The Maverick Walking Man! :)

Who is the tall dark stranger ringing the doorbell there? It might be the Maverick walking man:

And such prizes he brings: Maverick western ties! Transistor radios! Air mattresses! (Just be sure you're watching Maverick or he's liable to go next door instead.)

So, if your doorbell rings this evening, you could see the Maverick walking man on your porch! (But, more likely it'll be something from Amazon or Doordash--this ad is from 1959. ;>)

"Give the Boots the Stars Wear" Revisited!

 Hello Everyone,

Christmas will be here in just a few days! So, what better time to revisit the "Give the Boots the Stars Wear" Acme Boots ad campaign. This colorful holiday-themed magazine page from the Kellection dates back to December 1959:

As Santa says, "Here's authentic western style, fiery color, imaginative design--all in comfortable, sturdy-wearing boots that live up to the legend of the west, every day of the year! No gift ever speaks with such understandable language to youngsters...'the boots the stars wear...Acme Boots.'"

Here's a closer look at those Warner Bros. western stars, headed by Jack Kelly and James Garner of Maverick:

And, a close-up of those magnificent Maverick boots:

Lucky was the little cowboy or cowgirl who found this footwear under the tree on Christmas morning! 

What will you find in the next TDS? Stay tuned and "Yule" find out! :)

Grand Old Bart! :)

 Poor Bart Maverick...

Although Bart and Jack Kelly were official stars of Maverick, Brother Bret and James Garner accounted for much of the merchandising and Mavertising during the show's early days.   

For instance, there were Bret Maverick rider and gunfighter figures issued by Hartland Plastics. However, Hartland didn't see fit to issue any Bart figures.  

Or, this clever bit of ephemera ballyhooing Maverick and its sponsor Kaiser Foil:

Designed to resemble paper currency it proclaims, "Bret Maverick--'The Man With The Thousand Dollar Bill'--blazes his way across your TV Screen every Sunday Evening, ABC-TV Network. Don't miss him!"

But, Bret wasn't the only man with a grand on Maverick. Bart had one, too. He even said so:

And, Bret didn't blaze across the TV screen every Sunday evening--sometimes it was Bart. (And, later Beau or Brent.)

Well, I can't do much to remedy the Hartland figure omission, but I did try to fix the faux $1000 bill situation. Ladies and Gentleman, presenting Bart Maverick--The Other Man With The Thousand Dollar Bill:

Don't miss him! And, please don't miss the next TDS, either! :)

A Three-Day Special! :)

Bart and Bret are here to welcome the Memorial Day weekend! :)

I hope everyone has a safe and meaningful Memorial Day. 

More "Mavertising" :)

Hello!

In a few past posts in TDS, I've looked at some of the companies which sponsored Maverick during its original US network run, such as the Ideal Toy Corporation and Peter Paul.

I just stumbled upon yet another Maverick sponsor--The Keystone Camera Company. Not only did Keystone advertise on Maverick, they used a pic of Jack Kelly as Bart Maverick on the back of the playing card shown below to promote their sponsorship:

 According to Sponsor magazine, Keystone advertised on Maverick and other series such as Adventures In Paradise in the months leading up to Christmas in 1961. Their prime-time campaign was Keystone's first foray into network advertising and targeted 125 major TV markets. 

Keystone joined Ideal, Peter Paul, Maytag, Brillo and Schick in sponsoring Maverick  during the Fall of 1961. Of course, the primary sponsor of Maverick remained Kaiser Industries, which plugged its aluminum and Jeep products throughout the show's run.

What's next in TDS? Please stay tuned and find out! :)

"Give The Boots The Stars Wear" Pt IV

And the "boot" goes on... :)

This slick 1960 ad is probably the best known Acme Boot ad featuring the Maverick boys--it appeared in popular large format magazines such as Life and The Saturday Evening Post, and it turns up for sale as a standalone Kellectible now and then:

The photo from which the images of JK and JG down in the left corner were taken recently became a part of the Kellection.

Speaking of images, after poring over all these wonderful vintage Acme ads, I got to thinking about the different products that Maverick and its stars were used to advertise. "Mavertising", as it were. :)

The connection to Jeep automobiles and to Kaiser aluminum foil and siding is a no-brainer: they were owned by the show's main sponsor, Kaiser Industries.

Peter Paul was also a Maverick sponsor at one point.

And don't forget the Topper scooter.

In the case of Acme Boots, author Jane M. Gaines reveals in her book Contested Culture: The Image, The Voice and The Law how Acme became the boots the stars wore: "But it is also important to see merchandising as a part of scientific management strategy, in which the principle was to turn star property into capital wherever possible. Control of the star image gave studios certain leverage with other industries with which they may have had many other kinds of cooperative arrangements. And in fact, studios even traded star images for free supplies of props such as automobiles, wild animals and cowboy boots. The Warner Bros. merchandising contract with Acme Boot Company, for instance, gave the studio a $2500 cash advance and fifty-four dozen pairs of western boots each year for two years in exchange for the use of the stars of Cheyenne, Sugarfoot, Lawman and Maverick in their advertising."

By the way, I haven't seen Roger Moore (cousin Beau Maverick) in any of these Acme ads, maybe because of some candid remarks he made while filming Maverick. He recounted to a Reuters reporter in 2008, "At Warner Bros. I was doing (the 1950's TV series) Maverick and sitting on the back lot and it was hot and my feet were pinched in these bloody cowboy boots. I was doing an interview and said the reason there were so many killers in the Old West was the boots--they pinched their feet and they got bad-tempered and shot one another. About a month later, I was sent for by Bill Orr, who was the head of Warner Bros. TV and he said: 'You know, the Acme Boot Company are very upset. They supply our boots and you'd better stop saying these things.'"

UPDATE! I found RM's original comments in a 1960 Australian "TV Week"

Well, I'm sure you won't complain when you see what's coming up next in TDS.  ;->