Paul Colt's Blog, page 38
May 26, 2018
Cowboy Wit & Wisdom
Cowboy wit and wisdom knows no bounds. Pick a subject – life, love, critters, you name it and some cowboy, or cowgirl, has opined on it, often with his or her tongue firmly implanted in cheek. Will Rogers was a cowboy humorist. Some of these anonymous philosophers in spurs are too. So let’s grab a topic and see what the cowboys or cowgirls have to say. According to Samuel Taylor Coleridge (not a cowboy), “Common sense, no matter how uncommon, is wisdom”. So let’s start with common sense.
Here’s one. “Silence is sometimes the best answer.” Along with the corollary, “Never miss a good chance to shut-up.” Sound advice for those of us who suffer from hoof in mouth disease.
Then again, “Don’t worry about biting off more than you can chew, your mouth is probably bigger than you think.” Think about that. Do you suppose there is a correlation between folks who bite off more than they can chew and those who suffer from hoof in mouth disease?
Folks who bite off more than they can chew frequently find themselves at the end of their rope. When that happens, cowboy wisdom tells us to “Tie a knot and hang on tight.”
For those with mouths big enough to miss “a good chance to shut up,” when it comes to showing your neighbor the error of his ways, remember “A word to the wise is unnecessary. A word to the unwise won’t do no good”; and showing a neighbor the error of her ways – forget it.
“Always drink upstream from the herd.” See what they mean about a word to the wise being unnecessary.
The bible tells us “A house divided against itself cannot stand”. That’s wisdom. It takes a cowboy philosopher to remind us, “A full house divided, don’t win no pots.”
And lastly ladies, “Never slap a man chewin’ tobacco.” Just sayin’. . .
I believe this just might work. Let’s see if we can serve up more fun next week.
Next Week: Horse Sense
Return to Facebook to comment
Ride easy,
Paul
Here’s one. “Silence is sometimes the best answer.” Along with the corollary, “Never miss a good chance to shut-up.” Sound advice for those of us who suffer from hoof in mouth disease.
Then again, “Don’t worry about biting off more than you can chew, your mouth is probably bigger than you think.” Think about that. Do you suppose there is a correlation between folks who bite off more than they can chew and those who suffer from hoof in mouth disease?
Folks who bite off more than they can chew frequently find themselves at the end of their rope. When that happens, cowboy wisdom tells us to “Tie a knot and hang on tight.”
For those with mouths big enough to miss “a good chance to shut up,” when it comes to showing your neighbor the error of his ways, remember “A word to the wise is unnecessary. A word to the unwise won’t do no good”; and showing a neighbor the error of her ways – forget it.
“Always drink upstream from the herd.” See what they mean about a word to the wise being unnecessary.
The bible tells us “A house divided against itself cannot stand”. That’s wisdom. It takes a cowboy philosopher to remind us, “A full house divided, don’t win no pots.”
And lastly ladies, “Never slap a man chewin’ tobacco.” Just sayin’. . .
I believe this just might work. Let’s see if we can serve up more fun next week.
Next Week: Horse Sense
Return to Facebook to comment
Ride easy,
Paul
May 19, 2018
Favorite Female Characters
You won’t find many shrinking violets among my female characters. Why? I like strong women. I married one. In my business life, I had the privilege of working with quite a few of them. Some of them are out there among the readers of these pages. You know who you are. One thing that surprised me when my books started selling is that almost half my readers are women. I don’t know if my favorite female characters have anything to do with it. I suspect they do. So what makes my favorite female characters so much fun?
I finished my first book and came to that moment of truth- my first reader. Another person was about to read and react to my work. Scary. I gave the manuscript to my wife in a black three ring binder. She and a friend were helping a third friend by driving her to a series medical treatments. My wife and her friend spent their wait-time reading. When Trish pulled out the binder, her friend asked, “What’s that?” “Paul’s book,” she said. “All I’ve got to say is the romantic interest better look a lot like me.” Forty pages later she said. “Here she comes. She’s a Cheyenne maiden with copper skin, long dark hair and dark eyes.” Not exactly a picture of my wife. Her friend with a flair for sarcasm, said. “Like lookin’ in a (expletive) mirror.”
The Cheyenne maiden, Morning Dove had a green-eyed red haired rival for the hero’s heart. Victoria Westfield mounted a devious, conniving campaign to capture the heart of our hero. My wife disliked her character from the start. It didn’t help when the kids suggested that Victoria might be based on her. She wasn’t of course. No really. Victoria had a fling with a bad guy in Black Friday and eventually married a good guy by the end of the series. None of which changed my wife’s opinion of the woman.
I’ve given characters away as ‘gifts’. Our daughter asked for a character a few years ago. Mel Park, a faro dealer in Deadwood, appears in Desperado Trail. Mel took to gambling when she discovered she could make more money dealing than turning tricks in the trade. Careful what you wish for. Then there is A Question of Bounty’s Calico Cait. She’s a saloon owner with pepper box derringers in her garters and Billy the Kid for a customer. 'Cait' was a gift to a Saddie Hawkins golf partner. And so it goes with my favorite female characters. They elicit reactions from my readers; and that, I think, is a good thing.
Next Week: Cowboy Wit & Wisdom
Return to Facebook to comment.
Ride easy,
Paul
I finished my first book and came to that moment of truth- my first reader. Another person was about to read and react to my work. Scary. I gave the manuscript to my wife in a black three ring binder. She and a friend were helping a third friend by driving her to a series medical treatments. My wife and her friend spent their wait-time reading. When Trish pulled out the binder, her friend asked, “What’s that?” “Paul’s book,” she said. “All I’ve got to say is the romantic interest better look a lot like me.” Forty pages later she said. “Here she comes. She’s a Cheyenne maiden with copper skin, long dark hair and dark eyes.” Not exactly a picture of my wife. Her friend with a flair for sarcasm, said. “Like lookin’ in a (expletive) mirror.”
The Cheyenne maiden, Morning Dove had a green-eyed red haired rival for the hero’s heart. Victoria Westfield mounted a devious, conniving campaign to capture the heart of our hero. My wife disliked her character from the start. It didn’t help when the kids suggested that Victoria might be based on her. She wasn’t of course. No really. Victoria had a fling with a bad guy in Black Friday and eventually married a good guy by the end of the series. None of which changed my wife’s opinion of the woman.
I’ve given characters away as ‘gifts’. Our daughter asked for a character a few years ago. Mel Park, a faro dealer in Deadwood, appears in Desperado Trail. Mel took to gambling when she discovered she could make more money dealing than turning tricks in the trade. Careful what you wish for. Then there is A Question of Bounty’s Calico Cait. She’s a saloon owner with pepper box derringers in her garters and Billy the Kid for a customer. 'Cait' was a gift to a Saddie Hawkins golf partner. And so it goes with my favorite female characters. They elicit reactions from my readers; and that, I think, is a good thing.
Next Week: Cowboy Wit & Wisdom
Return to Facebook to comment.
Ride easy,
Paul
May 12, 2018
Fictional Characters
The story dictates the cast of characters a writer needs. You need a hero or heroine, a villain, maybe a romantic interest. You’ve got a part that needs to be played. The question is, by whom? Characters come to me. They arise out of a variety of inspirations. A name or a picture may pop into my head. Occasionally a character derives from the answer to a question like, ‘If I were casting the movie, who would I want to play this part?’ The bounty hunter Briscoe Cane in my Great Western Detective League series came to me in answer to that question. Once you have a concept for a character, you have to develop a believable characterization. Who is he or she? What do they look like? What is their story? How does that story play into their part in the story we’re telling?
When you develop characters you get to know them. They help you tell a story because you know what they will think or do or say in any situation. That becomes important in writing good dialog. In conversation you get in and out of character as fast as the give and take between those in the scene. When it comes to changing personalities that quickly, you have to know the characters. I sometimes joke it takes multiple-personality disorder to pull it off.
Believable characters take on lives of their own. If you talk to fiction writers, most have experienced the phenomenon where the characters take over a story and go off in some new or unexpected direction that makes the story better. Crazy you say? It happens.
If you spend enough time with characters you become attached to them. I got attached to the characters in my J. R. Chance U.S. Marshal series. That series is where I got my start. I wrote three books. Case File: Union Pacific, Case File: Black Friday, Case File: Desperado Trail. When I finished the third book and bid those characters good bye, it was a nostalgic moment. Truth is I didn’t let them all go. One supporting character from that series became a principal in my Bounty series. A slip of a girl who made a cameo in the third book got a prominent part in the Bounty series too. Two minor characters from book three also appear in Bounty.
Next Week: Favorite Women
Ride easy,
Paul
When you develop characters you get to know them. They help you tell a story because you know what they will think or do or say in any situation. That becomes important in writing good dialog. In conversation you get in and out of character as fast as the give and take between those in the scene. When it comes to changing personalities that quickly, you have to know the characters. I sometimes joke it takes multiple-personality disorder to pull it off.
Believable characters take on lives of their own. If you talk to fiction writers, most have experienced the phenomenon where the characters take over a story and go off in some new or unexpected direction that makes the story better. Crazy you say? It happens.
If you spend enough time with characters you become attached to them. I got attached to the characters in my J. R. Chance U.S. Marshal series. That series is where I got my start. I wrote three books. Case File: Union Pacific, Case File: Black Friday, Case File: Desperado Trail. When I finished the third book and bid those characters good bye, it was a nostalgic moment. Truth is I didn’t let them all go. One supporting character from that series became a principal in my Bounty series. A slip of a girl who made a cameo in the third book got a prominent part in the Bounty series too. Two minor characters from book three also appear in Bounty.
Next Week: Favorite Women
Ride easy,
Paul
May 5, 2018
Characters
Depending on the story I’m writing, my characters can be fictional or dramatizations of actual historical figures. Each character presents its own unique challenges. Let’s start with historical figures. They start easy. The fun comes in animating them.
A lot of folks read biographies for enjoyment. As a reader, when I shopped for a book, biography wasn’t at the top of my list. Then I started writing historical fiction. As I sit here and look around my office, I find I’m accumulating quite a collection- Ulysses S. Grant, George Patton, Billy the Kid, John J. Pershing, John Brown, Pancho Villa, William Clark Quantrill and the list goes on. Biographies get the character ball rolling.
Biographies provide baseline research on the character. You have a story line. You have physical descriptions and photographs to work from. Visualization of the character is there, like a model sitting for a painter. Now comes the real challenge, animating the person. For me animating a character requires getting in-character almost like an actor. If I’m going to put words in a character’s mouth, I need to know the person. Where are they coming from? What might they have thought or felt? Why? As a story unfolds you put characters in situations, interactions and conversations with other characters. How do they act? How do they react? If you are able to get in-character, the character becomes believable. A Booklist review of A Question of Bounty said of my Billy the Kid, “Billy lives in these pages.” If you know anything about Billy, you know he is a complex character. Bringing him to life for a sophisticated reader gave me a real high.
Historical figures present another interesting challenge. Quite often people know them. Readers have an expectation of who that character is. The best example of that is George Patton. We have an iconic expectation about that character as famously portrayed by George C. Scott. Was Patton Scott’s Patton? Who can say? It doesn’t matter. George C. Scott is a great actor. For most of us, Scott’s portrayal is George Patton. Taking that character expectation and rewinding the tape to a younger, ‘coming into his own’ version of that character for Boots and Saddles: A Call to Glory was a challenge. You had to honor the icon at his formative roots.
Next Week: Fictional Characters
Return to Facebook to comment.
Ride easy,
Paul
A lot of folks read biographies for enjoyment. As a reader, when I shopped for a book, biography wasn’t at the top of my list. Then I started writing historical fiction. As I sit here and look around my office, I find I’m accumulating quite a collection- Ulysses S. Grant, George Patton, Billy the Kid, John J. Pershing, John Brown, Pancho Villa, William Clark Quantrill and the list goes on. Biographies get the character ball rolling.
Biographies provide baseline research on the character. You have a story line. You have physical descriptions and photographs to work from. Visualization of the character is there, like a model sitting for a painter. Now comes the real challenge, animating the person. For me animating a character requires getting in-character almost like an actor. If I’m going to put words in a character’s mouth, I need to know the person. Where are they coming from? What might they have thought or felt? Why? As a story unfolds you put characters in situations, interactions and conversations with other characters. How do they act? How do they react? If you are able to get in-character, the character becomes believable. A Booklist review of A Question of Bounty said of my Billy the Kid, “Billy lives in these pages.” If you know anything about Billy, you know he is a complex character. Bringing him to life for a sophisticated reader gave me a real high.
Historical figures present another interesting challenge. Quite often people know them. Readers have an expectation of who that character is. The best example of that is George Patton. We have an iconic expectation about that character as famously portrayed by George C. Scott. Was Patton Scott’s Patton? Who can say? It doesn’t matter. George C. Scott is a great actor. For most of us, Scott’s portrayal is George Patton. Taking that character expectation and rewinding the tape to a younger, ‘coming into his own’ version of that character for Boots and Saddles: A Call to Glory was a challenge. You had to honor the icon at his formative roots.
Next Week: Fictional Characters
Return to Facebook to comment.
Ride easy,
Paul
April 28, 2018
Big Valley
Set in California’s San Joaquin Valley circa 1878 – 1880, The Big Valley seems to have been inspired by the thirty thousand acre Hill Ranch in Calaveras County not far from Stockton. Several parallels support the idea. Lawson Hill’s widow owned the ranch of comparable size with her four children, three boys and a girl. Victoria Barkley’s clan included three boys and one daughter. Created and produced by A. L. Bezzerides and Louis F. Edelman the show ran on ABC in color for four seasons and one hundred twelve episodes.
Stanwyck played Victoria Barkley, a refined lady with a cowgirl tough side when needed. She was the show’s main character, in episodes that often placed her in difficult or dangerous predicaments. Eldest son Jarrod, played by Richard Long, was the educated, level headed, dapper lawyer who oversaw the family business dealings. Son Nick played by Lee Majors as a rough around the edges, ready for anything ranch manager. Dressed in black, he had a fun-loving capacity to lighten a moment here and there.
Daughter Audra, played by Linda Evans was a self-possessed woman who considered herself equal to the boys and up to any situation that might confront her. Half-brother Heath (Peter Beck) insinuated himself into the family in the first season after learning from his mother on her deathbed that his father was Victoria Barkley’s deceased husband. Suffice it to say the family was skeptical of the newcomer’s claim; but gradually he became accepted as brother and son.
In its fourth season the show fell victim to the ratings game against the popular Carol Burnett Show and genre fatigue with TV westerns. We’d had our fill and as they say, “All good things . . . And so the golden age of the TV western began to fade. A lot of us grew up on these shows. For some of us we still can’t get enough. We’ve gotten some great western films in the years since, though there’s a lot of ‘far’ between them. You can still find western TV, you just have to look for it. Many readers of these pages do. Classic TV westerns helped us stay in touch with our history, even if the stories in most cases were fiction. When I came to the question what should I write, the answer was write what you know. For me that’s the west.
Next Week: Characters
Return to Facebook to comment.
Ride easy,
Paul
Stanwyck played Victoria Barkley, a refined lady with a cowgirl tough side when needed. She was the show’s main character, in episodes that often placed her in difficult or dangerous predicaments. Eldest son Jarrod, played by Richard Long, was the educated, level headed, dapper lawyer who oversaw the family business dealings. Son Nick played by Lee Majors as a rough around the edges, ready for anything ranch manager. Dressed in black, he had a fun-loving capacity to lighten a moment here and there.
Daughter Audra, played by Linda Evans was a self-possessed woman who considered herself equal to the boys and up to any situation that might confront her. Half-brother Heath (Peter Beck) insinuated himself into the family in the first season after learning from his mother on her deathbed that his father was Victoria Barkley’s deceased husband. Suffice it to say the family was skeptical of the newcomer’s claim; but gradually he became accepted as brother and son.
In its fourth season the show fell victim to the ratings game against the popular Carol Burnett Show and genre fatigue with TV westerns. We’d had our fill and as they say, “All good things . . . And so the golden age of the TV western began to fade. A lot of us grew up on these shows. For some of us we still can’t get enough. We’ve gotten some great western films in the years since, though there’s a lot of ‘far’ between them. You can still find western TV, you just have to look for it. Many readers of these pages do. Classic TV westerns helped us stay in touch with our history, even if the stories in most cases were fiction. When I came to the question what should I write, the answer was write what you know. For me that’s the west.
Next Week: Characters
Return to Facebook to comment.
Ride easy,
Paul
April 21, 2018
The Virginian
Loosely based on a classic western novel by Owen Wister, of the same title, the series ran two hundred forty-nine, ninety minute color episodes. The show aired on NBC after being first proposed to replace the venerable Wagon Train. NBC hit two in a row with that pair.
The show was set at Shiloh Ranch near Medicine Bow, Wyoming circa 1889. Most of the show’s early scripts dealt with troubles and events surrounding the ranch. Drury’s title character was cast as foreman. A tough and serious taskmaster, The Virginian projected an aura of mystery about himself with no other given name and no personal history. McClure’s Trampas departed from the character in Wister’s book. Wister cast Trampas as villain who would be killed by The Virginian in the end. McClure’s character was a happy go lucky cowboy sometimes given to humor as a counterpart to Drury’s austere presence. Drury rode a white Appaloosa named Joe D. McClure mounted a buckskin creatively named Buck.
Over the course of nine seasons The Virginian worked for five different ranch owners. Judge Henry Garth (Lee J. Cobb) owned Shiloh through the first four seasons. The Judge was appointed Governor of Wyoming when Cobb left the show. He was replaced by Morgan Starr (John Dehner), a tough cold character fans didn’t like. He was replaced after one season by John Grainger (Charles Bickford). Shiloh took on a family ownership that later passed to Clay Grainger (John McIntire). Col. Alan Mackenzie wrapped up the final season. Clu Gulager who you may remember from last week’s Tall Man, joined the cast in season three as gunfighter turned Sheriff Emmett Ryker. Gulager stayed with the show on and off through season 6. Drury and McClure were the only two cast members to remain with the series though its entire run.
In season nine the show was made over to The Men from Shiloh. The action rotated lead characters through episodes set away from the ranch. The changes were made to bolster lagging ratings. It was a creative attempt to save a show that had simply run its course.
Next Week: Big Valley
Return to Facebook to comment.
Ride easy,
Paul
The show was set at Shiloh Ranch near Medicine Bow, Wyoming circa 1889. Most of the show’s early scripts dealt with troubles and events surrounding the ranch. Drury’s title character was cast as foreman. A tough and serious taskmaster, The Virginian projected an aura of mystery about himself with no other given name and no personal history. McClure’s Trampas departed from the character in Wister’s book. Wister cast Trampas as villain who would be killed by The Virginian in the end. McClure’s character was a happy go lucky cowboy sometimes given to humor as a counterpart to Drury’s austere presence. Drury rode a white Appaloosa named Joe D. McClure mounted a buckskin creatively named Buck.
Over the course of nine seasons The Virginian worked for five different ranch owners. Judge Henry Garth (Lee J. Cobb) owned Shiloh through the first four seasons. The Judge was appointed Governor of Wyoming when Cobb left the show. He was replaced by Morgan Starr (John Dehner), a tough cold character fans didn’t like. He was replaced after one season by John Grainger (Charles Bickford). Shiloh took on a family ownership that later passed to Clay Grainger (John McIntire). Col. Alan Mackenzie wrapped up the final season. Clu Gulager who you may remember from last week’s Tall Man, joined the cast in season three as gunfighter turned Sheriff Emmett Ryker. Gulager stayed with the show on and off through season 6. Drury and McClure were the only two cast members to remain with the series though its entire run.
In season nine the show was made over to The Men from Shiloh. The action rotated lead characters through episodes set away from the ranch. The changes were made to bolster lagging ratings. It was a creative attempt to save a show that had simply run its course.
Next Week: Big Valley
Return to Facebook to comment.
Ride easy,
Paul
April 14, 2018
Tall Man
Set in Lincoln County New Mexico Tall Man cast 6’3” Barry Sullivan as Pat Garrett and Clu Gulager as a happy go wild Billy the Kid. The show opened each week for two seasons with Sullivan’s long shadow cast on a dusty street, giving the show its title. The show nibbled around the edges of history with settings, characters and plot themes in the end all highly fictionalized.
The show, created and produced by Sam Peeples, portrayed a close relationship between Garrett and the Kid where Garrett was cast as ‘older brother figure’ to the volatile Billy. Both men were fast and proficient with their guns, Garrett to keep the peace and the Kid to manage his adversaries.
The show ran for two seasons, seventy five thirty minute episodes in black and white, sponsored by Winston cigarettes. Occasionally the writers dipped a toe into the waters of history to inspire a story; but never more than a toe. Fiction would take over from there. In one example, the premier episode, a crooked saloon owner runs Lincoln in a take-off on Jimmy Dolan in the Lincoln County War. In another episode or two Billy works for John Tundall, a thinly disguised substitute for John Tunstall whose murder ignited the Lincoln County War. In two episodes Lincoln is visited by New Mexico Territorial Governor Lew Wallace who presided over much of the politics that spawned the Lincoln County War. Wallace is also known for authoring Ben Hur. Notable guest stars included Slim Pickens, Martin Landau, George Kennedy and Nancy Davis who would go on to become First Lady as Mrs. Ronald Reagan.
The show aired for two seasons on NBC. It lost the Saturday night ratings battle to ABC’s Leave it to Beaver when NBC moved Bonanza to Sunday night. Following Tall Man Sullivan’s career drifted toward obscurity until he returned to the Billy the Kid saga as John Chisum in Sam Peckinpah’s 1973 Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid. Clu Gulager continued his western ways appearing in episodes of Wanted Dead or Alive, Have Gun Will Travel, Wagon Train and Law of the Plainsman.
Next Week: The Virginian ’62-‘71
Return to Facebook to comment.
Ride easy,
Paul
The show, created and produced by Sam Peeples, portrayed a close relationship between Garrett and the Kid where Garrett was cast as ‘older brother figure’ to the volatile Billy. Both men were fast and proficient with their guns, Garrett to keep the peace and the Kid to manage his adversaries.
The show ran for two seasons, seventy five thirty minute episodes in black and white, sponsored by Winston cigarettes. Occasionally the writers dipped a toe into the waters of history to inspire a story; but never more than a toe. Fiction would take over from there. In one example, the premier episode, a crooked saloon owner runs Lincoln in a take-off on Jimmy Dolan in the Lincoln County War. In another episode or two Billy works for John Tundall, a thinly disguised substitute for John Tunstall whose murder ignited the Lincoln County War. In two episodes Lincoln is visited by New Mexico Territorial Governor Lew Wallace who presided over much of the politics that spawned the Lincoln County War. Wallace is also known for authoring Ben Hur. Notable guest stars included Slim Pickens, Martin Landau, George Kennedy and Nancy Davis who would go on to become First Lady as Mrs. Ronald Reagan.
The show aired for two seasons on NBC. It lost the Saturday night ratings battle to ABC’s Leave it to Beaver when NBC moved Bonanza to Sunday night. Following Tall Man Sullivan’s career drifted toward obscurity until he returned to the Billy the Kid saga as John Chisum in Sam Peckinpah’s 1973 Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid. Clu Gulager continued his western ways appearing in episodes of Wanted Dead or Alive, Have Gun Will Travel, Wagon Train and Law of the Plainsman.
Next Week: The Virginian ’62-‘71
Return to Facebook to comment.
Ride easy,
Paul
April 7, 2018
Bonanza
Bonanza featured patriarch Ben Cartwright (Loren Greene) and his three sons birthed by three different wives. The eldest, Adam (Pernell Roberts), Hoss the gentle giant (Dan Blocker) and firebrand Little Joe (Michael Landon). Cartwrights’ Ponderosa ranch is set near Virginia City, Nevada in the 1860’s. Ben and the boys are joined by Chinese cook Hop Sing. Stories each week tended to focus on one of the four facing some personal situation or cause they must find a way to deal with. Scripts would also confront social issues that might resonate with contemporary counterparts.
The show aired on NBC. Fourteen seasons get you four hundred thirty one episodes. That covers a lot story lines. Curiously few involved romance. Flashback episodes dealt with each Ben’s three marriages. Other episodes might introduce a romantic interest for one of the boys, though nothing permanent ever came of any of these.
Pernell Roberts had an antagonistic artistic relationship with series writers. He left the show after the sixth season. Off screen, Michael Landon is said to have had a fractious personality that caused his share of problems. He wrote and directed several episodes in the series later seasons. Dan Blocker suited the personality of his character and was well liked by cast and crew.
That’s about it. You’d think there’d be more. You can watch episodes online and relive that stirring theme song with the four Cartwrights, galloping stirrup to stirrup, into your living room. I remember riding a trail called The Ridge in the Little Big Horn Mountains of Wyoming some years ago. Four experienced horsemen on a narrow trail climbing the side of a shear rock ridge. Not a trail for the faint of heart. At the summit the trail spilled onto a grassy high meadow, stretching more than a mile. We lit ‘em up down that valley stirrup to stirrup. I remember thinking Bonanza and hearing that familiar theme in the wind.
Next Week: Tall Man ‘60-‘62
Return to Facebook to comment.
Ride easy,
Paul
The show aired on NBC. Fourteen seasons get you four hundred thirty one episodes. That covers a lot story lines. Curiously few involved romance. Flashback episodes dealt with each Ben’s three marriages. Other episodes might introduce a romantic interest for one of the boys, though nothing permanent ever came of any of these.
Pernell Roberts had an antagonistic artistic relationship with series writers. He left the show after the sixth season. Off screen, Michael Landon is said to have had a fractious personality that caused his share of problems. He wrote and directed several episodes in the series later seasons. Dan Blocker suited the personality of his character and was well liked by cast and crew.
That’s about it. You’d think there’d be more. You can watch episodes online and relive that stirring theme song with the four Cartwrights, galloping stirrup to stirrup, into your living room. I remember riding a trail called The Ridge in the Little Big Horn Mountains of Wyoming some years ago. Four experienced horsemen on a narrow trail climbing the side of a shear rock ridge. Not a trail for the faint of heart. At the summit the trail spilled onto a grassy high meadow, stretching more than a mile. We lit ‘em up down that valley stirrup to stirrup. I remember thinking Bonanza and hearing that familiar theme in the wind.
Next Week: Tall Man ‘60-‘62
Return to Facebook to comment.
Ride easy,
Paul
March 31, 2018
Rawhide
Rawhide was the brain child of Charles Marquis Warren. Warren was no stranger to hit TV westerns. The writer/director producer put his fingerprints on the inception of Gunsmoke. He loved the cattle drive storyline, often compared to another long running series, Wagon Train. He based the series on the 1866 diary of an actual trail boss. Rawhide’s drives headed up the trail from San Antonio Texas to Sedalia Missouri and later Abilene Kansas. Warren eventually sold Rawhide to CBS who put it on the air as a mid-season replacement in 1959.
Warren conceived the characters and assembled the ensemble cast the series rode to popularity. Eric Fleming played Trail Boss Gil Favor, a tough, competent, get-it-done, straight shooter. Warren discovered Clint Eastwood as ramrod Rowdy Yates. Eastwood would go on to super-stardom. They were joined by Paul Brinegar as the cook Wishbone, Sheb Wolley as scout Pete Nolan, and drovers Steve Raines as Jim Quince, Rocky Shahan as Joe Scarlet and James Murdock as Mushy.
Episodes titled “Incidents” revolved around people, places or events the crew encountered along the trail. Production mixed on location outdoor action with sound stage camp and interior scenes. Dust, wind and trees gave the show an authenticity many other TV westerns of the time lacked. Scripts took on dashes of intrigue with titles like “Incident with an Executioner” and ‘Incidents’ having to do with a Druid Curse, the Murder Steer legend, St. Elmo’s fire, a gypsy wagon and haunted hills. The line-up of guest stars gave me a couple of smiles. It included Bob Steel, one of my all-time favorite boyhood B western heroes; and Julie London, my earliest recollection of smokein’ hot crush. Others included Robert Culp, Dan Duryea, Buddy Ebsen and Barbara Stanwyck.
The show had a great run for three seasons. How could it not with the caliber of cast, writing and directing? So what do you do with a hit TV series if you are CBS? You don’t lose your genius Charles Marquis Warren; but that’s what they did. Warren was succeeded by a producer-director revolving door to four years of ratings decline.
Next Week: Bonanza ‘59-‘73
Return to Facebook to comment.
Ride easy,
Paul
Warren conceived the characters and assembled the ensemble cast the series rode to popularity. Eric Fleming played Trail Boss Gil Favor, a tough, competent, get-it-done, straight shooter. Warren discovered Clint Eastwood as ramrod Rowdy Yates. Eastwood would go on to super-stardom. They were joined by Paul Brinegar as the cook Wishbone, Sheb Wolley as scout Pete Nolan, and drovers Steve Raines as Jim Quince, Rocky Shahan as Joe Scarlet and James Murdock as Mushy.
Episodes titled “Incidents” revolved around people, places or events the crew encountered along the trail. Production mixed on location outdoor action with sound stage camp and interior scenes. Dust, wind and trees gave the show an authenticity many other TV westerns of the time lacked. Scripts took on dashes of intrigue with titles like “Incident with an Executioner” and ‘Incidents’ having to do with a Druid Curse, the Murder Steer legend, St. Elmo’s fire, a gypsy wagon and haunted hills. The line-up of guest stars gave me a couple of smiles. It included Bob Steel, one of my all-time favorite boyhood B western heroes; and Julie London, my earliest recollection of smokein’ hot crush. Others included Robert Culp, Dan Duryea, Buddy Ebsen and Barbara Stanwyck.
The show had a great run for three seasons. How could it not with the caliber of cast, writing and directing? So what do you do with a hit TV series if you are CBS? You don’t lose your genius Charles Marquis Warren; but that’s what they did. Warren was succeeded by a producer-director revolving door to four years of ratings decline.
Next Week: Bonanza ‘59-‘73
Return to Facebook to comment.
Ride easy,
Paul
March 24, 2018
Laramie
When Robert Fuller got a casting call for Laramie he read the script. He loved it. The role of Jess Harper, a Shane like character with a past suited him. When he asked for the part he was told John Smith was under contract to play that part. Not interested then, Fuller said. He left the interview thinking the conversation over. His agent called that night. The producer wanted to see him in the morning. Fuller tested for the part and we all know what happened. John Smith slipped into the role of Slim Sherman, who along with his younger brother owned the ranch and stage stop where Harper went to work.
The cast included Robert Crawford, The Rifleman’s Johnny Crawford’s brother as Andy Sherman and composer Hoagy Charmichael as old hand Jonesy. Charmichael and Crawford were replaced after seasons one and two respectively; but in the chemistry between Smith and Fuller, NBC had a winner. In fact Laramie dominated its time slot until ratings dipped in the final season.
The show ran 123 episodes over four seasons and featured a stellar cast of guest stars. Notables you may remember include Claude Aikens, Robert Blake, Charles Bronson, James Coburn, Dan Duryea, Brian Keith and Lee Van Cleef. You just can’t miss with talent like that. In its third season, Laramie led the NBC line-up into the new world of living color. NBC’s iconic peacock introduced that first color show and has been the network trademark ever since.
Following Laramie’s final season, Fuller signed on to scout for Ward Bond’s Wagon Train in the role of Cooper Smith. Fuller knew Bond from his days on the Universal Studios’ lot. Fuller and Smith had their dressing rooms on a section lot known as Whiskey Row also inhabited by Bond, Lee Marvin and a few others, given to ending their workdays in the company of pals and adult beverages. Frat boys will be frat boys.
Next Week: Rawhide ‘59-‘65
Return to Facebook to comment.
Ride easy,
Paul
The cast included Robert Crawford, The Rifleman’s Johnny Crawford’s brother as Andy Sherman and composer Hoagy Charmichael as old hand Jonesy. Charmichael and Crawford were replaced after seasons one and two respectively; but in the chemistry between Smith and Fuller, NBC had a winner. In fact Laramie dominated its time slot until ratings dipped in the final season.
The show ran 123 episodes over four seasons and featured a stellar cast of guest stars. Notables you may remember include Claude Aikens, Robert Blake, Charles Bronson, James Coburn, Dan Duryea, Brian Keith and Lee Van Cleef. You just can’t miss with talent like that. In its third season, Laramie led the NBC line-up into the new world of living color. NBC’s iconic peacock introduced that first color show and has been the network trademark ever since.
Following Laramie’s final season, Fuller signed on to scout for Ward Bond’s Wagon Train in the role of Cooper Smith. Fuller knew Bond from his days on the Universal Studios’ lot. Fuller and Smith had their dressing rooms on a section lot known as Whiskey Row also inhabited by Bond, Lee Marvin and a few others, given to ending their workdays in the company of pals and adult beverages. Frat boys will be frat boys.
Next Week: Rawhide ‘59-‘65
Return to Facebook to comment.
Ride easy,
Paul
