Costumes
From the third season on, the Cartwrights and nearly every other recurring character on the show wore the same clothing in almost every episode. This was done to cut the cost of refilming action shots (such as riding clips in-between scenes), as previously-shot stock footage could be reused.
Ben Cartwright: Taupe shirt, Brown leather vest, gray pants, creme colored hat, occasional green scarf
Adam Cartwright: Black Shirt, Black or dark blue pants, black hat. Elegant city wear. Cream-colored trail coat.
Hoss Cartwright: White shirt, brown suede vest, brown pants, distinctive 10-gallon hat.
Little Joe Cartwright: cream, gray or white shirt, green corduroy jacket, tan pants, tan hat. Black leather gloves from 10th season on.
Candy Canaday: Crimson shirt, black pants, black leather vest and hat, green/grey scarf.
Hair Styles
In 1968, Blocker began wearing a toupee on the series as he was approaching forty and losing hair. He joined the ranks of his fellow co-stars Pernell Roberts and Lorne Greene, both of whom began the series with hairpieces (Greene wore his modest frontal piece in private life too, whereas Roberts preferred not wearing his, even to rehearsals/blocking). Michael Landon was the only original cast member to be wig-free throughout the series, as even Victor Sen Yung’s Hop Sing wore an attached queue (pony tail).
After cancellation
For 14 years, the Cartwrights were the premier western family on American television and have been immensely popular on cable networks such as TV Land, ION (formerly PAX), and the Hallmark Channel. In the UK, the show is aired on the Bonanza channel on skyTV.
TV Movies
Bonanza was brought back for three made-for-TV movies featuring the Cartwrights’ offspring: Bonanza: The Next Generation (1988), Bonanza: The Return (1993) and Bonanza: Under Attack (1995). Michael Landon, Jr., played Little Joe’s son Benji while Gillian Greene, Lorne’s daughter, played a love interest. In the second movie, airing on NBC, a one hour retrospective was done to introduce the drama. It was hosted by both Michael Landon Jr. and Dirk Blocker. According to TV Guide, NBC told Blocker he was too old to play the Hoss scion, but was given the role of an unrelated newspaper reporter. Clips of his appearance were heavily used in advertisements promoting the “second generation” theme. Hoss’ son Josh was born out-of-wedlock, as it is explained that Hoss drowned without knowing his fiancee was pregnant. Such a storyline could have been problematic in the original series. (”The Big Valley,” however, had a major character in Heath, who was presented as illegitimate. The “Gunsmoke” movies of the early 1990s employed a similar theme when Matt Dillon learned he sired Michael Learned’s daughter via a short-lived romance. The initial story was first introduced in 1973, when depiction of fornication courted protests, so CBS insisted their hero Matt have the encounter when he had amnesia).
The Prequel
In 2001, there was an attempt to revive the series’ concept with a prequel, Ponderosa, with a pilot directed by Kevin James Dobson and filmed in Australia. Covering the time when the Cartwrights first arrived at the Ponderosa, it lasted 20 episodes. The prequel had less gunfire and brawling than the original. Bonanza creator David Dortort approved PAX TV’s decision to hire Beth Sullivan, a producer from Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, which some believe gave the series a softer edge.
Theme Song
Bonanza also featured a memorable theme song by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans that is often parodied. Lorne Greene and the cast recorded versions of the song with lyrics.
The Bonanza theme is one of the best known pieces of made-for-television music, and variations of it were used for twelve seasons of the series. In 1968, a new percussion-heavy arrangement of the original theme was introduced; the new version 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. A faster rendition of the original theme returned for the 14th and final season.
The theme song has been recorded by numerous artists in a diverse variety of styles. Well known American country singer Johnny Cash recorded a version of the theme song, released on his sixteenth album: Ring of Fire: The Best of Johnny Cash. Singer Ralf Paulsen recorded a German-language version of the song in 1963. Michael Feinstein last recorded the song in 2002 on his, “Songs of Evans and Livingston” tribute CD. Bad Manners did a ska version of the song. Michael Richards, as Stanley Spadowski, sang a bit of the theme song while being held hostage by Channel 8’s news goons in UHF.
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.”
Set
The first Virginia City set was used on the show until 1970, and was located on a backlot at Paramount and turned up in episodes of “Have Gun, Will Travel,” “Mannix” and “The Brady Bunch.” On a 1970 Bonanza episode entitled “The Night Virginia City Died,” Deputy Clem Foster’s pyromaniac fiancee leveled the town in a series of fires. This allowed for a switch to the less expensive Warner studios from September 1970 through January 1973.
The program’s Nevada set, the Ponderosa Ranch house, was recreated in Incline Village, Nevada, in 1967, and remained a tourist attraction worldwide until its sale in September 2004.
