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

BREAKING NEWS - JACK KELLY IN GUNSMOKE!

JK on Screen - Around the World With Jack Kelly

Howdy Everyone!

Well, January's almost over, but it's still winter. Our thaw didn't last and the temps plunged back into the teens. Some other folks around the country are getting socked by snow and ice right now. And, I'm sure we've all got a touch of cabin fever.

So, I thought it would be fun to "travel" to different locales with Jack Kelly.

First stop: Hong Kong!

Hong Kong Affair was released in 1958. Although the poster called JK "That Bart Maverick Guy", the film was actually made before he joined the Maverick cast.

I haven't seen Hong Kong Affair yet, but The All-Movie Guide sums it up thusly: "In this thriller, shot on location in Hong Kong, the owner of a plantation that grows Iron Lady Buddha Tea, is perplexed when he cannot make a profit. He decides to go there and investigate the problem in person. There he encounters his British lawyer's Chinese secretary. He and she team up and after many false leads and blind alleys discover that the lawyer has been keeping the profits after he smuggles opium in with the tea shipments. The plantation owner puts a quick stop to the shyster's operation and turns him over to the authorities. "

JK's plays "Steve Whalen", the plantation owner, and his then-wife May Wynn plays the secretary, "Chu Lan". Reportedly, May got the part when it turned out the Asian actress originally cast as Chu Lan couldn't speak English well enough to say her lines.

Hong Kong Affair has a theme song. It's titled (uh huh):


Sample lyrics: "New lotus moon, starlight to wear, this was the start of it, my Hong Kong affair".

Here are some stills from Hong Kong Affair. I know the plot of the film involves tea, but somehow, these photos made me think of JK's cooking talents:

"Would you happen to have a good recipe for chicken,
General Tso?"

"Let's see - I need three pounds of chicken, some soy sauce, some garlic, some ginger root, some dried hot peppers, some cornstarch..."

"Hey, Popeye, this 'ginsu' knife you sold me couldn't cut Jell-o!"

"Imagine, having to take May to this cheesy restaurant instead of being able to treat her to one of my delectable dinners. All because of a stupid knife. That's the last time I buy anything from someone selling stuff out of a truck!"

Next stop on our itinerary? Keep watchin'! :)

The Maverick Report - "The Jeweled Gun" and JK's Lucky Redhead :)

Hello!

It's been difficult to catch Maverick since it was exiled to the early morning slot on Encore Westerns. But, if you can catch it, the episode on tomorrow (Monday) is one of my personal favorites, "The Jeweled Gun".

Jack Kelly's co-star is Kathleen Crowley, who would re-team with JK in several more Maverick episodes. I found a nice story about Ms. Crowley from 1961, when she was filming "Dade City Dodge" with JK.

Describing the shoot, she says, "Working with a professional like Jack is a real pleasure...It doesn't seem like there's been almost four years between my two Maverick shows. And the rehearsals for this one went just as smooth as the other; you'd think we were on-camera instead of just running through the lines and action."

Jack Kelly - January Thaw :)

Hi!

We're having a January thaw in our area. This megawatt smile should help raise the temp even more:

Happy Friday! :->

The Kelly Pages - A True West Moment? :)

Hi Everyone!

After a brief spell under the weather (I'm fine now), I'm back with one more Kellectible from last week's paper show.

The paper show isn't only for kellectors of old JK magazines. It also offers vintage books, postcards, photos, posters and much more.

One might even discover a rare old document, such as the newspaper story I found from 1876. Strangely enough, the names mentioned in the story sound very familar! It's very browned and fragile, so I'll transcribe it here:

"GA-GA GALS GANG UP ON GAMBLER

by Belle Boze Bobb

A roving gambler by the name of Bart Maverick was arrested and placed in our town's jail today. It was not for any crime for which Mr. Maverick was jailed. Rather, it was for his own protection, because Mr. Maverick's appearance anywhere in public provoked a stampede of frenzied females, as illustrated here:

The woman shown at left accosting Mr. Maverick was identified as a Miss Labartista. The other two ladies did not give their names. However, they may be members of a literary society, as they mentioned they often had their faces in a book, or some such thing.

All three ladies apologized to Mr. Maverick, explaining they were merely trying to see upon which finger he was wearing his 'pinky ring'. They also wanted to determine the color of his eyes and his height. Then, they asked if he'd seen a pair of bookends apparently belonging to Miss Labartista. The women also sought Mr. Maverick's culinary advice. They desired to know if they should bake their chicken with or without the skin, and wondered if Mr. Maverick had a recipe for potatoes.

Mr. Maverick thought perhaps his accosters had been out in the sun too long and declined to press charges against the ladies.

Surprisingly, Mr. Maverick had charges pressed against him. Magistrate Joe Wheelwright declared Maverick 'too handsome for his own good' and feared his sons (Moose, Henry and Small Paul) would never be able to find wives as long as Maverick was around. He charged Mr. Maverick with disturbing the peace and sentenced him to 20 years hard labor.

The magistrate mercifully suspended the sentence after Mr. Maverick volunteered to help find wives for the Wheelwright boys.

Mr. Maverick approached Miss Labartista and the 'face book' women about becoming Wheelwright brides. The three ladies laughed, saying they preferred living 'the maverick life' and declared they would settle for nothing less than a 'tall dark stranger' as far as matrimony is concerned.

Mr. Maverick then muttered something about his 'old Pappy' and continued with his matchmaking search."

Wow! That sounds like a real true west moment--or not? ;->

The Kelly Pages - "The Feeling Is Rapture"

Hi Again!

Here's another Jack Kelly klipping (from Movie Stars - TV Close Ups, 2/59) to fan the flames on a frosty night:



The text says: "Jack Kelly's idea of a romantic evening with his beautiful wife May consists of sitting on the floor in front of their fireplace, sipping wine and watching the flames play hide and seek around the logs.

"'Sure we like to go to the movies and parties--but nothing compares to the coziness of our own home,' he's convinced.

"Jack admits he's having one heck of a time pleasing his wife with gifts. 'She doesn't like jewelry, so that's a problem. She has more clothes than she can wear. In fact she's got just about everything she can use. My only solutions are gag gifts--like the loving cup I brought home the other day on which was inscribed, 'You're the greatest.' It's not really a gag--she is.'

"For reasons of his own, he refuses to comment on present conflicts between them, insisting, 'I find it prudent to keep my fat mouth shut on rendering an opinion at this time.' However, generally speaking, he says he and May look on disagreements as a blessing, 'because it's the only way to learn each other's heart, and the more we learn, the more solid will be our lives together.'

"He also won't confess how they make up after a quarrel, grinning only, '....but the feeling is rapture.'"
;->

Here's a better view of the photo of JK and May shown above (I think the other JK photo is probably already familar :->):



NEXT TIME: Another true west moment with Bart Maverick! :)