Happy Labor Day! :)

  

"Wait a minute...it's Labor Day? Then why are we at the office? Go home! Play golf! Have a cookout! And don't forget to charge the holiday on your timesheets." ;->



JK Code 98! :)

Hola!

Here's another goodie from the wide wide world of Kellectibles. Not a fotobusta this time, but a lobby card from Mexico:

The film being advertised is, of course, 1963's FBI Code 98, which starred Jack Kelly and just about every actor under contract at Warner Bros at the time, including a bunch who'd appeared with JK in Maverick (e.g. Kathleen Crowley, Andrew Duggan, and Ray Danton, to name just a few).  Phil Carey (in the lower right corner) had previously acted with JK in They Rode West (coming to TCM on 7/26 at 2:15 am ET, BTW!). JK later joined PC in two episodes of Laredo and the Bob Hope special Shoot-In at NBC.

JK's Sunday Funnies :)

Hello!

I'm sure we're all familiar with the Maverick comic books which were published during the show's run. I've even featured some of them in this blog. What you might not know, however, is that Jack Kelly also "appeared" in other comic books.

Like, the May 1960 issue of Archie's Girls: Betty and Veronica.

Archie, of course, is that red-headed high school kid and Betty and Veronica are his girlfriends (he apparently can't decide which one he likes the best). The girls--blonde Betty and brunette Veronica--were popular enough to get their own spin-off comic. And, Veronica must have very good taste because she picked JK as "Star of the Month", complete with a small black and white photo and a full-page biography.

Incidentally, in one of the comic's stories, Betty describes Veronica as her "frenemy" ("a combination of a friend and an enemy"), a word which I thought was coined fairly recently. I Googled it and one source said "frenemy" originated in 1977 and was added to the  Merriam-Webster Dictionary in 2009. So, if any etymologists see this post, they may want to revise that origin date! :)

Okay, so this next comic is a Maverick comic, but it's more than that. It's also a science-fiction comic book! No, Bart and Bret don't wander into Westworld. However, there are sci-fi stories in this early 1960's Spanish-language comic, which also has one of the coolest Maverick covers (inside and out) I've ever seen.

Also published in Spanish, this Mexican photo-novelization of JK's 1963 feature film FBI Code 98 (Operacion F.B.I. En Cabo Canaveral) features actual scenes from the film:

Unfortunately, most of the photos inside are pretty grainy, but here's one of the pages with JK:

"Fotonovelas" were and still are popular in Latin America. As with FBI Code 98, the content of these photo-illustrated comics isn't always kids' stuff. For example, I own several vintage fotonovelas based on Breaking Point, the 1963-'64 psychiatric drama series starring Paul Richards.

Well, I hope these JK "funnies" have put a smile on your face. Keep watching for more JK goodies in TDS! :)

Come Fly Away With JK! Pt. II

"A Pilot, On Stage and Off" continues:

JK waits as technicians check the light (that's co-star
Lauren Bacall in the foreground)

"As a mechanical malfunction in the sound recording system shut down filming temporarily, Kelly explained, 'The first flight I ever made was as an enlisted weather forecaster for the USAAF toward the end of World War II. We were to go from Great Falls, MT, to Anchorage, AK, as passengers in a C-46. Some of my buddies were also making their first flight and were admittedly scared. But when you've done professional acting, there's always the challenge of making the part believable. So, I lied like a trooper and told my fellow passengers that I'd been flying for 15 years and that there was nothing to worry about.'

"'Actually, I'm afraid of heights--close to the ground--and a 10-foot diving board gives me the shakes. However, I never have a bit of trouble in the air.'

"For an amateur light plane pilot, actor Kelly has had more than his share of misadventures as a passenger.

"'I was riding in a C-47 one day on a landing at Cold Bay--that's out on the Aleutian Chain--when the pilot ground-looped because of extreme surface winds. We finally slid to a stop off the runway in about six feet of icy water. However, we could walk ashore by climbing up the wing before the cabin filled with water.'

"The actor's military background for flying included riding and occasionally piloting C-47s on 'buzz-jobs' of Alaskan moose. 'In looking back, I guess the experience was a blessing in disguise, since we lived through it,' Kelly said. 'It called for a type of precision flying that you don't especially need in the traffic pattern at Burbank.'

"Kelly completed his military service as a non-commissioned officer in charge of the weather station at Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage. 'I can still read a synoptic chart,' he said, 'and I've found the early training I had in weather has been a great help since I've had a chance to begin to learn to fly.'

"While Kelly is probably best known for working with one-horse-power films (he played the part of 'Bart' in the Maverick series on TV for several years), he has had the opportunity to portray a pilot or co-pilot in productions other than 'Double Jeopardy'. During the filming of FBI Code 98 for theater release, there was a North American 'Sabreliner' used for a 'set-dressing' and two Hughes 269A helicopters used on location. Kelly was able to fast-talk long enough and fast enough to get a Hughes pilot to give him 11 hours of dual [instruction] and he then spent 45 minutes solo in the helicopter.

"During the filming of Julie nine years ago, Kelly portrayed an airline [co-pilot] and was able to spend several hours in the United DC-6 simulator at Oakland. 'If you are going through the motions of operating a transport, you want to know which levers work the throttles and which work the props.'

[Bartista here: JK also appeared in the aviation-related feature film The Wild Blue Yonder in 1951.]

"It wasn't until the Maverick series came along that Kelly was able to stay in one place long enough to learn how to fly. He went to several instructor before B. G. O'Hara, a Flying Tiger Lines captain who worked with the Sky Roamers between the Pacific flights, took over and helped the actor smooth out his pre-solo problems.

"'Good instruction is important in everything you try to do, whether it's golf, swimming, flying or what', said Kelly. 'That ability to teach the right psychological approach makes all the difference in the world between just an airplane driver and a good instructor.'

"'After I'd shot just one landing with O'Hara, he pointed out that I was coming in with my left wing a little low because I was handling the wheel of the Cessna 150 by the hub instead of the outside. After a few minutes of practice, my landings improved 100%.'

"Jack Kelly looks upon flying as something active. 'My idea of flying isn't just to go out on a long cross-country trip where you climb to an altitude, turn on the autopilot and turn off your mind. I love to navigate by dead reckoning and, actually, I'm looking forward to the day when the omni goes out.'

"Kelly's other avocations are golf and fishing. 'Someday I hope to produce a 'home movie' on the fishing grounds of the Southwest because it's going to be a long time before they're fished out. I hope to take aerial footage of each of the locations and then follow up with scenes of actual fishing from the surface.'

"While he's an enthusiastic angler, Kelly admits that there's one species of fish that he honestly doesn't like to catch: the multicolored dolphin* that are found in great numbers in waters off both sides of the peninsula of Baja California. Dolphins are brilliantly-hued fish while in the water but lose much of their color once they're landed.

""I really hate to catch a dolphin,' he said quietly. 'When it's possible, I'll unhook them and put them back in the water.'

[*Bartista again: I think JK is actually referring to "dolphin fish", also known as "mahi mahi" or "dorado". They are fish and not dolphins like Flipper, which are mammals. A notable attribute of dolphinfish is their multi-hued iridescent coloring which fades when they're removed from the water.]

STAY TUNED FOR PART III and learn the main reason JK liked to fly.

BREAKING NEWS! :)

Howdy!

A long-awaited Jack Kelly gem has just been released on newly remastered DVD by Warner Archive:

FBI Code 98! 

The synopsis from Warner Archive: "Robert Cannon (Jack Kelly), Fred Vitale (Ray Danton) and Alan Nichols (Andrew Duggan), three men vital to America’s missile program, are en route to Cape Canaveral when a bomb is discovered in a suitcase. Defused by Vitale, the device is turned over to the FBI, which takes charge of the investigation. Assigned to determine if it’s a case of sabotage or attempted murder, Inspector Leroy Gifford (Philip Carey) and his squad race to track down the bomber before he can strike again. Originally shot as a TV pilot, FBI Code 98 was based on a book by the film’s writer/producer, former police reporter Stanley Niss. Produced with the cooperation of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, FBI Code 98 was released in theaters instead, making its U.S. debut one year before Warner Bros. revisited the premise with the long-running TV series The F.B.I., which aired on ABC from 1965 to 1974."

The Warner Archive site also has a preview clip.

I've already ordered my copy and it's scheduled to arrive the same day as my copy of the second season of Maverick, which was released today (4/23) by Warner Home Video. ;->

Expect a full report after I've viewed JK in FBI Code 98. :)