Hotel de Paree

"Hotel De Paree" was a half hour western that ran on CBS during the '59-'60 television season. It was another of the "gimmick" westerns running during that time as westerns were slowly but surely fading from the television landscape and relying on gimmicks to keep audience interest. This one had one of the strangest gimmicks of all as the gimmick was a hatband!!! worn by the hero, Sundance, made up of a series of brightly polished metal discs and used to temporarily blind an opponent during a gunfight as the bright sun reflected off the hatband. Honestly, this is too strange to make up! Played by Earl Holliman, Sundance is an ex-convict who inherits partnership in the hotel of the title and shares ownership (and perhaps more?) with the co-owner, Mrs. Devereaux (played by Jeannette Nolan), and her beautiful young niece Monique. Veteran character actor Strother Martin portrayed storekeeper Aaron, Sundance's best friend.

Everything about this series was slightly strange. Beginning with the unlikely title of the program, to the gimmicky shiny hatband, right down to Sundance's strange (almost bizarre) relationship with BOTH Mrs. Devereaux AND Mrs. Deveraux's niece. Despite it all, this was a strangely watchable series and should have merited a second season.