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Guestward Ho
Vintage TV tie-in paperback
- GenresHumorNonfiction
Hardcover
First published January 1, 1956
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
April 14, 2018
This was a funny memoir about a couple that moved from cosmopolitan New York City to New Mexico to run a Dude Ranch in the 1950's. With no experience at all, Barbara and her husband were basically learning the ropes while running the business, and encountered many hilarious situations. Initially, Barbara (not wanting to make the move), made a deal with her husband to try it for one year, and if they could not make a go of it, move back to New York City, which she terribly missed. After all the ups and downs of that year, she realizes at the end, when a friend was offering to buy the whole shebang, that she really does not want to go back.
I was surprised to learn that, (according to Wikipedia), that the book was so popular, that it was made into a sitcom from 1960-61, run on ABC:
"Guestward, Ho! began as a CBS/Desilu Studios pilot episode for Vivian Vance, who had played Lucille Ball's neighbor, Ethel Mertz, on the hit comedy series I Love Lucy and The Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Show from 1951 to 1960.
Vance played Babs Hooten and veteran film actor Leif Erickson, later of NBC's The High Chaparral, was cast as her husband, Bill Hooten. On viewing the pilot, network executives felt that Vance had become so typecast in her Ethel Mertz role that she was unconvincing playing a leading character in a situation comedy. One executive was heard to say after screening the episode, "I kept waiting for Lucy to come in." As a result, CBS rejected the pilot, and Vance continued to play her supporting role on The Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Show until the series ended in 1960.
That same year, Guestward, Ho! was taken off the shelf and given two new leads, with movie actress Joanne Dru as Babs Hooten, a former model in the story line, and television actor Mark Miller as Bill Hooten. Child actor Flip Mark was cast as their son, Brook Hooten. This time, the show sold and premiered on the ABC Thursday evening schedule preceding The Donna Reed Show. It was primarily sponsored by Ralston-Purina, with 7 Up as an alternate sponsor.
The premise is a New York City family, the Hootens, tired of the urban lifestyle, relocate to operate a dude ranch in New Mexico. They bought the place unseen, and found it to need considerably more work than they had been led to believe. The Hootens befriend the American Indian "Hawkeye" whose "trading post" was the only source of supplies in the vicinity. Hawkeye, played by J. Carrol Naish, was a rather cynical Indian, who sold Indian-looking trinkets which had been mass-produced in Asia, and frequently read The Wall Street Journal, seemingly in search of a way to purchase the country and return it to its "rightful owners". Jeanette Nolan guest starred as Mrs. Winslow in the 1961 episode "Hawkeye's First Love".
Earle Hodgins appeared in at least three episodes as the 67-year-old ranch wrangler named "Lonesome". In the episode "Lonesome's Gal", ZaSu Pitts, formerly of The Gale Storm Show, played his romantic interest. Jody McCrea, whose Wichita Town, an NBC western series in which he starred with his father, Joel McCrea, ended in 1960, and he was cast as an Indian, "Danny Brave Eagle", in the 1961 episode entitled "The Wrestler".
The second episode, after the pilot, is entitled "You Can't Go Home Again", borrowing from Thomas Wolfe's novel, You Can't Go Home Again. The series finale is named "No Place Like Home".
The program ran opposite NBC's Outlaws, with Barton MacLane and Don Collier. Guestward, Ho! was replaced in the fall of 1961 by the relocation of ABC's The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet."
I was surprised to learn that, (according to Wikipedia), that the book was so popular, that it was made into a sitcom from 1960-61, run on ABC:
"Guestward, Ho! began as a CBS/Desilu Studios pilot episode for Vivian Vance, who had played Lucille Ball's neighbor, Ethel Mertz, on the hit comedy series I Love Lucy and The Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Show from 1951 to 1960.
Vance played Babs Hooten and veteran film actor Leif Erickson, later of NBC's The High Chaparral, was cast as her husband, Bill Hooten. On viewing the pilot, network executives felt that Vance had become so typecast in her Ethel Mertz role that she was unconvincing playing a leading character in a situation comedy. One executive was heard to say after screening the episode, "I kept waiting for Lucy to come in." As a result, CBS rejected the pilot, and Vance continued to play her supporting role on The Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Show until the series ended in 1960.
That same year, Guestward, Ho! was taken off the shelf and given two new leads, with movie actress Joanne Dru as Babs Hooten, a former model in the story line, and television actor Mark Miller as Bill Hooten. Child actor Flip Mark was cast as their son, Brook Hooten. This time, the show sold and premiered on the ABC Thursday evening schedule preceding The Donna Reed Show. It was primarily sponsored by Ralston-Purina, with 7 Up as an alternate sponsor.
The premise is a New York City family, the Hootens, tired of the urban lifestyle, relocate to operate a dude ranch in New Mexico. They bought the place unseen, and found it to need considerably more work than they had been led to believe. The Hootens befriend the American Indian "Hawkeye" whose "trading post" was the only source of supplies in the vicinity. Hawkeye, played by J. Carrol Naish, was a rather cynical Indian, who sold Indian-looking trinkets which had been mass-produced in Asia, and frequently read The Wall Street Journal, seemingly in search of a way to purchase the country and return it to its "rightful owners". Jeanette Nolan guest starred as Mrs. Winslow in the 1961 episode "Hawkeye's First Love".
Earle Hodgins appeared in at least three episodes as the 67-year-old ranch wrangler named "Lonesome". In the episode "Lonesome's Gal", ZaSu Pitts, formerly of The Gale Storm Show, played his romantic interest. Jody McCrea, whose Wichita Town, an NBC western series in which he starred with his father, Joel McCrea, ended in 1960, and he was cast as an Indian, "Danny Brave Eagle", in the 1961 episode entitled "The Wrestler".
The second episode, after the pilot, is entitled "You Can't Go Home Again", borrowing from Thomas Wolfe's novel, You Can't Go Home Again. The series finale is named "No Place Like Home".
The program ran opposite NBC's Outlaws, with Barton MacLane and Don Collier. Guestward, Ho! was replaced in the fall of 1961 by the relocation of ABC's The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet."
November 2, 2021
This was an entertaining read about Barbara and Bill Hooten, a 1950's Manhattan couple who give up their cosmopolitan lifestyle to run a dude ranch in New Mexico. It should be pointed out that neither Barbara or Bill knows anything about the hospitality business, or horses.
I enjoyed this, but it seemed very unlikely to me that these inexperienced people could just turn up and run the ranch. This wasn't a faithful chronicle of how they figure it all out and make a go of it, but more like a series of little set-pieces illustrating some of the trials they faced with the help, with guests, etc. many of which seemed very much exaggerated for effect.
I have been a bit obsessed with Patrick Dennis* lately, and I think this novel would have been better and funnier if Barbara Hooten just gave him the rough outline of her story and let him write it as fiction.
* Thanks to my Goodreads friend Rebekah (I don't know how to link), I have rediscovered Patrick Dennis who wrote one of my favorite books of all time, Auntie Mame: An Irreverent Escapade. I didn't know until I read Rebekah's recent review that he also wrote under the pseudonym Virginia Rowan, and I enjoyed The Loving Couple. For my upcoming Christmas Book Binge 2021 I look forward to reading The Joyous Season, which was published under the name Patrick Dennis; but then in researching this book, I found out that Patrick Dennis is yet another pseudonym, and his real name is Edward Everett Tanner III.
I enjoyed this, but it seemed very unlikely to me that these inexperienced people could just turn up and run the ranch. This wasn't a faithful chronicle of how they figure it all out and make a go of it, but more like a series of little set-pieces illustrating some of the trials they faced with the help, with guests, etc. many of which seemed very much exaggerated for effect.
I have been a bit obsessed with Patrick Dennis* lately, and I think this novel would have been better and funnier if Barbara Hooten just gave him the rough outline of her story and let him write it as fiction.
* Thanks to my Goodreads friend Rebekah (I don't know how to link), I have rediscovered Patrick Dennis who wrote one of my favorite books of all time, Auntie Mame: An Irreverent Escapade. I didn't know until I read Rebekah's recent review that he also wrote under the pseudonym Virginia Rowan, and I enjoyed The Loving Couple. For my upcoming Christmas Book Binge 2021 I look forward to reading The Joyous Season, which was published under the name Patrick Dennis; but then in researching this book, I found out that Patrick Dennis is yet another pseudonym, and his real name is Edward Everett Tanner III.
June 2, 2021
Although billed on the original cover as 'By Barbara Hooton as indiscreetly confided to Patrick Dennis, author of Auntie Mame', it's pretty clear to any aficionado of Dennis that while the stories about opening and running a New Mexico dude ranch are all Babs', the writing is completely Dennis' own. It's a fact subtly reinforced in the credits of his later novels, when Guestward Ho! is always listed as 'By Patrick Dennis, with Barbara Hooton.'
Bill Hooton was a friend of the author's when they were both in the American Field Service during the war; when Bill married Barbara, and Pat married Louise, the two couples shared an apartment for a considerable time. It probably seemed a natural fit for Hooton and Dennis to collaborate upon a book, and capitalize upon a popular mid-century subgenre of humorous literature in which urban couples abandon the busy city for a more fulfilling, though comedy-prone, experience in the country. Frank Gilbreth Jr.'s Innside Nantucket, about a young couple running a vacation resort is a solid example of the type, but the movement probably had reached its apex with Betty McDonald's The Egg and I, the story of a young couple trying to raise chickens among a backdrop of mountains, drunk and disorderly neighbors, and comical Indians. (It's a trend reached its nadir when it was satirized on TV's Green Acres.)
Guestward Ho! appears almost to combine the best of Gilbreth and McDonald, with its story of a young couple running a vacation resort with a backdrop of mountains and surrounded by drunk and disorderly employees—although to its credit, it manages to leave the native Americans with their dignity intact. The book's not outrageously funny, though Dennis' sole foray into non-fiction does contain his trademark zingers and a huge cast of zanies. And if Hooton's not-so-ghostly ghostwriter manages to make her sound like every other capable broad in Dennis' later repertoire of female characters—wry, clever, honest to a fault, slightly bitchy, and not suffering fools or bigots gladly—at least she's in good, strong company.
Bill Hooton was a friend of the author's when they were both in the American Field Service during the war; when Bill married Barbara, and Pat married Louise, the two couples shared an apartment for a considerable time. It probably seemed a natural fit for Hooton and Dennis to collaborate upon a book, and capitalize upon a popular mid-century subgenre of humorous literature in which urban couples abandon the busy city for a more fulfilling, though comedy-prone, experience in the country. Frank Gilbreth Jr.'s Innside Nantucket, about a young couple running a vacation resort is a solid example of the type, but the movement probably had reached its apex with Betty McDonald's The Egg and I, the story of a young couple trying to raise chickens among a backdrop of mountains, drunk and disorderly neighbors, and comical Indians. (It's a trend reached its nadir when it was satirized on TV's Green Acres.)
Guestward Ho! appears almost to combine the best of Gilbreth and McDonald, with its story of a young couple running a vacation resort with a backdrop of mountains and surrounded by drunk and disorderly employees—although to its credit, it manages to leave the native Americans with their dignity intact. The book's not outrageously funny, though Dennis' sole foray into non-fiction does contain his trademark zingers and a huge cast of zanies. And if Hooton's not-so-ghostly ghostwriter manages to make her sound like every other capable broad in Dennis' later repertoire of female characters—wry, clever, honest to a fault, slightly bitchy, and not suffering fools or bigots gladly—at least she's in good, strong company.
July 26, 2017
I have been a fan of Patrick Dennis and his beloved Auntie Mame stories for years and found this little gem hidden away in a small antique/thrift store.
Barbara "Babs" Hooton, though not as eccentric as Mame Dennis, she could easily be found in Mame's social circles. She is a sophisticated New Yorker who, through the whim of her husband, Bill, finds herself leasing to own and running a ranch/guest house in northern New Mexico.
She share's the ups and downs, and all the craziness which comes from going into a business that she and Bill have no idea how to handle but somehow make it all work out making this a delightful and quick read.
Barbara "Babs" Hooton, though not as eccentric as Mame Dennis, she could easily be found in Mame's social circles. She is a sophisticated New Yorker who, through the whim of her husband, Bill, finds herself leasing to own and running a ranch/guest house in northern New Mexico.
She share's the ups and downs, and all the craziness which comes from going into a business that she and Bill have no idea how to handle but somehow make it all work out making this a delightful and quick read.
August 29, 2008
Great read. Not as screamingly good as Auntie Mame, but addresses many of the same themes (bigots, snobs, jerks) and in the same wry tone.
March 21, 2023
This is an old copy, published and sold in the time when you could buy books at newsstands. This one had colored edges and originally sold for fifty cents. The cover was frayed and nearly falling apart and a section of the book fell out of the spine while I was reading it. I would have ignored it but the cover claimed that it had been penned “by Barbara Hooton as indiscreetly confided to Patrick Dennis, AUTHOR OF AUNTIE MAME”.
Well, how could I resist that lure? Auntie Mame is one of the funniest novels I’ve ever read and that’s after I’ve seen the film adaptations.
As this novel begins, we meet a female protagonist who was attempting to cope with living in the overheated southwest after being a happy Easterner. Mrs. Hooton tried to balance her mother’s contradictory advice of being a faithful wife willing to follow her husband anywhere yet attempting to curb her spouse’s more egregious behavior. As dear mama told her, “Men are just like children, Barbara—willful, naughty, headstrong, never satisfied to be in one place at one time—and we have to be very firm with them. Always put your foot down, Barbara.”
Mrs. Hooton’s misadventures on a hastily purchased dude ranch are both cautionary tales and shining beacons of hope. She went from being horrified by her husband’s purchase, which he blithely presented to her as a fait accompli, to becoming reluctantly won over by the arboreal vistas, mountains, air, climate and stream of fascinating and charming guests who came to Rancho del Monte.
Barbara is a gifted raconteur (although she modestly gave that credit to many of the people who came to stay at the ranch). She was willing to lay out her own faults and insecurities about herself and the many mistakes she made as a tenderfoot who knew nothing about running a ranch. The stories are engaging, hilarious and occasionally filled with hair-raising predicaments. We chuckle, shake our heads and laugh at the charming lady guest who got revenge on the pestiferous children who wouldn’t leave her alone. We grit our teeth as even the happy-go-lucky Bill’s patience was tested by a deceitful wrangler who nearly drowned a valuable horse, an alcoholic sent to dry out proved to be more trouble than he was worth and a raving bigoted Fascist who was so hostile that he was the only customer Bill forcibly ejected from the premises.
Her marriage to Bill was pushed to the limit although you sense that their love towards each other never wavered. She expressed the complicated emotions you can only feel towards a spouse you simultaneously love dearly and want to suffocate in their sleep. Bill spent many hours outdoors getting tanned, slim and fit. Barbara meanwhile was fraught with burning frustration as she tried to get their ranch to make a profit even as they seemed to end each month in the red.
Bill was mostly happy on the ranch but Barbara was miserable. The strain aged her until she looked and felt ten years older than her actual age. She was constantly worried about debt as boon times with many guests were followed by bust months when nobody came. The help was a constant flow of the inept, the criminalistic, the inebriates and the just plain incompetent. Getting a decent cook who didn’t drink was a nightmare and a lesson in repeat failures.
This book was first published in the mid-1950s yet looks refreshingly contemporary. Mrs. Hooton and her husband were remarkably free of prejudices towards others. Neighbors who’d been there for years marveled that they got along so well with Indians (this is pre-political correctness so that’s what they called them) and Barbara’s advice about how to deal with the Natives is refreshingly wise, considered and could be applied today in regard to dealing with anybody from any culture.
The place where they settled, Santa Fe, New Mexico, was a hodgepodge of many varieties of people. As Mrs. Hooton stated, no one was actually born there. They simply came for a visit, fell in love with it and decided to stay—much as the Hootons did. Because of this, diversity became common so bigotry was almost non-existent. Her husband described it in the book as “cosmopolitan but not metropolitan”.
Mrs. Hooton was finally won over by the ranch life and so was I. For those who may be weary of city life, for those who think that New York may have become too commercial (take a stroll through Times Square and try to shield your eyes from the brightly lit billboards), come to the ranch. Put your feet up, relax or take a swim in the pool. Your room is waiting.
Well, how could I resist that lure? Auntie Mame is one of the funniest novels I’ve ever read and that’s after I’ve seen the film adaptations.
As this novel begins, we meet a female protagonist who was attempting to cope with living in the overheated southwest after being a happy Easterner. Mrs. Hooton tried to balance her mother’s contradictory advice of being a faithful wife willing to follow her husband anywhere yet attempting to curb her spouse’s more egregious behavior. As dear mama told her, “Men are just like children, Barbara—willful, naughty, headstrong, never satisfied to be in one place at one time—and we have to be very firm with them. Always put your foot down, Barbara.”
Mrs. Hooton’s misadventures on a hastily purchased dude ranch are both cautionary tales and shining beacons of hope. She went from being horrified by her husband’s purchase, which he blithely presented to her as a fait accompli, to becoming reluctantly won over by the arboreal vistas, mountains, air, climate and stream of fascinating and charming guests who came to Rancho del Monte.
Barbara is a gifted raconteur (although she modestly gave that credit to many of the people who came to stay at the ranch). She was willing to lay out her own faults and insecurities about herself and the many mistakes she made as a tenderfoot who knew nothing about running a ranch. The stories are engaging, hilarious and occasionally filled with hair-raising predicaments. We chuckle, shake our heads and laugh at the charming lady guest who got revenge on the pestiferous children who wouldn’t leave her alone. We grit our teeth as even the happy-go-lucky Bill’s patience was tested by a deceitful wrangler who nearly drowned a valuable horse, an alcoholic sent to dry out proved to be more trouble than he was worth and a raving bigoted Fascist who was so hostile that he was the only customer Bill forcibly ejected from the premises.
Her marriage to Bill was pushed to the limit although you sense that their love towards each other never wavered. She expressed the complicated emotions you can only feel towards a spouse you simultaneously love dearly and want to suffocate in their sleep. Bill spent many hours outdoors getting tanned, slim and fit. Barbara meanwhile was fraught with burning frustration as she tried to get their ranch to make a profit even as they seemed to end each month in the red.
Bill was mostly happy on the ranch but Barbara was miserable. The strain aged her until she looked and felt ten years older than her actual age. She was constantly worried about debt as boon times with many guests were followed by bust months when nobody came. The help was a constant flow of the inept, the criminalistic, the inebriates and the just plain incompetent. Getting a decent cook who didn’t drink was a nightmare and a lesson in repeat failures.
This book was first published in the mid-1950s yet looks refreshingly contemporary. Mrs. Hooton and her husband were remarkably free of prejudices towards others. Neighbors who’d been there for years marveled that they got along so well with Indians (this is pre-political correctness so that’s what they called them) and Barbara’s advice about how to deal with the Natives is refreshingly wise, considered and could be applied today in regard to dealing with anybody from any culture.
The place where they settled, Santa Fe, New Mexico, was a hodgepodge of many varieties of people. As Mrs. Hooton stated, no one was actually born there. They simply came for a visit, fell in love with it and decided to stay—much as the Hootons did. Because of this, diversity became common so bigotry was almost non-existent. Her husband described it in the book as “cosmopolitan but not metropolitan”.
Mrs. Hooton was finally won over by the ranch life and so was I. For those who may be weary of city life, for those who think that New York may have become too commercial (take a stroll through Times Square and try to shield your eyes from the brightly lit billboards), come to the ranch. Put your feet up, relax or take a swim in the pool. Your room is waiting.
August 18, 2016
A couple of Easterners go west to run a dude ranch. This was one of the funniest books I have read recently. I loved the tongue-in-cheek commentary that ran through the book. I could see this as a play where the wife was doing much of it as asides to the audience. It was the basis of a TV series in the 60's. Very enjoyable!
April 14, 2008
I only read this because of coauthor Patrick Dennis (to whom I am addicted). It's a light romp through the joys and sorrows of starting one's own business, sort of Sunday supplement style. Has a certain period charm.
May 24, 2016
Not a favorite Dennis of mine - quick and humorous but never hilarious
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