JK At the Tee in 1963 :)

Hello Everyone!

On June 16, 1963, a charmingly tousled Jack Kelly participated in the third annual Celebrity Golf Tournament at March Air Force Base in Riverside, California:

In 1962, JK won a trophy at the same tourney for "the longest drive off the 10th tee" (354 yards). 

Shown in the background is Bob Wilke, famed western bad guy who won the tourney's top prize in 1961 and was competing again in 1963. JK had previously faced Wilke both on the links and on Maverick.

Please stay tuned "fore" more about JK in TDS! :)

Tee Time Pt. III - A Father's Day Finale and Coming Attractions! :)

Happy Father's Day to All Daddies!

I couldn't think of a better day to wrap up our look at Jack Kelly and golf, what with lots of pops getting new clubs for Dad's Day and the U.S. Open in full "swing".

JK participated in many celebrity golf tournaments over the years. Below is a terrific photo from one such event. A handwritten note on the back of the photo says, "Bill D. and Jack Kelly - Celebrity Golf 1964". (If anyone can provide more info about this pic, please let me know!)

And, here's another great glimpse of JK in golfing togs. This color image was scanned from a vintage transparency which came with a bunch of other celebrity slides I purchased some time ago. I don't know when or where this was snapped, but I love JK's tousled hair!  And, as far as I know, this slide has never been published--until now. :)

COMING SOON IN TDS:

• Bon Appetit, JK!
• All the world's a stage--especially when Jack Kelly is the star!
• And more--stay tuned! :)

Tee Time! (Pt. ll)

Time to tee off with JK!

 

 

Yep, that's JK practicing on the set of Maverick for the Bing Crosby Golf Tournament which would take place on Sunday, January 22, 1961. Just look at that concentration, that stance, that dark outfit--why, JK is a veritable Gary Player in cowboy boots! :)

  

 

Here we have a funsome foursome consisting of JK, his golf instructor/occasional Maverick actor Art Stuart, wife Donna Kelly, and a poodle. (Not to be confused with a puddle, which is

 what JK is hitting from.)

 

 

 

Time to go home! Donna lends a shoulder as JK checks his score. (And they'd better watch out for that giant golf ball behind them!)

 

 

 

Another day, another 18 holes. Here, Donna watches as JK pencils in his score at the Rogers Sports Center in the

 San Fernando Valley near Chatsworth, CA.

By the way, that's "Rogers" as in Roy Rogers. The "King of the Cowboys" was

 part-owner of this sports center,

which also contained a skeet-shooting range.

 

 

NEXT TIME: More golfing fun with JK! :)

Tee Time! (Pt. I) :)

Hello Everyone!

Not so long ago, the game of golf seemed to be losing its grip on the American public after years of enduring popularity.

Tiger Woods' phenomenal career crashed and burned; casual duffers lost interest in the game; once-thriving country clubs were repurposed into housing developments.

But, thanks to a pack of bold young Tiger cubs such as Rory McIroy, Justin Spieth and Rickie Fowler, interest in golf is on the upswing again. Even Woods himself is making a comeback.

So, what better time to look back at Jack Kelly's love of the links.

First, some stats:

According to an early 1960's-era article I found in a Golfer's Digest anthology which belonged to my dad, JK had a 14 handicap. He's described as an "excellent golfer" with "a number of low net trophies on his mantle at home to prove his ability."

JK explained to the writer why he enjoyed golf so much: "I like the exercise and the chance to meet people, and when things go wrong I don't get upset. The game is just fun for me."

The writer continued, "Jack is in heavy demand for movies and TV but when not working he likes to get out on the links every day. Even when working, he makes it Saturdays and Sundays. His preference is to play with as many different people as he can. For company--('not her game')--he likes to take along his wife, Donna (professional name May Wynn). He does most of his playing at Lakeside Country Club in Hollywood, or one of the Palm Springs courses."

The Maverick soundstage also became a makeshift practice green for JK. An October 9, 1960, story in the Buffalo NY Courier Express stated, "Art Stuart, a Los Angeles golf professional who helps Jack Kelly with his golf, is also an actor. Art appeared in several Maverick episodes last season, and between 'takes' he and Jack practiced with a bag of shag balls in a remote corner of the set.

"'Since Art started working in the show my game has improved by three or four strokes', says Kelly. 'I wish they could find a running part for him so we could practice every day.'"

NEXT TIME: Stay tuned to TDS for fantastic photos of JK practicing for a big event in that "remote corner" and teeing up with Donna (and friends!) :)

Jack Kelly: It's All in the "Game"! :)

Howdy!

In August 1963, Jack Kelly was strutting his stuff as a song-and-dance man in Anderson, Indiana. While JK was hoofing it in the Hoosier state, he also showed off his fashion sense. And, I have the pictures to prove it! :)

While the quality of these photos from my Kellection isn't the best--they are faded with age and look like they were cut from a photo album--they do provide a rare, candid look at JK as he prepares for his role in the musical comedy The Pajama Game at the Geeting Summer Theatre.

This 1963 production of The Pajama Game was presented by the Madison County Dramatic Players, a theater company which exists to this day and is now known as The Mainstage Theatre. Their shows were originally held on land owned by the Geeting family of Anderson. The Geeting "theater" was first a tent (which kept falling down) and later a pole barn. According to a 2009 article about the Players in the Anderson Herald Bulletin, "Cast and audience alike had to contend with stifling heat and humidity, insects, wandering animals and the occasional thunder, lightning and hail. On a tin roof."

In the same article, a Geeting crew member recalled, "At one performance [in the barn], the electricity went out. We were about finished with the play, so we pulled cars up to the building and shined their headlights in. It had canvas sides, so that we finished the play.”

Despite their humble home base, the Players dreamed big, and for a time tried to feature professional actors in their productions. However, they were able to attract only two "name" performers--the ill-fated Frances Farmer and JK--before they ran out of funds. 

But, the Players went all-out with The Pajama Game. Linda J. Alexander notes in A Maverick Life: The Jack Kelly Story that The Pajama Game was the company's "largest cast show" to date (including "twenty-two speaking parts", "a twelve-member chorus" and "six dancers") and that JK was "a local hit" in the popular show.

Indeed, the local paper gave plenty of publicity to the erstwhile Maverick, including a lengthy article which was primarily about his wife, Donna.

 

In the news clipping below, a jovial JK is shown trying on a jacket he will wear in The Pajama Game:

The caption reads: "TAKES TIME OUT--Jack Kelly took time out from rigorous rehearsal schedules to get outfitted for his role as 'Henzie' in the up coming musical comedy 'Pajama Game' that opens Monday night for a six-day run at the Geeting Summer Theatre. Jay Russell, left, helps 'Bart Maverick' into a sports coat that he will wear in his comedy lead with the Madison County Dramatic Players." 

JK's "comedy lead" in this production of The Pajama Game is actually named "Vernon Hines", who opens the show with the title song. Hines is a time-study man at the "Sleep-Tite" pajama factory in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where the workers are threatening to strike if they don't receive a 7.5 cent raise. "Hinesey" is in love with the factory owner's secretary and becomes very jealous when he suspects her of flirting with the new factory superintendent. 

The Pajama Game originally premiered on Broadway in 1954 and was adapted into a film starring Doris Day and John Raitt in 1957. The show's score includes such now-classic hits as "Hey There", "Steam Heat" and "Hernando's Hideaway". 

"Hines" has several numbers in the show. Unfortunately, we don't have a recording of Jack Kelly's performance in The Pajama Game. But, to give you an idea of what one of "Hinesey's" songs sounded like, here's a video featuring Eddie Foy, Jr. (who played the character in both the Broadway and film versions) singing "Pajama Game/Racing With the Clock" with the ensemble:

And, here are two more shots of JK having a ball as he chooses his character's wardrobe. Below, with Jay Russell: 

And, all by his stylin' self:

Incidentally, in addition to picking out his wardrobe and his "rigorous rehearsal schedules" for The Pajama Game, JK was able to squeeze in some golf during his stay in Anderson. :)

Read more about JK's adventures in summer stock here. 

Keeping Up With the Kellys :)

Hello Everyone!

It's time for another visit to the Kelly kastle, circa 1959.

Here, we find JK trying to learn a new song ("Freebird"?) on the guitar as Donna/May looks on. Check out the background, and we see such knick-knacks as a Humpty Dumpty doll and what appears to be a Donald Duck figurine. Love that ruffled gingham lampshade, too. And, dig JK's argyle socks! :)

The write-up accompanying the pic says, "Jack Kelly loves portraying the smooth card shark Bart Maverick in the top Warner Brothers-ABC Sunday night series. 'If I had lived in those days of the early west, that's probably exactly what I would have done.' Jack and his wife Donna (her movie name was May Wynn) often spend their free time reading plays out loud to each other. They love almost all sports, love to travel, read, paint and spend lazy Sunday mornings reading the funny papers. Donna has given up acting professionally and is hoping to start a family soon. Until that time, they are free to fly to New York when the feeling hits them or to a nearby course for golf."

Below, JK (and friend) coaches Donna on the course:

Finally, JK and May SHARE a moment at a western-themed benefit:
 

Jack Kelly: Happy Father's Day! :)

Jack Kelly: "Broken Hand Mystery" - SOLVED! :)

Hello All!

These days, I don't often get to see the Maverick episodes on Encore Westerns, since they air when I'm usually on the freeway, bound for work.

However, last week I had an unscheduled day off after my water heater sprung a leak and began making ominous noises. I tried to remember when it had been installed. When all I could come up with was "Uh, nineteen something?", I knew it was time to buy a new water heater.

While waiting for the home improvement store to open, I got to enjoy a leisurely breakfast with Bart, by way of "Dodge City or Bust". I thought I remembered reading on the Jack Kelly Facebook page that JK had injured his hand before filming this episode and had to wear a cast. The cast was removed so he could film his scenes in "DCOB" (what a trouper!) and then replaced when he was finished filming.

Poor JK seemed to be prone to accidents. His various mishaps (including a serious water skiing accident that badly scarred his leg) have been discussed on the JK FB page. JK's hand injury is particularly intriguing because the news stories about the cast being temporarily removed apparently didn't explain what caused the injury.

Well, I found the solution to the "Broken Hand Mystery". I was leafing through a February 1961 movie magazine from the Kellection this evening, and this item in Armand ("Army") Archerd's gossip column suddenly leaped out at me:

"We hopped over to Warner Brothers to find out what's cooking over there...Jack Kelly wasn't working--and we knew why. Jack had called us a couple of days earlier to report he had broken his hand at the party he gave at his house at which we were among the guests. It was Jack's first bash in the new mansion and after all had left and he was helping wife May straighten up the place, he tripped while carrying some plates. In order to prevent a fall on his face, he braced himself with his outstretched hand. Funny thing, he told us, the fracture wasn't discovered until two days later--after Jack played 18 holes of golf with Bob Newhart!"

Wow--talk about a dedicated golfer! :0

And, that's not all I found in this magazine. There's a photo of JK and Roger Moore at a costume party. You won't believe how RM is costumed. I'll show it to you--next time. ;->

Plus: I also have a 1960 pictorial showing JK and Donna/May moving into the new home mentioned above. It's coming soon! :)

(Oh, and I did get my water heater replaced. The new one has a 12 year warranty, so I guess I'll be in hot water for a while--the good kind of hot water, that is! ;->)

Remembering Dads on Father's Day

Hello Everyone,

I was thinking about my dad today. Actually, I think about him (and my mom) every day, but, today, on Father's Day, he was especially on my mind.

Dad passed away in June 2002, only a couple of days after Father's Day. The anniversary of his passing always falls around (and sometimes on) Father's Day. And, my older brother, who was also a dad, is gone now, too. So, the third Sunday in June is always bittersweet for me.

This year, as I watched the US Open on TV, I thought about how much Dad loved to play golf. The last Father's Day gift I gave him was a book about golf.

Yesterday, I found another of Dad's golf books. As I was looking through a box of some old family photos, I came across a little (3" x 4") booklet with a battered green front cover.

GOLF GUIDE, the title read. I thumbed through the book's now-yellowed pages. It's sort of a golfer's pocket-sized "bible", with rules, regulations, golfing tips, statistics, and more.

I noticed Dad's distinctive printing at the top of the title page:


I thought, "That has to be a golfing instruction", because Dad was never in the middle on anything else--you always knew on which side he stood! :)

While sifting through those old photos, I'd hoped to find one of Dad playing golf, or at least standing near his clubs, to share here. I know we have old home movies and videos of Dad with his clubs, but, I couldn't find any still photos.

So, instead, here's a photo of another avid golfer: JK. The caption on the back says, "Jack Kelly and wife May Wynn check scores on course at Rogers Sports Center in San Fernando Valley near Chatsworth [CA]."

Of course, JK later became a father with his second wife, Jo.

So, here's to all of our dads, whether they're still with us, or whether they're walking the Heavenly green above.

"Bless us, O Lord, and these thy gifts we're about to receive.
May the fairway of life rise to meet you;
May the wind ever be at your back;
May His grip sustain you and a Heavenly green await you;
May you be a thousand years in Heaven before
the Devil knows what your score really was."

--"Prayer for Golfers" by Monsignor S.J. McGovern,
Spring Valley, N.Y.
(from the Golf Guide)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Coming up: A look at JK in his King's Row TV series and his adventures in summer stock. :)

JK on Screen - Around the World With Jack Kelly II

Hello Everybody!

And, welcome to The Tall Dark Stranger There--deemed a "link to avoid" by Wikipedia!* Oh well, who needs Wikipedia, when Jack Kelly already has some of the most knowledgeble (and nicest) fans around! :->

Anyway, it's time to continue our travels with JK. Since I was awakened by the roar of snow blowers this morning (yep, we received quite a few inches of the white stuff overnight), I thought we should journey somewhere warm and sunny.

How about Southern California? Er, actually, it's pretty rainy there right now, so let's set the Wayback Machine to May 1960. The place: the Yorba Linda Country Club. 

As we know, JK loved to play golf. He was good enough to compete in tournaments, often for charities. One of these charity games was "The World Entertainment Golf Championship", which benefited the Motion Picture Relief Fund. JK was joined on the green by scores of other celebrity golfers, including James Garner, Bob Hope and Jerry Lewis. Here's a peek at JK and JG from a TV Guide story about the tournament:

A closer look at JK: Although JK came in 14th, that's really not bad, considering there were 120 players in the tournament. And speaking of "bad", the winner of the tournament was an actor named Robert "Bob" Wilke, who almost always played the villain in films and TV shows--including Maverick! In fact, Wilke had just filmed the episode "Hadley's Hunters", where the menacing character he portrayed ("McCabe") memorably received his comeuppance from Bart Maverick.

Now, the tables were turned, as reporter Harold Heffernan wrote in the Ottawa Citizen: "'There must be a moral here somewhere,' grumbled Jack [Kelly], who had shot an 82, the best round of his life. 'Only last week, I gave this fellow Wilke the worst whipping of his life--on screen. And now he humiliates me before all my fellow golfers!'" Well, I'm sure there were no hard feelings between JK and RW. They went on to do another Maverick episode, "Epitaph for a Gambler", where Wilke portrayed a more sympathetic character ("Malone").

Hmm...I wonder if JK used his mink golf club covers when he played in this tournament?

Keep watchin'--more travels with JK comin' up! :)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ *Wikipedia won't accept most blogs or fansites as "external links" anymore, calling them "links to avoid". Apparently these personal sites aren't "accurate" enough and just anyone is allowed to write them. (And, this is different from Wikipedia how?) :0

Jack Kelly - "Fore!" (or is it "Fur"?)

Hi!

I noticed a discussion on the Jack Kelly Facebook page about JK's love for golf.

Coincidentally--very coincidentally, I assure you--I'd been planning to post an entry here about the same subject, because I recently obtained a very unusual photo of Jack Kelly playing golf.

When I first saw this 1963 United Press newsphoto, I wondered why JK's golf bag was featured so prominently in the foreground while he was relegated to the background. Was it an "artistic" pic? Was it actually an ad for golf bags?

Then, I read the caption (always a good idea!). It says: "Actor Jack Kelly of the television series Maverick relaxes with a game of golf on 8/14/63 between a busy summer theater rehearsal schedule in Anderson, Indiana. Yes, the golf mitts are real mink."

JK's golf club covers were made of mink! (Yikes, I wonder if he worried about them being stolen. ;->)

And, here's a closer look at the ol' duffer himself:

Yes, Jack Kelly's love of the links is legendary. When I first started reading about him, most of the magazine stories made at least a passing reference to his golf game. This touched my heart, because my late dad was an avid golfer, as well.

But, maybe Jack Kelly loved golf too much at one point. In a 1961 fan magazine article, his wife May Wynn told an interviewer that their marriage was threatened, not by another woman, but by the golf course:

"Our life is different, I realize from the average couple's. Kelly, when he is acting, might work 14 hours a day for days at a time. Then he'll be home for a month...but it was getting to the point where he seemed to have no life besides work and golf...

"...A break came in Kelly's schedule and he was due to be home for about a month. Every morning, he'd wake up, have a quick breakfast, and rush out to the golf course after giving me a hurried imitation of a kiss...

"I started to keep a diary...at the end of two weeks, I cornered Kelly...Honestly, he didn't have the vaguest idea what I was talking about when I told him we had a problem...Then, I brought out my [diary] and made him look through it. Out of the two weeks he'd been home he'd spent 10 whole days on the golf course! Day after day read the same--'Golf today, golf today, golf today'..."

Well, JK reformed (slightly), and although his marriage to Ms. Wynn eventually ended, his enthusiasm for golf never waned. In fact, when he left city government for a spell in Huntington Beach, CA, in 1988, his farewell present was a golf bag: "This is one gift I don't have to report."