"Hoss and the
Leprechauns"
-This
is the title
of one of most memorable episodes (No. 146 aired 12/22/1963) on the
western adventure BONANZA/NBC/1959-73. After Hoss Cartwright
(Dan Blocker) comes to the rescue of a little man in a green
suit who was being being pursued by a bear, the little man disappears but
left in
his place are some very small tools and a strongbox full of gold. When Hoss tells his
family he suspects the little green man may be a leprechaun,
his brothers, Little Joe (Michael Landon) and Adam (Pernell
Roberts) break into laughter. Later, that night the strongbox
is retrieved by a gaggle of little green men who break into
the Cartwright's home. The next day patriarch Ben Cartwright
(Lorne Green) and Hoss go to town to report the crime to the
sheriff. When a Irishman in town, convinces the good folks of
Virginia City, Nevada that the little green men are real, the
Ponderosa homestead is overrun with gold seekers and
leprechaun hunters in search of a quick fortune. The little
men, of course, turned out to be runaway circus performers who
were
living in the woods and looking to start a new life of their own.
The gold in the strongbox was their collective earnings.