Saturday, May 27, 2017

Kelly On "Call"! :)

Hello!

Sometimes I find Kellectibles, and sometimes they find me. The latter was the case when I serendipitously stumbled upon a stash of vintage original Warner Bros. TV call sheets--including two for Maverick! Naturally, they quickly joined the Kellection.

A call sheet is a document (often prepared by an assistant director) that's distributed to the cast and crew of  a TV or film production. It lists call (start) times, personnel, locations, etc., needed for the next day's shooting. Vintage call sheets can provide a wealth of information for fans, researchers and Kellectors.

I'd seen call sheets for Maverick before, but this group of documents is extra special because they're all for one very busy day (Thursday, October 13, 1960) and they're for nearly every TV series being produced on the Warner lot at the time. Besides Maverick, there are call sheets for Cheyenne, Bronco, Lawman, 77 Sunset Strip, Surfside 6, The Roaring 20's, and Hawaiian Eye (nope, not filmed in Hawaii ;>). TV commercials were also being filmed and cartoons were having dialogue recorded.

The Maverick episode Jack Kelly was filming was "Dodge City Or Bust":


As you can see, JK had a 6:30 am PT make-up call. His poor co-star, Diana Millay, had to come in an hour earlier, probably for hair styling. In addition to his crack-of-dawn call time, JK had to deal with another issue during this episode. He'd broken his hand prior to filming and had to wear a cast, which was removed so he could film his scenes and then replaced. Youch!

The episode's filming locations are at the top of the sheet below (also shown are locations for Hawaiian Eye). All the locations are on the Warner lot:

 
 Sadly, the famous Warner western street set (also known as "Laramie Street") was razed in 2003 and replaced by a row of residential-fronted buildings which can be used as both production offices and sets.

Here are a couple of vintage stills from "Dodge City or Bust", which originally aired on December 11, 1960. The info on the back of the first still says: "ON THE RUN -- Bart Maverick (Jack Kelly) helps a lovely girl named Diana (Diana Millay) escape from a posse when both are falsely accused of bank-robbery and murder in 'Dodge City or Bust', the latest episode of Maverick. The Warner Bros. drama airs Sunday, Dec. 11, on the ABC-TV network."


"Dodge City or Bust" was rerun on June 11, 1961, according to the info on the back of the next still: "WANTED -- Jack Kelly and beauteous Diana Millay rehearse a scene for a Warner Bros. Maverick episode in which they find themselves linked both romantically and on the sheriff's wanted list for bank robbery and murder. Titled 'Dodge City or Bust', the segment runs Sunday, June 11, on the ABC-TV network."


The second Maverick episode being filmed on 10/13/60 was "Bolt From the Blue", starring Roger Moore as Beau Maverick. Note the director: Robert Altman, who also wrote the episode and, of course, went on to direct big-screen classics such as M*A*S*H and Nashville. RM had a 7:30 am PT make-up call. If you recall from an earlier TDS post, he had some interesting memories of filming Maverick.


Speaking of memories, ME-TV will remember Sir Roger Moore with a special showing of his Maverick episode "The Town That Wasn't There" later today (Saturday, May 27) at 10:00 ET. Be sure to check your local listings for correct channel and time.

And, be sure to come back and visit TDS--you just never know what other Kellectibles I've found...or have found me. :)

Tuesday, May 23, 2017

Remembering...

1927-2017

 
 
 
 
 
“George [Lazenby], Timothy [Dalton] and Pierce [Brosnan], we’ve been together, the four of us. But Sean, Sean really was sort of not that enamored of being confused with James Bond all the time. Sean … damn good actor, but he felt that he was only being remembered for Bond. I personally don’t give a damn. I just want to be remembered as somebody who paid his debts.”--Sir Roger Moore, National Public Radio (NPR) interview, 2014
 
You will be remembered for far more than that, Sir Roger. Thank you for all your roles (including Beau Maverick) and especially for your work as a goodwill ambassador for UNICEF.  Rest in peace.


Monday, May 22, 2017

"...Now There Is One"

Howdy!

In 1961, Jack Kelly became the lone Maverick on Maverick. The Los Angeles Examiner marked this event with a cover story in their "TV Weekly" section:

 
Maybe it's just me, but I think this marvelous image may have been flipped when it was published (either that, or Bart is ambidextrous). Compare with this image (apparently from the same shoot) which was published on the cover of the Australian "TV Times" earlier in 1961:


Anyway, here's the cover story from the Examiner:



Despite the show's shuffle to a 6:30 pm timeslot and the fact that only 13 new episodes were filmed, JK was still very much "sold" on Maverick. According to the Examiner story, he wrote down his rosy prediction for the series' fate, made 25 copies, and sealed them in his safety deposit box. He intended to send these copies to the powers-that-be if Maverick prevailed. Unfortunately, JK's crystal ball must have malfunctioned because the series was canceled in 1962.

But, the ill-starred fifth season of Maverick did have some high points, including "Poker Face", in which Bart battled bandits and prejudice (and got cozy with Anna Novarro in this vintage original still from the Kellection):


Of course, to JK's fans, there has always been only "one" Maverick... ;>