Bonanza

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Bonanza
The Bonanza title screen
Genre	Western
Created by	David Dortort
Starring	Lorne Greene as Ben Pernell Roberts as Adam Dan Blocker as Hoss Michael Landon as Joe Victor Sen Yung as Hop Sing David Canary as Candy Mitch Vogel as Jamie Ray Teal as Sheriff Coffee Bing Russell as Deputy Foster Tim Matheson as Griff Lou Frizzell as Dusty Rhodes
Theme music composer	Ray Evans Jay Livingston
Opening theme	"Bonanza"
Ending theme	"Bonanza"
Composer(s)	David Rose Walter Scharf Harry Sukman Fred Steiner William Lava
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	14
No. of episodes	431 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	David Dortort Mark Roberts
Producer(s)	Fred Hamilton
Running time	49 minutes
Production company(s)	NBC^[1]
Distributor	NBC Films (1963–1973) National Telefilm Associates (1973–1986) Republic Pictures (1986-1996)^[2] Worldvision Enterprises (1996–1999)^[2] Paramount Domestic Television (1999^[2]-2006) CBS Paramount Domestic Television (2006-2007) CBS Television Distribution (2007-present)^[3]
Release
Original network	NBC
Picture format	NTSC
Audio format	Mono
First shown in	United States
Original release	September 12, 1959 – January 16, 1973
Chronology
Followed by	Ponderosa

Bonanza is an NBC television western series that ran from 1959 to 1973. Lasting 14 seasons and 431 episodes, Bonanza is NBC's longest-running western, and ranks overall as the second-longest-running western series on U.S. network television (behind CBS's Gunsmoke), and within the top 10 longest-running, live-action American series. The show continues to air in syndication. The show is set in the 1860s and it centers on the wealthy Cartwright family that live in the vicinity of Virginia City, Nevada, bordering Lake Tahoe. The series initially starred Lorne Greene, Pernell Roberts, Dan Blocker, and Michael Landon and later featured (at various times) Guy Williams, David Canary, Mitch Vogel, and Tim Matheson. The show is known for presenting pressing moral dilemmas.^[4]
The title "Bonanza" is a term used by miners in regard to a large vein or deposit of silver ore,^[5] from Spanish bonanza (prosperity) and commonly refers to the 1859 revelation of the Comstock Lode of rich silver ore mines under the town of Virginia City, not far from the fictional Ponderosa Ranch that the Cartwright family operated. The show's theme song, also titled "Bonanza," became a hit song in its own right. Only instrumental renditions, absent Ray Evans' lyrics, were ever used during the series's long run.^[6]
In 2002, Bonanza was ranked No. 43 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time,^[7] and in 2013 TV Guide included it in its list of The 60 Greatest Dramas of All Time.^[8] The time period for the television series is roughly between 1861 (Season 1) and 1867 (Season 13) during and shortly after the American Civil War.
During the summer of 1972, NBC aired reruns of episodes from the 1967–1970 period in prime time on Tuesday evening under the title Ponderosa.^[9]

Premise

Approximate location of the fictional Ponderosa Ranch, the home of Cartwright family. The map is oriented with North at the top (instead of East at the top, as in the version associated with the TV show Bonanza).

The show chronicles the weekly adventures of the Cartwright family, headed by the thrice-widowed patriarch Ben Cartwright (Lorne Greene). He had three sons, each by a different wife: the eldest was the urbane architect Adam Cartwright (Pernell Roberts) who built the ranch house; the second was the warm and lovable giant Eric "Hoss" Cartwright (Dan Blocker); and the youngest was the hotheaded and impetuous Joseph or "Little Joe" (Michael Landon). Via exposition (S01:E01 – "Rose for Lotta") and flashback episodes, each wife was accorded a different ancestry: English (S02:E65 – "Elizabeth My Love"), Swedish (S03:E95 – "Inger My Love") and French Creole (S04:E120 – "Marie My Love") respectively. The family's cook was the Chinese immigrant Hop Sing (Victor Sen Yung). Greene, Roberts, Blocker, and Landon were billed equally. The opening credits would alternate the order among the four stars.
The family lived on a thousand square-mile (2,600 km²) ranch called the Ponderosa on the eastern shore of Lake Tahoe in Nevada opposite California on the edge of the Sierra Nevada range of the western Rocky Mountains.^[10] The vast size of the Cartwrights' land was quietly revised to "half a million acres" (2,000 km²) on Lorne Greene's 1964 song, "Saga of the Ponderosa." The ranch name refers to the Ponderosa Pine, common in the West. The nearest town to the Ponderosa was Virginia City, where the Cartwrights would go to converse with Sheriff Roy Coffee (played by veteran actor Ray Teal), or his deputy Clem Foster (Bing Russell).

Pernell Roberts as Adam Cartwright (1959)

Original cast: Dan Blocker, Michael Landon, Lorne Greene and Pernell Roberts (1959)

Bonanza was considered an atypical western for its time, as the core of the storylines dealt less about the range but more with Ben and his three dissimilar sons, how they cared for one another, their neighbors, and just causes. "You always saw stories about family on comedies or on an anthology, but Bonanza was the first series that was week-to-week about a family and the troubles it went through. Bonanza was a period drama that attempted to confront contemporary social issues. That was very difficult to do on television. Most shows that tried to do it failed because the sponsors didn't like it, and the networks were nervous about getting letters", explains Stephen Battaglio, a senior editor for TV Guide magazine.^[11]
Episodes ranged from high drama ("Bushwhacked", episode #392, 1971; "Shanklin", episode #409, 1972), to broad comedy ("Hoss and the Leprechauns", episode #146, 1964; "Mrs. Wharton and the Lesser Breeds", episode #318, 1969; "Caution, Bunny Crossing", episode #358, 1969), and addressed issues such as the environment ("Different Pines, Same Wind", episode #304, 1968), substance abuse ("The Hidden Enemy", episode #424, 1972), domestic violence ("First Love", episode #427, 1972), anti-war sentiment ("The Weary Willies", episode #364, 1970), and illegitimate births ("Love Child", episode #370, 1970; "Rock-A-Bye Hoss", episode #393, 1971). The series sought to illustrate the cruelty of bigotry against: Asians ("The Fear Merchants", episode #27, 1960; "The Lonely Man", episode #404, 1971), African-Americans ("Enter Thomas Bowers", episode #164, 1964; "The Wish", episode #326, 1968; "Child", episode #305, 1969), Native Americans ("The Underdog", episode #180, 1964; "Terror at 2:00", episode #384, 1970), Jews, ("Look to the Stars", episode #90, 1962); Mormons ("The Pursued", episodes #239-40, 1966), the disabled ("Tommy", episode #249, 1966) and "little people" ("It's A Small World", episode #347, 1968).
Originally, the Cartwrights tended to be depicted as put-off by outsiders. Lorne Greene objected to this, pointing out that as the area's largest timber and livestock producer, the family should be less clannish. The producers agreed with this observation and changed the Cartwrights to be more amiable.

Cast

Though not familiar stars in 1959, the cast quickly became favorites of the first television generation. The order of billing at the beginning of the broadcast appeared to be shuffled randomly each week, with no relation whatsoever to the current episode featured that week. The main cast of actors portraying Cartwrights is listed here in the order of their characters' ages, followed by an array of recurring supporting players:

Lorne Greene – Ben Cartwright

Lorne Greene as Ben Cartwright

Born in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, to Russian-Jewish parents,^[12]^[13] Lorne Greene was chosen to play widowed patriarch Ben Cartwright. Early in the show's history, he recalls each of his late wives in flashback episodes. A standard practice with most westerns was to introduce some romance but avoid matrimony. Few media cowboys had on-screen wives. Any time one of the Cartwrights seriously courted a woman, she died from a malady, was abruptly slain, or left with someone else.
Greene appeared in all but fourteen Bonanza episodes. Greene was 44 years old at the beginning of the series while Pernell Roberts and Dan Blocker, who portrayed two of his sons, were both 31, only thirteen years younger.
In 2007, a TV Guide survey listed Ben Cartwright as television's #2 favorite dad.^[14]

Pernell Roberts – Adam Cartwright

Pernell Roberts as Adam Cartwright

Pernell Roberts played eldest son Adam, an architectural engineer with a university education. Adam built the impressive ranch house.^[15]^[16] Roberts disdained the assembly-line mindset of serial television^{[citation needed]} (a rigid 34 episode season), and fought with series writers regarding Adam's lack of independence, noting that his 30-plus year old character was dependent on his "Pa's" approval. Despite the show's success, Roberts departed the series after the 1964–65 season (202 episodes) and returned to stage productions.
Attempts to replace Adam with Little Joe's maternal half-brother Clay (Barry Coe) and Cartwright cousin Will (Guy "Zorro" Williams), were unsuccessful.^[17] Creator David Dortort introduced a storyline that would keep the character of Adam in the mix, but with a lighter schedule. During season five Adam falls for a widow with a young daughter, while making Will Cartwright a central figure. Roberts decided to stay an additional season, so the scripts were quickly revised by having Adam's fiancée and her daughter depart the series prematurely with Guy Williams' Will, with whom she'd fallen in love. It was Landon, not Roberts, who objected to the infusion of any new Cartwrights.^[13]^[17] After Roberts did leave the following year, it was eventually mentioned that Adam had gone "to sea", and in the later movies he had emigrated to Australia. In mid 1972, the series producers considered inviting Roberts back in the wake of Dan Blocker's death: "One suggestion was to return Pernell Roberts, who had played another Cartwright son when Bonanza first premiered on NBC fourteen years ago. We only considered that briefly, [producer Richard] Collins says... Some people felt it was a logical step—the oldest son returning at a time of family need—but most of us didn't think it would work.'"^[18]

Dan Blocker – Eric "Hoss" Cartwright

Dan Blocker as Hoss

Dan Blocker as "Hoss" Cartwright

Dan Blocker was 6-foot-4, 320-pounds^[19] when chosen to play the gentle middle son Eric, better known as "Hoss". The nickname was used as a nod to the character's ample girth,^[20] an endearing term for "big and friendly", used by his Swedish mother (and Uncle Gunnar).^[21] In the Bonanza flashback,^[22] his mother Inger names him Eric after her father. To satisfy young Adam, Inger and Ben agree to try the nickname Hoss and "see which one sticks." Inger says of "Hoss", "In the mountain country, that is the name for a big, friendly man." According to a biography,^[13] the show's crew found Blocker to be the "least actor-ish as well as the most likeable" cast member. According to producer David Dortort: "Over the years he gave me the least amount of trouble."^[13]
In May 1972, Blocker died suddenly from a post-operative pulmonary embolism following surgery to remove his gall bladder. The producers felt nobody else could continue the role. It was the first time a TV show's producers chose to kill off a young major male character (though it was done twice previously with young female leads—in 1956 on Make Room For Daddy, and again in 1963 with The Real McCoys). Not until the TV movie Bonanza: The Next Generation was it explained that Hoss had drowned attempting to save a woman's life.^{[citation needed]}
Although "big and lovable", Blocker was also tough. Several years after his death, Landon appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and related the following anecdote. During the shooting of one episode, Blocker's horse stumbled and fell, throwing Blocker and breaking his collarbone. Blocker got up and the bone was actually protruding from his skin. The crew wanted to call an ambulance but Blocker refused and stuck the bone back in place himself and resumed filming. At the end of the day he was convinced to go to the hospital where they set the broken bone and gave him strict instructions, no riding for six weeks. According to Landon, evidently Blocker's horse forgot what it was like to carry the big man during his convalescence because the first time that Blocker swung up into the saddle on his return, the horse collapsed under his weight and the cast and crew collapsed in fits of laughter.^{[citation needed]}

Michael Landon – Joseph "Little Joe" Cartwright

Michael Landon as 'Little Joe' Cartwright; this shot was taken before the wardrobe was standardized for continuity purposes. Landon is seen in black attire akin to that worn in later seasons by Pernell Roberts

Landon as Little Joe

The role of "Little Joe" was given to Michael Landon, who had earlier played the title role in I Was a Teenage Werewolf. He portrayed the youngest Cartwright son, whose mother (Felicia in the pilot, and later changed to Marie) was of French Creole descent. Landon began to develop his skills in writing and directing Bonanza episodes, starting with "The Gamble." Most of the episodes Landon wrote and directed were dramas, including the two-hour, "Forever" (1972), which was recognized by TV Guide as being one of television's best specials (November 1993).^[vague] Landon's development was a bit stormy according to David Dortort, who felt that the actor grew more difficult during the last five seasons the show ran.^[23] Landon appeared in all but fourteen Bonanza episodes for its run, a total of 416 episodes.
Beginning in 1962, a foundation was being laid to include another "son", as Pernell Roberts was displeased with his character. In the episode "First Born" (1962), viewers learn of Little Joe's older, maternal half-brother Clay Stafford. The character departed in that same episode, but left an opportunity for a return if needed. This character's paternity is open to debate. In the 1963 flashback episode "Marie, My Love", his father was Jean De'Marigny. Then in 1964, Lorne Greene released the song "Saga of the Ponderosa",^[23] wherein Marie's previous husband was "Big Joe" Collins, who dies saving Ben's life. After Ben consoles Marie, the two bond and marry. They choose to honor "Big Joe" by calling their son "Little Joe". So, whether to Stafford, De'Marigny or Collins, Marie Cartwright was previously married. In the last of the three Bonanza TV movies, it is revealed that "Little Joe" had died in the Spanish–American War – a member of the "Rough Riders".

Ray Teal – Sheriff Roy Coffee

Veteran character actor Ray Teal essayed the role of Sheriff Roy Coffee on 98 episodes from 1960 to 1972.^[24] He appeared in more than 250 movies and some 90 television programs during his 37-year career. His longest-running role was as Sheriff Roy Coffee. He had also played a sheriff in the Billy Wilder film Ace in the Hole (1951). Teal co-starred in numerous TV westerns throughout his career: he appeared five times on Cheyenne, twice on The Lone Ranger, on The Alaskans, a short-lived series starring Roger Moore, three times in different roles on another long-running western series, Wagon Train, on NBC's Tales of Wells Fargo with Dale Robertson, on the ABC western series Broken Arrow, five times on the ABC western comedy Maverick starring James Garner and Jack Kelly, on the CBS western series The Texan with Rory Calhoun, the NBC western series The Californians, twice on Colt .45 with Wayde Preston, once on Wanted: Dead or Alive with Steve McQueen and as "Sheriff Clay" for a single 1960 episode of the NBC western series Riverboat with Darren McGavin, and four times on a western series about the rodeo entitled Wide Country.
Teal was a bit-part player in western films for several years before landing a substantial role in Northwest Passage (1940) starring Spencer Tracy. Another of his roles was as Little John in The Bandit of Sherwood Forest (1946). Notable film roles include playing one of the judges in Judgment at Nuremberg (1961) with Spencer Tracy, and an indulgent bar owner to Marlon Brando's motorcycle gang in The Wild One (1953), which was the second of three times that Teal appeared with Brando, having done so already as a drunk in Brando's debut in The Men (1950) and later in Brando's only directorial effort, One-Eyed Jacks (1961), as a bartender.
Sheriff Coffee was occasionally the focus of a plot as in the episode "No Less a Man" (broadcast March 15, 1964). A gang of thieves has been terrorizing towns around Virginia City and the town council wants to replace Coffee, whom they consider over-the-hill, with a younger sheriff before the gang hits town, not realizing that they'd been spared earlier because the gang's leader was wary of Coffee's longevity and only acquiesced to rob the Virginia City bank after extreme pressure from other gang members. Coffee ends up showing the town that youth and a fast gun don't replace experience.

Guy Williams - Will Cartwright

Guy Williams was slated in 1964, the year that Bonanza hit #1 in the ratings, to replace Pernell Roberts upon Roberts' departure, enabling the series to preserve the four-Cartwright format for the run of the series. His character, Ben's nephew Will Cartwright, was introduced and was the lead character in five episodes, receiving "Starring" billing after the four original rotating Cartwrights during his second appearance going forward, but Roberts changed his mind later and decided to stay for one more season, whereupon Williams found himself pushed out of the part; it was rumored that Landon and Greene felt threatened by the studio initiating a precedent of successfully replacing one heroic leading man Cartwright with a new one, particularly in view of Williams' popularity with viewers. Williams had previously portrayed the titular character in Walt Disney's Zorro television series, and went on to play the lead in Lost in Space, a science fiction television series, after the role in Bonanza ended.

David Canary – "Candy" Canaday

After graduating from the University of Cincinnati, David Canary was offered a left-end position with the Denver Broncos,^[13] but pursued acting and singing. In 1967, he joined the cast as "Candy" Canaday, a plucky Army brat turned cowboy,^[25] who became the Cartwrights' confidant, ranch foreman, and timber vessel captain. Dortort was impressed by Canary's talent, but the character vanished in September 1970, after Canary had a contract dispute. He returned two seasons later after co-star Dan Blocker's death, reportedly having been approached by Landon. Canary played the character on a total of 91 episodes.^[24] Canary joined the cast in Season 9.

Victor Sen Yung – Hop Sing

Chinese American actor Victor Sen Yung played the Cartwrights' happy-go-lucky cook, whose blood pressure rose when the family came late for dinner. Cast here as the faithful domestic, the comedy relief character had little to do beyond chores. He once used martial arts to assail a towering family foe.^[26] Though often referenced, Hop Sing only appeared in an average of eight to nine shows each season. As a semi-regular cast member, Sen Yung was only paid per episode. After 14 years, he was widely known, but making far less than his Ponderosa peers. The Hop Sing character was central in only two episodes: "Mark Of Guilt" (#316) and "The Lonely Man" (#404).

Mitch Vogel – Jamie Hunter/Cartwright

After Canary's departure in mid-1970, and aware of the show's aging demographic, the writers sought a fresh outlet for Ben's fatherly advice. Fourteen-year-old Mitch Vogel was introduced as Jamie Hunter in "A Matter of Faith" (season 12, episode 363). Vogel played the red-haired orphan of a roving rainmaker, whom Ben takes in and adopts later in a 1971 episode, called "A Home For Jamie."

Tim Matheson – Griff King

During the final season, in 1972–1973, Tim Matheson portrayed Griff King, a parolee who tries to reform his life as a worker at the Ponderosa Ranch under Ben Cartwright's tutelage.

Lou Frizzell - Dusty Rhoades

Following Canary's departure, Frizzell's character accompanied Jamie Hunter to the Ponderosa and became the Cartwright's foreman.

Cast episode count

Lorne Greene – Ben Cartwright - 417 episodes (Season 1-14)
Michael Landon – Joseph "Little Joe" Cartwright - 416 episodes (Season 1-14)
Dan Blocker – Eric "Hoss" Cartwright - 401 episodes (Season 1-13)
Pernell Roberts – Adam Cartwright - 173 episodes (Season 1-6)
Victor Sen Yung – Hop Sing – 107 episodes (Season 1-14)
Ray Teal - Sheriff Coffee – 98 episodes (Season 2-13)
David Canary – "Candy" Canaday - 91 episodes (Season 9-14)
Mitch Vogel – Jamie Hunter Cartwright - 47 episodes (Season 12-14)
Tim Matheson – Griff King - 12 episodes (Season 14)
Guy Williams - Will Cartwright - 5 episodes (Season 5)

Episodes

Season		Episodes	Originally aired		Nielsen ratings^[27]
Season		Episodes	First aired	Last aired	Rank	Rating	Tied with
	1	32	September 12, 1959	April 30, 1960	N/A	N/A	N/A
	2	34	September 10, 1960	June 3, 1961	17	24.8	N/A
	3	34	September 24, 1961	May 20, 1962	2	30.0	N/A
	4	34	September 23, 1962	May 26, 1963	4	29.8	The Lucy Show
	5	34	September 22, 1963	May 24, 1964	2	36.9	N/A
	6	34	September 20, 1964	May 23, 1965	1	36.3	N/A
	7	33	September 12, 1965	May 15, 1966	1	31.8	N/A
	8	34	September 11, 1966	May 14, 1967	1	29.1	N/A
	9	34	September 17, 1967	July 28, 1968	4	25.5	Gunsmoke Family Affair
	10	30	September 15, 1968	May 11, 1969	3	26.6	N/A
	11	28	September 14, 1969	April 19, 1970	3	24.8	N/A
	12	28	September 13, 1970	April 11, 1971	9	23.9	N/A
	13	26	September 19, 1971	April 2, 1972	20	21.9	N/A
	14	16	September 12, 1972	January 16, 1973	N/A	N/A	N/A

Love story's

Broadcast history and ratings

Lorne Greene as Ben

Initially, Bonanza aired on Saturday evenings opposite "Dick Clark's Saturday Night Beech-Nut Show" and "John Gunther's High Road" on ABC, and Perry Mason on CBS. Bonanza's initial ratings were respectable, often coming in behind Mason but ahead of the ABC line-up. Ironically, executives considered canceling the show before its premiere because of its high cost. NBC kept it because Bonanza was one of the first series to be filmed and broadcast in color, including scenes of picturesque Lake Tahoe, Nevada, although most of the episodes were obviously filmed on soundstages until the seasons near the end of the series. NBC's corporate parent, Radio Corporation of America (RCA), used the show to spur sales of RCA-manufactured color television sets (RCA was also the primary sponsor of the series during its first two seasons).
NBC moved Bonanza to Sundays at 9:00 pm Eastern with new sponsor Chevrolet (replacing The Dinah Shore Chevy Show). The new time slot caused Bonanza to soar in the ratings, and it eventually reached number one by 1964, an honor it would keep until 1967 when it was seriously challenged by the socially daring variety show, The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour on CBS. By 1970, Bonanza was the first series to appear in the Top Five list for nine consecutive seasons (a record that would stand for many years) and thus established itself as the most consistent strong-performing hit television series of the 1960s. Bonanza remained high on the Nielsen ratings until 1971, when it finally fell out of the Top Ten.
During the summer of 1972, NBC broadcast reruns of episodes of the show from the 1967–1970 era on Tuesday evenings at 7:30 p.m. under the title Ponderosa while also rerunning more recent episodes on Sunday evenings in the show's normal time slot as Bonanza.^[9] In the fall of 1972, off-network episodes were released in broadcast syndication to local stations by NBC under the Ponderosa name. After the series was canceled, the syndicated reruns reverted to the Bonanza name.

Awards

1964: Logi Award for Best Overseas Show
1965: Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievements in Entertainment - Color Consultant, Edward P. Ancona Jr. (color consultant)
1966: Primetime Emmy Award for Individual Achievements in Film Editing - Marvin Coil (editor), Everett Douglas (editor), Ellsworth Hoagland (editor)
1966: Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Dramatic Series - David Dortort (producer)
1966: Primetime Emmy Award for Individual Achievements in Music - Composition David Rose
1969: Bambi, TV Series International - Lorne Greene, Dan Blocker, Michael Landon and Pernell Roberts
1970: Bronze Wrangler Award, True Television Drama - For episode "The Wish".
1971: Primetime Emmy Award Outstanding Achievement in Music Composition - For a Series or a Single Program of a Series (First Music's Use Only) David lean (composer) For episode "The Love Child".
2003: TV Land Award for Best in the West
2011: OFTA TV Hall of Fame Television Programs

Other nominations

1961: Writers Guild of America, USA - Episodic, Longer Than 30 Minutes in Length - Donald S. Sanford For Bonanza: The Last Hunt (1959).
1962: Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography for Television - Walter Castle (cinematographer) and Haskell B. Boggs (cinematographer)
1963: Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction and Scenic Design - Hal Pereira (art director) and A. Earl Hedrick (scenic designer)
1964: Golden Globes Award for Best TV Show
1964: Golden Award for Best TV Star Male: Lorne Greene - Nominated
1964: Eddie Awards for Best Edited Television Program - Marvin Coil For episode "Hoss and the Leprechaun".
1965: Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievements in Entertainment - Cinematographer - Haskell B. Boggs (cinematographer) and William P. Whitley (cinematographer)
1966: Primetime Emmy Award for Individual Achievements in Cinematography - Cinematography - Haskell B. Boggs (cinematographer) and William P. Whitley (cinematographer)
1966: Primetime Emmy Award for Individual Achievements in Cinematography - Special - Edward P. Ancona Jr. (color coordinator)
1966: Troféu Imprensa, Brazil - Best Series (Melhor Série)
1967: Primetime Emmy Award for Individual Achievements in Cinematography - Cinematography Haskell B. Boggs (cinematographer) and William P. Whitley (cinematographer)
1970: Eddie Awards for Best Edited Television Program - Danny B. Landres For episode "Dead Wrong".
1971: Primetime Award for Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography for Entertainment Programming - For a Series or a Single Program of a Series - Ted Voigtlander For episode "The Love Child".
2018: TV Land Award for Favorite Made-for-TV Maid - Victor Sen Yung

Production

Costumes

Pernell Roberts, Dan Blocker, Lorne Greene and Michael Landon (1961)

From the fourth season on, the Cartwrights and nearly every other recurring character on the show wore the same clothing in almost every episode. The reason for this is twofold: it made duplication of wardrobe easier for stunt doubles (Hal Burton, Bob Miles, Bill Clark, Lyle Heisler, Ray Mazy) and it cut the cost of refilming action shots (such as riding clips in-between scenes), as previously shot stock footage could be reused. Below is a survey of costumes employed:

Ben Cartwright: Sandy shirt, tawny leather vest, gray pants, cream-colored hat, occasional green scarf.
Adam Cartwright: Black shirt, black or midnight blue pants, black hat. Elegant city wear. Cream-colored trail coat.
Hoss Cartwright: White shirt, brown suede vest, brown pants, large beige flat-brimmed, ten-gallon hat.
Little Joe Cartwright: Beige, light gray shirt, kelly-green jacket, tan pants, beige hat. Black leather gloves from 10th season on. In season 14, he and Greene occasionally wore different shirts and slacks, as the footage of them and the late Dan Blocker together could no longer be reused.
Candy Canaday: Crimson shirt, black pants, black leather vest, black hat, grey/ pale purple scarf.

It was not unusual for Little Joe Cartwright and Candy Canaday to appear shirtless in various scenes involving manual labor.

Hair styles

In 1968, Blocker began wearing a toupee on the series, as he was approaching age 40 and his hair loss was becoming more evident. He joined the ranks of his fellow co-stars Roberts and Greene, both of whom had begun the series with hairpieces (Greene wore his modest frontal piece in private life too, whereas Roberts preferred not wearing his, even to rehearsals/blocking). Landon was the only original cast member who was wig-free throughout the series, as even Sen Yung wore an attached queue.^[28]

Theme song

Bonanza features a memorable theme song by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans that was orchestrated by David Rose and arranged by Billy May for the television series. Members of the Western Writers of America chose it as one of the Top 100 Western songs of all time.^[29]
The Bonanza theme song famously opens with a blazing Ponderosa map and saddlebound Cartwrights. The melodic intro, emulating galloping horses, is one of the most recognized television scores. Variations of the theme were used for 12 seasons on the series. Although there were two official sets of lyrics (some country-western singers, avoiding royalties, substituted the copyright renditions with their own words), the series simply used an instrumental theme. Three of the cast members bellowed-out the original lyrics, unaccompanied, at the close of the pilot (Pernell Roberts, the sole professional singer of the quartet, abstained and untethered the horse reins). Before the pilot aired (on September 12, 1959), the song sequence, deemed too campy, was edited out of the scene and instead the Cartwrights headed back to the ranch whooping and howling. In a 1964 song, the Livingston-Evans lyrics were revised by Lorne Greene with a more familial emphasis, "on this land we put our brand, Cartwright is the name, fortune smiled the day we filed the Ponderosa claim" ("Bonanza", Bear Family Box set, Disc #2). In 1968, a slightly revamped horn and percussion-heavy arrangement of the original score introduced the series- which was used until 1970. A new theme song, called "The Big Bonanza" was written in 1970 by episode scorer David Rose, and was used from 1970–1972. Action-shot pictorials of the cast replaced the galloping trio. Finally, a faster rendition of the original music returned for the 14th and final season, along with action shots of the cast.

Dan Blocker (Hoss), Michael Landon (Little Joe), Lorne Greene (Ben) and one of the Bonanza horses on The Ponderosa.

The theme song has been recorded by numerous artists in a diverse variety of styles. The first recorded and released version was an instrumental by Marty Gold, on his 1960 album Swingin' West. This was followed by the February 1960 single by Buddy Morrow and his Orchestra, which included vocals. Morrow's version also appeared on his 1960 album Double Impact which featured several other then-recent television themes. In December 1960, another vocal version was issued only in the United Kingdom by Johnny Gregory (bandleader) and his Orchestra and Chorus released on the Fontana label. All aforementioned vocal versions, including the television pilot, used lyrics written by Livingston and Evans contained in the first published sheet music for the song, though not all the lyrics were sung. A Bonanza soundtrack album released in late 1961 included a version by David Rose; Rose also had a 1960 single and included the theme on his 1961 album Exodus in a different mix. The biggest hit version is a guitar instrumental by Al Caiola, which reached number 19 on Billboard in 1961. Other versions were released by Billy Vaughn, Valjean, Lorne Greene, Johnny Cash and Nelson Riddle.
Country singer Johnny Cash was first to record a full length vocal version of the theme song. He and Johnny Western discarded the original Livingston and Evans lyrics, and wrote new ones, though the revised lyrics still make direct reference to the Cartwrights and the Ponderosa. The song first saw release by September 1962 as a single. Sometime after June 1963, it was released as a track on his sixteenth album: Ring of Fire: The Best of Johnny Cash. This version was later covered by Faron Young for his 1963 album Aims at the West. Singer Ralf Paulsen recorded a German-language version of the song in 1963, released in mid-June 1963 on Capitol Records in the United States. His German version (lyrics attributed to "Nicolas") was sung in the same style and mood in which Cash had recorded it, and was fairly close in translation.
Carlos Malcolm & His Afro-Jamaican Rhythms released a ska version of the song as "Bonanza Ska" on Trojan Records in 1964. This version was later covered by Bad Manners (1989) and the Hurtin' Buckaroos (1997). Michael Richards, as Stanley Spadowski, sang a bit of the theme song while being held hostage by Channel 8's news goons in UHF (he did not know the words to the song he was originally supposed to sing, "Helter Skelter"). Michael Feinstein was the last to record the song in 2002 on his Songs of Evans and Livingston tribute CD. The Little House on the Prairie theme (also by Rose), was heard first in a 1971 episode of Bonanza. The overture for The High Chaparral composed by Harry Sukman can be heard briefly at the start of the 1966 episode "Four Sisters from Boston". On January 29, 2011, Marty Stuart and the Fabulous Superlatives performed the song on episode 56 of The Marty Stuart Show. The band often includes the song in their live shows.^[30]

Set

Ponderosa tour postcard - visitors tour the replica ranchhouse and its big living room with stone fireplace overlooking the east shore of Lake Tahoe, in Incline Village, Nevada where several rebuilt ranch buildings were used as a set for outside filming

The opening scene for the first season was shot at Lake Hemet, a reservoir in the San Jacinto Mountains, Riverside County, California, and later moved to Lake Tahoe. During the first season extra horses were rented from the Idyllwild Stables in Idyllwild, also in the San Jacinto Mountains. The first Virginia City set was used on the show until 1970 and was located on a backlot at Paramount and featured in episodes of Have Gun – Will Travel, Mannix, and The Brady Bunch. In the 1970 premiere episode of the 12th season entitled "The Night Virginia City Died", Deputy Clem Foster's pyromaniac fiancée levels the town in a series of fires (reflecting a real 1875 fire that destroyed three-quarters of Virginia City). This allowed for a switch to the less expensive Warner studios from September 1970 through January 1973. The script was initially written for the departing David Canary's Candy, but was rewritten for actors Ray Teal (Sheriff Roy Coffee) and Bing Russell (Deputy Clem Foster), who rarely appeared together on the show.
The program's Nevada set, the Ponderosa Ranch house, was recreated in Incline Village, Nevada, in 1967, and remained a tourist attraction until its sale thirty-seven years later in September 2004.

Kayla's Korner

June 07, 2018

Bonanza From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia