Victoria and The Chapperal menfolk

[stuart.uk]

I have often said that one weakness in Bonaza was the lack of a regular female character, either as a with to Ben or his four sons. I even thought it would have been a good idea if Little Joe's mother had still been alive, being a step mom to both Adam and Hoss.

However, it's really The High Chapperal I'm writing about as regards Linda Crystal's Victoria in relation to the men folk on the ranch.

Victoria loved husband John, but found him difficult. The fact she was force on him by her father Don Sebastion, just days after the death of his first wife wouldn't have helped. However, he did come to love her.

I felt her early relationship with step-son Blue-Boy was bordering on stupid. She bought him a saddle, saying Why shouldn't a mother buy her son a gift, when his natural mother wasn't long dead and despite the fact she wasn't much older than what he was. However, they developed a brother/sister like relationship.

Like Blue, both found big John difficult, but found his brother Buck more approachable. In someways Buck was more of a father to Blue than what John was. In one episode Buck recognized the wrong signals, when she was complaining about John, he thought she was romantically interested in her. She without taking offence told him she really loved her husband. Victoria wasn't beyond having ago about Buck's scruffy appearence, which ended in one episode with him all suited up for the family evening meal.

Then there was her brother Mono, of whose lifestyle she often disapproved off. Victoria was the respected, appropriately behaved daughter of Don Sebastian, whereas Mono was seen as the waster, spending much his time with racy women and Mexcian outlaws. However, deep down Victoria loved and respected Mono, who was despite everything, a decent bloke.

Another of Victoria's qualites, is while she would have had servants at her father's ranch, she was often seen doing her own washing a scrubbing on Chapperal. She also had a great wardrobe, often giving a passing through female one of her dresses

[mrsl]

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Stuart:

This is funny. The High Chapparall was a show I watched occassionally but not on a regular basis so some of the points you brought up, I just totally forgot about. Unlike The Big Valley, of which I was a regular weekly viewer, I recall how Heath showed up one day and eventually became part of the family. This was all before I saw it on the Western channel. But the funny thing is, I remember that at first, LInda Crystal was just an ornament, but eventually John came to rely on her calm, thoughtful suggestions. Hopefully I'm correct in recalling it was Cameron Mitchell who played Buck, and it was for his sake I was sorry the show didn't last longer. I always felt he should have had a bigger career than he had, and similar to Robert Porter, who I remarked the other day, looked so much like James Dean which slowed his career, I also believe Cameron Mitchell suffered because he held such a resemblance to John Garfield. I hope that makes sense to you, it does to me, but I'm not sure if you will know what I mean. As for Mano, was that Robert Loggia? Blue also escapes me. This is my way of knowing one movie from another, a large part is what is the actor's name, and what part is he playing. I do recall liking the show a lot though, it must have been on at a combative time that my ex-idiot watched something else.
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[stuart.uk]

Cameron Mitchell was Buck
Mark Slade-Voyege To The Bottom Of The Sea and Splendour In The Grass,played Blue
Henry Darrow who played Manny in Harry O, was Mono
Leif Erickson was Big John

Cameron did many good movies some of which I can't remember the titles of, but others were They Were Expendable, Man In The Saddle, The Tall Men.

One of the things about the pilot of The Big Valley, which I saw for the first time recently, that surprised me was how quick the Barkley's, particulary Victoria, excepted Heath