The Top Reasons It’s Good To Be a Cartwright
Originally printed in 2013: Ok, I admit it. I watched on Bonanza not long ago. While I am watching, certain truths popped up into the ether. These are not necessarily in order. It’s good to be a Cartwright!
The Top Reasons It’s Good To Be a Cartwright
- If you’re Adam, you got to be way ahead of your time in fashion, always wearing all black. Joe, on the other hand, was the only one who didn’t HAVE to wear black boots.
- Girls in Virginia City never figure out that they are always temporary. Or passing through. Or moving away. Or died. It’s like wearing a red shirt on Star Trek. Only without the phaser.
- The Ponderosa didn’t keep livestock in the barn so close to the Big House, thus lack of smell.
- Ben may be too old to have any more kids, so the inheritance is only going to be split so many ways.
- You never have to worry about what to wear. It’s always the same outfit. (This was a production solution to budget and continuity.) Day in. Day out.
- You had a different mother than your two brothers, and they’re gone. Three moms. Three dead wives. So you had to worry if Ben was a serial killer. Given his history with women, it’s unlikely he will find a willing victim…er… fiancee. Then again, with his money…
- Even though the Ponderosa was north-east of Lake Tahoe, it almost never snowed.
- If you have to have a family, have one that owns silver mines, lumber businesses, and cattle ranches. The Old West didn’t suck so much if were stinking rich.
- When most of their money probably came from the silver mines (or maybe lumber) you almost never saw any of the Cartwrights near a silver mine or a lumber yard. They really just hung around and enjoyed the wealth.
- It’s always good to own a HUGE portion of prime real estate in Nevada. Turn the opening credits map sideways and you will see the Ponderosa was a BIG chunk of western Nevada. (a sprawling thousand-square-mile ranch near Virginia City, Nevada)
- One of Ben’s past wives must have been a helluva decorator because the Ponderosa is too nicely furnished for an all male household.
- If you weren’t too worried about your character’s arc, you had a job for decades. (Over 14 seasons and 431 episodes). The longest running western on NBC.
- If it’s not your week to have a temporary love interest, there’s always Hop-Sing.
- Afterwards, you get to play a Battlestar commander, a spin-off doctor, an dad on the prairie or… an angel.
Other Little Know Bonanza Facts
- Victor Sen Yung(Hop-Sing) was shot during a 1972 hijacking
- Dan Blocker (Hoss Cartwright) was a highly decorated war hero: was wounded in the Korean War, received the Purple Heart, National Defense Service Medal, Korean Service Medal with two bronze stars, Republic of Korea Presidential Citation, United Nations Service Medal and Combat Infantryman Badge.
- Lorne Greene wasn’t comfortable riding a horse. In 1973, the veteran Canadian actor bought his trusty buckskin steed “Buck” from the television studio and donated the animal to a therapeutic horseback riding facility.
- Michael Landon’s daughter is now a Western star, too Jennifer Landon plays Teeter on the hit series Yellowstone.
- Deputy Cem in Virginia City was Kurt Russell’s father.
- Pernell Roberts (Adam Cartwright) was also a well-known activist. He participated in the Selma to Montgomery marches in 1965 and was known for pressuring NBC to hire ethnic actors to portray minority characters instead of employing white actors in minority roles.