Bonanza: A Rose for Lotta

Air Date

September 12, 1959

Production Code

Unknown

Top Episodes

• Forever (1)
• Forever (2)
• Between Heaven and Earth
• The Flapjack Contest
• Springtime
• The Boss
• Justice Deferred
• The Secret
• The Wooing of Abigail Jones
• The Hostage

•  

  7.5 Good

  Rich mine owners bring Lotta Crabtree, a famous actress, to town to lure one of Ben's sons into their clutches. They plan to hold a son for ransom to force Ben to sell them timber for their mines. hide show

  This is the series pilot and, while it is certainly very entertaining, the main characters, with the exception of Little Joe, don't act much like they do as the series developed. Ben is a little too "over the top" in his emotions, Hoss is a goofball and Adam is sort of a jerk, at least in the first part of the episode. Fortunately, the characters evolved pretty quickly after this first installment.
  
  The character of Little Joe is much like we see him in the other early episodes. He is quick to escort Lotta back to town, even though he should know not to go into town alone, with the silver barons out to get Ben. He has a great fight scene in Lotta's room, when some of the silver barons' henchmen come to abduct him. He even uses a parasole that Lotta tosses to him as though it were an rapier. He gets away from the bad guys and spends the rest of the night hiding from them, ending up at a little french restaurant with Lotta. His character is a lot of fun to watch in this episode and Michael Landon did a great job in portraying him.

  Do you agree?

    2 1

  Report Abuse

  midniteeve Added May 23, 2006 All my reviews

• Guest Cast

  • George Macready Alpheus Troy
  • Yvonne De Carlo Lotta Crabtree
  • Barry Kelley Aaron Cooper
  • Willis Bouchey George Garvey
  • Christopher Dark Langford Poole
  • Sammee Tong Hop Ling
  • Ned Glass Stagecoach Driver

• Stars

  • Dan Blocker Eric "Hoss" Cartwright (1959-1972)
  • Lorne Greene Ben Cartwright
  • Pernell Roberts Adam Cartwright (1959-1965)
  • Michael Landon Joseph "Little Joe" Francis Cartwright

• Art Directors

  • Hal Pereira Art Director
  • A. Earl Hedrick Art Director

• Set Decorators

  • Grace Gregory Set Decorator
  • Sam Comer Set Decorator
Episode Cast and Crew Details »

• Yvonne De Carlo (famous for playing Lily on "The Munsters") portrayed Lotta Crabtree in this episode. While Yvonne was about 37 at the time she played Lotta, the real-life child actress Lotta Crabtree would only have been 11 or 12 in 1859 (about the time this episode is set). [edit]
• For the first and only time in the entire run of the Bonanza TV series is the lyrics to its theme song sung. [edit]
• What does Adam mean to imply when he refers to Joe's mother as "Your French Quarter mother"? Joe and Adam get into a fight over that comment. In future episodes the series goes back and forth on implying about what Marie did before she met Ben, but it was never clarified. [edit]

• Yvonne DeCarlo was best known as Lily Munster, Herman's wife, on The Munsters (1964-1966). [edit]
• For the first 10 episodes, the ending credits were scrolled over the familiar Ponderosa map with a (very) slightly different instrumental version of the Bonanza theme. [edit]
• A. Earl Hedrick is credited as Earl Hedrick. [edit]

• Ben: Look at it, Adam. Feast thine eyes on a sight that approaches Heaven itself. [edit]
• Hoss: Hop Sing, you know you can't do that. Why if you left here, I'd waste away to a shadow. You know that. [edit]

• Lotta Crabtree (1847-1924)
  When Bonanza began, the year was 1859, thus making Lotta 12-13 years old at this time. Even though she had started her career as a singer and dancer she would've been too young for even Joe Cartwright to consider. [edit]