After a very hot summer, the weather finally seems to be cooling down a bit. And, it was so nice to have a holiday weekend. Last Sunday was a beautiful day, and I drove out into the country to visit The Olde Mill ice cream attraction. What a treat! :)
And, speaking of treats: I have a special one for you. It's the guest post from "Prof. Plum", the winner of my recent photo contest. And, it looks like she's got quite a cool "Kellection" of her own. Without further ado, here's the "Prof" to tell you about two of her treasures:
"Hi Everyone!
Thanks for your patience and a BIG thanks to La Bartista for not only holding such a challenging but fun contest but for offering such a great prize. [B27 - You're very welcome! :)]
A while back I came into possession of a deck of playing cards featuring the Maverick boys on the back of the cards.
I wasn’t able to find out any information about the release of these cards but I did come across a blog post that said that Warner Bros, as a promotional gimmick for the Maverick movie, sent out boxes of Maverick playing cards. Surprisingly, it was James Garner who was chosen as the King, not Mel Gibson.
If you don’t know how to play poker, Poker According to Maverick should do the trick.
Although it doesn’t officially appear anywhere in the book, the author is none other than Bret himself. The secret to poker according to Pappy is to 'wait, wait, and wait some more until a fightin’ hand shows up. Then if it’s a big one, underplay it; it it’s second-rate, overplay it. That’s all there is to it, exceptin’ one thing: Every once in a while mix it up, to keep wise guys like me from catchin’on.' Bret went on to say 'Bart and me took Pappy’s advice to heart.' Bret explains how to play draw and five-card stud and poker etiquette, and every once in awhile a familiar name like Samantha pops up in one of the many stories sprinkled throughout the book.
One last bit of Maverick poker trivia … the playing card combo, 'QJ' has the nickname Maverick. It comes from the theme song … 'Livin’ on jacks and queens. Maverick is a legend of the west.'
Long Live the Legend!
(P.S. Professor Plum is the non de plume of Sue Ketcham.)"
Thanks so much for your informative guest post, Prof./Sue! Those cards sure are interesting. I like the "bullet" hole in them and the caption, "The last fellow who used this deck dealt off the bottom!"
I have two copies of the Maverick poker book. I think the only time Bart is mentioned is in the line Sue quoted above. I guess Bret forgot that Bart played poker, too! I think it would have been a better book if Bret and Bart could have written alternating chapters. But, it's still an entertaining read. (And, it does have that sweet color pic of the Mavericks on the front, including Bart and his, uh, wedding ring! ;->)
Wow, I had no clue about the QJ! :) I guess we learn something new every day.
Well, thanks again, Sue. I'll try to come up with more contests in the future.
COMING SOON: A "Date" with the Maverick Brothers! :->
Posts
Great blog and photos Sue!! I envy you, and La Bartista, as far as your Kell-ections!! <3
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed reading your article and Prof. Plum's (Sue's) blog, Bartista.
Thanks for sharing this wonderful site with us Jack Kelly fans!!
Janet T. (still can't comment for some reason? using my Google acc't.?)
Thanks Prof. Plum (Sue Ketchum) for a wonderful guest blog piece. Enjoyed also your Kell-Ections! Couldn't have been a better contest winner.
ReplyDeleteNever actually read this book and I certainly never heard that it has Maverick stories or that it was narrated by Bret. Next time I run across a copy at the Strand or somewhere around here, I'll snap it up.
ReplyDeleteI loved the Maverick comic books when I was a kid. Dan Spiegle (sp? that doesn't look quite right but I'm too lazy to look it up at the moment), the great comic artist, started drawing the comic when the series was first starting to shoot, before any publicity shots were available, so he visited Garner on the set personally and subsequently drew an amazingly photorealistic Bret while Bart, Beau and Brent bear only a passing resemblance to Kelly, Moore or Colbert. His Bart looks more like Barney Fife to me. But then Kelly photographed much smaller alongside Garner than he apparently looked in person, to his disadvantage. The camera is not an exact duplicate of the eye and sees things differently as a result, sometimes starkly differently. Hence the screen test.
ReplyDeleteI was reading a John Wayne bio recently by someone named Scott Eye or something and he quotes Wayne as noting that the best actor around was James Garner. Brando and several others were routinely singled out by the press but Wayne observes that Garner was head and shoulders above any of them. John Wayne, the second biggest ticket seller of the sound era (after Clark Gable) knew a thing or two about acting.
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