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"I tried my best to get out of that partnership with Annie, but Annie wouldn't hear of it."

The Saga of Annie O'Toole

Feisty Annie O'Toole (Ida Lupino) comes to Nevada with her old Da {aka "Himself"} to mine silver and winds up feeding the silver miners, shanghaiing Adam Cartwright to be her partner in her tent-kitchen "The Square Meal" and to be her attorney in Miner's Court when an old enemy challenges her right to her claim.

First Aired: October 24, 1959

Writer: Thomas Thompson

Director: Joseph Kane

Now what red-blooded woman would want to get out of a partnership with Adam? (Ooops, did I really ask that out loud?)

Would you have done anything differently had you been the writer or sat in the director's chair?

I think the director scored a hit when he allowed the viewers to hear Adam's thoughts. What are your thoughts?

Click link to watch episode --> The Saga of Annie O'Toole

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Previous Discussion

 

Personally, I wouldn't touch a thing. The episode flowed well, and the comedy and sarcasm were perfectly timed. The acting wasvsuperb. and NO! I would not want to get out of a partnership with Adam. Annie made the right choice there. 😊

One of many of my favorite lines... the big miner fight at the beginning

Adam: Let's go back to the Ponderosa, Pa. This isn't any of our affair.

Ben: Oh, son, we can't ignore the rest of the world. We're the only *PUNCH* stabilizing influence in the country.

Ah ha! The theme for Bonanza.

1 hour ago, AC1830 said:

Personally, I wouldn't touch a thing. The episode flowed well, and the comedy and sarcasm were perfectly timed. The acting wasvsuperb. and NO! I would not want to get out of a partnership with Adam. Annie made the right choice there. 😊

One of many of my favorite lines... the big miner fight at the beginning

Adam: Let's go back to the Ponderosa, Pa. This isn't any of our affair.

Ben: Oh, son, we can't ignore the rest of the world. We're the only *PUNCH* stabilizing influence in the country.

Ah ha! The theme for Bonanza.

That is truly a gem of a line! I don't think I'd touch anything at all about this episode either. Gonna give it a rewarch before I comment further.

Okay, back with more thoughts!

First and foremost--Ida Lupino is absolutely masterful in this episode! She's a wonderful actress (and director!). It was such a good move to have her in the first season. I wish they'd had her back as a director and I'm rather surprised they didn't, considering she did an episode of just about every other TV show on at the time, from westerns to Twilight Zone (the only woman they ever had as a director in fact).

I have to give major, major props to the coordinators of the fight scene. Stunning work all around. Keeping your mains and your stunt folks from being injured is hard work and bits like this that are pulled off so seamlessly:

Evidence of a job well done. And loads of enjoyment for viewers.

Other favorite scenes/things:

*I die of laughter everytime Hoss rips the bit of her wagon seat off trying to board.

*What an equal match Annie is to Adam. They play off each other so well, and I love how she drives him insane because she won't accept any of his high-falutin' ways and help

*The miners (and Hoss!) getting angry when the claim arguments mess with their food.

*The ENTIRE exchange between Ben and Adam in this scene (and the way Hoss & Joe laugh harder than anyone else):

"But Pa, it's me, Adam!"

That fight scene was so crazy busy and ran so seamlessly that I still can't figure out how Adam just missed being bowled over as the miner sailed by. Also, just after that when Adam stands up and truly trips over a miner Ben just knocked down trying to get to Pa to make his plea to return to the Ponderosa - I think it was a 'save the scene' by PR. If it was acted, it was very well done. (And don't ask how I managed to capture it so well. I know I won't be able to do it again. 😂)

Shoot, I thought I hit 'submit reply' to this and it's been sitting on my screen open for however long 🙄

That's a fantastic screen cap, @AC1830 !! The "in action" shots are so difficult. I won't ask how you got it, I'll just marvel at it's brilliance and be thankful you did 😁

I suspect you are correct with your 'save the scene' musings, but I suppose we'll never know. In any case, a brilliantly done moment by PR.

This is such a fun episode, and Annie O’Toole is definitely on my personal list of best guest stars. I think this is the most straight-up comedy episode to date, and I find it funny that it’s a largely Adam episode. Obviously he was part of later comedies, but in those later ones he was more often a straight man or commenter on his brothers’ antics rather than the comedy-episode lead. So in some ways this is anomalous - though he’s also somewhat the straight man for Annie here, so in that sense it might actually be the early start of the pattern…

One thing that I've never understood - why was Trapdoor so adamant that he wanted that particular claim? As far as I remember, they had not actually done any digging (other than the grave) at either site. Then, as it turned out, he paid Annie for the claim and it ended up being the one of lesser value!

6 hours ago, ellen said:

One thing that I've never understood - why was Trapdoor so adamant that he wanted that particular claim? As far as I remember, they had not actually done any digging (other than the grave) at either site. Then, as it turned out, he paid Annie for the claim and it ended up being the one of lesser value!

I think it goes back to them knowing each other back in San Francisco. Settling old scores and such. Once it was known there was gold on the claim (prompting Trapdoor to try and blast inside the restaurant), then there was financial interest, too.