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Howdy, fellow fans of heroes on horseback!
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- TNTrue
- Ranch Hand
- Posts: 966
- Joined: Mon Mar 12, 2018 4:58 pm
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- Who is your favorite Bonanza character?: Hoss
Howdy, fellow fans of heroes on horseback!
Although it was first broadcast before I was born, I watched a fair bit of Bonanza when it first aired. My grandmother was a fan, too. My father always teased me about watching Bananas. Hoss was my favorite character growing up, and that hasn't changed any, although I appreciate Adam as an adult in ways I did not as a child. Still love Pa, as I always have, and Little Joe still suffers well.
I've been rewatching episodes with my two older daughters the last few years, which has been fun. Eldest daughter most likes Hoss; middle daughter most likes Little Joe. Middle daughter spent the summer working with horses up on Mackinaw Island and has some interesting observations sometimes based on that. Usually really exciting stuff like,"Yuck! Don't grab that wagon wheel; don't you know what it's been running through?"
My grandfather counted bullets, and my mother was a nurse who'd regularly point out that dad's favorite hero (Mannix) should have been suffering severe brain damage, all the times he'd been knocked out (the Cartwright boys were just as bad, although their injuries were stretched out a bit more). So I'm used to watching TV shows with running critiques, which is probably a good thing.
I liked other westerns, too -- Alias Smith and Jones, Big Valley, The Monroes (which lasted one whole season), The Wild, Wild West, The Rifleman, The Lone Ranger, The Roy Rogers Show (is that considered a western, or just cowboys?) -- but Bonanza was always in the lead by a goodly margin. I've been reading a lot on the era Bonanza is set in, versus the times of other westerns, and it's interesting how many things changed over the period western movies cover. A lot of what we think of as "western" was more true of the turn of the century than of the era the Cartwrights were living in. I've seen people make fun of Bonanza because none of the gunbelts carried bullets, for instance, but that's actually pretty accurate to the times.
The cowboy hats, alas, are not -- John Stetson didn't start up his hat company until 1865, and his earliest hats had flat brims and plain, rounded crowns. Apparently the cowboys themselves modified the hats by curling the brims and reshaping the crowns, and then Stetson followed their lead and added new ideas, but it was a slow process. Pa's, Adam's and Little Joe's are not too wrong for the period -- they all look a bit like cavalry hats in use then -- but Hoss's ten gallon hat may not have been developed until the twentieth century. And a lot historians believe most cowboys that early were wearing bowlers, an idea I still can't get my head around. As my husband says when it comes to explosions and whatnot, "I don't believe I care to watch a movie that sticks to reality on that."
I read somewhere that Dan Blocker put on Hoss's hat initially as a joke, but then everyone thought it worked brilliantly for the character, and I wonder if that isn't true, because that would explain why it's so out of time, when they really did make some effort for accuracy. Well, so long as it didn't interfere with the sexiness -- the Cartwrights wear much tighter pants than they probably should, and they should be wearing suspenders rather than belts and thing. Don't get me started on some of the things the ladies wear! Or the women's hair styles. Heh.
But I love this show, soundstage sets and historical inaccuracies and sixties hair and all. It could be kind of uneven -- there are a couple of episodes I'm convinced are based on stories heard fourth hand, because those are not the Cartwrights I know and love! -- but most episodes were at least entertaining, and it had heart.
- January
- Site Admin
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- Who is your favorite Bonanza character?: Adam
- Location: New York ~ The Greatest City In The World
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Re: Howdy, fellow fans of heroes on horseback!
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-Shunryu Suzuki
- In loving memory of my partner in crime, A Ponderosa Pine.
- CowgirlAtHeart
- Forum Moderator
- Posts: 18209
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- Who is your favorite Bonanza character?: Little Joe
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Re: Howdy, fellow fans of heroes on horseback!
- Sierras
- Trail Boss
- Posts: 20379
- Joined: Wed Feb 21, 2018 11:53 pm
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- Who is your favorite Bonanza character?: Little Joe
- Location: Pacific Northwest USA
Re: Howdy, fellow fans of heroes on horseback!
"Now I know that we are only half brothers, but we are brothers." Adam in "The Hayburner"
In fond memory of dougsgirl
- Julianna
- Wrangler
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- Who is your favorite Bonanza character?: Adam
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Re: Howdy, fellow fans of heroes on horseback!
In memory of dougsgirl
- Gillie
- Global Moderator
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- Who is your favorite Bonanza character?: Adam
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Re: Howdy, fellow fans of heroes on horseback!
Proud owner of Adam's Guitar, Lafe's Auction June 2016
"Well, Jessie, I'm not just sure I pleased you." Jim Boyer
- Bejules
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- Who is your favorite Bonanza character?: Little Joe
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Re: Howdy, fellow fans of heroes on horseback!
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