Jack Kelly on TV - "Bear" With Me!

Howdy! I just found a 1979 episode of BJ and the Bear on YouTube, guest-starring Jack Kelly as a no-nonsense Treasury agent. It's not exactly Maverick, but, boy, does this show bring back memories. I remember watching it with my younger brother and sister. It also reminds me of my late older brother. He was a long-haul trucker who piloted a big red rig, sort of like the one BJ drives here.

Well, anyway, here's BJ and JK. Except for Part 5, embedding is disabled, so I can post only the links to Parts 1-4 of the episode below. Jack Kelly shows up near the middle of Part 3; his best scenes are in Part 4.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1mDwONnqac (Part 1)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2sdo3IS0uQ (Part 2)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzUDxOEKSw8 (Part 3)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsHIKMIcYr4 (Part 4)

Part 5:

The Kelly Pages: Comic Jack Kelly

Since the Maverick episodes with Roger Moore/"Beau" are starting to wind down on Encore Westerns, I thought I'd feature this striking cover of a Maverick "comic album" today. I just wish you all could see it in person, full-size, because it's much better looking than this scan.

The album contains a not-badly drawn Beau and Bart in three comic book adventures. Surprisingly, it also has the story "Trail West to Fury", based on an actual Maverick episode starring Bart and Bret (although the ending is somewhat different).

Now, if the "star" billing seems a little, er, reversed on this cover, that's because the album is British, and so is Roger Moore. ;-> But, our boy Jack Kelly is lookin' pretty good there (even if he does have the credits on him!)

The Kelly Pages: Jokin' Jack Kelly

Hi! I found a cute story about Jack Kelly and what it was like to act with him.

Merry Anders, JK's leading lady in three Maverick episodes (including "Destination Devil's Flat", featured in yesterday's post), tells the story in the book Westerns Women: Interviews With 50 Leading Ladies of Movies and TV by Boyd Magers and Michael G. Fitzgerald. By the way, the episode Ms. Anders describes below sounds like "The People's Friend":

"'...I had an absolute ball working with [Jack] Kelly. He had such an outrageous sense of humor and he pulled little pranks. Tickle you from behind when he was standing behind you and you were supposedly watching your father on his deathbed, trying to look serious.'

'We were working on Christmas Eve and they brought two young boys down on the set that must have been nine or ten, dressed exactly like Mavericks, right down to the brocade vests and string ties. Their parents had brought them down as a treat to see Maverick filmed.'

'Jack and I had an 18-page scene. He'd come out of the bar, we went around the corner to the boardwalk, had this conversation, and it ended with a kiss. We started into the final take, looked down, and, under our elbows--that close--and I don't know how they weren't on camera, were these two little boys. They were just drawn into the scene--they were mesmerized!'

'Jack and I looked out of the corner of our eyes and we just went into hysterics! It took us seven takes to control ourselves. Every time we'd get to that point, we'd start giggling.'" :)

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Oh, and speaking of "The People's Friend", here's a link to a review of that episode, from a blog about cigar smoking!

The Maverick Report - "Destination Devil's Flat"

One of the Maverick episodes shown on Encore Westerns this evening (9/1) was "Destination Devil's Flat". It was an enjoyable romp about a reformed faro dealer who keeps trying to convert Bart, a sheriff who keeps trying to get rid of Bart, and some gold that keeps getting the old switcheroo. And, I just happen to have a publicity still for it. Poor Bart has such a "Why me?" expression--probably from some of the antics he experiences in this episode. Well, his co-stars (Merry Anders and Peter Breck) look happy anyway. :)

Jack Kelly on TV - Maverick Promo: "Let's Cut the Cards"

Here's a link to a witty 1950's promo for Maverick from the TV Party website. You'll have to scroll down a little bit--the promo is just under the TV Party logo. (Sorry, I couldn't link directly to the promo or embed it here, and please note, it requires RealPlayer to view.) 

The picture quality's not the best, but the sound is great, so we get to hear Jack Kelly's wonderful chuckle as "Brother Bart" and "Brother Bret" plug their popular series. ;->

Promos for some other 1950's and 1960's westerns are on the same page. Enjoy! :)

Breakfast With Jack Kelly!

I was going to try to post a photo feature about Jack Kelly here today. I saved it as an easy-to-read PDF file and was all ready to upload it--only to find that Blogger doesn't "do" PDF files. Oh, well, back to the old scanner. I'll try to upload it as a JPG file.

Anyway, enough about PDFs and JPGs. We're here to talk about JK. So, here is a Quaker Oat Squares commercial I found featuring his voice. By the way, Jack Kelly stated in a 1988 Los Angeles Times article that he thought his voice had a "Max Von Sydow" quality, especially in these Quaker ads. The same article revealed that JK could potentially earn $100,000 per advertising voiceover session, which might last less than 30 minutes (hey, that's a pretty good payday!)

JK also said that another reason he enjoyed doing voiceover work is because "It's a niche where age and beauty have no importance."

Incidentally, when I was very little, I was scared to death of the Quaker Oats guy! Don't know why, but I used to run from the room whenever he appeared on TV. (Him, and Alfred Hitchcock.) Thankfully, I overcame my childhood fear. (Otherwise, I would have freaked out when I was posting JK's ads here!) In fact, I have oatmeal for breakfast almost every morning now. :)

And, speaking of breakfast--I got up early today to watch Bret Maverick on the Westerns Channel, because I knew Jack Kelly was going to be in this morning's episode. Actually, I could have slept almost another hour, because JK didn't show up until the very end--and I mean the very end--and the events leading up to his appearance were only mildly amusing.

I remember watching Bret Maverick when it originally aired. However, I didn't remember how mediocre it was. James Garner is dressed as Bret Maverick, but he's more or less playing Jim Rockford. The plot involves the kind of elaborate swindle that the Mavericks often perpetuated in the original series. However, this is no Shady Deal at Sunny Acres. Here, Bret Maverick isn't a laid-back gambler trying to retrieve his stolen money. He's more like a greedy con-man running a scam simply to get someone else's dough.
 

When Jack Kelly finally shows up, he looks somewhat more like "Uncle Bentley" in Pappy than Bart. Which isn't surprising, as nearly 20 years had passed since the last episode of the original Maverick aired. However, he's still good-looking and the Kelly charm is still very much in evidence. Too bad we only get to see it for about 30 seconds, in what amounts to little more than the punchline to a 50-minute joke.
 

"The Hidalgo Thing" turned out to be the final episode of Bret Maverick. I've read that Jack Kelly was offered the chance to reprise his role as Bart if a second season occurred, but since the series was canceled, this was not to be. It's just as well--JK deserved to be seen in something better than this anemic retread of a true television classic.
 

I must admit, though, Bret Maverick did have a great theme song, performed by one my favorite singer/songwriters, Ed Bruce (who was also a regular on the show):

 

The Kelly Pages: Don't Fret

I was going through some of my vintage movie magazines with pix of Jack Kelly. Here's one of my favorites (please excuse the clarity, these old mags sometimes don't scan so well). I love the dreamy expression on JK's face as he makes like Segovia, or perhaps like Willie Nelson (note the scarring on the body of the guitar):


Next time, I'm going to try to post an entire JK picture feature I found. :)