Happy Fourth! :)

 

Vintage image courtesy Google Images (greeting by La Bartista) 

"You Can't Beat 5 Aces!" :)

Howdy!

The 1959 paperback Poker According to Maverick is one of the most popular Maverick Kellectibles. I see it all the time at paper shows and it can easily be purchased online as well.

When it was originally published, Poker According to Maverick could be "yours for the asking...FREE!", simply by visiting one's local Jeep dealership:

I personally have four copies of this book (a couple were thrown in as freebies when I purchased other Kellectibles). It was even the subject of a guest post here in TDS.

What's interesting about Poker According to Maverick (aside from the front cover photo and the subject matter) is that there are different back covers for this book. Two copies I own have a regular back cover with a "blurb" about the book; one has a plain white back cover.

And, the fourth copy has this for its back cover:

 

An advertisement for Kaiser Foil (seemingly aimed at grocers) starring the "guys who know" that "You can't beat 5 aces"! The five "aces" are sales points for Kaiser Foil (it's quilted; there are five different types of Kaiser foil; Kaiser sponsors Maverick--yay!; Kaiser's promotions meet grocers' needs; customers quickly notice the ruby red boxes). But, I spot four more aces in this ad: Bart and Bret and the cards they're holding! ;)

Poker According to Maverick was so popular that it had sold over half a million copies by 1960, as noted in this review from the Amherst News Times:

And, the author of a forthcoming book about poker and pop culture also credits the Maverick TV series and Poker According to Maverick with sparking the mini "poker boom" of the late Fifties.

I've read Poker According to Maverick, but, alas, I still can't play poker (I'm afraid my card playing prowess is limited to 52 Pickup). However, this little tome still taught me something, which is: I love looking at the front cover...and sometimes the back cover, too. ;)

FUN FACT: Although Bret Maverick gives first-person poker tips in Poker According to Maverick, the actual author's name isn't printed anywhere on or in the book. Since Roy Huggins contributed the forward, most readers have probably assumed he secretly wrote the rest of the book as well. Nope: The book's uncredited author was actually veteran newspaperman and author James H. Cummings. According to a Columbus Dispatch story following his death in 1966, "Cummings 'ghosted' a novel Poker According to Maverick which sold more than one million copies. He also wrote and sold more than 200 magazine stories beginning in 1939." 

Odds are you'll enjoy what's coming up next in TDS, so please stay tuned! :)

"Young Billy Young" and Bad John Behan

Hi!

Some rare color promo slides from the 1969 feature film Young Billy Young recently joined the Kellection. This western stars Robert Mitchum as deputy marshal "Ben Kane" and Angie Dickinson as dance-hall gal "Lily Beloit".

 

Jack Kelly plays a natty but nasty supporting character named "John Behan" in Young Billy Young. Behan owns the Gaslight Saloon where Lily dances and considers Lily his property as well.

In reality, John Harris (or "Johnny") Behan was the sheriff of Cochise County, Arizona, when the famous gunfight at the O.K. Corral occurred in Tombstone in 1881.

The John Behan whom JK portrays in Young Billy Young also differs from the historical Behan in other ways. In addition to serving as a lawman, the real Behan was a prison warden (among various other occupations) and died of natural causes at age 67, whereas JK's fictionalized version is shot dead in the film.

And, while the historical Behan was a known womanizer who had a common-law relationship with a "soiled dove" named Josephine (a.k.a "Sada", "Sadie" or "Sarah") Marcus, it's doubtful he treated her like JK's version treats Lily in the film. 

 

After the fictionalized Behan accuses Lily of cheating on him with Kane, he savagely beats her.

As I've said before, this Behan is a very bad guy, but JK does a very good job of portraying him.

Please stay tuned for more about JK and his many roles  in TDS!

"A Safe Journey" With JK! :)

 

Hello Everyone!

Did you enjoy seeing Jack Kelly in The Silent Service? (Silly question... ;->)

Well, get ready for another blast from JK's pre-Maverick past: "Safe Journey", a suspenseful episode of The Star and The Story, an anthology series which originally aired 1955-'56.

"Safe Journey" (2/5/1955) was directed by Blake Edwards before he hit it big with Richard Diamond, Mr. Lucky, Peter Gunn and The Pink Panther franchise. Edwards also wrote the 1954 feature film Drive A Crooked Road, which co-starred JK.

Below are some screencaps of "Safe Journey" from a DVD in the Kellection. (And, stay tuned for a special video clip at the end!) :)

 As host/star Frank Lovejoy explains in his introduction to the episode, "Safe Journey" is about some "people on a train...and who they are, and what they are...and, if they are what they say they are."

Two of the people who will be on the train are Sam Neeley (Lovejoy) and his traveling companion (JK). When we first see them, they appear to be businessmen having coffee before their departure:

 

 

However, Neeley's companion seems anxious to leave...

 

 

...and we soon learn why:

 

 

Neeley is actually a prisoner on his way to testify in an underworld trial and the other man is a detective assigned to make sure he gets there.

 

The detective vigilantly observes everything and everyone around him, including a woman glancing at Neeley from the train window:

 

 

 

He remains on edge on the train, while Neeley relaxes with a book:

 

 

The detective suspects that nearly anyone on board could be out to "spring" Neeley.  He draws his gun when a nearsighted passenger blunders into their compartment:

 

 

He's still tense at dinner, when the mysterious woman from the window joins the pair and claims to be a reporter who's dying to get the scoop on Neeley:

 

 

 

The detective doesn't believe her story and tells her there will be no interview with the convict. She doesn't take "No" for an answer, though, and sneaks into their compartment. The detective raises his gun...

 

 

...but the lady winds up with his weapon...

 

 

...and the detective winds up unconscious!

 

 

When he comes to, he thinks the woman helped Neeley escape and starts to panic. But, the porter tells him not to worry...

 

 

...because the lady really is a reporter and Neeley is still on the train:

 

 

Now the detective can relax:

 

 

 

 

 

JK, as always, is wonderful (and wonderfully handsome) in "Safe Journey". In a role reversal, he would later play the prisoner on a different train, in the Maverick episode "The Third Rider", when Bart is falsely accused of being a bank robber.

 

Now, here's the clip I told you about:

 

 

Please stay tuned for more journeys with JK in TDS! :)



Look What I Found! :)

I couldn't keep quiet about this: Jack Kelly (as "Commander Hiram Cassedy USN") in a 1957 episode of the TV series The Silent Service titled "The U.S.S. Tigrone Sets A Record". Enjoy! :)

UP NEXT: See JK "train" for a dangerous assignment! :0  

Quoteth Pappy... :)

 

Happy Pappy's Day!

 

 

To celebrate our dads, here are some sayings from Beauregard "Pappy" Maverick which were compiled in a television magazine many, many moons ago:

 

 

"MAVERICKS QUOTE 'PAPPY'

 

 

Bret and Bart Maverick are mavericks because of one man--Beauregard Maverick, their pappy.

 

As a public service, to explain how Bret (James Garner) and Bart (Jack Kelly) got that way, here are philosophical remarks they learned at Beau's knee:

 

As my pappy used to say, there is no limit to the depths a man will soar for love.'

 

My old pappy always told me: 'Son, it's not how fast you draw that counts, but what you draw when you draw.'

 

My old pappy always told me, 'Son, it isn't how you play the game, it's whether you win or lose.'

 

As our dear old pappy used to say, 'If at first you don't succeed--try something else.'"

 

So, what's your favorite saying from Maverick's pappy--or from your own pappy? :)  



 

Jack Kelly: It Could Be Nurse :)

 

"Hey, Red, watch it with that needle!" Jack Kelly (as "Kerrigan") seems to be saying on this vintage 

French-language lobby card for To Hell And Back, while Audie Murphy (as himself) grins from his hospital bed.

 

If you'll notice, JK has a bandaged hand in this scene. Ironically, he would also have a bandaged hand at the film's premiere after suffering a burn at a barbecue!   

 

Well, stay safe and have a marvelous Monday. And, please stay tuned for more fun with JK and TDS! :)