Maverick is Here! :)

Maverick - The Complete First Season, that is! :)

My 7-DVD set arrived today. I popped the second DVD into the player and was greeted with the menu, scored with the jaunty Maverick theme song.

Naturally, I selected the "Hostage!" episode (since it's the first one in which Jack Kelly appeared) and JK appeared on the screen. But, I couldn't hear him. 

Actually, I could sort of hear something, a bunch of faint "waa waa waa waa" noises that made everyone in the scene sound like Charlie Brown's unseen teacher on the Peanuts cartoons.

I wanted to see and hear JK. I couldn't figure out what was going on. The menu music played okay--why couldn't I hear the episode?

I tried the disc in my computer and the sound worked fine. So, I played with the DVD player set-up menu and discovered that the "waa waas" were coming from the sub-woofer (I've always wondered what that is). I simply had to change the sound from "stereo" to "mono". Voila! I could hear JK speak.

I'm not sure why the Maverick DVDs had this aural quirk. I have  several other classic TV shows on DVDs and none of them have acted like this. Well, I'm just glad I didn't have to return Maverick as defective. 


Aside from that little hiccup, I give this set a big thumb's up. The only real extra is a booklet--well, a pamphlet really--with some small pictures, episode details, and thumbnail plot descriptions. But, it's a thrill just to finally have the first season of Maverick on DVD. I may start spending the dinner hour with Bart and Bret again, just as I did when I began watching the show on the Encore Westerns channel back in 2009.  :)  

Maverick Madness! :)

Howdy!

The complete first season of Maverick is now officially on DVD and the glowing reviews are rolling in. For example, the "DVD Talk" website gives the set a "Highly Recommended" rating, along with an outstanding review that not only features photos of Jack Kelly and James Garner, but also mentions JK very favorably. :)

And, a little bird told me that Linda J. Alexander, author of the wonderful A Maverick Life - The Jack Kelly Story, will discuss the book and its subject on "TV Confidential", an online radio program about television hosted by Ed Robertson. Should be fun, as Mr. Robertson also authored a book about the Maverick TV series. Click here for the show's blog, which includes schedule information and even some cool videos showcasing JK. Enjoy! 

Memorial Day 2012

A Global "Affair" :)

Hello!


From their very beginning, American movies have been enjoyed by audiences around the globe. That's why the Kellection now contains German-language publicity material for Hong Kong Affair, which was filmed on location in the then-British colony and starred Yankee actors Jack Kelly and May Wynn.  


Here's a lovely shot of JK and MW on an original lobby card advertising Die Todesfalle von HongKong (which Google roughly translates as Death Trap of Hong Kong!): 

JK shines from the cover of the film's four-page program:

The program contains photo montages and a list of cast and credits:

Is it just me, or does anyone else think that May Wynn somewhat resembles Nancy Kelly in the headshot below?

More photo montages, and a German-language synopsis of the film's plot.

By the way, another popular method of movie marketing is the "sneak preview", where lucky audiences get to peek at a new film before it's released. In the spirit of that time-honored tradition, here's a sneak preview of my newest blog. It goes "live" on 5/18/2012 at 8:00 pm ET. Please take a gander and let me know what you think, about it and/or this posting about JK and Die Todesfalle von HongKong on TDS. Thanks a million! :)

Happy Mother's Day From "TDS"! :)

Original print by Jacqueline Stanhope

The Gambler and the Flapper! :)

Howdy!

Bet you never thought you'd see Bart Maverick doing the Charleston--but here he is:

The feisty flapper hoofing it with Bart is Dorothy Provine, who was about to star as "Pinky Pinkham" in a new (1960) Warner Brothers TV series called The Roaring 20's.

It seems Ms. Provine was a bit of a gambler herself. In fact, according to an item in a 1961 issue of TV Radio Mirror, foxy Dot regularly outfoxed Jack Kelly and other Warner Brothers stars at the poker table. And JK smelled a rat: 

"The male contingent of TV stars far outnumber the female on the Warners' lot, and, for relaxation during lunch breaks, they've been having a few friendly rounds of poker. It was strictly stag until wide-eyed Dorothy Provine asked to be taught the game. 'Sure,' said Jack Kelly with a tolerant wink at the others. 'We'll let you in.' By agreement, stakes were low for the first session and Dot was given every opportunity. As a result, she won. But when she continued to win with ease and cunning, the boys began to suspect they were being suckered. So, at this writing, Warners' big problem with its he-man stars is not higher salaries but how to keep one pip of a blonde from getting in the card game and diverting her toward something feminine like knitting. [B27 -!] Groans Jack, 'That gal's hands are faster than our eyes and I don't like the smooth way she rakes in the pots--no beginner was ever that smooth.' As for Dot, she is as wide-eyed as ever. But, if one looks hard enough, there is a knowing gleam in her innocent gaze." ;-)

COMING SOON IN TDS: A German view of a movie made in Hong Kong with two American stars; the story behind JK's "boot"; and more! :)

Merry Olde "Maverick" :)

Hello Everyone!

Over 30 years' worth of digitized issues of a British television guide recently rolled into the Kellection on DVD. For a nostalgia nut and research junkie like me, this is almost akin to winning the lottery or having Christmas every day. In fact, it may take me until Christmas to read every issue. But, I don't mind. I'm having a ball learning more about British TV and, at the same time, discovering which American shows made a ripple across the pond in the late 1950's and early 1960's.

US cartoons like Rocky and Bullwinkle, Huckleberry Hound and Yogi Bear also appeared on the British telly. And sitcoms such as Dennis the Menace, which was re-titled Just Dennis. And, of course, westerns such as Gunsmoke, which was called Gun Law when the original half-hour episodes first aired in the UK.

I noticed most of the US westerns seemed to go over big in Britain, especially Wagon Train. The big draw there was Robert Horton as scout "Flint McCullough". I counted at least five articles about him. Horton also played the London Palladium at the height of his Wagon Train fame.

Our boys Bart and Bret Maverick were pretty popular, too. They arrived on the British ITV network in 1958 and appeared on and off there for the next several years.

Predictably, James garnered most of the attention in the TV guide. I found three articles about JG. Not every issue has been digitized, though, so maybe Jack rated an article or two of his own in the issues that are missing.

I did find an amazing behind-the-scenes photo of JK that I hadn't seen before. Judging from the overturned stagecoach in the background, I'm thinking this may have been snapped during the filming of The Burning Sky episode of Maverick. JK looks ruggedly handsome (even though the caption labels him as "Maverick's brother"). And, what is that guy doing with the shotgun?! :0

JK also pops up all over the program listings:

Finally, I found some kudos for Kelly and Maverick among the letters sent in by viewers. In 1960, a housewife in Manchester, UK, wrote: "I think of myself as a 'Western hater', but one programme I wouldn't miss for anything is Maverick. It is such a pleasant change to see a Western that is light-hearted. These Maverick brothers certainly possess something that the other heroes lack--a sense of humour. I would like to applaud the acting of both James Garner and Jack Kelly..."

So, it's clear that Maverick was a hit in merry olde England.

I'm up to the mid-1960's issues now, so if I make any more JK sightings, I'll let you know. Cheerio! :)