Jack Kelly - It's Summer (Stock) Time! :)

Hello Everyone!
Well, it's officially summer now. However, it's felt like summer for a month here. I remember when it never used to get really hot until August. This year, it got hot in May and has stayed that way. It was 90 degrees when I was driving home from work this evening and 83 degrees when I took my dog for a walk later. But, there was a nice breeze blowing so it wasn't unbearably warm.

I don't know if they do this much any more, but another thing I remember about summer is television actors hitting the straw hat circuit. In my hometown, the now-defunct Kenley Players presented big-name TV talent in summer stock vehicles such as The Sound of Music, Camelot and Mame. Further west, in cities like Indianapolis, Chicago and Milwaukee, other homegrown Huroks hosted stars in venues ranging from dinner theaters to canvas tents where audiences could see their favorite TV stars acting outside of the box.

When Maverick ended in 1962, Jack Kelly swapped his Stetson for a straw hat to tour for three months in summertime productions of The Moon is Blue, Under the Yum Yum Tree and The Music Man. Since I own a program and several production stills from JK's The Moon is Blue, I'm going to focus on this play.

In June of 1962, JK arrived in Indianapolis, IN, to star in The Moon is Blue at the Avondale Playhouse.


The Encyclopedia of Indianapolis by David J. Bodenhamer and Robert Graham Barrows states the Avondale Playhouse was regarded as "one of the Midwest's top professional summer stock theaters" and it "contracted nationally recognized stage and screen personalities to headline casts composed largely of local talent." The "playhouse" was actually a candy-striped tent situated at a shopping center. Plays were presented "in the round" inside the tent, which could seat 1200 people.

In the racy comedy The Moon is Blue, JK portrays "Donald Gresham", a playboy architect who falls in lust with "Patty O'Neill", a highly moral young actress he meets on the observation deck of the Empire State Building.

(Here's the one Mama warned you about! ;->)

Donald wines and dines Patty, but she will not compromise her virtue.

Finally, Donald realizes there's only one way to get Patty, and that's to go back to the Empire State Building and propose to her.

(Note the pinky ring and the "JAK" monogram on his shirt cuff. :->)

Other stops in The Moon is Blue's orbit included Traverse City, MI, where this autographed program came from.

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. :)

Jack Kelly - More "Lost" Maverick Episodes! ;->

Hi Everyone!

I did some additional research and discovered there are actually more "lost" episodes of Maverick.

I wondered why these episodes have never been shown on the Encore Westerns Channel. Well, according to the book Maverick: A Definitive History of The Beloved TV Classic Starring James Garner and That Other Guy by Burl Robertson, these episodes featured the Pappy Roy character and it was felt that he was meant to be quoted and not seen. Thus, these episodes were shown only once when the series originally aired and weren't included in the rerun package. Their current whereabouts remains a mystery.

However, I found the titles and plot descriptions of these missing episodes in old issues of TV Guide:

"Bret's Not in This Episode So Just Turn It to 'Ed Sullivan'" - Pappy Roy gets mad when Bart's episodes get bigger ratings than Bret's.

"The Maverick Conspiracy" - Bart uncovers a sinister plot to make Bret the only Maverick.

"Pappy Roy Doesn't Know Jack" - Pappy Roy must run for his life and become a fugitive when the Facebook Ladies and La Bartista take the Wayback Machine to 1959.

"Bart Has the Last Laugh" - Bart wins a mine in a poker game and drops a load of coal on Pappy Roy.

Jack Kelly - A 'Lost' Maverick Episode! ;->

Hello!
The existence of a hitherto-unknown Maverick episode, "Pappy Roy Likes Me Better", was recently brought to light by one of the fabulous JK ladies on Facebook:

"In one memorable episode, 'Pappy Roy Likes Me Better', Garner appears at least 8' tall and Kelly about 4'7". Kelly reportedly did not resent this, telling one interviewer: 'Jim may be taller, but not that much taller. And I'm cuter. All the Facebook ladies say so'".

Armed with this amazing new info, I drove 150 miles, paid $20 admission, and dug diligently through 200 stacks of disorganized photos at the Chubby Johnson Memorial Western Film Festival held in Walgreen Corners, Ohio, this weekend. Eureka! I managed to find a publicity still from the "lost" Maverick episode, along with the original caption:

"SIZE MATTERS: The powers that be didn't think 8' tall James Garner ('Bret Maverick') looked tall enough, so they ordered 4' 7" Jack Kelly ('Maverick's brother') to hunker down some more for this scene from 'Pappy Roy Likes Me Better', an upcoming episode of the Maverick TV series. Kelly is pictured shooting at guest star Billy Barty (not shown)."

Jack Kelly - How the West Was Fun - Again! :)

Hi Everybody,

Today's post may look like a rerun, but I just found some additional information about the When the West Was Fun special--and a much better copy of it on DVD--and I wanted to share it with you.

While watching the DVD I bought last Saturday, I noticed that the picture quality left a lot to be desired, as you could tell by the grainy screen caps I posted. Plus, a news brief scrolled across the bottom of the special at one point, and I realized someone had simply taped this landmark special from TV and copied it to a DVD. Grr.... >:(

I wondered if I could find a better copy of it somewhere, so I checked eBay. Well, not only did I find a better copy of When the West Was Fun on eBay, I actually found the show's producer, Brad Marks! His son, Michael, is selling sharp, "director's cut" DVDs of the special on eBay right now. How "sharp"? Have a look:

As you can see, the color and clarity are far better. If interested in purchasing the authentic DVD, search the seller name marcos1brad on eBay.

And, of course, I had to ask about you-know-who. This is what Michael told me his dad remembered about JK's stint on the special:

"Jack was a politician who lived in Orange County, California. During the show Dad, Jack, Neville Brand and Slim Pickens played cards during breaks."

JK also has a very funny card-playing scene in the special with Neville Brand of Laredo (on which JK guest-starred) and Lee Van Cleef (his Commandos co-star) which erupts into a full-scale bar room brawl. He even smashes a bottle over the head of Alan Hale, Jr. (who guest-starred in two of JK's Maverick episodes!) Bart Maverick also makes a cameo appearance by way of a Maverick clip.

Speaking of bottle smashing, Michael let me in on another little secret: In a scene where host Glenn Ford is demonstrating how fake prop bottles are usually used in western film fights, he accidentally conks Larry Storch of F-Troop on the head with a real bottle! (They left the scene in the special.)

There's also a clip of a fight scene from Bonanza where the Cartwright boys display an unprecedented lack of brotherly love. And, Pernell Roberts wasn't too forgiving in real-life either after When the West Was Fun aired--according to a 1979 article in the Pittsburgh Press he claimed his image was used without his permission and sued ABC, the network that ran the special!

Jack Kelly - "Will He Be Drafted?"

Hello Everyone,

One of the movie magazines I bought over the weekend contains an unusual story which fits in with Memorial Day.

To get a better perspective on the story, let's take the Wayback Machine and travel back to the fall of 1961:

Service quotas were increasing in the US military due to Cold War tensions building in Berlin, Germany. According to an AP news story at the time, the draft was stepped up sharply by President John F. Kennedy in August of 1961, when 18,000 men were called.

Twenty-five thousand men would be called by the Army in September 1961, at the time the largest call since the Korean War. Twenty-thousand men would be called in both October and November.

Anxiety over the possible outbreak of war even seeped onto the placid pages of Photoplay, which reported that it had received "an avalanche of letters" from readers asking: "Which stars will be drafted?...Will a married actor be called?...What about Elvis?...Which actors are in the Reserves?..."

Photoplay answered, "Because of the impossibility of answering each question personally, we decided to publish a list of the most popular movie and TV stars and their draft status. Those most likely to be drafted, according to information provided by members of the Los Angeles Board of Selective Service, are unmarried males between the ages of 21 and 26. Within this group, the 23 year-olds would most likely be called first. However, young men from 18 to 21 are also eligible for the draft, and those in the Reserves are subject to call even before a national emergency is declared. Men between the ages of 26 and 36 would probably be taken only in a national call-up. Those over 36 would be tapped only in case of actual war."

One of the popular stars listed in the story is Jack Kelly. He turned 34 in 1961 and had already served his country in the Air Force. Photoplay noted "the specific draft status of each star is confidential and cannot be released to the public". But, here is how they speculated about JK's possible draft status:

Although the crisis in Germany led to the construction of the Berlin Wall, a national emergency in the US was averted, meaning JK and the other stars weren't called up in 1961. If they had been, however, I'm sure they would have proudly served.

I would like to say "Thank You" to all current service men and women (including my nephew, who is deployed in Iraq) and to take a moment to remember all those who've served in the past, including my dad, my older brother, and JK.

Jack Kelly - How the West Was Fun! :)

Howdy Everyone!

Before we begin another jaunt into JK Land, I just want to thank Linda Alexander and those two other Wise Girls (Debbie Barth and Dori DeCarlo) once more for inviting my "alter ego" to speak on their wonderful podcast last Thursday. I've heard from several TTDST readers who heard the show. I hope you all enjoyed it and that it was helpful to you.

And, I want to again thank you all for your kind words for this little blog. :)

Well, today (Saturday) I did some traveling and ended up at an established cinema event. It's an annual gathering of old-time movie fans, or, I should say, fans of old-time movies. And, I mean old-time. Like, when Rin-Tin-Tin was just a puppy.

Now, I adore old-time, classic, vintage films. But, I didn't watch any today because it would have cost me $35. See, this was a bona-fide film festival.

In addition to the film screenings, there was also MUCHO movie memorabilia for sale. Fortunately, the festival offered a substantially reduced entrance fee for fans like me who only wanted to peruse the posters and such. And not only did I have to pay to get in, I had to register and wear a badge, just to flip through photos.

But, in the interest of Jack Kelly fans everywhere (and in the never-ending kwest for Kellectibles), I paid the fee, registered, and entered the sales room. :->

The sellers were all fine folks with many rare and wondrous items, but I have a favor to ask of them: Please organize your stuff!

Frankly, the place looked like an explosion in a movie buff's basement. For instance, there were loads and loads of fabulous movie stills, but they were all piled on crowded tables with no rhyme or reason. Is there a Jack Kelly pic in here? Maybe, but I have to thumb through pix from Gold Diggers of 1933, Rocky II, and just about every other movie made in the last 80 years to find out. After a little while of hunching over the Hollywood stills, my back was yelling "Cut!". (To those photo vendors who did have their wares thoughtfully arranged in binders: thank you!)

Although I didn't find any JK pictures, I didn't come away empty-handed. I found a couple of interesting movie magazines, and a DVD of When the West Was Fun, a 1979 reunion special which rounded up scores of famous TV cowboys, including JK.

This special really is fun. It begins with a cleverly pantomined sequence as famous western stars enter a saloon. Each is ushered in by their TV theme song. Below is a scene from JK's memorable entrance (sorry, these screen caps are a bit grainy):

He gets in a little bit of comedy right after his entrance, too. Incidentally, he wears a fantastic black frock coat, but no cowboy hat.

Another great shot. I absolutely LOVE the adorable look on JK's face here and the way it kind of mirrors the image behind him. And, yes, you can really see his chain. :->



After this, JK is mostly glimpsed in the background. But, he does get in a funny line here, and you can see more of the chain:

There is lots more fun (and funny) stuff in this special, such as a hilarious discussion between "Festus" (Ken Curtis) and "Doc" (Milburn Stone) from Gunsmoke. I'm glad that so many of these now-departed western stars were gathered here for posterity.

I could have done without the dance hall girls chirping, "Back when the west was fun, you could tell a man by the size of his gun!" (Well, that's why they invented the fast forward button
;->.) But, I wouldn't have missed the special's moving musical finale with Roy Rogers and Dale Evans for the world. :)