"Gunsmoke" and "Bonanza"

When I turned on the television this afternoon, I saw old familiar characters - Festus and Doc from "Gunsmoke."

I haven't watched an entire episode of that program for several years, even though the reruns are part of TVLand's daily lineup.  But just seeing those two characters on the screen again brought back some memories.

There weren't many things I was allowed to do with my dad, since he worked hard during the day at B&W, then usually did free-lance electrician work in the evenings or worked outside in the garage/workshop on the weekends.  He did put me on the riding mower when I was 9-10 years old and I mowed the back yard, the back back yard, and the back back back yard (behind the garden).  But just hanging around with Dad and doing things with him wasn't something that happened.  That was before girls were learning about electricity and things like that; otherwise, I probably would have been learning about amps and volts and circuits and all of those types of things.

But we did watch two programs together.

I always looked forward to Saturday evenings because Dad and i would watch "Gunsmoke."  There were probably other shows that we watched as a family, but just before the time for Matt Dillon to appear, Greta would be put to bed.  Then it was just Dad and I to watch Marshall Dillon, Miss Kitty, and the rest of the gang.  I loved watching it with him.  Dad would have his own names for the characters and he could mimic them as well.  He would say dialogue along with them and identify the good guys and the bad guys who tried to  be good guys but were found out by the cool deciphering of clues by Marshall Dillon.

 

On Sundays the "Bonanza" time slot was after Greta's and my bedtime, especially during the school year.  In the summer we were usually outside playing, but on Sundays during holidays or if there were to be snow days, we could stay up later.  Sometimes we would sneak out of our bedroom into the hallway and watch the tv, crouched down on the floor in a spot where we could see the screen.  Of course inevitably someone would begin to giggle or she would be in my way and I would push her so I could see better and we would be found out.   I can still hear Dad saying "Girls......get back to bed."

One of the best days of my young life when we were living in the Little Brown House on 62 was the day that Dad told me I could stay up late and watch "Bonanza" with him.  I was cautioned, however, that if I fussed about getting up in the morning or tried to sleep later or fought with Greta because I had stayed up later, then my "Bonanza" watching privilege would disappear. Of course I listened to Dad talk about "Horse" rather than Hoss and Little Joe became "Little Joe" but that was just  him.  Add that to "Fenster" from Gunsmoke and "Art and Harold and Gloria too" from Christmas carols.



Many memories from those old programs.  I love that Dad and I could share those things together.  Some of the show watching continued after we moved to Mt. Vernon when I was 12, but it was easier then because of the time change.  Much better to watch those shows at 9:00 rather than at 10:00!