Here Come the Brides
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Here Come the Brides was a television series aired on the ABC television network from 1968 to 1970. It was loosely based upon the Mercer Girls, Asa Mercer's efforts to bring civilization to old Seattle by importing marriageable women from the war-ravaged East Coast of the United States in the 1860s. Plots were usually a mix of drama and humor. Being one of the first shows targeted at young women, most of the humor was at the expense of the men, but not particularly biting.
In the pilot episode, logging boss Jason Bolt (Robert Brown) faced a shutdown of his operation, as lonely men were ready to leave Seattle to find female companionship. He promises to find one hundred marriageable ladies, willing to come to Seattle and stay for a full year. To raise the money, he goes to banker Aaron Stempel (Mark Lenard), who puts up the money in exchange for a wager that Bolt can't succeed -- with Bolt's company as the prize.
Bolt collects the women, then charters a mule-ship owned by a captain named Clancy to carry them to Seattle, a small town which is completely unprepared for the sudden arrival. The local saloon owner takes the women under her wing, while Bolt desperately works to keep the women from going back to San Francisco at the next high tide. Eventually, the women decide to give Seattle and the loggers a chance.
Bobby Sherman and David Soul were propelled to pop stardom as Bolt's brothers, Jeremy and Joshua respectively. Jeremy took a prominent role, both as the boyfriend of the beautiful leader of the Brides, but as a young man struggling with a conversation-stopping stammer. In one episode, he is temporarily cured of his impediment, following coaching by a traveler who has come to Seattle. Upon discovering that his benefactor is actually a con artist, his faith is shaken so deeply that the stammer returns.
Much of the dramatic and comic tension in the first season revolved around Stempel's efforts to thwart the deal and take control of the Bolts' holdings. Stempel becomes more friendly in the second, and final, season, which focused more on the development of individual characters and the conflicts associated with newcomers and with people just passing through.
As a TV Western, it was a bit of an oddity in that it rarely featured any form of gunplay, and violence was generally limited to comical fistfights. This was in keeping with the progressive attitudes that were starting to prevail in popular culture in the late 1960s. Stories highlighted the importance of cooperation, racial harmony, and peaceful resolution of conflict.
The show was extremely popular when it first aired -- even netting Perry Como a hit single with his version of the theme song, Seattle. However, by 1970 production ceased, and the sets for this series were destroyed by a major forest fire in the Los Angeles Metropolitan area.
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[edit] Translations
The French version of the show and of the theme song (performed by a chorus of male singers) was a smash hit in French Canada, under the title Cent filles à marier (A Hundred Girls to Marry Off).
[edit] Star Trek crossover
Barbara Hambly's Star Trek novel Ishmael has Spock travelling back to the time and place of Here Come the Brides after discovering a Klingon plot to destroy the Federation by killing Aaron Stempel (spelled Stemple in the book) before he could thwart an attempted 19th-century alien invasion of Earth. During most of the story, Spock has lost his memory and is cared for by Stempel, who passes him off as his nephew "Ishmael" and helps him hide his alien origins. At the end of the story, Spock discovers that Stempel is one of his mother's ancestors, which ties in nicely with Mark Lenard playing both Stempel and Spock's father, Sarek.
[edit] Fan Club
A long-time Bobby Sherman fan, Susan White (formerly Susan York), founded the Here Come the Brides Fan Club in 1997. Although the television show lasted for only two seasons, interest in it still exists. Members of the fan club meet on occasion and discuss favorite episodes during field trips connected with the show. Some of the field trips would include any city that was mentioned in the show, like New Bedford, Massachusetts, the city from which the brides came in the show, Seattle, the location of the show. and San Francisco, often mentioned. During these meetings door prizes or awards would be presented to various fans.
