{"id":3388,"date":"2002-05-25T14:58:56","date_gmt":"2002-05-25T18:58:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/?p=3388"},"modified":"2026-07-22T12:00:52","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T16:00:52","slug":"recollections-of-a-hairpiece","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/?p=3388","title":{"rendered":"Recollections of a Hairpiece (by Lily of the West)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Summary:\u00a0 an uncredited member of the Bonanza Cast finally gets to tell his story <\/span><\/p>\n

Rated:<\/span>\u00a0K+ (1,105 words)
\n<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Recollections of a Hairpiece<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Interviewer:<\/strong> \u201cIn our \u201cWhere are they now\u201d series, we profile lesser-known performers who have nevertheless made significant contributions to the history of show business. We are talking today to Adam Cartwright\u2019s hairpiece from the popular TV show \u201cBonanza.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The interviewer sits cross-legged in her large chair, while the Hairpiece is comfortably arranged on a large purple velvet cushion on the seat of the opposite chair.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDear hairpiece, even though your role on Bonanza was uncredited, you nevertheless had a very prominent part.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWell, yes. Everybody knew I was there. I mean, just imagine Bonanza without me. It would have been a completely different show.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAnd how did you like Pernell Roberts? Was he nice to work with?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNow I\u2019m going to be honest here. Pernell didn\u2019t like me. We had a difficult working relationship. He always tried to get the producers to fire me. He thought he could do just fine without me, but of course, we all know that would have been a disaster. Still, the moment it was \u201ccut\u201d, he ripped me off and just flung me aside. Once he tossed me on the catering tables and and stormed off and I got mayonnaise all over me. No respect whatsoever. I guess it never occurred to him I had professional pride of my own. And then he\u2019d forget where he put me, and they had to delay the next scene while everybody ran around looking for me. Really, that was very insulting.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBut surely there must have been good moments, too. What are some of your fondest memories?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOh, I liked the horse riding, whenever his hat got blown off and I could flutter in the wind a bit.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAnd your least favorite moments \u2013 other than being flung into the mayonnaise?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAnything where he had a hat on. Which was often. Sometimes, I wasn\u2019t even called back if it was a hat scene. They just sent me home early. Apparently, Pernell preferred his hat to me.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAre there any scenes you are particularly proud of?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYes \u2013 one. It was in \u201cRight is the 4th R\u201d. Adam gets beat up at the school, and when he keels over on the porch, you can see me kinda lift off a bit and wave to the audience. It\u2019s very brief, but very expressive. You gotta look quick, though, or you miss it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAnd the producers let you do that?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThey didn\u2019t notice till later! Oh sure, they were hopping mad. But it would have been too expensive to re-shoot.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOn a different note, are you the only one in your family to go into show business?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYes, actually. I come from very humble beginnings. My family has been mostly employed in the janitorial field: mobs, dusters, and so on, although one of my aunts is a fuzzy sofa cushion in a massage parlor in Las Vegas. The only other family member who had ambitions to be a hairpiece was my older brother. But it didn\u2019t work out.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhy not?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHe was afraid of heights.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOh, that is unfortunate. Back to you, after Mr. Roberts left the show, what became of you?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMy very next gig was when I got a small part as a tribble on Star Trek. It was uncredited, too, but for the first time I was acting by myself, not \u2013 you know \u2013 glued to somebody\u2019s head, if you know what I mean. I even had a few lines.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou talked?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWell, I kinda giggled. Or sniggered. Those little peepeti-peep peep noises the tribbles made. You can hear me in that scene where Uhura snuggles up to me at the bar and coo-coos to me. That Uhura \u2013 I can honestly say that was the highlight of my career. Pernell never petted me the way she did.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBut wait a moment \u2013 wasn\u2019t that tribble beige or pink in color?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWell, yes. This is embarrassing. I had to be bleached. It was very itchy and unpleasant. Very humiliating. But the producers insisted there could be no dark tribbles. Tribbles were supposed to be positive creatures, so they could only come in fluffy, happy colors. I thought it was a very backwards attitude, and so did Lieutenant Uhura.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDid you ever have any lines on Bonanza?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNo \u2013 I asked for it, but the producers felt it was inappropriate for Adam\u2019s hairpiece to be vocal. That made me very angry, so whenever I could, I made sure I got a word in anyways.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cReally? What are some of the things you said?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWell, I made some noises from under the hat or so. Little grunts or farting noises and such that could be attributed to Adam and not be blamed on me.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cName an example for our audience.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOkay, there was that time in Woman of Fire where Adam had to fall into the pond. I really hate getting wet. I complained to the producers, but they just laughed at me. So, in revenge, I made a really rude noise when Adam fell into the water. Everybody thought it was Pernell. Check it out on tape \u2013 you can hear it really well.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cGood for you. After your work with Mr. Roberts, were you able to cover for any other stars?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNo. Things were pretty rough for a while.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOh, I\u2019m sorry.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYes. You see, stars don\u2019t like to use other stars\u2019 hair pieces. They like to have theirs custom-made. I briefly auditioned for Burt Reynolds in the late seventies \u2013 it was a low budget film –\u00a0 but he was going grey at the time, and I just flat out refused to be bleached again. One has one\u2019s pride.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI see. Have you done much since then?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNo. Just lying around enjoying my retirement.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDo you have any plans for the future?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWell, we are continuing the fight to secure accreditation and health benefits for working hairpieces in the industry. You\u2019d think they could at least afford to give us a few moth balls and some conditioner. I also applied for a position at the Museum of Television History. They\u2019ve got a lot of Bonanza stuff there, but I guess they\u2019re still not ready to acknowledge my contribution.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

INTERVIEWER: \u201cDear Hairpiece, I\u2019d like to thank you for this interview and wish you good luck for the future.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Disclaimer:\u00a0All publicly recognizable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Summary:\u00a0 an uncredited member of the Bonanza Cast finally gets to tell his story \u00a0<\/p>\n

Rated:\u00a0K+ (1,105 words)<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":99,"featured_media":40380,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"template-full-width-post.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[1005,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3388","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-adam-cartwright","category-humor","wpcat-1005-id","wpcat-4-id"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Bonanza-slide.jpg?fit=1086%2C815&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3388","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/99"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3388"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3388\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/40380"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}