7 /10 1 Votes7
5.9/10 TV Developed by Cy Howard First episode date 29 September 1960 Number of seasons 1 | 8.1/10 IMDb Final episode date 21 September 1961 Number of episodes 38 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Written by Bob SchillerBob WeiskopfRonald AlexanderArthur Julian, based on Guestward Ho! (1956) by Patrick Dennis and Barbara Hooton Starring Joanne DruMark MillerJ. Carrol NaishFlip Mark Network American Broadcasting Company Cast Similar Harrigan and Son, Pete and Gladys, Fair Exchange, The Gale Storm Show, Hennesey | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Guestward ho alternate opening credits abc sitcom 1960
Guestward, Ho! is an American sitcom which aired on the ABC network in the 1960-1961 television season. It was based on the 1956 comic memoir of the same title by New Mexico dude ranch operator Barbara "Babs" Hooton, written in cooperation with Auntie Mame author Patrick Dennis. The series altered the characters' family name from "Hooton" to "Hooten."
Contents
Background
Guestward, Ho! began as a CBS/Desilu Studios pilot episode for Vivian Vance, who had played Lucille Ball's neighbor, Ethel Mertz, on the hit comedy series I Love Lucy and The Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Show from 1951 to 1960.
Vance played Babs Hooten and veteran film actor Leif Erickson, later of NBC's The High Chaparral, was cast as her husband, Bill Hooten. On viewing the pilot, network executives felt that Vance had become so typecast in her Ethel Mertz role that she was unconvincing playing a leading character in a situation comedy. One executive was heard to say after screening the episode, "I kept waiting for Lucy to come in." As a result, CBS rejected the pilot, and Vance continued to play her supporting role on The Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Show until the series ended in 1960.
However, Vance's screen husband on I Love Lucy, William Frawley, was not so typecast as Fred Mertz because he landed a major role as "Bub" on Fred MacMurray's ABC sitcom My Three Sons, which also premiered in 1960.
That same year, Guestward, Ho! was taken off the shelf and given two new leads, with movie actress Joanne Dru as Babs Hooten, a former model in the story line, and television actor Mark Miller as Bill Hooten. Child actor Flip Mark was cast as their son, Brook Hooten. This time, the show sold and premiered on the ABC Thursday evening schedule preceding The Donna Reed Show. It was primarily sponsored by Ralston-Purina, with 7 Up as an alternate sponsor.
Overview
The premise is a New York City family, the Hootens, tired of the urban lifestyle, relocate to operate a dude ranch in New Mexico. They bought the place unseen, and found it to need considerably more work than they had been led to believe. The Hootens befriend the American Indian "Hawkeye" whose "trading post" was the only source of supplies in the vicinity. Hawkeye, played by J. Carrol Naish, was a rather cynical Indian, who sold Indian-looking trinkets which had been mass-produced in Asia, and frequently read The Wall Street Journal, seemingly in search of a way to purchase the country and return it to its "rightful owners". Jeanette Nolan guest starred as Mrs. Winslow in the 1961 episode "Hawkeye's First Love".
Earle Hodgins appeared in at least three episodes as the 67-year-old ranch wrangler named "Lonesome". In the episode "Lonesome's Gal", ZaSu Pitts, formerly of The Gale Storm Show, played his romantic interest. Jody McCrea, whose Wichita Town, an NBC western series in which he starred with his father, Joel McCrea, ended in 1960, and he was cast as an Indian, "Danny Brave Eagle", in the 1961 episode entitled "The Wrestler".
The second episode, after the pilot, is entitled "You Can't Go Home Again", borrowing from Thomas Wolfe's novel, You Can't Go Home Again. The series finale is named "No Place Like Home".
The program ran opposite NBC's Outlaws, with Barton MacLane and Don Collier. Guestward, Ho! was replaced in the fall of 1961 by the relocation of ABC's The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet.