Make Room For JK!

Howdy!

Previously in TDS, I discussed dresses which appeared in Maverick. Now, let’s take a fun and insightful visit to Jack Kelly’s DRESS-ing room at Warner Bros. 

Columnist Sheilah Graham had reported in early 1961 that since JK was now the top star of Maverick he'd been given "a new plush dressing room on the Warner lot complete with hi-fi, FM radio tape recorder, etc., etc.".  Another veteran newspaper scribe, Zuma Palmer, visited JK in his posh studio digs later the same year: 

“There was a guard at the parking lot, a guard sitting at a desk inside the door to the publicity department and a guard in a covered place at the entrance to the dressing room and stage area. 

“In walking to dressing room suite No. 9, Ted Ashton of the Warner Bros. publicity department, [publicist] Eddie Kafafian and I passed a half-marked tennis court. The other half had been used in a scene in Task Force and was pitted by explosives.

“Jack Kelly did not answer the knock so we knew lunch break had not yet come for the Maverick cast. 

“Jack L. Warner’s shuttered private dining room was on the way to the soundstage. Kelly, who is Bart Maverick, was stretched out on a settee dozing while Paula Raymond was before the cameras in a riverboat setting.

“’It is easy to go to sleep when you’re up at 6,’ Kelly remarked.

“For a TV set there seemed to be many costumed actors around. Richard Loo was the Chinese [actor]. Kelly later said there were 40 [extras] for atmosphere. ‘The Golden Fleecing’ by Charles B. Smith is the tentative title for this Maverick episode. [B27- Of course, this was also the final title of the ep.]

JK with Paula Raymond as "Adele Jaggers" in "The Golden Fleecing" 

episode of Maverick, which first aired on October 8, 1961

“The first actions of Kelly upon reaching his dressing room were to tune into music and loosen his shirt collar. 

LUNCH

“The lunch, ordered by Ashton from the commissary, was brought by a man in a spotless white suit. Off the main room of Kelly’s suite is a small dining and kitchen area.

“When the actor saw the steak, the peas, French fries, sliced tomatoes and onions and fruit cup, he remarked, ‘I usually just have milk with Knox Gelatine and that gives me time for a nap or to work on a hobby.’

"Beside the amplifier on which he had been working was a rack of plastic handles for tools. On a shelf was model of the ship Essex.

“Upon returning from making a motion picture in Hong Kong, Kelly learned that Warner Bros. was looking for someone to play Bart.

“Kelly said he told William Orr and Hugh Benson, TV head and assistant top man [respectively], ‘There is no use of your spending $5000 on a [screen] test. I played in a series here ("Kings Row") which flopped and I have been in pictures. You know what I can do. I will ad lib on the set with Garner before the cameras.’

HIRED

“’I am 6 feet and Jim is about 6 feet four,’ the actor continued. ‘I was standing in a hole. I was hired. Jim and I worked well together.’

“Some time later there were contractual problems.

“’Jim had some other things in mind he wanted to do,’ Kelly reported. ‘I wanted to stay. I liked the steady salary, the first time in my career I had had one. I came down in my asking price and Jack L. Warner came up.’

“’I have been studying about real estate,’ he said, ‘and buying up acreage, not to develop, someone else can do that. I am not interested in buying houses. I have had unfortunate experiences with them.'”

MUCH MORE IN STORE IN PT. II--PLEASE STAY TUNED! :)

Warner Bros. Presents A Failure - Pt II

 Original 1955 "Kings Row" publicity headshot from the La Bartista Kellection. Caption: "Jack Kelly, who has served an acting apprenticeship which included movies, television, stage and radio will appear as Dr. Parris Mitchell in 'Warner Bros. Presents' TV series 'Kings Row' for ABC-TV"

Our examination of "Kings Row" continues:

Into A Spin

Aside from the show’s bland scripts (which were churned out mostly by less experienced and thus less expensive writers), the promotional aspect of Warner Bros. Presents was another annoyance.

TV Guide concluded its review of the series by noting, “Actor Gig Young, a personable host, serves as guide on the studio tours that wind up each week’s show. Some behind-the-scenes techniques are engrossing. But, Young’s interviews with Warner stars would be more interesting if they weren’t such blatant commercials for new movies.”

Douglas Kirkley of the Baltimore Sun noted, "The 'hour' program is overburdened with what amounts to long commercials for Warner Bros.' film department."

The show’s sponsors were also unhappy. In return for letting Warner Bros. toot its own horn, advertisers expected Warner Bros. Presents to be of the same caliber as Warners’ top-flight feature films. (The series had been sold to sponsors solely on the Warner name and reputation, without even a pilot episode.) Instead, they got a schlocky infomercial for Warner Bros. for their advertising dollars.

  

Warner Bros. Presents was plagued by problems from the start. Filming began in June for the September premiere. I own an original final copy of the script for “Lady in Fear”, the very first episode of “Kings Row”. It shows a completion date of June 10, 1955, with filming completed on June 24.  A Screen Actors Guild strike that August shut down production for twelve days, throwing a monkey wrench into the already hectic filming schedule. In September, Los Angeles was broiling with a late summer heat wave (which prompted JK to install an air conditioner in his WB dressing room, one newspaper reported). 

Other issues, such as spiraling episode costs, were caused by Warner’s lack of experience with television production. Columnist Aline Mosby reported, “At Warner studio, ‘stepchild’ television is causing more headaches. Budgets of $65,000 per episode were set for the studio’s three series, ‘King’s Row’, ‘Cheyenne’ and ‘Casablanca’. But, the cost has soared to around $72,000 [per episode]. Two producers on the Warner series resigned in mid-stream. ‘They’re behind schedule and confused’, says one executive at ABC-TV, which is releasing the show. ‘TV has thrown them into a spin. They’ll come out of it eventually, after a shake-down process.”

Quality control was another casualty of the rush to get Warner Bros. Presents on the air. Warner's film editors and technicians were still learning the ropes of network television, where the break-neck pace often left little margin for error. Mistakes weren't always caught before air time. As a result, some episodes of Warner Bros. Presents were broadcast with major editing gaffes.  

For example, a viewer wrote to entertainment columnist Sidney Skolsky that they'd noticed repeatedly that the sound on Warner Bros. Presents was sometimes out of sync and wondered how this was allowed to happen: 

“I would certainly like to know how a thing like that could get by unnoticed, especially when the announcer stresses how great and qualified they are at Warners. It must be embarrassing for the people connected with putting together the reel and releasing it for TV.” 

Naturally, ABC demanded changes. Among other tweaks, it was decreed that the stories on "Casablanca" and "Kings Row" should contain more action to attract male viewers.  

Unfortunately, "Kings Row" was anchored to its small-town setting. By contrast, "Cheyenne" was the name of the title character (played by Clint Walker) and not the town, which opened up the entire Old West as a setting. Cheyenne Bodie could become involved in action-packed adventures in different locales, whereas Parris Mitchell and friends were confined to Kings Row.

Warners toyed with the idea of revamping "Kings Row" with new characters, varied locations and heightened tension in the stories. A script was even written in which an escaped killer terrorizes a teacher and her pupils in the Kings Row schoolhouse.

In the end, however, it was easier (and cheaper) to just cancel “Kings Row” rather than fix it. It disappeared from the Warner Bros. Presents lineup in January 1956. 

So, now you know why "Kings Row" was such a dog. ;)

Original 1955 "Kings Row" still from the La Bartista Kellection. Caption: "'Dr. Parris Mitchell' (Jack Kelly) plays with 'Little Doc' in this scene from 'Kings Row', to be presented on Warner Bros. Presents, Tuesday, October 4, 7:30 pm, EDT, over ABC-TV."

THERE'S STILL MORE TO THIS STORY--PLEASE STAY TUNED!

New Season, New Time--But No Brent :)

Howdy!

With the new fall TV season starting, I decided to look back to September 1961, when Maverick was beginning its fifth (and unfortunately final) season. And, I noticed something strange:

Brent Maverick (Robert Colbert), who was never mentioned before, suddenly showed up in Season Four as Bart's brother. He appeared in only two episodes that season and was never mentioned again. So, why is he featured prominently in this newspaper ad for the Season Five premiere?

I thought maybe this particular newspaper made a mistake, but here's a similar ad in a different newspaper from September '61:

"Three B's--Bart, Brent and Bullets--call the tune for a whole shootin' shebang of Western adventure! Jack Kelly, Robert Colbert star", this ad proclaims. But, this season, Bart was actually riding solo. There was no Brother Bret (except in reruns), no Cousin Beau--and no Brent:

This article states that "Jack Kelly won't be sharing his adventures and romances with any relatives while traveling down the TV trail this fall. Bart Maverick will be happily going it alone when Warner Bros.' Maverick series for ABC-TV begins its fifth year at a new time, 5:30-6:30 CDT. The hardy and contented Kelly will be without his former partners, James Garner, Roger Moore and Robert Colbert, who are currently otherwise occupied."

But, JK didn't complain about having to carry the show alone. The article quoted him as saying, "I've no sympathy for actors who declare how tough it is to play [in] a series week after week. I've never enjoyed acting more since I started to portray Bart, a wonderful, gay character whom I understand and like. It's great to be associated with a success. And, that weekly paycheck is a pleasant reminder of how lucky I am."

JK was indeed lucky to find a role he loved and be paid for it. However, in September 1961, Warner Bros. did not need to pay the Brent. ;>

Please stay tuned for more fun with JK 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!

Kelly On "Call"! :)

Hello!

Sometimes I find Kellectibles, and sometimes they find me. The latter was the case when I serendipitously stumbled upon a stash of vintage original Warner Bros. TV call sheets--including two for Maverick! Naturally, they quickly joined the Kellection.

A call sheet is a document (often prepared by an assistant director) that's distributed to the cast and crew of  a TV or film production. It lists call (start) times, personnel, locations, etc., needed for the next day's shooting. Vintage call sheets can provide a wealth of information for fans, researchers and Kellectors.

I'd seen call sheets for Maverick before, but this group of documents is extra special because they're all for one very busy day (Thursday, October 13, 1960) and they're for nearly every TV series being produced on the Warner lot at the time. Besides Maverick, there are call sheets for Cheyenne, Bronco, Lawman, 77 Sunset Strip, Surfside 6, The Roaring 20's, and Hawaiian Eye (nope, not filmed in Hawaii ;>). TV commercials were also being filmed and cartoons were having dialogue recorded.

The Maverick episode Jack Kelly was filming was "Dodge City Or Bust":

As you can see, JK had a 6:30 am PT make-up call. His poor co-star, Diana Millay, had to come in an hour earlier, probably for hair styling. In addition to his crack-of-dawn call time, JK had to deal with another issue during this episode. He'd broken his hand prior to filming and had to wear a cast, which was removed so he could film his scenes and then replaced. Youch!

The episode's filming locations are at the top of the sheet below (also shown are locations for Hawaiian Eye). All the locations are on the Warner lot:

 

 Sadly, the famous Warner western street set (also known as "Laramie Street") was razed in 2003 and replaced by a row of residential-fronted buildings which can be used as both production offices and sets.

Here are a couple of vintage stills from "Dodge City or Bust", which originally aired on December 11, 1960. The info on the back of the first still says: "ON THE RUN -- Bart Maverick (Jack Kelly) helps a lovely girl named Diana (Diana Millay) escape from a posse when both are falsely accused of bank-robbery and murder in 'Dodge City or Bust', the latest episode of Maverick. The Warner Bros. drama airs Sunday, Dec. 11, on the ABC-TV network."

"Dodge City or Bust" was rerun on June 11, 1961, according to the info on the back of the next still: "WANTED -- Jack Kelly and beauteous Diana Millay rehearse a scene for a Warner Bros. Maverick episode in which they find themselves linked both romantically and on the sheriff's wanted list for bank robbery and murder. Titled 'Dodge City or Bust', the segment runs Sunday, June 11, on the ABC-TV network."

The second Maverick episode being filmed on 10/13/60 was "Bolt From the Blue", starring Roger Moore as Beau Maverick. Note the director: Robert Altman, who also wrote the episode and, of course, went on to direct big-screen classics such as M*A*S*H and Nashville. RM had a 7:30 am PT make-up call. If you recall from an earlier TDS post, he had some interesting memories of filming Maverick.

Speaking of memories, ME-TV will remember Sir Roger Moore with a special showing of his Maverick episode "The Town That Wasn't There" later today (Saturday, May 27) at 10:00 ET. Be sure to check your local listings for correct channel and time.

And, be sure to come back and visit TDS--you just never know what other Kellectibles I've found...or have found me. :)

"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.  ;->



Jack Kelly: The Day He Gambled His Life! :)

Hello!

Here's a fantastic article from a 1961 fan magazine:

"Jack Kelly: The Day He Gambled His Life

by Pat Younger

'If you don't have the guts to gamble on a fair deal, you have no business in show business,' declared Jack Kelly, as he got up for the twentieth time in fifteen minutes to check on how things were progressing on the Maverick set.

We were there to get the inside story on Jack's gamble with his life --his professional life. Disputes with a studio can very often lead either to oblivion for an actor, or to a better deal for him.

Jack seemed to be able to give his attention to half a dozen things at once--checking the stunt men, anticipating his next scene, switching wardrobes, signing autographs for a group of visitors--and still carry on a logical conversation with our interview questions.

Quite a feat, if you've ever been on the back-lot at Warner Bros. studio and witnessed actors and horses from Cheyenne chasing the same from Sugarfoot and all ending up in the middle of a Maverick setting. It's dirty, dusty and on this particular day, it was also hot.

We were trying to up-date Kelly with his new alignment in the famous Maverick series, and check on his recently completed picture A Fever In The Blood for Warners. Everyone has been very conscious of the running disagreement Jim Garner has been having with the studio, and his subsequent withdrawal as a Maverick co-star. This was bound to have some bearing on Kelly's situation.

Jack had also left the studio at the same time Jim did, but is now back before the cameras with his new co-star, Roger Moore. Pursuing Jack to the edge of the action (obviously the only way we were going to get our story before quitting time), we pressed for a further explanation.

'An actor has to consider the fact that he is not the only one taking a gamble when he goes into a TV series,' Jack continued. 'The studio is a big corporation, and they have many far reaching policies that often times never concern, or touch the actor. Now, I fight for my own ideas, but the studio has to hold to its ideas of policy, too. Basically, the studios are trying to be fair to all parties. This isn't always the easy or popular solution to problems, but they're real.

'My recent difference with the studio wasn't my first. In fact, the first time I fell out with a studio--and it happened to be Warners, but could have been any other major studio--I was using a clause in my contract in the hopes of bettering my position. This is only a natural thing for any person to do.

'I had signed a standard seven-year contract with Warners to do a series called Kings Row. My agent and I thought this theme had great possibilities and I was looking for a long, long run. We filmed six segments but, like may other ideas, the viewing public turned thumbs down.

'My agent and I felt we could better my situation by doing feature pictures at other studios,' Jack explained. 'In short, we were looking for a way out of the contract.'

'The studio also had a problem. One particular clause regarding residual payments was particularly awkward and they wanted it struck out. What they wanted struck out served to give me a way out. I said no.

Suddenly, Jack smiled. 'It turned out to be a complete victory for the studio. My option was dropped and I went home and sat for four months without the phone ringing once for work.'

After this lull in Jack's career (the last he has suffered through) prospects busted wide open and one film part followed another. He was in a full swing of activities when the Maverick series came along.

'But we gambled on this Bret-and-Bart brother western,' pointed out Kelly. 'Once again, my agent and I were impressed with the material and felt there was a great future in doing the role (Jack is in his fourth season, as proof of this conviction). However, it was necessary for me to gamble fifty percent of my potential gross income in order to accept the Maverick part. That's quite a gamble, when you add it up.

'There had been may westerns offered me, but it was a stroke of luck and good judgment that made my agent settle on the part of Bart. We took a gamble that paid off. The studio took a greater gamble on the entire series. Surely they deserve their full credit.

'A few months back, the writers' strike threw everything out of line,' Jack went on. 'No one knew exactly where they stood...including the studio. A few of us felt we were suddenly free agents again. Like Jim Garner and other actors. I was notified of my suspension by the studio. We felt this was a technical breach of our contracts, so I sent them notice that my obligation to them had ceased. The studio immediately replied [that] this wasn't true. The company maintained I was still under contract to the studio.

'Again, let me point out, all the basic contracts between actors and studios have been in general practice (with union approval) for many, many years. There are slight variations to each one, but generally speaking, these same contracts have been successfully completed--happily completed--by many of the top stars in the business.

'But before matters grew serious enough to test the point in a court of law, Warners called and we sat down to talk the matter over. Naturally, there has to be some compromise in any negotiation. You can't take the position that your side of the question is the only side. This is ridiculous. They gave and we gave. In the end, they made up a new contract.

'The studio has been good to me and J. L. Warner has kept other agreements we made--and they weren't all written down in black and white.'

Our conversation was again interrupted while we dragged our chairs to the fourth location spot of the afternoon. Settling ankle deep in the dust again, we gingerly brought up the question of Jack's so-called 'feud' with Jim Garner.

Kelly smiled and answered, 'Whenever two guys like Jim and I work together as well as we did, some writers seem to feel that they must start a rumor of a feud. Don't ask me why, they just do. So far as Jim and I are concerned, there's never been one word between us. We've had a lot of fun working together and anything you hear to the contrary is just a lot of baloney. In fact, we still play golf together every week or so.'

We couldn't help but wonder how it must feel to Jim Garner now that his hold-out from the studio and the Maverick series has him sitting on the outside looking in, while Kelly became the senior co-star.

Kelly puts it this way: 'Due to the fact that Jim had been working on the Maverick series for some time before I was brought in because the studio realized it was technically impossible to keep going with one star, some people got the impression that I wasn't getting my full credit.

'That isn't true. It took very little time before Jim and I were sharing on an equal basis. Not only in time exposure on the TV screen, but in public acceptance. The fan mail reflected this.'

When asked how he thought Jim would make out with his present adamant position, Jack answered, 'I couldn't possibly look at Jim's situation through my eyes and draw my own conclusions. I not only couldn't, I wouldn't want to. This is a gambling business...but each guy has to do his own gambling.'

Like Jim Garner, Edd Byrnes, Clint Walker and so many other stars, contract disputes are bound to arise, but Jack's appreciation that there are always two sides to a problem and that the other side is gambling, too, will serve to keep him riding high with Lady Luck. His new contract to do pictures as well as the Maverick series should serve as ample proof of his gambling wisdom."