Original Members memories

22 September 2000-September 2005-Five years of fun, friendship, laughter and Bonanza

I first found Bonanza on the Internet in June 1999 and the first list I joined was Bonanarchy, where I was warmly welcomed by a fellow Brit who also became a founder member of BonanzaBrits, Jane from Northampton.

I was soon exploring the wonderful world of Bonanza fanfiction and it was that which led me to make the acquaintance of Valerie Arvelo. I had found Val’s superb Bonanza stories and, while sending her feedback on one, happened to mention I was from Bristol. Val wrote back to say she also hailed from Bristol, though now lives in the Canary Islands.

Val had the idea of starting a Yahoo list for British Bonanza fans. At that time GranadaPlus were showing the first three seasons of Bonanza and, probably due to that, more Brits were popping up on the lists all the time. Val thought it would be nice if we could all get together and chat about the programme ‘from a British point of view’.

I had my invitation to join BonanzaBrits on September 22^nd 2000 and the rest, as they say, is history.

I’ve had a wonderful five years on BonanzaBrits and have made some good friends. It’s been fun to see the list grow and develop.

Special thanks must go to Sandra, who had the idea of a BonanzaBrits website and puts so much time and effort into making it the great site that it is. Thanks also to Matthew.

Best of all have been the get-together’s, our ‘Bonanzathon’s’, and meeting the faces to go with the names on the list. I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so long or so hard as I do at those weekends.

How did I get onto Bonanzabrits?
Well it began when Granada Plus was showing Bonanza, My Mum had gotten Telewest, so imagine the thrill I got when I saw it. One of the episodes said Pernell was alive and enjoying his retirement in California. Shock!!!! My little brother had delighted in telling me many years before that he had died, well he did show me the newspaper article stating that fact. But of course now I know it was his Son and not dear Pernell who had passed on. I wrote to GPlus, they told me if I wanted to know about Bonanza go online. So I asked my Son to go with me to buy a computer. That was July 1999. Little did I know what I was letting myself in for. I typed in Bonanza in the search got Bonanza1, some nice pics and K.Millard had info on PERNELL. So I e-mailed her and she put me in touch with AP list now PRNL. I couldn't join fast enough. It was wonderful to hear some things about my hero I never knew and found some friends of his, who I am happy to say are still e-mail friends today (We never talk about HIM) Then I got in touch with Lynda Kemp and she invited me to her house and we hit it off straight away, it was great to be able to talk freely. You know how it is. Then Vicki decided to have a get-together at her house after Convention, which I couldn't afford to go to :-( Travelled there with Lynda, Pat Clifton picked us up at Southampton station, and many laughs later we arrived at Vicki's, she was a wonderful hostess and once again immediately felt like meeting old friends. Also there was Pat Hirst, Heike, Petra, Una, and Joyce it was great and think Vicki mentioned setting up a list just for Brits. Valerie set this up shortly afterwards and I was more than happy to join, my first Bonanza list, (and only) its a lovely friendly group and has a wonderful family feel to it, I think our Cartwrights would be real proud of us all, the way we all get along so well together.

Said I got to include a picture, well here is one of me attempting to imitate some one I sort of admire.
luv Maggie

Hello. My name is Lynda and I live in the northwest of England, close to Chester.

I have been a fan of the wonderful Bonanza since it was first shown here, 1960 I think

Granada TV, Mondays at 8pm. I had to have homework done and be ready for bed if I wanted to watch. Homework was always done early on Mondays! The DDG Adam quickly became my favourite though I loved them all. I felt so sorry for my friend, she didn’t have Granada TV and had to make do with Dr.Kildare on Mondays.

For many years I was ‘Bonanza-less’ until husband Dan discovered it on the net. He had been using the computer in our local library, typed in Bonanza (obviously he was well aware of my obsession). I had been a real luddite and saw no reason for us to have a home computer - surprisingly I changed my mind. And so I discovered that there were other people who loved the show, and others who remembered Adam. Strange how excited I felt about a 40 year old TV series.

I was so pleased when Val started Bonanzabrits, because here were not only like-minded people, but ones who had also been starved of their favourite show for years. There were just a few of us to begin with, but it soon grew into the best Bonanza list ever. Since joining Brits I have met up with other fans, thanks mostly to Vicki’s generosity, and made some good friends. What a great place to chat and for a while at least forget about the worries and woes of the world. Here there is always some one to share joys or worries with, and of course talk to our hearts content about our favourite TV men without being thought of as being a bit mad, or even a lot mad!.

My sincere thanks to all who make the list and web site possible, I know it is definitely a labour of love.

HAPPY 5^TH BIRTHDAY TO BONANABRITS

Long live Bonanza and long live BonanzaBrits.

Love..Lynda

Jean William -Original Member

Bonanza and Bonanzabrits

I started watching Bonanza circa 1960/61 when I was 8 and identified immediately with the teenage Little Joe. I remember my sister winning a photo of him at the fair in New Brighton and I coveted that picture for many years. I discovered Bonanza on the internet around 1998 and joined Bonanrchy in 1999, submitting my first fanfic for the library in December of that year. I stayed with Bonanarchy until invited to join Bonanzabrits and have enjoyed meeting lots of fellow members at Vicki’s wonderful Bonanzathon’s. I still love Little Joe although I enjoy episodes and stories best that deal with the whole family interaction and dynamics. I don’t write at the moment but still enjoy reading other members fanfics when I have time.

In real life I work full time as a medical librarian (huh? most people say, didn’t know they had libraries in hospitals – and no it’s not the patient’s WRVS book trolley!) I like my job – most of the time – except that it doesn’t leave me enough time for my other passions, sport and Bonanza. I also read a lot and like to visit the theatre – Les Mis is still my favoiurite.

I have been married for 32 years to Gareth, who has also graced the Bonanzathon’s, and have two grown up children,. Philip who is an RAF helicopter pilot and Cathryn who is a teacher. They are both engaged to be married so next year could be the year of the wedding.

Jeanie

The Other Original Members of BonanzaBrits - Lynne Coulson (Read- The First five Years) Heike Barke, Patricia Clifton, Fiona Williams, Nancy Allen and Jane Hancock.

Sandra Nichols
WebMistress

I joined BonanzaBrits in January 2001, just a few months after Valerie started it. My son Matthew had handed me down his old computer as a Christmas present- before that I had never so much as turned one on.

The first words I entered were Michael Landon and Bonanza and was surprised to find I was not the only fan of the show left in the world.

I found BonanazaBrits and the Australian Bonanza group (BIO) after I said to Matthew that I would never receive any emails because none of my friends owned a computer .

He pointed me towards E-groups (which is now Yahoo Groups) and I found 4 groups I was interested in. One was a ‘gardening’ group, one a ‘water painting’ group and the two Bonanza groups. I soon became so involved with the Bonanza groups and unsubscribed from the others .

After belonging to Brits for about 6 months Matthew, suggested we could do with a website and after asking Valerie and the other members, Bonanzabrits website was born.

It has been going for over four years now and has gone from strength to strength.

If it had not been for Matthew, who set it up in the first place and was always there and still is to a lesser extent, patiently showing me what to do, it would have never got off the ground – thanks Matthew, for being such a great son

My thanks go to Kate, who is always there with support and advice concerning the site and for running such a great group.

I would also like to thank Lynne and her son Joseph who helped me by taking over the ‘Pic of the Week ‘ page at a time when I needed extra help.

A special thank you to Wendy, for all the wonderful memorabilia she has- photocopied, scanned and given to me for not only her page ‘ Shimens Treasure’ but many other sections on the Brits site.

If it was not for her and all our great members who have sent me pictures, articles and their brilliant fan-fic stories over the years, we would not have the website we have today – therefore thank you very much one and all.

I have made many good friends over the last five years and been lucky enough to meet many of them at Vicki's wonderful Bonanzathons. I have enjoyed every minute of being a Brits member and running the website –here’s to the next five years of BonanzaBrits

Love Sandra

Back in the year 2000, I was still fairly new to the whole concept of the Internet and had only just joined my first Bonanza group. The suggestion was put forward, by Valerie Martin Arvelo, a British fan, living in Tenerife, that us Brits needed our own Bonanza list, on which to exchange our views about our favourite show.

The reason for this was not because we were not welcome on the other lists. On the contrary, the American and Australian fans, who ran various groups, were only too happy to have us join them. But, it was decided that having a predominately British group, run by Brits, was a good idea. That way we could inform each other of any upcoming programmes that were going to be shown on British television, featuring our boys, and we could also indulge ourselves in, shall we say, our more peculiar brand of humour, and discuss subjects that might not interest a wider audience.

The initial list started in a small way, with only a handful of us fans, but it soon began to grow, although not, thankfully, to the size of some out there. The fact that it has remained fairly small, with still less than a hundred members, means that it is a place where you feel you can be more free with what you say. Mainly, this is because we pretty much know each other very well, now, and so can gauge what people’s reactions are going to be, to a certain remark, or thread, before it’s actually posted. Of course, occasionally, this can lead to trouble, as I know to my cost, and there have been some fairly rocky moments, but, all in all, it’s not that bad a place to hang out.

Through the kindness and generosity of some of our members, mainly Vicki, we have had the opportunity to actually meet up, face to face, at several BONANZATHONS, over the past five years. These have proved to be extremely popular and we’ve all benefited from them, in so many ways.

As the show is the age it is, and as it hasn’t been shown on British television, in its entirety, since its first run, most of the fans are all of a similar age, late forties through to late fifties. Many of us have faced the trauma of a marriage break up, the death of a parent or spouse, and the lesser, but still difficult lifestyle change, of children leaving the nest, in order to go to university or to get married. And it has been so beneficial, to so many of us, to be able to share these times with our BONANZA buddies, who always rise to any occasion and support each other, to the hilt.

There have also been good times to share, too, such as new babies, marriages, new jobs and, again, it has been lovely to be on the receiving end of congratulatory messages, especially when you know they are genuine.

Of course, we haven’t ever lost sight of what brought us together, in the first place, and we do spend quite a bit of time, okay, quite a lot of time, discussing the merits of the episodes and the best parts of our favourite Cartwright. Now, to some we might just appear to be a bunch of ‘like minded loonies’ but those of us who are involved, know that we are conducting very important scientific research. Who knows where our ramblings about Little Joe’s perfect butt, or Adam’ exquisite arms, or Hoss’ beautiful blue eyes, not forgetting Pa’s wonderful caring voice will lead to? Maybe one of us will, one day, have a degree in Cartwrightology from the Ponderosa University.

Not only have there been BONANZATHONS in this country, but also, during the life of Bonanzabrits, there has been a Friendship Convention, held at Tahoe, and, by the time you are reading this, there will have been another one. At these gatherings, there is always a good proportion of British fans attending, proving, if proof were needed, just how popular the show still is in the UK.

We regularly write to the television stations requesting that they show the whole series, again, or at least from season 4, as most of us now have the first three seasons on tape, after they were shown on satellite TV, but, so far, we haven’t had any success. A few episodes have been played to death, again on satellite channels, but they seem to be unable, or unwilling, to show any more. It’s the same when we request their release on DVD. To us, it seems perfectly reasonable to want to own the episodes on nice, clear, uncut DVDs, especially as we don’t get to see it on the TV, but our pleas have fallen on deaf ears.

So, until the time that we can purchase them in that format, we will have to make do with searching all over the world, in order to build up our collections and increase our viewing pleasure. Once again, it is the generosity of our fellow fans, who help us to see episodes that we haven’t viewed for over forty years, or find us photos that we’ve never seen before. That is something that I find so good about BONANZABRITS; the way everyone is so willing to share and it is obvious that it’s because we all understand how much it means to each other to get the chance to see these things.

In conclusion, I want to thank Valerie for starting the whole thing and Kate for all her sterling work in running the list. I know that we don’t always see eye to eye on every aspect, but she does do a great job, so thanks Kate.

And I would also like to say a huge thank you to Sandra and her son, Matthew, for their wonderful work on the web site. And, give a mention to my son, Joseph, who organised the pic of the week page, for several years, and to Wendy for sharing Shimen’s Treasures, and to all the fanfic writers, who have provided stories of the month, plus those who have compiled quizzes and shared pictures.

All these people have done an awful lot to help keep alive the best show ever made, and have provided us with a continuing, loving tribute to Lorne Greene, Pernell Roberts, Dan Blocker and Michael Landon, the Cartwright family, and to their creator, David Dortort.

May it continue, and as more, younger fans join the ranks, I really can’t see why it shouldn’t.

Little Joe forever
Lynne
September 2005

I wonder if BZ would have had such devoted fans if TPTB had stuck with the original characterisations of the Cartwrights as shown in RFL? I doubt it somehow – Ben hamming it up like something out of a bad Victorian melodrama; Hoss a dimwitted, simpering muscleman; Adam a bossy, short-fused, know-it-all (alright, yes, I know, no change there then!), and Joe a greasy-quiffed, teenage matinee idol. But in amongst all the posturing and ‘Cartwrights against the world’ bravado, there are enough hints in there of future delights, if you are watching with the benefit of hindsight, as we are of course. So all credit to LG, DB, PR and ML for knocking the rough corners off the original characterisations and creating the fab four we know and love today.

I just about remember watching RFL first time round, and being immediately smitten by the MIB (or MI brown, green and pink as he was then). But the story is just about as daft as they come, and I’m sorry, but I cannot see what is beautiful about Yvonne de Carlo – she always seems to be frowning and has a rather ugly mouth IMHO. Also she is waaaaaaaaay too old for any of them except perhaps Ben! Joe looks slightly ridiculous flirting with her I always think. But he does manage to sneak many a peek down her cleavage when he thinks we are not looking! That music-hall song and dance she does is just excruciatingly awful.

So, leaving aside the out-of-whack characters, the daft plot, and the pneumatic leading lady (does anyone else think she looks like Jessica from Roger Rabbit in that magenta strapless frock? “Little Fairy Lotta?” – hah!) what other delights can be found in RFL?

RIDE-UP - the first and the best, IMHO. You can really hear the horses’ hoofs, and Adam throws that endearing goofy grin at Hoss as their mounts get closer to each other. And the close-ups are good of all of them – Ben a little wild and woolly, Adam supremely toothsome, batting those long eyelashes, Joe doing his best smouldering teenage heart-throb leer, and Hoss looking like a bug cuddly brown bear, until he does that awful lip-licking thing. There is even a ride-down in this one, as they synchronise horses at the end and gallop out of VC yippee-ing like crazy!

SCENE-SETTING
We find out an awful lot about the CWs in a very short time: the size of the Ponderosa (1000 acres); that it is 20 miles from VC; the three wives/three sons thing; the brothers’ relationship – Adam the straitlaced and hardheaded big brother’ Hoss in the middle, the affable mediator and peacemaker; Joe the hot-headed lovable rascal who is always getting into scrapes.

WHO’S YOUR MAMA?
So we find out that Adam is the whelp of ‘a thin-nosed, blue-blooded Yankee’– doesn’t quite tie up with the sweet-natured daughter of a sailor we see in Elizabeth My Love, though, does it?. OK, so Joe was joking about Inger being a wrestler, and also hopefully about H weighing 50lb at 2 months old! And we find out that Felicia (later aka Marie) was the daughter of a pirate who was hanged at 82.

CARTWRIGHTS VS THE WORLD: it’s hard to accept (having seen so many later eps) that Joe riding into VC on his own was a ‘tellible lisk’ (those cartoon chinamen again) and that the silver barons lost 12 men when they rode against the CWs to try and get them to sell some timber.

Ben saying things like ‘Fire and Brimstone!’, or calling Joe a scamp and a rapscallion, and laughing like a pantomime principal boy at Hop Sing’s tirade about him ‘alrays yewwing’.

Adam and Joe insulting each other’s mother (though I can listen over and over to Adam saying, ‘…..yoah French Quartah Muthah’.)

Hoss being really violent with Joe (literally throwing him across the room) and Adam (whacking him round the back of the head, poor baby).

Adam’s sartorial faux pas – grey hat, pink shirt, green bandanna, curry-brown trousers, pale green jacket – yuk!

Adam throwing a leg over the saddle horn (though we don’t actually SEE him do it, dadburnit!).

Hoss’ battered leather vest, and that amazing coat seemingly made out of old carpet.

Joe putting his feet on the furniture – in this case, actually standing on the coffee table!

Joe showing his prowess (no, don’t go there…) with the epée and with the umbrella-as-epée.

Adam leaning in for the first BZ kiss – and it’s a good’un, even if it is with old rubber-lips Lotta.

The first airing of the Adam arm-breaking threat – I know it’s not very PC but I love it!

Of course you will not be surprised to hear that my favourite scene is the shootout between sleazy Langford Pool (bit of a pretentious name for a gunslinger, what?) and Adam in the Sazerak. The way Adam flips his jacket open to expose his………gunbelt (sorry, came over all unnecessary there for a moment), and that lingering shot of his…….gunbelt, and then the close-enough-to-feel-his-breath close-up of those delectable hazel eyes….(sorry, what was the question?)

So, though I can’t say it is a favourite, it does have a special place in my heart as being the very first ep. Who would have thought, all those years ago, that we would today be poring over every nuance of every scene, or that we would even have the technology to do so? We’ve been greedily ‘feasting our eyes’ ever since, and not just on Lake Tahoe!

1. Adam has been given Ben's left hand
2. Hop Sing has an extra fastening on his jacket
3. There is a little blue pot on the table at the front right hand corner
4. Joe's belt buckle has disappeared
5. The knob has disappeared from the left hand dresser cupboard door
6. There is a pink and white plate on the dresser at bottom right