More Scraps of "Maverick" :)

Happy Monday Everyone!

A one-of-a-kind English artifact recently joined the Kellection. On the outside, it looks like an ordinary composition book:

But, on the inside are pages and pages of neatly arranged 1950's newspaper and magazine clippings about the American west--both the historical and the TV versions.

I wish I could post every page of this amazing scrapbook here, but there are simply too many. So, I'll just concentrate on the pages which feature pix of Jack Kelly and James Garner in Maverick. 

First, here's a group of clippings of JK and some of his fellow TV westerners--Peter Graves and Bobby Diamond in Fury and Ty Hardin in Bronco: 

A close-up of JK:

A more formal view of Bart:

The caption for the pic of JK and JG on this page is interesting because it says, "Jack (Bart Maverick) Kelly (right) with his TV brother Bret (James Garner)"--it's usually the other way around! And, notice the pic for Gunsmoke. That's the radio version of the series--the TV version was called Gun Law when it was first imported to British screens:

A closer look at the Maverick brothers:

Another page of western favorites. Aside from JK, there's Clint Eastwood and Sheb Wooley from Rawhide and Ty "Bronco" Hardin again. And, another ad for the radio version of Gunsmoke, with William Conrad as Marshal Dillon and Parley Baer as Chester Proudfoot (who, of course, was called Chester Goode and played by Dennis Weaver in the TV version):

Love that smile! :)

 

Finally, one last page with the Maverick boys (upper right), plus John Russell of Lawman and Peter Graves (this time in Whiplash, an Australian western):

Unfortunately, there are no clues to the identity of the devoted western fan who painstakingly clipped and then pasted all of these images into a simple spiral notebook. But, whoever they were, I'm glad they took the time and effort to preserve this wealth of ephemera from the era when westerns rode the airwaves--even in England. :)    



A Scrap of Maverick! :)

Hi!

Here's a vintage newspaper ad for Maverick, which I just salvaged and digitized from an old scrapbook page. It's advertising the episode Alias Bart Maverick, starring suave Jack Kelly as...well, you know! This episode premiered on October 5, 1958, which means it--and this rare scrap of Maverick ephemera--is nearly 60 years old.

"Bart plays tag with a wily con man and four gun-happy brothers (not to mention a Southern belle named Cindy)!"

Speaking of ephemera: In this day of Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, et al, and the never ending demand for eye-catching online content, it's sometimes difficult to find JK-related material that hasn't already been shared, tweeted and pinned seven ways from sundown.

However, another bit of ephemera just joined the Kellection which I think will be new to you. (It was to me!) Like the Maverick ad above, it's nearly 60 years old. It originated in a long-defunct "niche" publication and it's not only about JK it's by JK, too! It expresses his views on a subject not usually associated with him. Oh, and it has some dreamy pix, too. It's coming next in TDS...please stay "tuned"! ;>

Jack Kelly - "And It's Bart By a Nose..." :)

Hello!

If you regularly read this blog, you know that I discovered Jack Kelly and started my "Kellection" of memorabilia only this year (2009).

However, there was another Kellection of sorts in my family long before that. In fact, it was in my family before I was.

You see, when my older sister was a teenager in the late 1950's, our step-grandfather gave her an enormous leather-b0und ledger to use as a scrapbook. She covered its lined, white pages with clippings and pictures of her favorite actors.

When my sister grew up and moved away, she left the scrapbook with our family. I remember looking at it as a child and being fascinated mainly by the many horse pictures which decorated the pages. (My sister loved horses, and so do I.)

Earlier this year, I told my sister about my nascent interest in JK. She said she enjoyed watching Maverick as a teenager. However, she admitted that she always liked Bret better than Bart. (I still love her, though. ;->)

After I talked to her, I hauled out the old scrapbook. Yes, there are a lot of Bret/James Garner clippings in there, but JK is also well represented (along with every other TV cowboy of the time). Most of the JK/JG pix were clipped from fan magazines or from the covers of Maverick comic books.

I slid the scrapbook under my computer table and didn't open it again until last night. I wondered if a certain JK pic was in it. But, when I opened the book, I found something else which I hadn't seen before. It was a newspaper clipping, brown with age, tucked right inside the front cover.

There are lots of loose clippings in the scrapbook, because many of them were attached with rubber cement or now-brittle cellophane tape. (I guess those were the days before Elmer's School Glue and invisible tape.) So, that newspaper clipping could have been about any subject.

However, when I picked it up to get a better look, I glimpsed a familiar smile and this headline:

BRET AND BART RUNNING CLOSE RACE

Now, how did I miss this? And--yee haw!--it's primarily about Bart/JK! Anyway, the story is undated, but since there are local movies listings on the back, I can make an educated guess. The films Some Like it Hot and Disney's Sleeping Beauty were among those playing, so I would say this story comes from some time in 1959.

I scanned and enlarged the JK pic from the story and posted it above. That's about as good as I could do with a 50 year-old newspaper photo, but I don't think I've seen that Bart pose before, and you can still see those marvelous eyes and that rougish smile. :)

Now, without further ado, here's Part I of the story, by Phyllis Battelle:

"NEW YORK - The TV brothers, Bret and Bart Maverick, are meant to be as alike as two peas in a shooter. That's the way their writers look at them--as completely interchangeable, with equal humor, agility with cards and women, and a like larceny in their gentle souls.

The viewers don't see them that way at all. Nor does Jack Kelly, the long, lean, likeable actor who plays Bart.

'Basically, both Mavericks are great guys,' Jack says, 'and any week the scripts could be switched on us and it'd come out all right. But there's a subtle element of difference in Jim (Garner) and me. And it's given us a fabulously partisan audience.

'Some viewers are all out for Jim as Bret and wish he were doing the lead every Sunday. Others, thank goodness, like Bart. If there's an edge,' he put in modestly, 'Jim must still have it.'

The reason Garner, as Bret, still has an edge (it's estimated at 1100 fan letters for Garner to 1000 for Kelly) is that he starred in six straight episodes before Warner Brothers hired him a brother. But Kelly is moving up fast, may be the choice before you can say 'Trendex'."

PART II NEXT TIME! :->