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Gamblers come to Seattle with Spanish gold and silver prop coins
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"Here Come the Brides" was a one-hour television program which ran on the ABC television network from 1968 to 1970. It was a Western program set in the Seattle Washington area in the late 1860's. Lumbermen want wives and some women are imported into the area.
 
The main characters are the three Bolt brothers Jason, Jeremy, and Joshua, and Candy Pruitt, Jeremy's girlfriend.
 
This episode is titled "A Hard Card to Play" and was first broadcast on October 23, 1968.
 
The men become excited when a professional gambler Lorenzo Mack and his wife Felicia arrive and open a casino in the town's saloon. The men spend all their time gambling but many of the women are upset.
 
The program shows poker players with currency notes and stacks of gold and silver dollar-sized coins on saloon tables. The prop coins appear to be imitation of Spanish "bust" dollars.
 
Here Come the Brides - A Hard Card to Play
1. Title
A young man appears and tells a group of men that a professional gambler has arrived.
 
Here Come the Brides - A Hard Card to Play
2. Jeremy, Jason, and Joshua Bolt
The men run to the town saloon.
 
Here Come the Brides - A Hard Card to Play
3. Felicia and Lorenzo Mack
Lorenzo Mack and his wife Felicia are travelling casino operators and they set up shop in the saloon.
 
Here Come the Brides - A Hard Card to Play
4. Coins on the table
Lorenzo's hand "Two pair, Queens and threes" along with some imitation US currency notes and some gold and silver colored prop coins.
 
Here Come the Brides - A Hard Card to Play
5. Coins close-up
Both the gold and silver colored coins appear to be imitations of Spanish "Bust" 8 reales or peso coins. These coins were minted in Spain's American colonies from approximately 1772 to 1821, and circulated in Britain's American colonies and the United States until the 1860's;
 
An example of a Spanish dollar coin:
 
Mexico reales 8 1806
6. Spanish silver dollar or eight reales 1806, Mexico City Mint
Silver, 38 mm, 26.86 gm
Obverse:
Head facing right
CAROLUS IIII DEI GRATIA 1806
Reverse:
Crowned shield of Spain
HISPAN ET IND REX Mo 8R T H (Mexico City Mint, Assayer initials)
 
Back to the program:
 
Here Come the Brides - A Hard Card to Play
7. Aaron Stempel closes the casino
Aaron Stempel owns the sawmill is a wealthy man. He finds a town ordinance banning gambling. The men move the casino to Captain Roland Clancey's boat.
 
The men are losing money and the ladies hold a meeting. Candy Pruitt instructs the ladies in the game of poker.
 
Here Come the Brides - A Hard Card to Play
8. Candy instructs the girls
Back at the casino the Macks are counting their winnings.
 
Here Come the Brides - A Hard Card to Play
9. Felicia counting the winnings
More gambling continues. The Bolts discover that Aaron Stempel invited Lorenzo Mack to win the residents' money and Lorenzo loses interest in just winning money.
 
Here Come the Brides - A Hard Card to Play
10. Aerial view of the table stakes
The table has a lot of money on it.
 
Here Come the Brides - A Hard Card to Play
11. Joshua is "short"
Joshua has bet a lot of money and when he attempts to match Mack's bet he discovers that he hasn't enough money. Candy brings in an ornate box for the pot.
 
Here Come the Brides - A Hard Card to Play
12. Candy brings her box
Felicia has told Jeremy Bolt that Lorenzo would like to play against an entire town's money and he gets his chance here. He plays a game with only Jason Bolt for the money and bets his personal watch and something else which lands on the table.
 
Here Come the Brides - A Hard Card to Play
13. Lorenzo bets all
Including his toupee.
 
Here Come the Brides - A Hard Card to Play
14. Lorenzo loses
Lorenzo and Felicia leave town happy as Lorenzo has played his last game.
 
Here Come the Brides - A Hard Card to Play
15. Lorenzo and Felicia leave
Lorenzo thanks the townspeople for returning his personal possessions.
Cast, Directors, Writers:
 
Robert Brown as Jason Bolt
Bobby Sherman as Jeremy Bolt
David Soul as Joshua Bolt
Bridget Hanley as Candy Pruitt
Phil Bruns as Lorenzo Mack
Sheree North as Felicia
 
Mark Lenard as Aaron Stempel
Joan Blondell as Lottie Hatfield
Henry Beckman as Capt. Roland Francis Clancey
 
Director: Bob Claver
Writers: N. Richard Nash, Alan Marcus, William Blinn
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