Not even reading the harsh information of an alleged newsletter, in which it said it was a story of four men, with a patriarch in the head and few women in the cast, someone might say Bonanza it was a sexist series. The history of the Cartwrights, who This Monday 12 he turns 63 years old, has a thousand better definitions. Y deserved to be inside streaming.
The valid gender views these days they cannot always be applied to things of the past. For this there are socio-cultural contexts and climates of the time. And the father and his three sons riding to La Ponderosa they came to homes in the late 1950s to tell another story.
a tale that become a classic of the series, what today are the stars of audiovisual entertainment. But they existed long before the boom lostThe theft of money, the game of squid or House of cards.
Premiere on NBC on September 12, 1959the iconic story modeled in the western era the first one-hour production recorded in color in the United States. He arrived in Argentina in 1961 and, during its 14 seasons, it flourished on several channels (basically the old Teleonce and Channel 9).
Of course here neither the lumberjack shirts, nor their vests, nor their cowboy hats ranged from the range of grays.
Who were the Cartwrights?
in the draft of David Dortorwho then created the infallible plot of the great chaparral (1967), stated that the intention was to present an atypical family, a wealthy man, three times a widower, with three children responsible, each the fruit of a different mother.
This is how we met Mr. Ben Cartwrightthe owner of La Ponderosa, that house that should belong to the television cabinet par excellenceinterpreted by Lorne Greene. Like a good rider, he knew how to keep them at a trot. What made things more difficult was Adam (Pernell Roberts)the eldest, architect, builder of his mega ranch, son of Elizabeth.
The one in the center was the good-natured one of the quartetwith a large build and a sensitive heart, written as Eric, but he answered the cry of Hoss. He was the son of Inger and was always ready to help even the enemy, in an extraordinary work by Dan Blocker, the actor who died in 1972, e his departure was slowly extinguishing the flame of the series.
The youngest of the Cartwrights was the protagonist, Joseph, known as ‘Little Joe’passionate and sanguine. It was the rise to fame of the young Michael Landonwhich in 1974 passed from “son of” to the “Father of the Ingalls family”.
Neither of them looked like the other, but between them four they put together a complete mosaic. And if they touched one of the Cartwrights, they touched them all. They were loyal kids. They weren’t playing Virginia City’s “machitos”as it was called the country that was a stone’s throw from La Ponderosa, in a sublime landscape, with Lake Tahoe a few meters away, to reflect the fantasies of the spectators.
Western with a flavor of family drama
In 1966 he competed as Best Drama Series at the Primetime Emmy Awards, but the statuette went to The fugitiveABC chain production. Hopefully this Monday, at the 2022 ceremony, someone winks at Bonanza’s memory.
While it didn’t blow away all the deliveries and festivals it was featured at, she knew how to earn the label of being one of the longest on TVwith 14 seasons, accumulating a total of 431 episodes. For several years, in the 1960s, has become the most viewed of the American screen.
Like most factories of the time, despite the guns and the atmosphere of action, Bonanza aimed at a family audience. This, among other things, has allowed it to successfully sustain itself over time. It was never a niche or “men only” series, a north that once had most westerns.
In this small screen classic, the Cartwrights talked about strikes and fights, but they also talked about bonds in all its forms.
In each episode, in addition to the conflict of the day on earth, or with the Sheriffor from cattle, there were always some of the most intimate and genuine emotions as a theme. And in domestic confrontations between father and children, or between brothers, there was also some melodrama as a subgenre.
Reasons to brush it up
For the performances, for the approach, for the production, and because of course it doesn’t have an expiration date, Bonanza it could perfectly coexist with the most modern series of any streaming catalog. Just watch many of its episodes Youtubethat invite to kindle nostalgia, nostalgia, gloat over the simple but effective stories.
In fact, the first one, the one that debuted exactly 63 years ago on a day like today, called A rose for Lotta, Already from the title it releases more petals of romance than of brawl in the Wild West.
And, as throughout his journey, this chapter also offers a mix: without wanting to spoil, Lotta is an actress who will try to seduce the Cartwrights to get Ben to give up his wood and the miners can get away with it.
Owners of a large fortune, divided between the land, the sawmill and the cattle, they they represent the effort, the fidelity to the roots, part of the ambition and a little bit of the old cowboy spirit.
With a couple of months on the air and before the end of ’59, a good part of the artistic colony wanted to be part of the phenomenon. And that’s where they went, by the way “Special participation” or “guest”figures like Ron Howard, Leslie Nielsen, César Romero, the great Charles Bronson, Lee Marvin, Ricardo Montalbán and even El Zorro: Guy Williams He was one of the Cartwrights, Will, for five episodes.
The beginning of the end
Although the story began to fade after Blocker’s death, however he says goodbye to January 16, 1973he had had low blood pressure in ’65, when Pernell felt he wanted more and hung up his cowboy boots, without dismounting (symbolically) from the horse.
Notes from the time say that his discussions with the creator had become unsustainable. He wanted the plot to be something like this “Adam Cartwright and Three Others”. But beyond it was not a production crossed by controversy.
Once the program is finished, La Ponderosa became a tourist center, with a store offering merchandise from Virginia City. It ran until 2004, then the ten hectares and the house were put up for sale. After several comings and goings, a buyer paid $ 38 million, added rooms, bathrooms, questionable taste and the beloved ranch somehow stopped being what it was.
But no one will be able to remove it from the memory of the spectators who have seen it. that we have seen.
How can we forget the temperature that the map of that corner of Nevada took – until it caught fire – the presentation of each chapter and which opens this note. The musical curtain, so catchy, insists on staying and invites us to remember old times. Because a good series, simple but good, there long before cable or streaming existed.
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Silvia Lamazares
Source: Clarin
