Today in Jack Kelly History...

On 12/30/1963, JK appeared as disgraced wagonmaster "Fenton Canaby" on ABC's Wagon Train:

Let's Celebrate! :)

Hello Everyone!

As we celebrate the 91st anniversary of Jack Kelly's birth today, let's look back 40 years to another celebration:

 

I'm sure we've all seen this photo. It's sometimes identified as being from When the West Was Fun, the reunion of TV western stars which originally aired in 1979. However, this gallery of greats (L-R Hugh O'Brian, Chuck Connors, Clint Walker, John Wayne, David Carradine, Clayton Moore, Michael Ansara and JK) was actually gathered for the ABC television network's celebration of its 25th anniversary in 1978.

 

 

Here's a photo you may not have seen before. It's the same group in more contemporary garb:

 

 

The caption on the reverse of the photo reads: "The Old West lives again when eight great Western stars join the party on 'ABC's Silver Anniversary Celebration', a four-hour gala, airing on the ABC Television Network, Sunday, Feb. 5 (7:00-11:00 pm ET). The classic Westerners from ABC's past and present are (foreground, 1. to r.) Hugh O'Brian, Chuck Connors, John Wayne, Clayton Moore, (background, l. to r.) Clint Walker, David Carradine, Michael Ansara and Jack Kelly."

 

I found a remarkable clip with "the Duke" from the ABC anniversary special which features scenes from the network's most popular westerns and ends by showing how the preceding photos came to be:

 

 



And, here are a couple of close-ups of our birthday boy:

Happy Birthday, JK!

"And don't forget your carrot cake!" :)

 

"Yes, It's True, Maverick is Here!" :)

Hi!

If we fans want to watch Jack Kelly in Maverick these days, we can pop a disc into the DVD player or computer. But, what about when Maverick originally aired, in the days when there were only three major networks and no way to record shows at home? What happened if you had only one TV and someone else in the family wanted to watch Ed Sullivan, which meant you missed Bart and/or Bret that week? Or, if Maverick wasn't shown in your town at all? (It seems strange, but Maverick didn't originally air in all markets.)

Well, I did some digging, and it turns out Henry J. Kaiser, the show's primary sponsor, addressed the latter problem in 1958 by announcing that Maverick would "blanket the country" and be seen in more U.S. cities than ever before.  The way Henry J. saw it, it would be almost un-American not to air Maverick: "It is high time to quit selling America short and to put into action the faith, courage and work that will swiftly get the country moving forward full blast. Selling will be a major key to unleashing the forces that will take our people to unprecedented heights."

In other words, the more eyeballs on Maverick, the more sales for Kaiser:

The folks who finally got to see Maverick were pretty excited about it ("YES, IT'S TRUE, MAVERICK IS HERE!"):

"They were both born Maverick...Bret and Bart...brothers who accepted life as a gamble, but who would settle for nothing less than an honest game."

 



And, the public's love for Maverick didn't cease when the series vamoosed from ABC's lineup in 1962. It was pretty popular in syndication, too. Below are a couple of 1963 newspaper ads from Lima, Ohio:

 



 Here's a 1965 ad from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, complete with daily schedule (can you name the episodes from their descriptions?):

 

Finally, here's a 1973 ad from Des Moines, Iowa:

 

 

I read in an antiques column that interest in a popular TV show character often fades about 25 years after the last new episode of the character's show airs. That would have been 1987 for Maverick. Fortunately, Bart and Bret Maverick's popularity has extended into the 21st century, even though they're not so easy to find on the airwaves anymore. Until recently, Maverick was running on the Encore Westerns cable channel. Then, diginet Me-TV announced the show was joining their Fall 2016 schedule, then abruptly announced it wasn't. Oh well...thank goodness we have new ways of watching those Maverick boys nearly 60 years after they first rode onto the TV range. :)



When Jack Kelly Had "Fun" In 1979 (Part II)

Hello Again!

JK also spent "Cinco de Mayo" (May 5th) 1979 working on When The West Was Fun. (It was a Saturday, too!)

This time, he had a 10:00 am call:

This was the day the wonderful closing western song medley with Roy Rogers, Dale Evans and the Sons of the Pioneers was taped (watch for glimpses of JK in this clip):

Watching When the West Was Fun is kind of bittersweet, with so many of its stars (including Jack Kelly) now gone. But, thankfully this marvelous "Re-Union" is preserved on DVD, so future generations can enjoy it, along with press photos like this one:

The snipe on the back says, "Legends meet when more than 50 of the stars who made television Westerns a prime-time part of American entertainment, including  (l to r) Guy Madison (Wild Bill Hickok 1951-53), Peter Brown (Laredo, 1965-'66), Jack Kelly (Maverick, 1957-'62), and Clayton Moore (The Lone Ranger, 1951-'57), get together for a roundup of memories on When The West Was Fun, airing on the ABC Television Network on Tuesday, June 5 (10:00-11:00 PM EDT)".

Happy trails! :)

When Jack Kelly Had "Fun" In 1979! :)

Hi!

Do you know what Jack Kelly was doing on this day in 1979?

You do now! :)

Thanks to an original script that's now in the Kellection, I discovered that JK was busy participating in When The West Was Fun, the star-studded Western "Re-Union" (that's how it's spelled on the title page) special which aired on ABC on June 5, 1979. It was taped just a month earlier, on May 4 and May 5.

 

JK's first day at ABC's Studio 59 began at 9:45 am. As you can see, he was in very good company (although Clint Walker actually appears only via film clip in the finished show):

 Here's how he made his entrance:



JK was a real "card" here. BTW, I don't think the scene shown below in the script appeared in the actual broadcast, although another scene featuring JK playing cards with Neville Brand, etc., did.

STAY TUNED FOR DAY 2

OF

THE MAKING OF WHEN THE WEST WAS FUN! :)