Today we take another look at the long-running Western series The Virginian and the episode “Home to Methuselah,” which was first broadcast on November 26, 1969. Outlaws in hiding Zach Ontro and Jase Dubbins (Anthony D. Call) ponder their futures. Ontro is especially adamant in warning Dubbins about the dangers of women, “with their hair hangin’ long,” snaring men into tepid domesticity. It brings a weird kind of subtext to the scene.

Call was directed in this episode by his father, Abner Biberman. Trekkies will remember Call as the overheated Lt. Bailey in the original series episode “The Corbomite Maneuver” (11.10.66). He later became a popular soap opera star. He and I also happen to share the same birthday – August 31! Virgos rule!