Art News

Furor after New Jersey hometown removes Landon plaque

COLLINGSWOOD (AP).- There’s a bonanza of controversy and a big mess in a little New Jersey town over a decision to move a plaque honoring hometown celebrity Michael Landon. A bronze plaque was dedicated to the actor, writer and producer and star of TV’s “Bonanza” and “Little House on the Prairie”, who died of cancer in 1991 at 54. That plaque has been moved from a park, an act that has enraged fans who frequent a website dedicated to “Little House,” and the New Jersey woman who raised the money for the memorial 15 years ago. Collingswood Mayor Jim Maley says it was a temporary move meant to make a park safe. Maley said it wasn’t a show of disrespect for Landon, who had a famously rough childhood in the town and became best known for the characters he played on TV: Little Joe Cartwright on “Bonanza,” Charles Ingalls in “Little House” and Jonathan Smith in “Highway to Heaven.” “It was