Am Fuß der Blauen Berge

too bad we cannot get the old real good series that used to be. we have stations that claim to be western channels but none of the series are ever on. why? this was one of the greats like WAGON TRAIN. Better than gunsmoke. if you ever get a chance watch it.

Marry me, marry me, way out in laramie. That was the first line in the song. Slim Sherman, with his white blonde hair, slow easy smile, and gentle ways.was wonderful, but it was Jess Harper who had my little five year old heart. Deep voice, wickedly mischievious eyes, and hey, he just looked great in a cowboy hat.The show was for families. Something you dont see much of anymore Spring Byington,as the somewhat flustered Aunt Daisy, was an anchor. A kind of ditzy but loving MOM figure. For me it rated right up there with the Rifleman, Bonanza, Wagon Train, Gunsmoke and The Virginian. They always had a message of love, loyalty,morals, human values and pride. Laramie was exciting.It had heart. It was serious, funny, a bit violent very much like real life is now, or then, or a hundred years ago. I miss Laramie I would love to see it amoung the western rerun line-up. making the rounds of nostalgia television.I feel it would fare just fine on todays T.V.It would'nt hurt to let our kids learn some of the charicture building examples,shows like Laramie can teach.

When it first premiered in 1959, Laramie seemed to be shaping up as something a bit different in what had become (quite quickly) the monotonous world of TV westerns, which had more or less degenerated into endless shows about either a loner or a couple of buddies riding the west. Here was an attempt to do something far more intriguing: a focus on two brothers, young Slim (John Smith), the nearest thing that the show had to a conventional lead, and confused kid brother (Robert Crawford, Jr., whose brother Johnny played Chuck Connors' son on the long-run Rifleman series). Their relationship was believable and complex and not quite like anything else on a western at that time, leading to many unexpected and intriguing plots. Also impressive were the two other main characters - Robert Fuller as a rather unpleasant loner who wandered in to the area and was accepted, with qualifications, as part of the group, though the brothers couldn't quite understand his melancholy personality, and Hoagy Charmichael, that wonderful musical star from the big band era, as a strangely cynical and always ironic Greek chorus-like commentator on the action. The show didn't quite take off, had only mediocre ratings, and NBC had to decide to either cancel it or 'reimagine' it. If they had done the latter, this might be recalled as one of those great one-season classics that was too 'different' to survive. Instead, NBC decided to keep it on the air but remove everything that made the show special. So gone were both the little brother and Hoagy; Slim, the conventional lead, was relatively unchanged, and Robert Fuller's "anger" was "toned down" to the point that it didn't really add up to anything any more. The show, now in color, was one more ordinary series about two cool guys riding the west together. If there was anything at all different about it now, that was the addition of Spring Byington as a sweet old lady who cared for them, like the aunt who oversees Batman and Robin in the mansion, though this only brought a 'December Bride' sentimentality to the series. Wouldn't you know it - the moment that the show became more conventional, it picked up in the ratings quite considerably and ran for three more mostly mediocre years.

The rocky friendship between the two, Slim and Jess gives the series a cohesiveness that could only produce sparks one moment and an easy going working relationship the next. I really enjoy seeing the show 60 years later.

We recently dumped cable; so much useless and never watched programming for too much dough. My wife installed (had it installed) an antenna and to my delight, through wafting around with the remote, I happened on a Laramie show in progress. I had never seen one. When all those westerns were popular, I was a teen and really didn't watch much TV then, and watched even less western type fare. Anyway, when I saw it recently, I was quickly riveted. I could not believe the verisimilitude of the show. All the little details of farm and ranch implements, the whole layout, including the period dress of the actors, the scenery, was perfect. Most of all, though, was the deep and gripping nostalgia for a time-and I remember it well- when the progeny of the people who conquered this land and made it fruitful, were portrayed without apology as the moral, strong, and brave souls they actually were. That time will come again, I'm sure, though I won't be here to see it, most likely. Laramie was neither Right nor Left. It was dramatized history, and done very very well. I receive it on a network called Gritz. I hope it stays on as long as possible. Hoagy Carmichael, a semi-regular on the show, apparently, wrote "Stardust," one of the most recorded songs ever. It bears no resemblance to what these sad days passes for music.