For 14 thrilling seasons, the western drama "Bonanza" was one
of the highest rated and most beloved shows on television. But despite this success,
there's a lot you may not know about the hit series. This is the untold truth of "Bonanza."
While female audiences swooned over Michael Landon's "Little Joe" Cartwright,
there's one thing the gorgeous celeb kept well hidden. According to “Outsider,” he
reportedly wore 4-inch lifts in his shoes to appear taller on the set of "Bonanza."
The strange thing is that, at 5 feet, 9 inches tall, Landon wasn't actually very short. However,
his co-stars happened to be really tall. Lorne Greene and Pernell Roberts were both 6 feet tall,
while Dan Blocker was 6 foot 4. Blocker, who also weighed upwards of 300 pounds as an adult,
was reportedly a huge baby as well, weighing a whopping 14 pounds at birth. Blocker once said,
"My daddy used to say that I was too big to ride and too little to
hitch a wagon to [...] no good for a damn thing."
According to “Mental Floss,” Landon went on to wear lifts on "Little House on the Prairie" as
well, and even positioned himself on a staircase or ladder if he needed some extra height.
Why? He reportedly insisted on being the tallest character on "Little House
on the Prairie" to embody the ultimate father figure better.
"Bonanza" was filmed exclusively in color, and was the first TV show to air entirely in color.
For this reason, its creators chose the location near Lake Tahoe with great care,
resulting in vibrant cinematography. And the same considerations went into selecting the cast.
Instead of going with big-name TV celebs who were already associated with black and white,
they chose a lesser-known cast whose new celebrity would be tied to color television.
But the homage to color television doesn't stop there. According to “Live About,” the
whole point of the show was to showcase how great color televisions were. That's because,
at the time, NBC was owned by RCA, one of the leading manufacturers of color TVs.
Pretty sneaky!
"A supreme achievement in television engineering. A color set that puts RCA Victor years ahead."
Despite its long-term success, "Bonanza" suffered through a first season with such poor ratings
that NBC considered canceling it! Why so much trouble attracting fans? According to “Country
Music Family,” the program filled a problematic Saturday night timeslot, going head-to-head
against "Perry Mason." During the first season, the show didn't even hit the top 30 mark.
That was big trouble because it was also expensive to make, and well over budget. Thomas Sarnoff,
former executive vice president of NBC's West Coast division, said,
"New York decided it was going to cancel it after the first 13 episodes because we were over budget.
Our budget for 'Bonanza' in color was $105,000 per episode for the first year."
Fortunately, the network saw potential. After Sarnoff convinced them to keep
the show on the air, they moved "Bonanza" to Sundays at 9 p.m.,
where it flourished for 13 more seasons. What's more, Chevrolet sponsored the show,
which helped its ratings spike in Season 2, and it became a top 10 show for more than a decade.
"Howdy! I'd like you to take a look at some of the brand new 1964 Chevrolet trucks!"
Bonanza" and "Star Trek" were both popular shows in the 1960s, so it's little wonder there were
notable crossovers between them. "Star Trek" actors that donned western garb to appear on the
show included Ricardo Montalban, DeForest Kelley, Majel Barrett, Leonard Nimoy, and James Doohan.
According to “MeTV,” Montalban starred in "Day of Reckoning" as a Native American character named
Matsou, well before playing Khan in "Star Trek." Kelley showed up a handful of times on the show,
including an appearance as a reporter in "Ride the Wind." And Leonard Nimoy,
dressed as a dandy, got knocked around by the titular character of "The Ape."
Besides Trekkie celebs, "Bonanza" featured many other incredible guest stars.
These included big names like James Coburn, Dabney Coleman, Dennis Hopper,
and Charles Bronson. Fun crossovers also occurred with future 1960s "Batman" crew members, from
Adam West to Cesar Romero and Burgess Meredith. To be a fly on the wall of that sound studio!
While "Bonanza" had plenty of eye candy, everyone's hands-down favorite hunk was
"Little Joe" Cartwright, with his Adonis good looks and gorgeous mane of hair. No
other character set more hearts on fire. But you may not know that Landon was also the only member
of the original cast of "Bonanza" who didn't wear a hairpiece. Yep, you heard that right!
Lorne Greene and Pernell Roberts both wore toupees, and both experienced famous
hair mishaps when, in separate incidents, their hairpieces got swept away by a river.
Dan Blocker wore a toupee beginning in 1968, and family cook Hop Sing, played by Victor Sen Yung,
augmented the top of his head, too. Only Landon had his natural hair, but there was
Hollywood magic there as well, as he had to dye it black after going prematurely gray in his 20s.
That wasn't the only bit of Tinseltown trickery. As early as the fourth season,
the Cartwrights and all other recurring characters wore the same clothing every episode. The reason?
Those pesky budget considerations. In order to keep on budget, they realized that a limited
wardrobe would allow them to re-use footage to save money, which they did whenever possible.
In 2013, the “Times Union” ran a Father's Day story commemorating the
best classic TV dads in history. Who made the list? None other than Ben Cartwright,
played by Lorne Greene, who was famous for delivering lines like
"I don't have anything against education — as long as it doesn't interfere with your thinking!"
In later interviews, Greene would attribute much of "Bonanza"'s success to the strong focus on the
relationship between the sons and their dad. And most people would agree that Greene's convincing
portrayal of a strong patriarchal figure proved central to making this dynamic work.
That's why it might surprise many to find out that before starring on "Bonanza,"
Lorne Greene was best known as a news time radio personality.
Employed by the Canadian Broadcasting Company during World War II, he delivered the news
about the war-torn world in his low, deep voice. The delivery of anxiety-producing news
took on heightened meaning, earning him the awesome nickname "the Voice of Doom."
"The fury passed, Canada's flyers exchange the tools of war for the implements of peace!"
Among the more colorful residents of 19th-century Virginia City, Nevada,
Samuel Clemens ranks at the top. Assuming the pseudonym Mark Twain, he worked as a highly
inventive journalist for “The Territorial Enterprise”. During his stint in the area,
he willingly admitted to creating more than one news story from whole cloth.
The reason? To entertain locals and sell more newspapers. But he also showed a prodigious
talent for crafting humorous and intriguing tall tales about the Wild West, crafting classic
standards of American literature such as "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County."
And based on the time frame, the young newsman would have been a neighbor of
the Cartwrights had they really lived on the Ponderosa Ranch near Virginia City,
something the show was eager to take advantage of.
"Bonanza" paid homage to this literary giant in Season 1, Episode 5, entitled "Enter Mark Twain."
The story followed the investigative work of Samuel Clemens as he attempted to get to
the bottom of corrupt dealings between a local judge and a railroad company.
Of course, the Cartwrights soon came to his aid, helping the journalist save the city from
shady activity. The best line of the show comes from Eric "Hoss" Cartwright when he exclaims,
"I don't know about that name Mark Twain. It seems to me like I've heard
a lot better names than that before. You sure that's a fittin' name for a writer?"
As always, the show inspired laughs while entertaining audience members through heartfelt
storylines that, despite the odds, brought the close-knit Cartwrights together to save the day.
"Bonanza" took place in and around Virginia City, Nevada.
This region in northern Nevada gained fame in the 19th century for boasting one of the richest
silver strikes the world has ever seen, the Comstock Lode, also known as the Big Bonanza. The
television show's creators filmed outdoor scenes and episodes in North Lake Tahoe at a 24-acre
property located in Zephyr Cove. That's where they also created a mock-up of Virginia City.
According to “The Los Angeles Times,” images filmed at this property appeared throughout
the series. These included iconic views of Tahoe and expansive vistas of rolling
grassy hills where the main characters rode on horseback. But most of the show's filming
happened in Paramount studio soundstages in Los Angeles. As a result, the Virginia City
portrayed on the television show lacks many of the real destination's characteristic features.
But the reverse was also true. Tourists flocking to Virginia City in the 1960's were disappointed
to find that it didn't really resemble the city in "Bonanza." So enterprising entrepreneurs
decided to give the city a TV-themed makeover to cash in on the boom. Even psychedelic rock bands
playing in town got into the "Bonanzafication," donning cowboy outfits for their performances.
According to "Wicked Virginia City,"
"The public expected the Cartwright's Virginia City, and the town delivered;
building facades became more rustic. Costumed gunslingers strolled the boarded sidewalks,
and souvenir shops did a land office business."
Just how big was the merchandising potential of "Bonanza" in the 60's?
So big even the show's own stars cashed in on the craze.
Dan Blocker, who played Eric "Hoss" Cartwright, started a chain of buffet
restaurants named after the TV series. The first Bonanza opened in Westport,
Connecticut, in 1963, and by 1989 there were more than 600 locations across America
serving up hearty fare like ribeye and sirloin steaks.
The restaurants were so popular, in fact, that in 1965 a copycat chain opened called Ponderosa,
named after the ranch where the characters on "Bonanza" lived. Though the two chains were
in direct competition, fittingly they became part of the same family when they were both
purchased by Metromedia Family Steakhouses in 1997. Sadly, Metromedia Family Steakhouses went
bankrupt in 2009, leading to the closure of all but a small handful of locations.
In 1965, at the height of the "Bonanza" boom, a couple named Bill and Joyce Anderson bought a
ranch outside Virginia City. It happened to be in the same place where the fictional Ponderosa ranch
was in the show, something they quickly learned when tourists began showing up on the property.
Smelling money, the Andersons cut a deal with the show,
and in 1968 the Ponderosa Ranch theme park was born, complete with a replica of the Cartwright
ranch house that was very detailed indeed thanks to the participation of the show's designers.
In fact, they made it so authentic that after the park opened, the series began
filming episodes there, and producers returned to the ranch for remakes in 1988 and 1993.
Sadly, the park closed in 2004, but it still lives on in reruns.
"Bonanza" proved one of the most successful and longest-running westerns on television,
behind only "Gunsmoke". Replete with likable characters, incredible scenery and interiors,
and storylines that appealed to families, the show ran for a whopping 431 episodes.
And then it just suddenly ended.
Prior to the final season, star Dan Blocker tragically passed away after complications from
surgery to remove his gallbladder. He was only 43. The show continued without him, becoming the first
in TV history to discuss the death of a main character. But ratings fell sharply.
According to “The L.A. Times,” the show was abruptly canceled mid-scene with no warning when
a network representative showed up on set during filming and told everyone the show was canceled
immediately. They completed work on the episode, and… that was it. With no warning, there was no
chance to give the series the proper send-off it deserved, and no resolution for the characters.
After 14 years, it was all just gone, with a final shot of guest star Tom Skerrit sending it off.
And you thought the "Sopranos" finale was abrupt!
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