Breakfast with Jack Kelly--Part II

Hi!
I found a longer version of one of the "Quaker Oat Squares" commercials with Jack Kelly's hearty voiceover:

Also, when I was at the grocery store the other day, I wondered if Quaker still made Oat Squares. I moseyed down the cereal aisle and there was the familiar blue box. Only now, the cereal is called "Quaker Oatmeal Squares". I bought a box and brought it home to the breakfast table: (Irish breakfast tea has long been my customary breakfast beverage, and it does fit right in with Mr. Kelly. ;)

I'd never had Quaker Oatmeal Squares before, so this was something new for me. They're just as JK described them: "...the rich, nutty taste of toasted whole grain oats with a hint of brown sugar...crunchy little squares that stay crunchy in milk and sure taste good!" :)

Breakfast With Jack Kelly!

I was going to try to post a photo feature about Jack Kelly here today. I saved it as an easy-to-read PDF file and was all ready to upload it--only to find that Blogger doesn't "do" PDF files. Oh, well, back to the old scanner. I'll try to upload it as a JPG file.

Anyway, enough about PDFs and JPGs. We're here to talk about JK. So, here is a Quaker Oat Squares commercial I found featuring his voice. By the way, Jack Kelly stated in a 1988 Los Angeles Times article that he thought his voice had a "Max Von Sydow" quality, especially in these Quaker ads. The same article revealed that JK could potentially earn $100,000 per advertising voiceover session, which might last less than 30 minutes (hey, that's a pretty good payday!)

JK also said that another reason he enjoyed doing voiceover work is because "It's a niche where age and beauty have no importance."

Incidentally, when I was very little, I was scared to death of the Quaker Oats guy! Don't know why, but I used to run from the room whenever he appeared on TV. (Him, and Alfred Hitchcock.) Thankfully, I overcame my childhood fear. (Otherwise, I would have freaked out when I was posting JK's ads here!) In fact, I have oatmeal for breakfast almost every morning now. :)

And, speaking of breakfast--I got up early today to watch Bret Maverick on the Westerns Channel, because I knew Jack Kelly was going to be in this morning's episode. Actually, I could have slept almost another hour, because JK didn't show up until the very end--and I mean the very end--and the events leading up to his appearance were only mildly amusing.

I remember watching Bret Maverick when it originally aired. However, I didn't remember how mediocre it was. James Garner is dressed as Bret Maverick, but he's more or less playing Jim Rockford. The plot involves the kind of elaborate swindle that the Mavericks often perpetuated in the original series. However, this is no Shady Deal at Sunny Acres. Here, Bret Maverick isn't a laid-back gambler trying to retrieve his stolen money. He's more like a greedy con-man running a scam simply to get someone else's dough.
 

When Jack Kelly finally shows up, he looks somewhat more like "Uncle Bentley" in Pappy than Bart. Which isn't surprising, as nearly 20 years had passed since the last episode of the original Maverick aired. However, he's still good-looking and the Kelly charm is still very much in evidence. Too bad we only get to see it for about 30 seconds, in what amounts to little more than the punchline to a 50-minute joke.
 

"The Hidalgo Thing" turned out to be the final episode of Bret Maverick. I've read that Jack Kelly was offered the chance to reprise his role as Bart if a second season occurred, but since the series was canceled, this was not to be. It's just as well--JK deserved to be seen in something better than this anemic retread of a true television classic.
 

I must admit, though, Bret Maverick did have a great theme song, performed by one my favorite singer/songwriters, Ed Bruce (who was also a regular on the show):