There are many thousands of videos online that begin with the line “hold my beer.” In fact, people often deliberately do dangerous things and pull truly mind-numbingly ill-conceived pranks just to get those all important “clicks” and become internet famous. But if you think that is all a trend of the digital age, well, no it isn’t. In fact, perhaps one of the most ambitious stunts held just to get attention occurred all the way back in 1896, and, as is often the case, it didn’t exactly go as planned.
Sixty six years ago a new television show premiered. Bonanza, the saga of the Cartwrights of the Ponderosa ranch was made for the express purpose of selling color televisions, and it brought color to many lives.