JK Saturday Night Noir: "Double Jeopardy"

Hello Everyone!

Time to discuss another great Jack Kelly flick--1955's Double Jeopardy.

This neat little noir could also be titled "Double Cross", because that's what some of the characters do to each other, including slick used car salesman "Jeff Calder" (JK) and his scheming girlfriend "Marge Baggott" (Gale Robbins), who, in their first scene, are unaware they're being observed by Marge's drunken husband, "Sam" (Robert Armstrong).

Sam is blackmailing a former business partner. After Marge shows Calder some of the money, he decides he wants a piece of the action:

Marge convinces Sam to squeeze more money out of his victim so (unbeknownst to Sam) she and Jeff can run off to Mexico. But, unbeknownst to Marge, Jeff actually has other plans. He trails Sam to the blackmail site:

Sam's blackmail gravy train suddenly derails and he ends up empty-handed. Jeff doesn't know this and tries to shake Sam down:

Things go downhill--literally--from there:

Soon, Calder is visited by the blackmail victim's attorney (Rod Cameron), who questions him about Sam and Marge while his unhappy boss "Happy Harry" (Dick Elliott) looks on:

As the noose tightens around Calder and Marge, he assures her that everything will be okay:

But, maybe not for her, it turns out:

I won't give away the ending, but I will say that JK is excellent as the double-crossing Calder in Double Jeopardy.

"Give The Boots The Stars Wear"--THE SEQUEL! :)

Howdy!

Remember those 1950's Acme boot ads I wrote about in December 2016? Well, an authentic pair of Acme's "Maverick" boots just joined the Kellection, so step right up for a first-hand look at this fantabulous footwear!

I won't be wearing them, however. They're toddler-sized. But, they're the perfect size for displaying and they're extra cute, to boot. ;)

To give you an idea of their height (and to work Bart and Bret into this post), I've posed the boots with a Maverick promo playing card. I'm fascinated by the boots' detailed stitching, too:  

Note the gambling motif at the top of the boots. I "bet" the lucky tot who wore them was an "ace" at card games (most likely 52 pickup):

Finally, they have an official Warner Bros. Maverick stamp on the sole:

What's coming up next in TDS as we march into March? Please stay tuned and find out! :)

What Makes A Maverick A "Maverick"?

Hi!

I was going through some of the magazines in the Kellection and found this 1959 issue of TV Prevue. Inside are the TV listings for the Chicago Sun-Times newspaper. Outside is a smilin' cover portrait of the Maverick Brothers! (I love Bart's colorful vest.)

The cover story reveals "Why Those Maverick Boys Never Change". Although Maverick had many different writers, the boys "stay in character--humorous, sardonic and unheroic", because of a mimeographed sheet of guidelines for the characters. The article lists the guidelines:

And, guess what? I have a copy of that original sheet of guidelines, which were authored by Roy Huggins, the creator and producer of Maverick. They're also aimed at the show's directors. BTW, these guidelines were part of a cache of documents I purchased many years ago which relate to the production of Maverick. I'll share more of these documents in the future.