are available through The Waltons Mountain Museum in Schuyler, Virginia.
