This is the particular episode of The Great Adventure that always stuck with me. Consequently, I am shaken to be told that the part of Misok Bedrozian, the Armenian raisin farmer, was played by Lee Marvin, and *not* by Walt Koenig, which is what I really clearly remember. (When asked by his family what they will eat the coming winter, if they can't get their crop to market, he roars back, "Raisins! Six tons of them!). Koenig is much more suited to the swarthy Bedrozian, and I have no recollection at all of Marvin in this role. Anyone else remember it differently? As to the historicity of the incident, I again remember the episode as set in the Central Valley, the center of the raisin industry, and the Armenian community in California. The SP railroad tactic of denying access rights at railroad crossings is well established (see Frank Norris' book The Octopus, or Wallace Smith's Garden of the Sun. BTW, the latter is the standard history of the Central Valley, and does not contain reference to Bedrozian or any similar name.
3 Reviews
Armenian farmers buck the monopoly of the Southern Pacific Railway - a dramatized version of real events
mikesarkisian8 December 2012
This is a dramatized story of actual historical events. When the Southern Pacific R.R. raised their freight prices, the Seropian Brothers,of Fresno resorted to shipping their produce with two wagons and even running blockaded railroad crossings to get their produce to San Francisco.
The San Francisco Examiner ran an editorial on 18 November, 1894 in support of the Seropians. The news spread rapidly and support for the Seropian brothers came in both moral and substantial form, including offers of more mules from a wealthy land owner in Mexico. In the end, a new stretch of railroad was built that competed with the Southern Pacific, ending the monopoly just two years after the Seropians had begun their struggle.
The San Francisco Examiner ran an editorial on 18 November, 1894 in support of the Seropians. The news spread rapidly and support for the Seropian brothers came in both moral and substantial form, including offers of more mules from a wealthy land owner in Mexico. In the end, a new stretch of railroad was built that competed with the Southern Pacific, ending the monopoly just two years after the Seropians had begun their struggle.
The episode that I have never found a historical reference to
theowinthrop26 February 2006
Warning: Spoilers
This episode of THE GREAT ADVENTURE is the one that, in retrospect, always bothered me. I have seen that the stories on the other episodes were true when I saw them, but this one is a reference that I have never seen any comment about at all.
The episode deals with one of the great financial - railroad scandals of the late 19th and early 20th Centuries: the total political power (seemingly) of the Southern Pacific Railroad in California. Built by the "Big Four" (Mark Hopkins, Charles Crocker, Leland Sanford, and Colis Huntington) in the 1870s and 1880s, the Southern Pacific had a stranglehold on the transportation of goods in California for decades. It elected state legislatures and governors and senators.
Attempts to control it were few, until 1891. That year a newspaper, the San Francisco Examiner, was acquired by Senator George Hearst, and it was given over to his son Willie to run. William Randolph Hearst ran with it, and American Journalism was never the same. Whatever flaws the years showed in his personality and ambitions, Hearst was a titan in the history of our press. One thing he did was to hire the darkest wit in San Francisco, Ambrose Bierce, as a social commentator and reporter. And Bierce did Hearst proud.
Bierce hated the Big Four and their railroad, particularly Colis Huntington. He started informing the public of every dirty deal and questionable legislative action involving the Southern Pacific. In particular, the Railroad owed the Federal Government over $90 million dollars for tax breaks and land grants. Huntington, for once, could not silence a powerful critic - Bierce was a fearless Civil War veteran, and Hearst had millions of dollars of his own to counteract pressures from Huntington. Finally, in April 1896, Huntington did the equivalent for himself of running up the flag of surrender. What, he asked in a letter to Bierce, did he want? Bierce, brilliantly, published the letter, and then announced what he wanted underneath - about $90 million dollars paid to the Federal Treasury in Washington!
Huntington did settle the matter with Washington (but nothing close to the $90 million). But the Railroad was still very powerful even after Huntington died. The episode dealt with the plight of the grape farmers in the Napa and Mendicino Valleys trying (after a bumper crop) to get their produce to market. The Southern Pacific has a come - on offer which they rush to take, only to find a double-cross as soon as they show up about a time limit, or about expensive extras. None of the farmers can afford these, but the Railroad will be glad to purchase the grapes (at a price they choose to pay) and ship them for themselves.
Lee Marvin gave a great performance here (two years before his Oscar winner in CAT BALLOU). In this period Marvin usually played villains in movies (BAD DAY AT BLACK ROCK) or on television shows. Here he was allowed to be a hard working farmer, who organizes his neighbors, builds six huge wagons, and fights the railroad by taking the grapes to San Francisco for sale (thus avoiding the railroad). On the way the railroad sends out goon squads to destroy the wagons, and five of the six are destroyed - but Marvin does get that symbolic single wagon to the market at the end. I wish I could verify the story. It was quite uplifting.
The episode deals with one of the great financial - railroad scandals of the late 19th and early 20th Centuries: the total political power (seemingly) of the Southern Pacific Railroad in California. Built by the "Big Four" (Mark Hopkins, Charles Crocker, Leland Sanford, and Colis Huntington) in the 1870s and 1880s, the Southern Pacific had a stranglehold on the transportation of goods in California for decades. It elected state legislatures and governors and senators.
Attempts to control it were few, until 1891. That year a newspaper, the San Francisco Examiner, was acquired by Senator George Hearst, and it was given over to his son Willie to run. William Randolph Hearst ran with it, and American Journalism was never the same. Whatever flaws the years showed in his personality and ambitions, Hearst was a titan in the history of our press. One thing he did was to hire the darkest wit in San Francisco, Ambrose Bierce, as a social commentator and reporter. And Bierce did Hearst proud.
Bierce hated the Big Four and their railroad, particularly Colis Huntington. He started informing the public of every dirty deal and questionable legislative action involving the Southern Pacific. In particular, the Railroad owed the Federal Government over $90 million dollars for tax breaks and land grants. Huntington, for once, could not silence a powerful critic - Bierce was a fearless Civil War veteran, and Hearst had millions of dollars of his own to counteract pressures from Huntington. Finally, in April 1896, Huntington did the equivalent for himself of running up the flag of surrender. What, he asked in a letter to Bierce, did he want? Bierce, brilliantly, published the letter, and then announced what he wanted underneath - about $90 million dollars paid to the Federal Treasury in Washington!
Huntington did settle the matter with Washington (but nothing close to the $90 million). But the Railroad was still very powerful even after Huntington died. The episode dealt with the plight of the grape farmers in the Napa and Mendicino Valleys trying (after a bumper crop) to get their produce to market. The Southern Pacific has a come - on offer which they rush to take, only to find a double-cross as soon as they show up about a time limit, or about expensive extras. None of the farmers can afford these, but the Railroad will be glad to purchase the grapes (at a price they choose to pay) and ship them for themselves.
Lee Marvin gave a great performance here (two years before his Oscar winner in CAT BALLOU). In this period Marvin usually played villains in movies (BAD DAY AT BLACK ROCK) or on television shows. Here he was allowed to be a hard working farmer, who organizes his neighbors, builds six huge wagons, and fights the railroad by taking the grapes to San Francisco for sale (thus avoiding the railroad). On the way the railroad sends out goon squads to destroy the wagons, and five of the six are destroyed - but Marvin does get that symbolic single wagon to the market at the end. I wish I could verify the story. It was quite uplifting.
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