This Special Delivery is
dedicated to Mr. Dan Haggerty who is, at this time, fighting cancer. I was
about seven or eight years old when this series aired and my mother and I loved
it then and we love it now. We own both series and it’s so beautifully written and
acted that it brings us both to tears each time we watch it. We have never met
Mr. Haggerty or Mr. Shanks but hope to one day in the future. We love you and
we are praying for a very speedy recovery. This Special Delivery is dedicated
to you Mr. Haggerty. <3 span="">
For anyone who would like to
help Mr. Haggerty with his fight please send your donations here:
Help Dan Haggerty Fight His
Battle with Cancer
Today’s Special Delivery
never aired on Nickelodeon and was certainly not a Special Delivery but if you remember
the 1970’s chances are you will remember “Grizzly Adams” which stared Dan
Haggerty as the wise and kind hearted “James “Grizzly” Adams”; a role which was
truly suited for Mr. Haggerty.
In real life both Mr.
Haggerty and Don Shanks, who played “Nakoma,” were real life animal trainers
and stuntmen so who better to play those roles? The cast was rounded out with Denver
Pyle who played “Mad Jack” (later he played “Uncle Jesse” in “The Dukes of
Hazzard”) and of course Ben the bear and Number Seven the mule.
From Wikipedia:
The Life and Times of Grizzly
Adams is a 1974 independent feature film and subsequent television series
inspired by a 1972 historical fiction novella written by Charles E. Sellier
Jr.. The film's popularity led to an NBC television series of the same name.
The title character, played by Dan Haggerty, was loosely based on California
mountain man James "Grizzly" Adams (1812-1860), whose real name was
"John Capen Adams," a one-time Boston shoe and boot maker.
The film and TV series
portrayed the fictional Grizzly Adams as a frontier woodsman who fled into the
mountains after he was wrongly accused of murder. While struggling to survive,
Adams saves an orphaned grizzly bear cub he adopts and names Ben. The bear,
while growing to its huge adult size, becomes Adams's closest companion. Adams
discovers and demonstrates an uncanny ability to gain the trust of most of the
indigenous wildlife of the region, and he helps, sometimes rescues, takes-in
and tames many species. Originally a hunter, with his learned affection for
wildlife Adams resolves never to harm another animal whenever possible. In the
television series, Adams had two human companions, an old mountain man trader
named 'Mad Jack' played by Denver Pyle who was often featured with his mule,
("Number Seven") and a native American by the name of 'Nakoma' played
by Don Shanks. Together during each episode, Adams, Mad Jack, and Nakoma helped
myriad mountain visitors while protecting wildlife at the same time. NBC aired
the series finale on February 21, 1982 by way of a two-hour TV movie called The
Capture of Grizzly Adams where a bounty hunter used Adams's daughter, who was
not seen or mentioned since the 1974 film, in a kidnap-extortion ploy to lure
the fugitive mountain man back to civilization. In the end Adams proves his
innocence.
The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams
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