All Dressed Up! :)

Howdy!

Here's a pic from a 1959 movie magazine of Jack Kelly and some famous friends, all dressed up:

As the caption says, "It's not often you see so many Western heroes all duded up at the same time. Left to right, the TV cowboys are Ty Hardin, Peter Brown, Chuck Connors, Jack Kelly and John Russell. The occasion for the fancy dress was a ball held at the Hollywood Palladium."

Of course, this is how we usually saw JK, Hardin, Brown and Russell (along with some other cowboy pals):

It's interesting to glimpse these TV westerners in tuxes, and especially to see Russell ("Marshal Dan Troop" in Lawman) without his signature mustache.

I think JK looks great in a tux or in a buckskin jacket. Please stay tuned for more of his "looks" in TDS. :)

Another Postcard Post! :)

Howdy!

Two more vintage Jack Kelly postcards just joined the Kellection, including one with the quintessential JK image which adorns this blog. So, I now have five of these cool cards:

These postcards were sent by the Warner Bros. fan mail department whenever folks wrote to JK. For only fifty-cents, you could also get an 8"x 10" photo (try getting one for that price now! ;>)

The reverse side of the cards features a reproduced signature and a greeting ("You are a real friend for writing!") from JK. Helpful hint: Some sellers erroneously assume the signatures on these cards are hand-written. I way overpaid for the first JK postcard I bought many years ago because I was led to believe I was purchasing a hand-signed item. Nope: the autographs shown on the front and back of these cards are pre-printed.

WB used the postmark to advertise their upcoming or current films. This one heralds A Summer Place, a 1959 melodrama starring Richard Egan, Dorothy McGuire and Sandra Dee. Postmarks on other JK cards I have advertise Auntie Mame, Sunrise at Campobello, and The Sundowners.

Yes, that's only four cards. The fifth JK postcard is "postally unused"--it has no postmark or mailing address, which means it was never sent by the fan department.

The other JK-related postcard I just received features a familiar grouping of Warner Bros. TV western stars. I've seen this pose before, but not in color like this:

Here's Clint Walker, Wayde Preston, Ty Hardin, Jack Kelly, John Russell, James Garner,
Peter Brown and Will Hutchins having a rootin' tootin' time
 on the Warner Bros. western street set

(How come JK is the shortest person on this card?!)

I think the image of Clint Walker ("Cheyenne") may have been inserted by WB into the color scene--he's usually not in other shots of this grouping I've seen, such as this one:

(BTW, this B&W photo was one of my first Kellectibles, before I actually had a Kellection! It was in a group of pix I bought at an antiques show before I "discovered" JK. :>)

The back of the color postcard has the pre-printed signatures of all the WB cowboys appearing on the front (with another pitch for A Summer Place):  

Well, I hope this post about JK postcards "sent" you. ;> Please stay tuned for more fun in TDS!

How to Get Your Man Without a Gun :)

What's the deal with Bart Maverick?!

Did he just invent "52 Pickup"? Is he demonstrating his new card swallowing trick? Did Goldie step on his foot? 

Actually, Bart's clowning for this lovely lass, who wandered onto the Warner Brothers lot for a western-themed fashion shoot which appeared in a 1962 issue of Teenagers/Ingenue magazine: 

The text says, "...It's hard to outdo Bart Maverick's sleight-of-hand with cards. We'll bet high stakes, too, on the sleight-of-styling in these back and white striped cotton-ticking pants with a western hip-slung look and bell-bottom legs. Winningly paired with a red and white polka dot shirt and sash."

Bart's cowboy compadres "Deputy Johnny McKay" (Peter Brown of Lawman) and "Bronco Layne" (Ty Hardin of Bronco) also show up in the light-hearted layout.

And, in a special feature titled "How to Get Your Man Without a Gun", such "pistol packing western heroes" as Michael Landon of Bonanza and Eric Fleming of Rawhide give dating advice to teens. Bart Maverick's alter-ego Jack Kelly also contributes some wise words: 

"Be yourself, not a carbon copy of someone else. Don't cover up your personality with what you think a man wants you to be. Let Liz Taylor be herself; you be yourself. No man wants a counterfeit. Whatever you are is unique. I fell for a girl because there was nobody else like her." 

(JK's advice is still valuable today--even for those of us who said "Adios" to our teen years a while back. 
;->)