Dallas Scene of the Day: ‘What’s Your Excuse?’

April 23, 2012 by 3 Comments
Dallas, Garnet McGee, J.R. Ewing, Kate Mulgrew, Larry Hagman, Triangle

Pillow talk

In “Triangle,” a second-season “Dallas” episode, country-western singer Garnet McGee (Kate Mulgrew) nibbles from a plate on her dining room table while J.R. (Larry Hagman), stretched across her bed, pours himself a drink.

J.R.: You hungry again?

GARNET: Honey, I am always hungry.

J.R.: Were you very poor?

GARNET: Uh-huh. You want some of this? [He shakes his head no. She sits at the table.] There were 10 of us, J.R. You know, I never had a pair of shoes of my own, brand-new, till I was 16 years old and started working? Always had my mama’s or my big sister’s. I figure that’s how come I’m so greedy now. What’s your excuse?

J.R.: [Takes a sip] I don’t need one.

GARNET: [Joins him on the bed] That’s probably how come I like you so much.

J.R.: Is it?

GARNET: You’re just the way I am. [Counts the money from their poker game while he caresses her hair] Maybe a little worse. And not the least little bit ashamed of it, are you?

J.R.: Do you really like me?

GARNET: Well, I still have a whole pack of little brothers and sisters to take care of – not to mention myself. [He nuzzles her neck.] Hey, hey J.R. Don’t you have to go home now?

J.R.: Sue Ellen’s a very understanding wife. When Ray gets back, I want you to finish it. I mean it. Finish it with him – because if you don’t, I will. [Nuzzles her neck again]

Filed Under: Dallas Scenes of the Day, Dallas Scenes of the Day (Classic), Features Tagged With: , ,

Dallas Scene of the Day: ‘Chances Are It’s Yours’

April 20, 2012 by 1 Comment
Act of Love, Dallas, Linda Gray, Sue Ellen Ewing

In a family way

In “Act of Love,” a second-season “Dallas” episode, J.R. (Larry Hagman) pours champagne for him and Sue Ellen (Linda Gray), who is seated in the Southfork den.

J.R.: Now, tell me everything. How far along are you?

SUE ELLEN: About six weeks, near as we can tell.

J.R.: [Chuckles] Six weeks! How about that! Six weeks. That was right before Lucy’s birthday, wasn’t it?

SUE ELLEN: [Sips her champagne] Around there.

J.R.: Now, you sure it couldn’t be longer than six weeks?

SUE ELLEN: Well, I don’t think so. Why?

J.R.: [Sits down] I don’t see how you can be six weeks pregnant.

SUE ELLEN: Why, I don’t understand.

J.R.: Well, I do. Seems it’s been longer than that since you and I could’ve conceived a child. If I remember correctly, I was down in Austin for … 10 days, right about that time. Yeah, it was that time. I repeat, Sue Ellen: How can you be six weeks pregnant?

SUE ELLEN: [Rises and approaches J.R.] Well, I know we don’t practice our connubial rights with anything approaching regularity, but you did come home from Austin for the weekend. Is it possible that you don’t remember? It happens so rarely I thought it might make an impression.

J.R.: No, there’s something wrong here. Something wrong. Now even if I did remember, I think it’s mighty peculiar that after seven years of trying, you should get pregnant that one particular night.

SUE ELLEN: Stranger things have happened.

J.R.: Not to me they haven’t.

SUE ELLEN: Are you trying to tell me that you may not be the father of my child?

J.R.: [Simmering] You tell me.

SUE ELLEN: There’s nothing to tell. I’ve been just as faithful to our marriage vows as you have, darling. That’s the only thing that interests you, isn’t it? That precious Ewing heir – no matter whose it is.

J.R. rises and slaps her.

SUE ELLEN: [Angry] Don’t you ever do that again!

J.R.: I’ll do anything I want to.

SUE ELLEN: Not anymore! Because I finally have something you want – our baby.

J.R.: Our baby?

SUE ELLEN: Chances are it’s yours, J.R. And if it isn’t, what are you going to do about it? How are you going to tell Daddy that it isn’t yours, that it’s somebody else’s? What’s he going to think about you then? And what about the boys at the club – what are they going to say? I guess you’re just going to have to learn to live with it. Like I said J.R., chances are it’s yours.

She turns and exits, leaving J.R. bewildered.

Filed Under: Dallas Scenes of the Day, Dallas Scenes of the Day (Classic), Features Tagged With: , ,

Dallas Styles: Miss Ellie’s Pearls

April 19, 2012 by 2 Comments

Don’t mess with Mama

The second-season episode “Survival” features one of my all-time favorite “Dallas” moments: the scene where Miss Ellie points a shotgun at a snoopy newspaper reporter and orders him off Southfork.

The confrontation demonstrates how the Ewings, a thoroughly modern family, cling to old values like defending their land. The shotgun, a symbol of the American frontier, is a crucial prop in the scene – but so are the pearls around Ellie’s neck.

Until characters like Peg Bundy and Roseanne Connor smashed the stereotype in the 1980s, pearls were one of television’s most enduring symbols of motherhood. Donna Reed and Barbara Billingsley wore them while doing housework and mediating domestic disputes in 1950s sitcoms, and Barbara Bel Geddes continued the tradition when “Dallas” began in 1978.

Miss Ellie wears pearls a lot during the show’s second season, when “Dallas” is establishing her character as the show’s wise matriarch. The white beads help reinforce the pearls of wisdom Ellie is forever dispensing to her family.

But the necklace is never more important than it is in “Survival,” when Ellie answers the front door at Southfork to find a reporter seeking comment about the crash of the Ewings’ plane with J.R. and Bobby aboard. Ellie doesn’t take kindly to this intrusion, ordering Ray to fetch the shotgun from the hall closet.

Without the necklace, Ellie is just a little woman holding a gun. Add the pearls and she becomes wife, mother and fierce protector of her family.

Ellie doesn’t wear her pearls as often in “Dallas’s” later years (although Reed sports them when she plays Ellie during the show’s eighth season) and we never see the character wield a shotgun after this episode.

That’s OK, because at that point, we know not to mess with Miss Ellie.

Filed Under: Dallas Styles, Dallas Styles (Classic), Features Tagged With: , ,

Dallas Scene of the Day: ‘Ray, Get Me the Shotgun. …’

April 19, 2012 by 6 Comments
Barbara Bel Geddes, Dallas, Miss Ellie Ewing, Ray Krebbs, Steve Kanaly, Survival

Beat the press

In “Survival,” a second-season “Dallas” episode, Miss Ellie and Ray (Barbara Bel Geddes, Steve Kanaly) are chatting in the Southfork foyer when someone knocks on the door. Ellie opens it and finds Dallas Press reporter Ken Jackson (Andy Jarrell) on the stoop.

JACKSON: Mrs. Ewing?

ELLIE: Who are you?

JACKSON: Ken Jackson. I’m with the Press. I called earlier.

RAY: You’re trespassing, mister.

ELLIE: I’ll take care of this, Ray. How did you get in here? [Walks toward Jackson, who backs up onto the front porch] How did you get onto the ranch, Mr. Jackson?

JACKSON: Well I did an article on the place a couple years back, and I remembered an arroyo that led into the feedlot.

ELLIE: We’ll have to take care of that. [Continues walking toward him] Now, exactly what do you want with me, Mr. Jackson?

JACKSON: Well, uh, you know, maybe a statement. You know, just a few words.

ELLIE: You hear a rumor that a plane is down, my two boys missing. And with no respect for human feeling, or private grief, you come circling around here like a vulture. Do you know what we do to vultures out here, Mr. Jackson? [Continues staring at him] Ray, get me the shotgun out of the hall closet.

RAY: Yes, ma’am. [Puts on his hat and enters the house]

JACKSON: Now, Mrs. Ewing, I’m just – I’m just doing my job.

ELLIE: Then find a better job! Or a better way of doing this one. [Ray steps onto the porch, cocks the shotgun and hands it to Ellie.] Now Mr. Jackson, anybody on my land, without invitation, is a trespasser. So unless I see your tail heading out of here right now – and fast – I’m going to blow it off. [Points the gun at him]

JACKSON: Yes, ma’am. Yes, ma’am. [Turns and runs]

ELLIE: Now get out! Get out!

Filed Under: Dallas Scenes of the Day, Dallas Scenes of the Day (Classic), Features Tagged With: , , ,

Dallas Styles: Sue Ellen’s Pins

April 18, 2012 by 4 Comments

‘Black Market Baby’

Sue Ellen sports some interesting accessories during “Dallas’s” second season, particularly during her scenes with Cliff.

She meets him in “Black Market Baby,” when she has a big fabric rose pinned to the lapel of her burgundy jacket. The fake flower is an ideal symbol for the beginning of Sue Ellen and Cliff’s relationship, when they pretend to like each other. In fact, their mutual disdain for J.R. is really the only thing they have in common.

‘Election’

In “Election,”Sue Ellen runs into Cliff again when the Daughters of the Alamo sponsors a debate between him and Martin Cole, his opponent in the state senate race. This time, she wears a pin that resembles a bird’s wing – several feathers, fastened together at what appears to be an amethyst base.

It might seem like Sue Ellen is telegraphing her eagerness to spread her wings, leave J.R. and find happiness with someone else. But remember: she’s wearing only one wing – and that’s not going to get her very far.

Neither is her relationship with Cliff.

Filed Under: Dallas Styles, Dallas Styles (Classic), Features Tagged With: ,

Dallas Scene of the Day: ‘We’ve Chosen Our Sides’

April 18, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Bobby Ewing, Dallas, Election, Pam Ewing, Victoria Principal

Running mates

In “Election,” a second-season “Dallas” episode, Bobby and Pam (Patrick Duffy, Victoria Principal) are in their bedroom, discussing her decision to help Cliff’s campaign against a Ewing-backed candidate for state senate.

BOBBY: [Walks toward Pam, who is seated on their bed] Pamela, do you understand what this election means to my family?

PAM: Oh, I understand exactly what it means to your family. It’s a way to get back at my brother!

BOBBY: Now you’re being simplistic Pamela, and you know it. Besides, your brother hasn’t exactly had a hands off policy when it comes to us, now has he?

PAM: Well, what do you expect him to do? If he doesn’t do something, the Ewing family is going to control everyone and everything!

BOBBY: Oh stop it, Pamela! You’re starting to sound like that knee-jerk radical brother of yours. [Begins to leave the room]

PAM: If being a knee-jerk radical means being against exploitation, corruption and greed, I’m proud to be one!

BOBBY: [Walks back toward Pam] Exploitation and corruption of who, of what? Look, my daddy built an empire here because he was smarter than the next guy, and he worked harder – and he was luckier. But anybody with the same qualifications can do the same thing.

PAM: [Stands and faces Bobby] That’s easy to say when you’re born rich. It’s the others Cliff’s worried about!

BOBBY: Oh, Cliff talks a great game but when it comes right down to it, he can play just as dirty as the rest of them.

PAM: [Pauses, then lowers her voice] Well, we see things differently, don’t we?

BOBBY: What I see, Pamela, is what this is doing to us.

PAM: [Sits back down] Well, we’ve chosen our sides.

BOBBY: No. No, not this time. This time, I think we were born into them.

Filed Under: Dallas Scenes of the Day, Dallas Scenes of the Day (Classic), Features Tagged With: , ,

Dallas Scene of the Day: ‘I Hate This Family!’

April 17, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Charlene Tilton, Dallas, Lucy Ewing, Pam Ewing, Runaway, Victoria Principal

Pout it out

In “Runaway,” a second-season “Dallas” episode, Pam (Victoria Principal) enters her bedroom and finds the dresses she brought home for Lucy on the floor. Lucy (Charlene Tilton) stands at the window, pouting.

PAM: Well, I guess you didn’t like them. [Lucy doesn’t respond.] Honey, Miss Ellie or Sue Ellen will probably bring you into town later. [Lucy continues staring silently out the window.] We’ll find something you like.

LUCY: [Facing Pam] I am old enough to pick out my own clothes! [Turns back to the window]

PAM: Yes, you are. All right, just trying to help.

LUCY: [Faces Pam again] This is supposed to be my birthday party! Grandma is making out the invitation list, Sue Ellen is gonna hire some old-fogey band – and J.R.’s gonna use it for one of his big deals! [Begins crying] And now you’re going to buy my clothes! I hate this family! [Runs out of the room and past a distraught Pam]

Filed Under: Dallas Scenes of the Day, Dallas Scenes of the Day (Classic), Features Tagged With: , ,

Dallas Scene of the Day: ‘Those Weekly Wild Parties’

April 16, 2012 by 1 Comment
Bobby Ewing, Dallas, Double Wedding, Pam Ewing, Patrick Duffy, Victoria Principal

Easy as pious

In “Double Wedding,” a second-season “Dallas” episode, Bobby (Patrick Duffy), emerges from the Southfork swimming pool and tells Pam (Victoria Principal) about his meeting earlier in the day with the church elders.

BOBBY: [Drying off with a towel] Honey, you should’ve met that building committee. They were more interested in whether or not you and I were going to come to their church than they were if there’s enough room for each of the boys to sleep in the dorm.

PAM: [Mischievously] Do I sense a game plan?

BOBBY: [Grabs her arms and faces her] Well honey, I will adopt my most pious expression but you are going to have to cancel those weekly wild parties of yours. Now, I know it’s going to be hard, but Mr. and Mrs. Ewing are going to become pillars of the community – until the contract’s signed.

PAM: [Mock seriousness] I don’t know. I look forward to those wild parties!

BOBBY: I know you do. [Kisses her]

Filed Under: Dallas Scenes of the Day, Dallas Scenes of the Day (Classic), Features Tagged With: , ,

Dallas Styles: Pam’s ‘Pants Dress’

April 13, 2012 by 3 Comments

Up close …

Pam Ewing becomes one of television’s most stylish women during “Dallas’s” second season, but she misses the mark with the wacky “pants dress” she sports in “Black Market Baby.”

… And not-far-enough away!

Victoria Principal is first seen wearing the outfit during the episode’s third act, when Pam walks into The Store. She then wears it in the next two scenes, when Pam sits in her friend Liz Craig’s office and when she runs into Sue Ellen in the maternity department.

The just-past-the-knees dress appears to be a purple floral print worn over solid mauve pants, which match the vest Principal wears. The style is reminiscent of something Bea Arthur might have sported on “The Golden Girls” in the 1980s, so you have to wonder what “Dallas’s” wardrobe designers had in mind when they chose it for someone as young and sexy as Principal.

In “Black Market Baby,” Pam takes a job at The Store over the objections of Bobby, who clings to the old-fashioned idea that married women shouldn’t work.

Maybe the outfit is supposed to represent the balance Pam is trying to strike? Perhaps the pants symbolize how she wants to be on more of an equal footing with her husband, while the dress shows how she is holding onto her femininity?

Whatever the reason, let’s be thankful Pam reclaims her good fashion sense later in this episode, when she pairs jeans with a tie-front blouse. It’s a much more chic look for a character whose sense of style is  one of “Dallas’s” hallmarks.

Filed Under: Dallas Styles, Dallas Styles (Classic), Features Tagged With: ,

The Art of Dallas: ‘Black Market Baby’

April 13, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Rita (Talia Balsam) and Sue Ellen (Linda Gray) shop in The Store’s maternity department in this 1978 publicity shot from “Black Market Baby,” a second-season “Dallas” episode.

Filed Under: Art of Dallas, Art of Dallas (Classic), Features Tagged With: , ,
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