
Hoss and the Leprechauns Full Episode – Bonanza, Season #05, Episode #12
In this classic and uproarious Bonanza episode, Hoss Cartwright makes a surprising return to the Ponderosa with a strong box of gold, attributing his fortune to a group of “Little People”—Leprechauns, to be precise. Despite skepticism from his family and friends regarding his tale of tiny benefactors, the undeniable existence of the treasure sparks a miniature gold rush. Meanwhile, the so-called “Leprechauns,” actually a troupe of carnival midgets and dwarves, revolt against their deceitful boss, Professor McCarthy (portrayed by Sean McClory). Featuring esteemed professional Little People such as Frank Delfino, Harry Monty, and Nels Nelson—both of the latter appearing in the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz—the cast adds depth to the whimsical storyline. Written with a playful tone by Robert Barron, Hoss and the Leprechauns originally aired on December 22, 1963.
Explore the plot, along with intriguing trivia, or enjoy the full episode below.
Table of Contents
Watch the Full Episode of Hoss and the Leprechauns
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Main Cast
In the twelfth episode of Bonanza’s fifth season, “Hoss and the Leprechauns,” several recurring and supporting cast members appeared. Notable members of the cast include:
- Lorne Greene as Ben Cartwright
- Pernell Roberts as Adam Cartwright
- Dan Blocker as Eric ‘Hoss’ Cartwright
- Michael Landon as Joseph ‘Little Joe’ Cartwright
- Sean McClory as Professor James Aloysius McCarthy
- Ray Teal as Sheriff Roy Coffee
- Robert Sorrells as Charlie
- Clegg Hoyt as Dorsel
- Frank Delfino as Timothy
- Harry Monty as Michael (as Harry Monte)
- Felix Silla as Sean
- Nels P. Nelson as Bobby (as Nels Nelson)
- Roger Arroyo as Audie (as Roger Arroya)
- John Bose as Townsman (uncredited)
- John Breen as Townsman (uncredited)
- Betty Endicott as Brunette Townswoman in Red Dress (uncredited)
- Michael Jeffers as Barfly (uncredited)
- Martha Manor as Blonde Townswoman in Plaid Dress (uncredited)
- Jimmy Noel as Barfly (uncredited)
- Cosmo Sardo as Bartender (uncredited)
- Jack Tornek as Darrell Gillespie (uncredited)
Full Story Line for Hoss and the Leprechauns
While exploring the woods, Hoss encounters a bear harassing a small, green-clad man perched in a tree. After shooing away the bear, Hoss discovers a buried strongbox brimming with bags of gold dust. Unable to locate the elusive “leprechaun,” Hoss brings the treasure back to the safety of the Ponderosa. Despite Pa, Adam, and Joe’s skepticism about his tale, they cannot deny the reality of the gold. Ben decides to stash the gold in a locked bookcase, intending to hand it over to the sheriff in Virginia City.
During the night, Hoss is roused by a noise downstairs and investigates, only to spot the leprechaun attempting to abscond with the strongbox through the window. In his haste, Hoss stumbles on the stairs, crashing through a railing and alerting the household. Pa, Adam, and Joe find Hoss sprawled on the floor, nursing a sizable bump on his head and insisting that the leprechauns made off with the gold. Once again, Hoss’s account is met with skepticism, but Pa acknowledges the disappearance of the gold and confirms Hoss’s injury.
The following day, the Cartwrights visit the sheriff to report the theft from their ranch. Rumors about buried gold on the Ponderosa spread like wildfire throughout the town. As a newly arrived Irish professor confirms the existence of multiple leprechauns and their gold, the entire village becomes consumed by the search for these mythical beings.
Full Script and Dialogue of Hoss and the Leprechauns
Mm. Old Hop Sing gets through breading and frying you, you're gonna be so good, it ought to be against the law to eat you. Now, I'll tell you what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna go out there and I'm gonna get your granddaddy. Only reason he ain't been caught yet is because I ain't been after him. But I am now. And then he's gonna join you at my dinner table tonight. Help! Help! Help! Help! Please help! Help! Help! Help, help! Help! Help! Get out of here. Hey. Hey! Wait a minute! Wait a minute! The bear's gone! He ain't... Hey! Come here! Wait a minute. Hey, little fella! Hey! Hey, little fella, come on out. The bear's gone. Hey! Little fella, is this strongbox yours? Now, I know you can hear me, you couldn't have got that far away. You better come on out here and claim it right now, or I'm gonna open it. Gold. How come he didn't claim it? Must be stolen. Boy, wait till Pa hears about this. Huh. This ain't gonna be easy to explain. None of it. Now, you ain't gonna believe this, Pa. Heh. The funniest thing happened to me today down at the fishing hole. Heh. You're probably wondering where I got this box of gold, huh, Pa? Well, you see, there was this little green elf... Green elf. We heard you shouting. What happened? I was depositing the gold dust. Before I finished burying it, a bear got after me. Then a giant ran down and chased the bear away. A giant? Biggest man I ever saw in my life. Then he found the strongbox and walked off with it. That's what happened. Honest. Oh, you don't believe me. I knew you weren't gonna believe me. Well, it doesn't make sense, Hoss. Look, if he was as little as you say he was, now, how can he go around lugging a strongbox full of gold? This thing is a load for any one of us. Let's look at it this way. If there is a little man running around... If, if, if, Pa. "If" is all I've been hearing. There ain't no "if" to it, Pa! I seen him with my own two eyeballs. A little man no bigger than that. I seen him! ADAM: Right. A little man in a green suit. That buried a strongbox full of gold dust. And then skips away into the bushes, where, with a twinkle in his eye, he thumbs his nose and flies away to the rainbow. I've had all I'm gonna take out of you, Adam. Pa, how come nobody will believe me? I'm just telling you exactly what I seen, and if it sounds sort of crazy or something, it ain't my fault. Of course it isn't. Look, what he says must make some sense because there it is. It's a strongbox, it's real, it contains thousands of dollars' worth of gold. - Must have come from somewhere. - Right. Yeah, and I imagine somebody's pretty anxious to get it back. Well, we can stand around here talking about it all night. Tell you what, tomorrow morning we'll ride in to see Sheriff Coffee, and tell him the whole story, and maybe he can help us. You're not gonna let him tell that story in town? Aw, Papa, you can't do that. They're gonna laugh at us. They're gonna think he's loony. We're gonna try to get to the bottom of this. Now, Hoss will tell Sheriff Coffee the whole thing, exactly the way he saw it. Hey, who's down there? Hey! Wait a minute! Hey, you little rascals! Wait a minute! Hey! Come back here! Wait a minute! Come back! A whole bunch of them little green fellows, boy. Just like the one I saw out in the woods. They had little horses, not any bigger than a good-sized hound dog. - Oh, he's really hurt himself. - I gotta catch them rascals. You'll catch them. You'll catch them. - Well, we could if we'd hurry. - All right, just calm down. Uh, Adam, Little Joe, go outside and look around. What are we gonna look around for, Pa? I gotta have something to look ar... You heard what he said. We look for little green men riding on hound dogs. Now, I'll go out and check around the house and you look for a butterfly net just in case. Right. Butterfly net. What? Oh, you got a good lump coming up here. Come on, boy. I'd better get something to put on it. - Hey, Pa, look. Somebody broke into the bookcase. The strongbox, it's gone. That's what I was afraid they'd do. They? Who? The little green men, Pa. The little green men. Now what am I gonna tell the sheriff? The only part of my story you believed was the part about the gold because I had that box to prove it. Now what am I gonna tell him? Ugh. Well, you, uh... You tell him... You tell him the truth. And you say that Adam and Little Joe couldn't find a trail, huh? Well, it was, uh... Of course, it was dark, and, uh, they had a pretty good head start on the boys. Look, Roy, you see, these little fellas, they, uh, got a way about themselves, they... Just disappearing into thin air. Well, maybe them little fellows' little horses was flying horses. That's why you couldn't find their trail. Now, look, Roy, we came here to report a robbery. If you're not gonna take it serious, we'll go home. That's all. Hold on! If anybody but Ben Cartwright come in here with a story like that, boy, I'd... What do you want me to do, Ben? The gold. Just see that's it's recovered, that's all. Look, religiously, I go through everything that comes into this office. And there's been no bank robberies, no stagecoach holdups, no gold shipments missing anywhere. So why in the dickens should I go out there hunting for something that ain't even been reported missing? But, Roy, that's just the point. We're reporting it missing. Well, you can't claim something's stolen that don't even belong to you. Well, wait a minute, Roy. Somebody broke into my house. Somebody broke into my bookcase. - Surely that's enough for you to go on. - Ah. I'm just not gonna close up this office and go out there looking for a gang of little... Now, what would the folks of this town think if I was to try to organize a posse for the purpose of tracking down a bunch of little men with green suits? Why, they'd hog-tie me and lock me up in my own jail cell till election time! Well, gentlemen, I got places to go. I got to meet the stagecoach. He didn't believe a word of it, did he? Uh, well, it's not a question of believing, son. It's, uh... Don't make no never mind, Pa. If somebody came to me with a story like that, I'd be at least interested in it enough to look into it. Yeah, ahem. Well, listen, while I'm in town, I think I'd better go and pay that grain bill. Oh. I think I'll go over to the saloon and get me a beer. Yeah, that's a very good idea. And I'll pick you up there as soon as I'm ready to go. Charlie, stage on time today? Ahead of time. Done come and went. Yeah? Anybody get off? Just one fellow. You looking for somebody in particular, Roy? No, I was just keeping tabs on the goings and comings. - Where'd this fellow go? - Yonder to saloon. Ah, much obliged. Well, like I said before, he's right down the street. You saved yourself a trip. Here he is now. McCARTHY: Oh, ha, ha. - Hello. McCARTHY: Pleasure to meet you. McCarthy is the name. Professor James Aloysius McCarthy. Uh... Ahem. I, uh, assume that you're the bulwark of local law enforcement? I'm the sheriff, if that's what you're talking about. That's exactly what I'm talking about. I think, perhaps, maybe you can help me. I was, uh, wondering if you've noticed any, uh, strangers passing through this fair city of yours of late. No, there hasn't been a stranger in this town in a month of Sundays. Oh. Ah. Unless, of course, they was little men with green suits. - Little men in green suits? - How about that, Hoss? More like little thieves in green suits. Hoss here claims that they run off with a strongbox full of gold. Gold? Hoss, did you fellas make a strike? Hold on, now, you fellas! You'll have this town in a stampede. I didn't say nothing about a gold strike. I was just repeating a crazy yarn of Hoss'. It wasn't no crazy yarn, Roy. Little men in green suits? Hoss, you must have got ahold of some bad whiskey. - Roy, I'm sorry, I... - No, no, no. Ha, ha. Just a minute, gentlemen. Now, please, now, please. I... Ahem. I, uh... It's a very charming story. Now, I'd like to hear a little bit more about it, if I may. Why don't we all refresh ourselves while we talk about it? Uh, heh, the drinks are on me, gentlemen. Won't you step up here, sir? Bartender, a couple drinks here, please. I'd have given an eyetooth to see you out there fumbling around after them little green men you dreamed up. Dag burn it, Roy, I didn't dream them up, I seen them. Of course you did! Now, gentlemen, please, please. What's the matter? In my country, it's very bad luck to laugh at the little people. - What? Where do you come from? - Ireland. Oh, excuse me, Professor McCarthy, this is Hoss Cartwright. Oh, Mr. Cartwright, it's a great pleasure and an honor to meet - such a fortunate man. - Yeah? Only once in a lifetime, and maybe not even then, is a man privileged to meet another man who has actually seen a leprechaun. - A what? - Oh, yes, well, of course, you wouldn't know about those. Well, they're a darling little bunch of rascals, all dressed in their green suits. But are you sure these little fellows I seen are...? Leprechauns? Of course I am. Everything fits. Now, it's a very well-known fact that every colony of leprechauns has a buried treasure of gold. But to a leprechaun, freedom is much more precious than all the gold in the world. That's why if you had caught one, he would have bought his release, just like that, by giving you all of his gold. I ain't sure I understand what you're trying to tell me. Oh, it's quite simple. Had you actually caught one of these little fellows, he would have given you all of his gold, and it would have been yours to keep. But since you didn't, well, it was perfectly all right for him to come after you and reclaim his treasure. Well, I never heard anything like that. Oh, ha, ha, that's a very commonplace thing in Ireland. Happens all the time. Though I must say, this is the very first instance I've heard of it happening in this country. Hoss, this fella's pulling our legs. I wouldn't be too sure of that, Roy. You thought I was. But I seen them. Of course you did. And had you caught one of them, 'tis a far richer man you'd be today. Yeah. It was quite a pile of gold, at that. Ahem. Uh, Hoss, uh, you figure them little fellas still running around loose out there? I reckon so. I don't reckon there's any way of knowing. - Hey, where you going? - I think I know where he's going. Hey! Wait a minute! Hey! Wait, what's going on around here? Wait a minute! Hoss! You come back here! Now, what's going on here? I didn't mean to run into you! I gotta hurry. Wait a minute! Where you gotta hurry to? I gotta keep them claim jumpers from getting our gold. Of course we do. Of course we do. - Pa, I gotta hurry. - I know you gotta hurry, - but let's hurry very slowly, shall we? - Pa! - Let's try to be calm! Just be calm. - Pa! Hoss! Let's go inside and get out of this hot sun. But, Pa, I gotta get up the ridge. Ben, I'd like to have you meet Mr. McCarthy. This is Hoss' pa. Oh, himself, is it? Well, it is a proud father you should be this day, sir. Pa, this gentleman knows everything there is to know about them leprechauns. I'm gonna get our horses. - Hoss! Hoss! Hoss! Will somebody tell me what's going on around here? Here, leprechaun. I don't believe it. I just don't believe it. Here, leprechaun. Leprechaun, leprechaun, leprechaun. Leprechaun. Have those people taken leave of their senses? Want me to run them out, Ben? You got a legal right to run them off your land. Oh, no, no, that'd just cause hard feelings. No, let them go. Maybe when they've worn themselves out, they'll come to their senses and see how foolish this whole thing is. Or they'll find one of those leprechauns and prove to you I ain't been lying. How many times do I have to tell you? There's no such thing as a leprechaun. They ain't gonna find leprechauns. A leprechaun is a mythical creature. Like in a storybook. Like pixies and elves! What? Excuse me, Mr. Cartwright, but if those weren't leprechauns your son saw strolling around, exactly what were they? Well, now, I don't know what they were. But if there are little men running around there, the more hunters we have looking, the quicker we'll find them. And the sooner we get this cleared up, the better for all of us! If that's the way you feel about it, I suppose you won't mind if I take a little look, will you? No, no, not at all, professor. - Look around all you want to. - Thank you. I believe I'll poke around a little too, if it's all right with you? Why not? Good hunting. Here, leprechaun. - Pa, what about me? I'd sort of... - Now, look, Hoss. Maybe them people down there have all that time to waste looking for gold. But we got work to do, so let's go do it. Pa, wait, it ain't the gold. It's them little men, Pa. I gotta find them if they're down there. I got to prove to you and them that I ain't lying, and to prove to myself I ain't crazy. Pa, it's very important to me. Ah. All right, Hoss. Get it out of your system. But on one condition. After all this is over, and you don't find anybody, we won't ever mention it again. Ever. Right? Right. Get up. Here, leprechaun. Leprechauns. Hyah. Shh, shh, shh. Listen. Yeah. Sounds like it's coming from right over there. Leprechaun? Leprechaun? Hoss, you dang near scared the dickens out of me. Charlie, if you gonna catch one of them buggers, you're gonna have to pay attention and quit running around so dang much. - Hoss, there's one them back there! - Charlie! Charlie! That's Roy and the professor. What're you trying to do with that thing? You're gonna hurt somebody with that. Excuse me, sheriff. I reckon I'm a mite jumpy with all the excitement. Now, tell me, has anyone seen anything yet? Nary a sign. Most of them done give up and went home. And they're a mite peeved at you, Hoss. They figure that you made up the whole story all along. Well, I tell you what, why don't we give it up for the day? I'm so tired, I can't stir another step. Well, there's still about an hour of sunshine left. I reckon I'll stick with it a while. Now, you all holler if you see anything. I got me one, Charlie. I got me one. You lop-eared jackass, it's me that you got. Well, I better be getting back to town. You wanna come with me, professor? Do I...? Of course I wanna come with you. Come on. - You coming, Hoss? - No, thank you, Roy. I think, I'll mosey around out here for a spell more. Ain't nobody searched that little creek bottom yet. Heh. You know, I feel kind of guilty tromping around out here. Sure hope it's peaceful back in town. Oh, don't you worry, sheriff. After all, you were only doing your duty, weren't you? Seeing to it that the mob didn't get out of hand, that things were kept orderly, hmm? You got the greatest talent for explaining things. It makes them come out sounding just right. Ha, ha, well, it's all in the way a man looks at things, I always say. Yeah, I reckon so. - What's the matter? - Huh? Did you see something? Heh, no, I just thought I did. Just a rabbit, perhaps. Uh... I, uh, ahem, was just thinking, though, it, um, seems such a shame, such a terrible pity for me to be going off and leaving poor Mr. Hoss here, when, after all, it was myself here that instigated this hunt. No, I think I'd better stay here with him. Because if I don't, my conscience will never give me one moment's rest. Oh, well, you suit yourself about that. But I better be getting back. You sure you can find your way? Oh, of course, of course. Look, we McCarthys were born with an uncanny sense of direction. - I'll see you in town, then. - To be sure. To be sure. All right, now, lads, you can come out. Well, come on out. I know you're here. Come on out, lads. You've led me on a merry chase up to now. Your old friend. But it's all over, so come on out. Good work, men. Michael, you and Bobby go get the wagon and meet us at the camp. Sean, you find a good tall tree and keep a lookout. Artie, you help me tie him up. Well, it's the first time I ever knew Hoss to miss a meal. Yeah. He should have been home by now. You want me to go out and take a look for him? That's a good idea. This, uh, Professor McCarthy, just what is he a professor of? Adam, I don't know the slightest thing about him. But I have a sound suspicion that he's tied up in this whole thing in some way. Where are you? I'm over here. - Now, don't you run away. - Oh, I won't. Pa sent me to bring you home to supper. Dag burn it. Dag burn your ornery hide, little brother. Wait till I get my hands... on you. Dag burn it, I reckon you think that's pretty funny, huh? Don't hit me. Peekaboo! I can't stand it. Your face. You looked... Hey, Joe, you see him, don't you? - You see him, don't you? - Yeah. Wait till Adam sees him! - We got him! - Wait. Wait a minute. You ain't got him yet. He's on those branches. They're not gonna hold our weight. How're we gonna get him down? I'll shake the tree. Hey, no, no, no, don't do that. You gonna kill him. - Look how little he is. - Hey! Hey, up there! You, uh, savvy English? I don't reckon he does. I don't understand leprechaun, neither. - How we gonna get him down? - I don't know. I'm gonna go get Pa and Adam and bring them here. - You keep an eye on him. - Good idea. Hurry. Hurry. Keep an eye on him. Don't let him out of your sight. - Uh-huh. - Yeah, ain't they cute? - Look at him. I told you, didn't I? - Hee-hee. I think I have a systematic schedule here that will let us replace the whole 56 miles of fence over the next few years without having to, uh... What's wrong? Look, you go out and saddle a couple of horses and I'll fill some lanterns and... I'll just feel better going out looking for those two. If I know Hoss... - I think you're right. - Hey, Pa, Adam! Adam, Pa, where are you? Hey, Pa, Adam! Pa, Pa! Pa, we got one. We got one. We got one up a tree. One of those little men. Those little men! Now, I saw him with my own eyes, Adam. Hoss has got him back up there and he's keeping him for us. Now, come on! He's up in a tree in this clearing. - This had better be good. - All right, Adam, see for yourself. See what? Pa, I'm telling you, those little men was coming at me from every direction. They was coming out of the trees, the bushes, up out of the ground! - Easy, son, easy. - Pa! This place is crawling with them little green men. They was coming at me from up, down, sideways, everywhere, Pa. You ain't never seen nothing like it. I saw one of them, Pa. - Where's Professor McCarthy? - Oh. He rode back to town with Roy Coffee. Well, he couldn't have. We just saw his horse, tied up down there. Hey, there's something mighty funny going on around here. I knew it would come to him sooner or later. You just have to give him time, you know? Will you two fellows go and see if you can find the professor? Get up, boy. Hey, professor! McCarthy! Professor? Professor? Hey, Joe, Pa, Hoss! Come out here, I got something! Hey, you got the professor's hat and cane? They couldn't be our horses, we left them tied back there. Sounds like it came from that draw over there. Maybe we can surprise whoever's in there, pin them in. Come on. What'd I tell you, Pa? See? Little green men, just like I told you. Adam, you smart aleck, now what do you say? See them? - Didn't I tell you I saw one of them? - I don't believe it. Now we know where the gold dust came from. - Just in time. - No, Pa. Well, they're starting to break up camp. We gotta stop them. Now, spread out. - And wait till I give my signal. - All right. We have to hurry. Leave the rest of the tools and let's get the gold. All right, boys, let's get them! Hyah! All right, hold it! - Yeah! Okay. We give up. Don't you trust them, Pa. Let's tie them up. Well, I don't think that'll be necessary, gentlemen. I'll take over from here. Ah, Timothy, how are you? Hello, McCarthy. Will you kindly explain what this is about? Why, I'd be delighted to. Gentlemen, allow me to introduce to you McCarthy's Leprechauns. They sing, they dance, and as you've seen, they're daring and accomplished acrobats. They have performed before all the crowned heads of Europe. They are the toast of two continents. You're performers? You're in a show? Oh, and I, uh... I must apologize for the lads' behavior just a few minutes ago. They were, uh, well, a little annoyed because they thought that you were going to steal their gold again. - Now, just a dang minute. - Just a minute, just a minute. What was the point of filling everybody's heads with all those wild stories about leprechauns and buried treasure? I was merely trying to help the lads. After all, I didn't know that they'd come by the gold legally. The last time I had seen them was in Kansas, where our show was disbanded because of, uh, financial difficulties. Yeah, and you cheated us out of all our savings. The money we were going to buy the farm with. And our families are still back east, waiting for us to send for them. That's why we began panning for gold. We were broke. Oh. Now, come on, Timothy. After all, everything has turned out fine, hasn't it? And with the gold from our little... Uh, heh, heh. Your little enterprise here, we can fashion the most magnificent show this world has ever seen. And think of it, lads, just think of it. You're going to be the stars. Hold on there, McCarthy. There's something I think you ought to know. You're on Ponderosa land. Heh. I don't think I quite understand. Well, let me explain. You see, the gold that your little friends here have been panning, they panned on our land, so the gold isn't theirs or yours. We didn't know that. Honest, we didn't. We thought it was open land. Hmm. Well, now this, uh, puts a different complexion on things altogether. Yes, we'll have to attack this problem from another angle, I can see. Gentlemen. All right, now, lads. - Since we've got the gold, let's be off. - No, McCarthy. We won't steal for you. The gold belongs to these people, not us. Come on, now, Timothy. After all, you've only got one of two choices. A simple little bit of larceny or bloodshed. And I imagine that you'll choose the former, eh? Good, I thought you'd see it my way. Uh, gentlemen, would you step over here, please? Good, thank you. Thank you for your hospitality, gentlemen, thank you. Now, it is with a great deal of sorrow that I bid you... I'm sorry, McCarthy. Don't be too hard on him, mister. Bring him along. Mr. McCarthy, you can thank the Cartwrights here for not bringing charges against you. And once you're on that stagecoach, I want that to be the last time that Virginia City ever sees you. The old refrain, eh, lads? Ah, Mr. Hoss, I understand congratulations are in order, huh? All the gold goes to you, I'm told. As the old saying has it, them that has, gets. Well, I'm afraid not this time, Mr. McCarthy. We figured on giving the gold back to these fellas. - You what? - What? Yeah, we figured that they got more of a right to it than we have. Well, I'd like to hear how you decided that. Well, Roy, where'd that gold come from in the first place? Up in the high mountains, right? Now, they ain't on the Ponderosa. I figure if these fellas hadn't panned that gold out, it'd have gone out to sea and nobody would've benefited from it. But they were standing on your land while they was doing the panning. That don't make no difference. That gold never did belong to the Ponderosa in the first place. I figure it was just sort of passing through. Hmm, what a charming idea. Hoss, by all legal rights... - Roy, I think what Hoss is trying to say is, regardless of who has a right to the gold, he feels that the gold should go to where there's the most need for it. And this way, that gold will help five new families get started on a new life. Oh, I don't know what to say. The only thing I wanted to do in the first place was just prove that I didn't dream you little fellas up. Uh, heh, heh. I, uh, ahem, don't suppose that you would like to come along with me, eh? No, professor. I'm sorry, we just don't want to be performers. No, I didn't suppose you would. We just don't like being laughed at all the time. Laughed at? Well, now, listen to me, lads, listen. None of us in the show ever laughed at you. But those people, those people outside there, they'll laugh at you. It's a very beautiful dream you have, settling down with your loved ones, farming your own land, leading normal lives. The only question is, will they let you? Stagecoach is here, Mr. McCarthy. Let's go. All right. All right, folks. Excuse me, please. - There they are. - What are they? The funniest critters I ever did see. Maybe the professor's right. Maybe we shouldn't try to live out among other people. Maybe we just don't belong. Now, wait a minute. Just hold your horses a minute. Don't you go selling those folks short out there. Don't you see? You're making the same mistake they're making. You're judging them before you even know them. Now, come on, you're gonna go out there and meet these folks right now. Come on. Folks, I'd like for all of you to move down here. I got something I wanna say to you. It concerns every one of you. I want you to hear it. Come on out. Now, folks, I know that because all of you turned out and are raising such a ruckus over our newcomers that you're just chomping at the bits to meet them, ain't you? Hey, Hoss, be careful you don't step on one of them little fellas, you might squash him. Charlie. Charlie. You be careful you don't get stepped on a little bit. Now, folks, I know that none of you would purposely or mean to hurt anybody's feelings, but Timothy here and the others feel like that they ain't welcome here. They think you're making fun of them because you don't want them around. Now, of course, you've noticed that they're different from you. They're a whole lot littler. Well, that's a funny thing. You see, I notice the same thing about you. Now, these fellas are here for the same reason most of us are. That's to help settle our town, make it grow. Raise their families. They're planning on building their homes here. Working their crops. Being good neighbors. Now, in the past, we've always welcomed folks like that. And I don't see no reason we should treat these fellas any different. You, Mr. Lucas, you're the banker. You ought to be happy to see new investors in the town. Their money is just as big as mine. And you, Darrell Gillespie, it ought to tickle you to death to find prospective buyers for that bottom land you've been trying to sell. And that ain't all. They're gonna need tools to work that land with and to build their homes. We got five brand new families here in Virginia City that's gonna raise their young'uns, they're gonna buy clothes and buy food and get haircuts and get their teeth fixed, buying seeds and supporting the church. I figure every one of us is gonna benefit from their being here. I think we ought to give them a great big rousing Virginia City welcome. Shucks, Hoss, we wasn't making any more fun of them than we do of you for being so big. Dorsel's right, Hoss. I reckon they're as welcome here as any of us. Probably more welcome than some of us. - Must be something in the air. - Yep. Something real nice. All right, now, listen! We're going over to the Gold Lily and we're gonna have a toast to our little friends. Wait. Don't forget our friend Hoss. Hey, hey, fellas. No, wait a minute, fellas. There ain't enough of us, Hoss. Come along on your own power.
Behind the Scenes of Hoss and the Leprechauns
This particular episode aired just a month after the tragic assassination of President Kennedy, served as a timely comedic relief during a period of national mourning. Its Christmas theme added to the festive spirit, providing a much-needed source of laughter for the grieving nation. Widely regarded as one of the most beloved installments of Bonanza, it garnered immense popularity among viewers.
The costumes worn by the actors portraying the leprechauns were repurposed from another Paramount production, “The Court Jester,” featuring Danny Kaye. Hats were added to distinguish them and create a semblance of uniqueness.
The lively soundtrack accompanying the leprechauns’ antics features an adaptation of Felix Mendelssohn’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream Overture,” composed in 1826, adding to the whimsical atmosphere of the episode.
A notable detail in the episode is the portrayal of Hoss firing seven shots from his gun despite it being a six-shooter. This humorous oversight adds to the charm of the storyline.
Recognized by TV Guide as a classic, this episode continues to be cherished by fans for its comedic brilliance and enduring appeal.
Looking for More Bonanza Episodes?
Bonanza is an exceptional, family-friendly series suitable for solo viewing or shared enjoyment with loved ones. Hoss and the Leprechauns marks the 146th episode out of 430 episodes. Produced by NBC, Bonanza aired on the network from September 1959 to January 1973, boasting 14 seasons.
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