A Virtual "Hong Kong" Affair! :)

Hello!

Well, here we are, over a year since the COVID-19 pandemic started and things still aren't quite back to "normal" yet. I'm still working from home; virtually everything is still "virtual" and anything "live" is socially distanced. Masks are still mandatory when venturing outside one's "bubble".

Thankfully, COVID vaccines have provided a glimmer of hope. Case rates are decreasing and folks are looking forward to finally seeing loved ones again, enjoying undistanced social events and traveling, when it's truly safe to do so. 

While we may not be able to actually travel very far yet, we can take a virtual vacation with Jack Kelly and wife Donna (May Wynn) courtesy of these stupendous stills from Hong Kong Affair which recently joined the Kellection:

JK as "Steve Whelan" and MW as "Chu Lan"

Uh-oh! Trouble as Steve's Triumph is taken (that's Lo Lita Shek w/JK)

A dramatic moment with Chu Lan and Steve

The "Target" boat to the rescue! (Can you spot Chu Lan & Steve?)

Chu Lan is in good hands

"Harboring" hope for the future 

BONUS IMAGE! Here's another one of those magnifico Mexican lobby cards for Hong Kong Affair:

Where will TDS travel to next? Please stay tuned...and stay well. :)

A TV Spectacular--At the Drive-In! :)

Hello Everyone!

It's still February, but how about spending Saturday night at the drive-in movies? Although it may be a bit chilly outside, this 1962 line-up of TV favorites starring in older feature films (including Jack Kelly in Hong Kong Affair) will warm us up!

(Of course, they could have shown The Night Holds Terror which featured both JK and Vince Edwards.) 

The "Why Settle for Substitutes? Try a Real Saturday Night at the Movies" is probably a dig at NBC-TV's popular Saturday Night at the Movies series which aired from 1961-1978. 

And, speaking of Hong Kong Affair: another look at JK in this film is coming soon in TDS!

PLUS: Also coming soon, two incredibly rare Kellectibles from Jack Kelly's pre-Maverick TV career--please stay tuned! :)

Jack Kelly - A Real American Boy! :)

Hello All!

I figure everyone is stir-crazy by now, so let's escape to Hong Kong--if only vicariously--with Jack Kelly and May Wynn:

I think this is my favorite Kellectible at the moment. It's a magnifico Mexican lobby card for Hong Kong Affair to which my camera didn't do justice. I can't get enough of its wild colors and crazy fonts, or of course, JK!

The wording on the right side is Google-translated as: "Opium smuggling threatening great fortunes of crime and mystery! He was going to recover a fortune and discovered the fatal intrigue! Mysterious China exposed as it is!"

Unfortunately, audiences weren't too intrigued by Hong Kong Affair, even though it starred JK, "That Bart Maverick Guy!" Less than a year after its release in 1958, it ended up in towns like Magna, Utah, where it was relegated to Saturday matinee status:

"Hong Kong Affair - That Bart Maverick Guy, Jack Kelly, his first starring picture. Filmed against the mysterious background of Hong Kong. See Jack Kelly as a real American Boy, first time on screen!" the ad for the Gem Theatre proclaimed. It added: "Hey Gang! Want to take a trip with that Bart Maverick Guy, Jack Kelly, to Hong Kong and get in on the surprise! Then see Hong Kong Affair."

The film was accompanied by cartoons, Captain Video and two feature comedies, promising fun for all.

Not surprisingly, Hong Kong Affair quickly hit the small screen. It was a "First-Run Movie" on WMAL-TV (now WJLA-TV) in Washington D.C. in 1960:

"That Bart Maverick guy [again] leaps into action in the seething Orient. Filmed hot in Hong Kong!"

Nowadays, Hong Kong Affair seems to have vanished from screens completely. Maybe it will turn up on Turner Classic Movies someday?

Well, until then, keep travelin' with TDS & keep well. :)

"Hong Kong" Hump Day :)

 

Jack Kelly looks a bit worried in this stupendous still from Hong Kong Affair which just sailed into the Kellection. But, relax JK--it's Hump Day! :)

And, lots more great pix are coming your way in TDS...please stay tuned.

Honk Honk Affair :)

Hello All!

Now, here's something you don't see every day:

Not only is this a still from Jack Kelly's 1958 starrer Hong Kong Affair, which is rather rare in itself, but it's a still showing the movie being filmed on location!

I love the car (honk honk!) in the foreground. I think it's a 1953-'55 Triumph TR-2. 

I've shared other publicity material in the Kellection from Honk Honk--I mean Hong Kong--Affair in previous TDS posts. There's much more to see, however, so let's take a tour, shall we?

Here's a color lobby card view of the fight scene being filmed above (note the car behind JK). JK's opponent is giving him a right hook (I hope he used Right Guard, too!)  

I've never seen Hong Kong Affair--has anybody?--but JK apparently does lots of fighting in the flick, judging from the stills and lobby cards (that's his real-life wife May Wynn/Donna Kelly as a character named "Chu Lan"):

Here he is getting roughed up on the cover of one of the two German programmes I have:

Fortunately, it looks like he breaks free:

 

Now, if he can only remember where he parked the car...

In Hong Kong Affair, JK plays "Steve Whelan", the part-owner of a mysteriously failing tea plantation. Steve suspects something is amiss with the oolong. Chu Lan looks on as he inspects the product:

 

(I'm curious about the hues on the lobby cards. Were color images used, or were the black-and-white images tinted/colorized?)

 

JK does some other stuff which I haven't quite figured out yet, like:

Another head scratcher: what is he showing to her here?
 

 

It doesn't make any more sense in color. (A blue lobster? A paper mache octopus?) Whatever it is, she doesn't look too impressed.

 

She seems more interested in JK (and who wouldn't be):

 

 

 



  And, that concludes our tour of Hong Kong Affair for now. :)

A Global "Affair" :)

Hello!


From their very beginning, American movies have been enjoyed by audiences around the globe. That's why the Kellection now contains German-language publicity material for Hong Kong Affair, which was filmed on location in the then-British colony and starred Yankee actors Jack Kelly and May Wynn.  


Here's a lovely shot of JK and MW on an original lobby card advertising Die Todesfalle von HongKong (which Google roughly translates as Death Trap of Hong Kong!): 

JK shines from the cover of the film's four-page program:

The program contains photo montages and a list of cast and credits:

Is it just me, or does anyone else think that May Wynn somewhat resembles Nancy Kelly in the headshot below?

More photo montages, and a German-language synopsis of the film's plot.

By the way, another popular method of movie marketing is the "sneak preview", where lucky audiences get to peek at a new film before it's released. In the spirit of that time-honored tradition, here's a sneak preview of my newest blog. It goes "live" on 5/18/2012 at 8:00 pm ET. Please take a gander and let me know what you think, about it and/or this posting about JK and Die Todesfalle von HongKong on TDS. Thanks a million! :)

Jumpin' Jack! :)

"My Husband, Jack Kelly" - Pt. IV

Howdy All!

Here's the fourth and final part of "My Husband, Jack Kelly" by Mae (May) Wynn:

"Kelly is a very good and careful driver, who sticks to the speed limit to the letter. Unfortunately, I'm one of those people who gets nervous if anyone but myself drives. And, I show it. His reaction the last time he slammed on his brakes because someone was cutting in front of us and I automatically went through the same motions on my side, was typical.

'Gee whiz, Mae, maybe I better have your brakes fixed.'

As could be expected, Kelly is a stickler for being on time. Not so Mrs. Kelly. I was even late for my wedding.

We were supposed to leave for Arizona at two in the afternoon. About one, Kelly called on the phone. 'Ready to go?'

'I'm not even dressed!' I cried out. 'I've got a million things to do yet...'

'Like what?'

Suddenly, I couldn't think of anything left to be done except pack.

I was just my usual self--late. 'I'll be ready in an hour,' I promised.

I wasn't ready to leave till seven that night! And he didn't get mad at me.

I was even late for our second wedding.

Because we had eloped the first time, we decided to get married again, in a church. The date was November 10, 1956; the time, 1:30; the place, St. Ambrose Catholic Church in Hollywood.

The groom was ready at 1:30 sharp.

I finally managed to get there by 2:45, and believe me, this time I tried to be on time. It just doesn't work. But again, and ever since, Kelly has been most gallant about the whole thing. He never utters a word of complaint.

Kelly is definitely not a typically domesticated male--for which I'd like to take some credit. I don't believe a man who works hard all week long should put on an apron and do the dishes or any other kind of housework when he comes home. Kelly couldn't agree more.

On the other hand, he is such a connoisseur of food that he can taste almost any dish and identify the ingredients. To just what extent was never more apparent to me than when we were in Hong Kong, starring in a picture shortly after we were married.

Chinese food didn't agree with Kelly at all. After he was ill several meals in a row, he went to the kitchen of the Carlton Hotel where we stayed, and showed the chef how to prepare all sorts of delicacies--from cabbage fried potatoes to mushroom sauce with wine! By the time we left, I'm sure the chef knew as much about non-Chinese dishes as the ones he was used to cooking all his life!

Kelly also has excellent taste in clothes--women's clothes. Not long ago we were invited to a formal party in honor of Dimitri Tiomkin. That afternoon I took an old evening gown I was going to wear out of the closet, and hung it on a wardrobe knob.

When Kelly came home he took one look at the dress and decided it was too old. Without letting me know what he was up to, he left the house again, went to an exclusive dress shop on Ventura Boulevard, and returned with a beautiful black and white lace gown--which fit to perfection. Although I still don't know how he managed, it didn't surprise me. By now I'm used to the fact that I married a most unusual man." :)

(From Silver Screen, December 1959)

Well, that wraps up this amazing article, but stay tuned...there's more fun comin' up in TDS:

• Stop and smell the roses with JK and...?




• JK turns up the heat in a cold climate




• And some surprises ;-)
  
  

JK on Screen - Around the World With Jack Kelly

Howdy Everyone!

Well, January's almost over, but it's still winter. Our thaw didn't last and the temps plunged back into the teens. Some other folks around the country are getting socked by snow and ice right now. And, I'm sure we've all got a touch of cabin fever.

So, I thought it would be fun to "travel" to different locales with Jack Kelly.

First stop: Hong Kong!

Hong Kong Affair was released in 1958. Although the poster called JK "That Bart Maverick Guy", the film was actually made before he joined the Maverick cast.

I haven't seen Hong Kong Affair yet, but The All-Movie Guide sums it up thusly: "In this thriller, shot on location in Hong Kong, the owner of a plantation that grows Iron Lady Buddha Tea, is perplexed when he cannot make a profit. He decides to go there and investigate the problem in person. There he encounters his British lawyer's Chinese secretary. He and she team up and after many false leads and blind alleys discover that the lawyer has been keeping the profits after he smuggles opium in with the tea shipments. The plantation owner puts a quick stop to the shyster's operation and turns him over to the authorities. "

JK's plays "Steve Whalen", the plantation owner, and his then-wife May Wynn plays the secretary, "Chu Lan". Reportedly, May got the part when it turned out the Asian actress originally cast as Chu Lan couldn't speak English well enough to say her lines.

Hong Kong Affair has a theme song. It's titled (uh huh):


Sample lyrics: "New lotus moon, starlight to wear, this was the start of it, my Hong Kong affair".

Here are some stills from Hong Kong Affair. I know the plot of the film involves tea, but somehow, these photos made me think of JK's cooking talents:

"Would you happen to have a good recipe for chicken,
General Tso?"

"Let's see - I need three pounds of chicken, some soy sauce, some garlic, some ginger root, some dried hot peppers, some cornstarch..."

"Hey, Popeye, this 'ginsu' knife you sold me couldn't cut Jell-o!"

"Imagine, having to take May to this cheesy restaurant instead of being able to treat her to one of my delectable dinners. All because of a stupid knife. That's the last time I buy anything from someone selling stuff out of a truck!"

Next stop on our itinerary? Keep watchin'! :)