The Halloween Tree (1993)

Ray Bradbury is one of the best known authors of the 20th Century. He is also an author who worked in motion pictures and television, and whose works have been adapted several times over for both the big and small screen. Among his best known works is his 1972 novel The Halloween Tree. What is not as well is known is the 1993 television movie adaptation of the novel that first aired on October 2 1993 on the cable channel ABC.

It was perhaps only fitting that The Halloween Tree would be adapted to the small screen, as it had originated as a television project. As hard as it might be to be believed, The Halloween Tree grew out of the disappointment Ray Bradbury and his daughters experienced upon watching the debut of the now classic It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown in 1966. In a 1967 interview, Ray Bradbury addressed his disappointment with It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, saying, "I thought the Great Pumpkin was just dreadful. So mean. It was dreadfully mean, to anticipate the ‘Great Pumpkin’ arriving for a half hour and when it was over my kids sat there, and they were depressed. And so was I. I thought it was dreadful of Mr. Schulz not to know that you can’t build up this kind of need in people to see the Great Pumpkin, and not have him show up one way or another. It’s a shame. I thought he knew better."

Ray Bradbury later discussed his disappointment in It's the Great Pumpkin,, Charlie Brown with his friend, legendary animator Chuck Jones, at lunch. He would later give Mr. Jones a painting of an tree with pumpkins hanging from its branches that he had made a few years before. The two men then conceived a half-hour Halloween television special that would address the history of the holiday. Unfortunately, MGM closed down its animation division and fired everyone, including Chuck Jones. Ray Bradbury and Chuck Jones's Halloween television special would never be made.

Mr. Bradbury then took his teleplay and expanded it into the novel The Halloween Tree. The novel followed eight children, ready to go trick or treating, who discover a friend's life is on the line. Ultimately, with the help of the mysterious Mr. Moundshroud, the children find themselves pursuing their friend through a history of Halloween and similar holidays, from ancient Egypt to Mexico during the Day of the Dead.

Over the next several years various studios would have options on The Halloween Tree. Eventually Hanna-Barbera, not long after Ted Turner had taken over the animation studio optioned the novel. Ray Bradbury wrote the teleplay for the special, which simplified the plot of the novel by reducing the number of children from eight to four. Ray Bradbury also narrated the telefilm. Leonard Nimoy provided the voice of Carapace Clavicle Moundshroud. The composer on The Halloween Tree was John Debney, who had also provided the music for another Halloween movie released the same year, Hocus Pocus (1993). He would later be nominated for the Oscar for Best Original Score for The Passion of the Christ (2004).

The Halloween Tree won the Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Writing in An Animated Program and was nominated for the Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Animated Children's Program. It also received largely positive notices from critics.

While The Halloween Tree was produced by Hanna-Barbera, it is a far cry from their Saturday morning cartoons. The animation on the special is superior for a made-for-TV animated film, with often lavish backgrounds and imagery. The Halloween Tree itself is very impressive. The voice talent also does a remarkable job of bringing the characters to life, particularly Leonard Nimoy. He is virtually unrecognizable as Mr. Moundshroud.

What really places The Halloween Tree above other television specials is Ray Bradbury's script. For the most part the teleplay is fairly faithful to the novel, and, as might be expected of a teleplay by the great Mr. Bradbury himself, captures the magic of his writing perfectly. The only caveat I have is a flaw shared by the novel as well. In including Día de Muertos, I fear that it might reinforce the misconception that many have that the holiday is merely "Mexican Halloween." While both Halloween and Día de Muertos have roots in Allhallowtide, and Halloween originated as a "day of the dead," the two holidays evolved separately and differ in some significant ways.

After its debut on ABC, The Halloween Tree would air regularly at Halloween on both TBS and the Cartoon Network. Turner Home Entertainment released the TV movie on VHS in the Nineties. In 2012 the Warner Archive released it on DVD. It is currently available to watch for free with commercials on the streaming service Tubi and for rent on several other streaming services.

The Halloween Tree may not be as famous as other Halloween specials, but there is every reason it should be. It is a finely produced television movie that numbers among the best of Halloween fare that has aired on American television. And it is among the few adaptations of a Ray Bradbury work that actually captures the magic of his writing.

Retro Halloween Commercials

Halloween advertising has existed in print for well over 100 years. It was then natural that with the rise of television there would be Halloween commercials. I am not sure how far Halloween commercials go back in the history of the television, but I know it is at least the Sixties and I have to suspect there were even Halloween commercials in the Fifties. Below are five old Halloween commercials I gathered from YouTube. The quality of many of them is poor, but then I suspect that they were probably digitalized from old video tapes that had seen better days.

First up is a commercial for Shasta Orange Soda. It is from the Seventies, but I have no idea what year. I believe the store clerk is none other than John Fiedler, now best known as the voice of Piglet in Disney's "Winnie the Pooh" cartoons and Juror No. 2 in 12 Angry Men (1957).


One can tell this next commercial is old simply from the fact that it is for Woolworth's and Woolco. Woolworth's closed its department stores in 1997. This particular commercial is from 1978. Notice the Star Wars costumes, not to mention the other old Ben Cooper costumes.


This Wrigley's Gum commercial is from 1979.



And here is a Hershey's commercial from 1981.




Finally, here is a Toys "R" Us ad from 1985. You'll notice the kids are still wearing costumes of the type manufactured by Ben Cooper. Ben Cooper didn't have too many years left. It would close its doors in 1991. As to Toys "R" Us, they closed down just a few years ago, in 2018.

Seinfeld: The Cheever Letters

Vanessa Marquez

This coming Friday it will have been thirty years since the Seinfeld episode "The Cheever Letters" first aired. The episode aired on Wednesday, October 28 on NBC. While not as well known as such Seinfeld episodes as "The Contest," "The Soup Nazi," "The Merv Griffin Show," or "The Calzone," "The Cheever Letters" was in many ways a pivotal episode for the show. It is an important episode to me because it marked the only guest appearance of my dearest Vanessa Marquez on the show. It was also the first time she played an adult role after playing juvenile roles in film and TV shows. It was also one of her earliest guest appearances on television.

"The Cheever Letters" was written by Seinfeld co-creator Larry David, Elaine Pope, and Tom Leopold. Like many episodes of the show, "The Cheever Letters" featured multiple subplots, some of which carried over from earlier episodes. One of these subplots that carried over from earlier episodes was Jerry (Jerry Seinfeld) and George (Jason Alexander) continuing work on the television sitcom pilot they are developing for NBC. Two other subplots carry over from the previous episode, "The Bubble Boy," in which Kramer (Michael Richards) is careless with a cigar and as a result burns down the cabin owned by the parents of George's girlfriend Susan (Heidi Swedberg).

The first of these subplots resulting from the cabin burning down is the fact that George and Susan must break the bad news to her parents (Warren Frost and Grace Zabriskie). They do so at a dinner with her parents, and her father takes it very badly. He goes into another room sobbing. It is later, when Jerry and George visit Susan's parents to return her sunglasses, that a doorman (David Blackwood) delivers a metal box, the only thing that survived the fire at the cabin. As it turns out the metal box contains letters between novelist John Cheever and Susan's father detailing their rather torrid affair.

The second subplot that grew out of the burning of the cabin in "The Bubble Boy" is the loss of Kramer's source for Cuban cigars. As a cigar connoisseur who prefers Cubans, Kramer is distraught about the cigars having burned up, and requests that George ask Susan's father for more of them. When George fails to do so, Kramer decides to find a new source on his own and visits the Cuban diplomatic mission at the United Nations. There he strikes a deal with the diplomats in which he trades his jacket to one of them for more Cuban cigars. This is the subplot in which my dearest Vanessa Marquez appears. She plays the receptionist at the Cuban diplomatic mission.

Finally, a fourth subplot deals with Jerry complaining about Elaine's assistant Sandra (Lisa Malkiewicz) being overly chatty. Elaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) then asks Sandra to not be so talkative with Jerry, whereupon Sandra quits. Elaine asks Jerry to call Sandra and take back what he had said by claiming that Elaine misconstrued his comments. It was while Jerry and Sandra are on the phone that Sandra asks him out. Jerry agrees to a date, which goes badly after Jerry says something to her that, to paraphrase George, is "not offensive" but is "abnormal." This subplot ends with what might be the best line in "The Cheever Letters," a zinger delivered by Elaine towards Jerry. This particular subplot was based on an actual experience by writer Tom Leopold, in which he said the exact same thing to a date that Jerry had, with a similar reaction from his date.

"The Cheever Letters" was shot on September 22 1992 in front of a live studio audience at CBS Studio Center in Los Angeles. When it first aired, it received a Nielsen rating of 11.1 with an audience share of 17.

Here I should point out that the John Cheever who gives "The Cheever Letters" its title was an actual novelist, who lived from 1913 to 1982. He was known for writing four novels: The Wapshot Chronicle, The Wapshot Scandal, Bullet Park, and Falconer (which George is reading at the end of the episode). He also wrote the novella Oh What a Paradise It Seems and several short stories. It was following his death that his daughter Susan Cheever revealed in her memoirs (Home Before Dark) that her father had affairs with both women and men. This would be confirmed by John Cheever's own journals and letters. The idea that Susan's father had an affair with John Cheever is then not very far-fetched.

As I mentioned earlier, while not as well known as some other Seinfeld episodes, "The Cheever Letters" is significant to the show for several reasons. "The Cheever Letters" would mark the very first time that Susan's parents appeared on the show. Strangely enough they would not appear again until the seventh season episode "The Rye," their marriage apparently having survived the revelation that Mr. Ross had an affair with John Cheever.

"The Cheever Letters" would also mark the first credited guest appearance of actor Timothy Omundson, who played Susan's brother Ricky. Timothy Onmundson would go on to have regular and recurring roles on the TV shows Judging Amy, Psych, Galavant. and This is Us. Curiously, this was the only time that Susan's brother Ricky ever appeared on the show. He was absent even for major plot lines.

Lisa Malkiewicz was not the only actress considered for the role of Elaine's assistant Sandra. Dedee Pfeiffer (Michelle Pfeiffer's sister, later a regular on Cybill and currently a regular on the show Big Sky) and Kim Gillingham (earlier a regular on the short-lived show One Big Family) also auditioned for the part. Both actresses would later appear in Seinfeld episodes, Dedee Pfeiffer in the fifth season episode "The Opposite" and  Kim Gillingham in the fifth season episode "The Puffy Shirt."

"The Cheever Letters" was Vanessa Marquez's second guest appearance on a TV show, following an appearance on the short-lived Tequila and Bonetti earlier in the year. While Vanessa was Mexican in descent, it was the second time she played a character of Cuban descent. She was set to have a recurring role as Consuelo Burns, the niece of the new lead character Michael Santana (Steven Bauer), on the TV show Wiseguy, but the show was cancelled before her episodes and never aired. They would be seen in syndication and would be released on the fourth season DVD set of Wiseguy in 2009. Both Michael Santana and hence Vanessa's character were Cuban in descent.

Vanessa never related any memories of her guest appearance on Seinfeld, other than saying it was one of the more pleasant experiences in her career. Given how briefly she appears on the episode (she appears for around a minute or two and has only a few lines), I have to think she did not spend much time on the Seinfeld set. Vanessa did say that out of everything she had ever done, "The Cheever Letters" was the most consistent in delivering residuals to her, even beating out Stand and Deliver (1988). This should be no surprise, given how often it has aired since Seinfeld entered syndication.  Here I have to once more point out that "The Cheever Letters" was the first time that Vanessa Marquez played an adult character. Before the episode, she had played teenagers in the movies Stand and Deliver and Night Children, the TV movies Sweet 15 and Locked Up: A Mother's Rage, and on the TV shows Wiseguy and Tequila and Bonetti.

"The Cheever Letters" was the eighth episode of the fourth season of Seinfeld, the season in which the show finally broke into the mainstream. It was during the season that NBC moved Seinfeld from Wednesday to Thursday night, which resulted in a rise in the show's ratings. For the first time since it debuted, Seinfeld ranked in the top 30, coming in at no. 25 for the year. It was also the year that several of the show's best known episodes aired, including "The Bubble Boy," "The Contest," "The Outing," and "The Junior Mint."

"The Cheever Letters" may not be as well known as any of those episodes, but, as pointed out above, it was a pivotal episode for the show. It marked the first appearance of Susan's parents. It also gave Timothy Onmundson the first credit of what has been a very successful career. It would only be a few years later that he appeared on Judging Amy and Psych. And while Vanessa Marquez only appears briefly in the episode, it marked the first time she played an adult role and gave her more exposure than she had since Stand and Deliver. It would only be two years later that she would return to NBC on Thursday nights as Nurse Wendy Goldman on ER.

On a personal level, I also think it is one of the all-tme funniest Seinfeld episodes. There are some truly hilarious bits here, from George delivering the bad news about the cabin to Susan's parents to Kramer at the Cuban Diplomatic Mission at the UN to the revelation that Susan's father had an affair with John Cheever. And the zinger Elaine directs at Jerry at the end of the show is one of the best closes to an episode of the entire run. Indeed, the line received such an enthusiastic and prolonged response from the audience that it had to be buffered and truncated  when the episode was edited. During its fourth season Seinfeld truly came into its own, and "The Cheever Letters" is proof of that.

Donald Pleasence as Prince John on The Adventures of Robin Hood

(This post is part of the Devilishly Delightful Donald Pleasance Blogathon Hosted by Realweedgiemidget Reviewsand Cinematic Catharsis)

Today Donald Pleasence may be best known as Blythe, "The Forger," in The Great Escape (1963) and Blofeld in You Only Live Twice (1967). Not many people may remember that he played the villainous Prince John on the 1950s ITV television series The Adventures of Robin Hood. It was Donald Pleasence who originated the role on the series, and he would appear four times as Prince John on the show.

For those who may be unfamiliar with The Adventures of Robin Hood, it was set in England at the time King Richard the Lionheart was away on the Crusades and Prince John was ruling in his stead. It centred on the legendary outlaw Robin Hood (Richard Greene) and his band of merry men as they opposed the machinations of the corrupt Sheriff of Nottingham (Alan Wheatley) in Sherwood Forest and the surrounding area. Although it was not the first British television show to air in the United States, it was the first to be a major hit there, paving the way for Danger Man, The Avengers, The Saint, and many others to come. It debuted in the United Kingdom on September 25 1955. In the United States it aired on CBS and debuted on September 26 1955. The Adventures of Robin Hood proved incredibly successful, inspiring such similar series as The Adventures of Sir Lancelot, The Buccaneers, and The Adventures of William Tell. It also produced a great deal of merchandise on both sides of the Pond. Ultimately, it ran for four seasons and has persisted as a syndicated rerun ever since.

Throughout the series, the Sheriff of Nottingham was often acting on the orders of Prince John, but Prince John would not appear until the final episode of the first season. In "The Prisoner" a rumour has spread that King Richard has died in the Crusades. Taking advantage of the rumour, Prince John imprisons a courier who has arrived with news that Richard is alive, and then sets to have himself crowned King of England. Fortunately, Robin Hood gets wind of the plot. In the episode Prince John makes for a sharp contrast to the Sheriff of Nottingham. Although scheming and villainous, Prince John is a coward at heart and would rather hide than face Robin in combat.

Not only was Prince John on The Adventures of Robin Hood dishonestly and cowardly, he also apparently lacks other morals as well. In the second season episode "Isabella," John plots to set his current wife, Princess Avice (Helen Cherry), aside and marry the French princess Isabella (Zena Walker). John's hope is that once he does so, the French king will recognize him as the rightful King of England. Fortunately, Princess Avice alerts Robin Hood to the plot.

What might have been Prince John's most sinister plot occurs later in the second season. In "Ambush" Prince John plots for Prince Arthur (Peter Asher, later of Peter & Gordon fame), the son of Prince John and King Richard's brother Geoffrey whom Richard had designated as the heir to the throne, to die in an "accident." As might be expected, Robin Hood learns of the plot and takes action to protect the young prince. Here I have to point out that historically Arthur I, Duke of Brittany, was indeed the son of Geoffrey II, Duke of Brittany, and King Richard the Lionheart did appoint him as his heir apparent. What eventually happened to Duke Arthur remains a mystery to this day, but there are historians who think Prince John had a hand in it.

Donald Pleasence appeared one final time as Prince John on The Adventures of Robin Hood in the third season episode "Marian's Prize." In "Marian's Prize," while the Sheriff of Nottingham is away, Prince John is in Nottingham and arranges for an archery contest in order to trap Robin Hood. As it turns out, Robin Hood and Little John (Archie Duncan) are off on a hunting trip. The merry men then set up their own archery contest, to see which of their number should compete in Prince John's contest in Robin's stead. They let Marian (Patricia Driscoll) compete in their contest and, as it turns out, she is the best archer among them. She then competes in Prince John's archery contest disguised as a boy. "Marian's Prize" differs a bit from the earlier episodes featuring Prince John, which play out almost like medieval spy dramas. "Marian's Prize" is a bit more straight forward and, in fact, the episode could have easily been done with the Sheriff of Nottingham as the villain.

Donald Pleasence was not the only actor to play Prince John on The Adventures of Robin Hood. Hubert Gregg played Prince John in two third season episodes. He had earlier played the character in the 1952 movie The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men. Brian Haines played Prince John in a single, third season episode. While others played the role on the show, it was Donald Pleasance who originated the role and he was the one who played it the most.

Aside from his guest appearances as Prince John, Donald Pleasence also made one other guest appearance on The Adventures of Robin Hood.  In "A Village Wooing," Robin and the merry men seek to help Wat Longfellow (Leslie Phillips), win the hand of the Widow Winifred (Betty Impey). Unfortunately for Wat, Bailiff Baldwin, played by Donald Pleasance, also has his eye on the widow. Baliliff Baldwin is a very different character from Prince John. Although a stickler for the rules and more than a bit superstitious and a little underhanded, Baldwin was not evil in the way John was.

Donald Pleasence did an extraordinary job of playing Prince John, and it is easy to see how he would later become a movie star. He is barely recognizable as John, having a full head of hair and a beard. Of course, once Donald Pleasence as Prince John speaks in any given episode of The Adventures of Robin Hood, it is no mistaking him for anyone but Donald Pleasence. To Prince John, Donald Pleasence brought just the right amount of knavery, conceit, and cowardice. Prince John lacks the Sheriff of Nottingham's bravery, but he more than makes up for it in the depths to which he will stoop to get the throne. While both Hubert Gregg and Brian Haines made for acceptable Prince Johns, neither of them were as good as Donald Pleasence. If Donald Pleasence excelled in playing such villains as Blofeld in You Only Live Twice and Himmler in The Eagle Has Landed (1976), it is perhaps because he got plenty of practice on The Adventures of Robin Hood.

Godspeed Robbie Coltrane

Robbie Coltrane, best known for playing Hagrid in the "Harry Potter" movies and the caustic Dr. Fitzgerald on the British television series Cracker, died on October 14 2022 at the age of 72. No cause was given. He had suffered from osteoarthritis later in his life.

Robbie Coltrane was born Anthony Robert McMillan on March 30 1950 in Rutherglen, South Lancashire. His father was a physician, who also served as a forensic surgeon with the police, while his mother was a pianist and teacher.  He attended Belmont House School in Newton Mearns and then  Glenalmond College in Perthsire. He attended the Glasgow School of Art, where he studied painting. He continued studying art at Moray House College of Education in Edinburgh.

He would not prove successful as an artist, and as a result began performing stand-up comedy in clubs around Edinburgh. For his stage name he took the last name "Coltrane" in honour of jazz legend John Coltrane.

Robbie Coltrane made his television debut in an episode of Play for Today in 1979. The following year he made movie debut in a bit part in La mort en direct (1980).  That same year he appeared in a small part in the movie Flash Gordon (1980), the mini-series The Lost Tribe, and the TV movie The House with the Green Shutters.

In the Eighties Robbie Coltrane was a regular and recurring cast member on the shows A Kick Up the Eighties, Alfresco, Laugh??? I Nearly Paid My Licence Fee, and The Lenny Henry Show. He guest starred on the shows Metal Mickey, Keep It in the Family, The Comic Strip Presents, Luna, Are You Being Served?, The Young Ones, Minder, Girls on Top, Black Adder the Third, Saturday Live, French and Saunders, and Thompson. He appeared in the mini-series Tutti Frutti and the television special Blackadder's Christmas Carol. He appeared in the movies Subway Riders (1981), Britannia Hospital (1982), Scrubbers (1982), Krull (1983), Ghost Dance (1983), Loose Connections (1983), Chinese Boxes (1984), National Lampoon's European Vacation (1985), Defence of the Realm (1985), The Supergrass (1985), Revolution (1985), Caravaggio (1986), Absolute Beginners (1986), Mona Lisa (1986), Eat the Rich (1987), The Fruit Machine (1988), Slipstream (1988), Bert Rigby, You're a Fool (1989), Let It Ride (1989), Henry V (1989), Nuns on the Run (1990), Perfectly Normal (1990), and Midnight Breaks (1990).

In the Nineties Robbie Coltrane played Dr. Eward "Fitz" Fitzgerald on the TV show Cracker. He guest starred on the TV series Screen One, ABC Weekend Specials, and Screenplay. He appeared in the movies Triple Bogey on a Par Five Hole (1991), The Pope Must Die (1991), Oh, What a Night (1992), The Adventures of Huck Finn (1993), GoldenEye (1995), Buddy (1997), Montana (1998), Frogs for Snakes (1998), Message in a Bottle (1999), and The World is Not Enough (1999).

In the Naughts Robbie Coltrane began playing Rubeus Hagrid, the groundskeeper and gamekeeper of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, in the "Harry Potter" movies starting with Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone in 2001. He appeared in all eight movies, throughout the Naughts and into the early Teens. He also appeared in the movies From Hell (2001), On the Nose (2001), Van Helsing (2004), Ocean's Twelve (2004), Provoked: A True Story (2006), Stormbreaker (2006), and The Brother's Bloom (2008). He was the voice of Gregory in The Tale of Despereaux (2008) and the title character in Gooby (2009). On television he guest starred on the TV shows Frasier and Still Game. He appeared in the mini-series Murderland. He also reprised his role as Fitz in the final Cracker special in 2006.

In the Teens Robbie Coltrane played Hagrid in the final "Harry Potter" movie,  Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part Two (2011). He appeared in the movies Great Expectations (2012) and Effie Gray (2014). He was the voice of the lead elf in Arthur Christmas (2011) Lord Dingwall in Brave (2012). He guest starred on the TV shows Yes, Prime Minister and Urban Myths. He appeared in the mini-series National Treasure.

Robbie Coltrane was a talented and versatile actor. This can be demonstrated by looking at his two best known roles. Fitz on Cracker was cranky, caustic, and foul-mouthed, and tended to smoke, drink, and gamble far too much. Hagrid in the "Harry Potter" movies was about as far removed from Fitz as one could get. Hagrid was soft-hearted, loved animals (both magical and otherwise), friendly, and loyal to his friends. Ftiz and Hagrid were not isolated cases either, as he often played characters who were dramatically different from each other. In Henry V (1989) he played John Flastaff, the vain, overly boastful knight who spend much of his time drinking. In Nuns on the Run, he played small-time hood Charlie McManus who goes on the run disguised as a nun with his buddy Brian Hope (Eric Idle). In two "James Bond" movies he played Russian gangster and former KGB Valentin Zukovsky. Robbie Coltrane was an incredible actor who portrayed a wide variety of characters. What is more, he always gave a good performance.

Turner Classic Movies Announces the Dates for the 14th Annual TCM Classic Film Festival

Yesterday Turner Classic Movies announced the dates for the 14th Annual TCM Classic Film Festival. It is set to unfold from Thursday, April 13 to Sunday, April 16 2023. As usual, it will take place in Hollywood, with the legendary Roosevelt Hotel serving as both the festival's central gathering point and its official hotel. The Roosevelt will offer special rates for those attending the festival. Passes for the 2023 TCM Classic Film Festival will go on sale this December.

This year's theme is "You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet: Celebrating Film Legacies. This year's festival will be held in conjunction of Warner Bros.' 100th anniversary next year. The studio was founded on April 9 1923.

The High Chaparral

Even today Latinos are underrrepresented in the media. While Latinos make up 18.7% of the population in the United States according to the last census, they account for only 3.1% of all leading roles on television. In the Sixties Latino representation was much worse. Latinos rarely appeared on television and when they did, it was usually in Westerns where they were often portrayed as stereotypical Mexican bandidos or hot-tempered señoritas. When the Western television series The High Chaparral debuted, it was then positively revolutionary. Half of the lead characters were Mexican (even though they weren't played by actors of Mexican descent), and some of the supporting characters were as well. What is more, they were not presented as stereotypes, but as three-dimensional characters whose personalities were not entirely defined by preconceived notions about their ethnicity.

The High Chaparral centred on the ranch of the same name, so named for the chaparral that grew in the area. In the pilot John Cannon (Leif Erickson), his wife  Anna-Lee (Joan Caulfield), his son Billy Blue (often called "Blue Boy," he was played by Mark Slade), and his brother Buck (Cameron Mitchell) settled the ranch, located near the border between Arizona Territory and Mexico. Anna-Lee was killed not long after they settled there in an attack by the Apaches. With the Apaches a constant threat, John Cannon had to enter into an alliance with Don Sebastian Montoya (Frank Silvera), who owned a large ranch on the Mexican side of the border. As a condition of the alliance, Don Sebastian required John to marry his daughter, Victoria (Linda Cristal).  Victoria's brother, Manolito (Henry Darrow), who did not get along particularly well with her father, accompanied his sister to her new home. Blue Boy initially did not approve of the marriage, although he grew to appreciate it in time. Although they married for reasons other than love and there was 30 years difference in their ages, John and Victoria grew to love each other as well.

The High Chaparral was the creation of David Dortort, who had also created what may be the most famous ranch Western of them all, Bonanza. David Dortort wanted to produce a Western where a son did not get along with his father, which would make it quite different from Bonanza. At the same time he thought Latinos did not get enough exposure on television and, when they did, too often they were portrayed as stereotypes. The end result of these two ideas was The High Chaparral, on which Blue did not particularly get along well with his father John and Mexican characters played large roles.

The pilot for The High Chaparral was shot in the summer of 1966. What set the pilot for The High Chaparral apart from any pilots before it is that it was meant to air in two parts, each an hour long with commercials. According to news reports at the time, it was the first two-part pilot ever. As might be expected, the pilot was expensive for television at the time. It cost $600,000. At the time David Dortort thought that if the pilot did not sell, then he could release it as a feature film.

At the time he assumed the role of Big John Cannon, Leif Erickson already had a long career. He had been appearing in movies since the Thirties and had appeared in such movies as On the Waterfront (1954) and Strait-Jacket (1964). Before playing Buck Cannon on The High Chaparral, Cameron Mitchell had also had a long career in film and television. He had starred on the short-lived British series The Beachcomber. Prior to playing Billy Blue, Mark Slade had been a regular on the short-lived show The Wackiest Ship in the Army and had guest starred on such shows as Gomer Pyle: USMC and Mr. Novak.

Despite the fact that their characters were Mexican, some of the actors playing members of the Montoya family were not even Latino. Although she grew up in Argentina, Linda Cristal was either born to a French father and an Italian mother or to Spanish parents. She had an impressive film career prior to playing Victoria on The High Chaparral, appearing in such films as The Perfect Furlough (1958) and The Alamo (1960). Frank Silvera, who played the recurring role of Don Sebastian Montoya, was Jamaican in ancestry. Throughout his career he had played a variety of ethnicities, although more often than not he played Latin characters. Of the Montoyas, the one character played by a Latino was Manolito Montoya. Henry Darrow was born Enrique Tomás Delgado in New York City to Puerto Rican parents. Initially using the stage name "Henry Delgado," he switched to the name "Henry Darrow" to avoid typecasting. Prior to The High Chaparral, he had made several guest appearances on television from Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea to Gunsmoke.

On many ranch Westerns on television it was often the case that ranch hands rarely appeared. Indeed, on David Dortort's own Bonanza it sometimes seemed as if the vast Ponderosa was ran by only four men. This was not the case with The High Chaparral, on which one of the lead characters was a ranch hand and several of the recurring characters were also ranch hands. Don Collier played the foreman of the High Chaparral, Sam Butler. Don Collier had been one of the leads on the Western television series Outlaws and had made several guest appearances on television shows.

While Sam Butler was a regular character on The High Chaparral, there were several other ranch hands who appeared in several episodes and appeared from the beginning of the show to its very end. Among these was Sam's brother Joe (Bob Hoy). Prior to The High Chaparral Bob Hoy had made several guest appearances on Bonanza and The Wild Wild West. Pedro was another ranch hand at the High Chaparral who appeared frequently on the show. He was also played by one of the only two semi-regular actors on the show who were actually Mexican in descent. Roberto Contreras was the son of director Jaime Contreras, who was born in Oaxaca, Mexico. Prior to The High Chaparral, Roberto Contreras had guest starred on several TV Westerns. The other semi-regular actor on The High Chaparral who was Mexican in descent was Rodolfo Acosta, who played Vaquero on the show. Like Roberto Contreras, Rodolfo Acosta had appeared on several TV Westerns prior to The High Chaparral. Among the other ranch hands who appeared on The High Chaparral from time to time were Reno (Ted Markland) and Ira (Jerry Summers).

The High Chaparral was filmed on location at Old Tucson Studios in Arizona, as well as  Saguaro National Park in Arizona. Shooting in Arizona presented some problems, as in the summer temperatures could easily rise above 100 degrees. Other exteriors were shot around California, in such places as Red Rock Canyon State Park and Bronson Canyon. All interiors and some of the exteriors were shot at Warner Bros. in Burbank, with scenes shot on Laramie Street on the back lot and Studios 20 and 25 at Warner Bros.

The theme of The High Chaparral was composed by David Rose, who served as the composer on Bonanza (although its famous original theme was composed by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans). In fact, he drew upon the score he had composed for the fifth season Bonanza episode "The Pressure Game" in writing the theme to The High Chaparral.

For a show that had a large ensemble, The High Chaparral had very few changes in its cast. Mark Slade left at the end of the third season. He was 28 when the show began and was over thirty by the third season. Quite simply, he was too old to convincingly play a teenager. Frank Silvera died shortly after the end of the third season. Don Sebastian was written out of the show as having died. He willed Rancho Monotya to his brother, Don Domingo (played by Mexican acting legend Gilbert Roland).

While The High Chaparral never ranked in the top thirty shows for the year, it did relatively well in the ratings for most of its run. It proved phenomenally successful in Europe, where it was the number one show there for a time. In Sweden a song titled "Manolito," about the character from The High Chaparral, was even written and recorded by singer/songwriter Thore Skogman. The High Chaparral can still be found in syndication in Europe.

The High Chaparral would end its run with its fourth season. Its last original episode aired on March 12 1971. The reasons for the cancellation of The High Chaparral seem to have been manifold. Its ratings were no longer as high as they had once been. It was also an expensive show to produce. The average episode cost $225,000 to produce.

Another possible factor in the cancellation of The High Chaparral may have been the fact that the 1970-1971 season was the year of the Rural Purge, at which time the networks purged themselves of shows that appealed primarily to rural audiences, older audiences, or both. It was mostly CBS that cancelled rural shows and shows that appealed to older audiences, although both NBC and ABC did their share of cancellations of such shows. NBC cancelled The Men from Shiloh (the new title of the long running Western The Virginian) because its audience was too old. Given Westerns have traditionally appealed to an older audience, it is possible that The High Chaparral fell victim to the networks' obsession with the 18-49 demographic.

Finally, it is possible that The High Chaparral fell victim to a moral panic over violence on television that had emerged after the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy. During the 1968-1969 season CBS had cancelled The Wild Wild West as a scapegoat in the moral panic over television violence. Sadly, the networks tended to identify the Western genre with violence. In an article published in the Pittsfield Berkshire Eagle, the Corpus Christi Caller Times, and other newspapers in mid-March of 1969, an ABC executive uses the fact that the network had eliminated all Westerns from their schedule as an example of their efforts to reduce violence on television. It is possible that NBC saw cancelling The High Chaparral as a means of reducing television violence on the network.

While The High Chaparral ended after four seasons, it would remain popular through the years. In addition to local television stations, it has been shown on such TV outlets as the Family Channel, the Hallmark Channel, INSP, and Heroes & Icons. The first three seasons have been released on DVD in the United States, and the entire run has been released on DVD in Europe. Although not as well known as such ranch Westerns as Bonanza and The Big Valley, The High Chaparral maintains a large following to this day.

Much of the reason The High Chaparral remains popular is that it was different from any other ranch Western on the air. The very fact that many of its characters were Mexican and were not played as stereotypes would set it apart from other Westerns of the time. While Victoria was strong-willed and had a temper, she was no stereotypical, fiery señorita. Indeed, she was responsible for much of the day-to-day running of the High Chaparral. And unlike a certain other ranch Western, when Victoria was captured she would not wait for the men to rescue her, but would figure out her own way to escape her captors. Similarly, Manolito was no stereotype either. Manolito was brave, intensely loyal to his friends and family, and he would always come down on the side of the oppressed. Even the Mexican ranch hands, such as Pedro and Vaquero, were not portrayed as stereotypes. Contrary to the "lazy Mexican" stereotype, they not only work hard, but they enjoy their work. Here it must be pointed out that Big John and Victoria had one of the few mixed marriages on television at the time. At a time when Latinos were rarely seen on television, The High Chaparral was positively revolutionary at the time in its portrayal of Latinos.

Even more so than Bonanza, The High Chaparral was sympathetic towards Native Americans. While the Apache were presented as a threat to both the High Chaparral and Rancho Montoya, they were treated with respect and as characters with their own motivations. For the most part, they were not portrayed as simple stereotypes, a sharp contrast to many of the Western television series of the Fifties.

Of course, another way in which The High Chaparral differed from other ranch Westerns is that it was much a grittier show. The characters on The High Chaparral did not always get along. Particularly in its early seasons, it was not unusual for Blue to fight with his father John, something the sons on Bonanza or The Big Valley rarely did. Even Victoria and Manolito, who were usually devoted to each other, would have arguments. In comparison to Bonanza and The Big Valley, The High Chaparral could be a very violent show. While the show was always centred around its characters (both the regulars and guest stars), it was at its core an action show. Gunfights and fisticuffs were not unknown in its earlier seasons.

The High Chaparral was one of the last Westerns on American television and it was a groundbreaking one at that. It featured Latinos in non-stereotypical roles at a time when Latinos were rarely seen on television. It also treated other ethnicities, from the Apache to Irish miners, with sympathy. At the same time, it was very effective as an action/adventure show. The High Chaparral may not be as well known as The Big Valley, let alone Bonanza, but there is every reason it should be.