Books by Ed Robertson

This Date in THE FBI History: Diane Baker stars as “the spy who came into the fold” in “Target of Interest,” airing Sept. 14, 1969

TARGET OF INTEREST
Original Air Date: Sept. 14, 1969
Synopsis. A spy ring for a Code Green Communist nation drives a prominent U.S. diplomat to leap to his death after the attaché refused to turn over an intelligence paper detailing how the United States would respond to the conflict in the Middle East. At Erskine’s behest, Anne Fraser, a double agent (played by Diane Baker), comes out of retirement to help the Bureau infiltrate the ring.

LEARN MORE about this episode in THE FBI DOSSIER, everything you wanted to know—and more— about the long-running ABC-TV series produced by Quinn Martin and starring Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. THE FBI DOSSIER is available through Black Pawn Press, Amazon.com, and wherever books are sold online.

This Date in MAVERICK TV History: Troy Donahue and Adam West star in “Pappy,” airing Sept. 13, 1959. MAVERICK: LEGEND OF THE WEST: Revised Third Edition is now available both as an eBook and in softcover paperback through Black Pawn Press

PAPPY
Original Airdate: September 13, 1959

Synopsis. Dan Jamison (played by Troy Donahue), a friend of the Mavericks since he was a child, calls upon Bret and Bart when he discovers that their dear old “Pappy,” Beauregard Maverick, plans to marry Josephine St. Cloud (pronounced “Sahn Clew”), the eighteen-year-old daughter of a prestigious Louisiana family. Initially more curious than concerned, the boys become suspicious once the St. Cloud brothers take an instant dislike to Bret during a chance meeting in a Texas saloon. Bart decides to infiltrate the St. Cloud family (by impersonating Dandy Jim Buckley) and soon discovers that Pappy’s life is in danger.

James Garner played Pappy Maverick just once in the original series, but he reprised the role many years later. Garner again donned a gray wig and mustache to pose for the portrait of Pappy featured in Bret Maverick.

LEARN MORE about this episode in the revised third edition of Maverick: Legend of the West, featuring more than 100 pages of new information about the show that made James Garner a star. 25 percent of the net proceeds from the sales of the third edition will be donated to The James Garner Animal Rescue Fund, a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising funds to help rescue organizations, shelters, individuals, fosters, and veterans with emergencies, evacuations, medical care, adoptions, training, pet supplies, shelter, rehabilitation, boarding, transportation, food, and other pressing needs. JGARF is one way for Garner fans to honor Jim’s memory and extend his legacy. The revised third edition of Maverick: Legend of the West is available through Black Pawn Press, Amazon.com, and wherever books are sold online.

This Date in ROCKFORD FILES History: James Woods, Julie Sommars, and Abe Vigoda star in “The Kirkoff Case,” the premiere episode of the ROCKFORD FILES series, airing Sept. 13, 1974. LEARN MORE about this episode in 45 YEARS OF THE ROCKFORD FILES, available in softcover paperback and now as an eBook through Black Pawn Press

THE KIRKOFF CASE
Original Air Date: September 13, 1974
Synopsis. Larry Kirkoff (played by James Woods) was indicted for the double murder of his parents. However, he was never convicted because the prosecution couldn’t place him at the scene of the crime, and the police never found the murder weapon. Larry hires Rockford to find evidence that would clear him of both crimes. Although Jim believes Kirkoff is guilty, he can’t quite resist the potential payoff: a $20,000 fee if he cracks the case. Rockford discovers that the Kirkoff murders may be linked to a real estate fraud. But he also finds that his investigation could have fatal ramifications after mobsters work him over and warn him to drop the case.

Other guest stars include Julie Sommars (The Governor and J.J., Matlock), Roger Davis (Dark Shadows, Alias Smith and Jones), and Abe Vigoda (Barney Miller). Vigoda, as mob kingpin Al Dancer, has one of the funniest lines in the episode in his lone scene with Garner. After Rockford refers to Muzzy Vinette as a “goon,” Dancer corrects him: “This is the age of public relations. Mr. Vinette is not a ‘goon.’ He is a ‘labor organizer.’”

LEARN MORE about this episode in the revised third edition of 45 YEARS OF THE ROCKFORD FILES, featuring more than sixty new pages of never before published information about both the original Rockford Files and the CBS reunion movies, including twenty new interviews and six new appendices. 25 percent of the net proceeds from the sales of 45 YEARS OF THE ROCKFORD FILES will be donated to The James Garner Animal Rescue Fund, a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising funds to help rescue organizations, shelters, individuals, fosters, and veterans with emergencies, evacuations, medical care, adoptions, training, pet supplies, shelter, rehabilitation, boarding, transportation, food, and other pressing needs. JGARF is one way for Garner fans to honor Jim’s memory and extend his legacy. Plus… if you order 45 YEARS OF THE ROCKFORD FILES directly from Black Pawn Press, you will receive an exclusive bonus gift. Go to Rockford45.com for more details

This Date in THE FBI History: Frank Converse and Andrew Prine star in “Death on Sunday,” airing Sept. 12, 1971. This episode was one of several FBI episodes that was filmed on location at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum

DEATH ON SUNDAY
Original Air Date: Sept. 12, 1971
Synopsis. In San Francisco, professional quarterback Paul Talbot finds himself engaged in psychological warfare with convicted extortionist Irwin Lynch on the eve of the league championship game. Lynch, a borderline psychotic whom Talbot arrested eight years before when he was an MP with the army, threatens to kill the football star unless he is paid $125,000.

LEARN MORE about this episode in THE FBI DOSSIER, everything you wanted to know—and more— about the long-running ABC-TV series produced by Quinn Martin and starring Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. THE FBI DOSSIER is available through Black Pawn Press, Amazon.com, and wherever books are sold online.

This Date in ROCKFORD FILES History: James Garner wins the Emmy for Best Actor in a Dramatic Series for his performance in “So Help Me God” at the twenty-ninth Emmy Awards ceremony, held Sept. 11, 1977. LEARN MORE in 45 YEARS OF THE ROCKFORD FILES, available in softcover paperback and now as an eBook through Black Pawn Press

A searing indictment of the federal judicial system at its worst, “So Help Me God” (original airdate: Nov. 19, 1976) remains a stellar example of how dramatic television can inform as well as entertain. “We were very proud of that show,” said James Garner on The Ronn Owens Program in 1996. “It brought to light the inequities of the grand jury system, and they have changed those laws since then. And as I understand, our show had something to do with that.”

“So Help Me God” also held a special place in Garner’s heart on two counts. Not only was the show among his personal favorites, it was the episode for which he won the Emmy for Best Dramatic Actor for the 1976-1977 season.

LEARN MORE about this episode in the revised third edition of 45 YEARS OF THE ROCKFORD FILES, featuring more than sixty new pages of never before published information about both the original Rockford Files and the CBS reunion movies, including twenty new interviews and six new appendices. 25 percent of the net proceeds from the sales of 45 YEARS OF THE ROCKFORD FILES will be donated to The James Garner Animal Rescue Fund, a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising funds to help rescue organizations, shelters, individuals, fosters, and veterans with emergencies, evacuations, medical care, adoptions, training, pet supplies, shelter, rehabilitation, boarding, transportation, food, and other pressing needs. JGARF is one way for Garner fans to honor Jim’s memory and extend his legacy. Plus… if you order 45 YEARS OF THE ROCKFORD FILES directly from Black Pawn Press, you will receive an exclusive bonus gift. Go to Rockford45.com for more details

This Date in MAVERICK TV History: James Garner, Jack Kelly, and Charles Frank star in THE NEW MAVERICK, airing Sept. 3, 1978 on The ABC Sunday Night Movie. MAVERICK: LEGEND OF THE WEST: Revised Third Edition is now available both as an eBook and in softcover paperback through Black Pawn Press

THE NEW MAVERICK
Original Airdate: September 3, 1978
Synopsis. Bret Maverick rides into New Las Vegas to collect a $1,000 debt from brother Bart, who has owed him the money for nine years. Although Bret is told that his brother was shot to death, he quickly determines from the size of the coffin that Bart is still alive. Bret soon learns Bart is running from three men who lost money from him in a poker game the night before.

The New Maverick was the pilot for a possible updated Maverick series starring Charles Frank as Ben Maverick, but the movie itself clearly focuses on James Garner as Bret. So when The New Maverick drew a respectable audience share, ABC had a problem: It couldn’t design a new series around Garner because he was still busy filming The Rockford Files, while Frank hadn’t exactly established himself in the pivotal role of Ben. Though ABC eventually passed on The New Maverick, Warner Bros. kept the project in development for another year. In the summer of 1979, CBS ordered another two-hour pilot, again starring Frank. The new series, now called Young Maverick, debuted as a mid-season replacement on Nov. 28, 1979.

LEARN MORE about this episode in the revised third edition of Maverick: Legend of the West, featuring more than 100 pages of new information about the show that made James Garner a star. 25 percent of the net proceeds from the sales of the third edition will be donated to The James Garner Animal Rescue Fund, a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising funds to help rescue organizations, shelters, individuals, fosters, and veterans with emergencies, evacuations, medical care, adoptions, training, pet supplies, shelter, rehabilitation, boarding, transportation, food, and other pressing needs. JGARF is one way for Garner fans to honor Jim’s memory and extend his legacy. The revised third edition of Maverick: Legend of the West is available through Black Pawn Press, Amazon.com, and wherever books are sold online.

This Date in ROCKFORD FILES History: Rita Moreno stars in “The Paper Palace,” the first of her three appearances as Rita Capkovic, airing Jan. 20, 1978. LEARN MORE about this episode in 45 YEARS OF THE ROCKFORD FILES, available in softcover paperback and now as an eBook through Black Pawn Press

THE PAPER PALACE
Original Air Date: January 20, 1978
Synopsis. EGOT winner Rita Moreno stars as Rita Capkovic, a career prostitute who aches for genuine friendship: She’s so lonely that she often wheels an empty cart around a supermarket just to socialize with other people. After meeting Rockford at a disastrous dinner party with Dennis and Peggy Becker, Rita finds herself needing his help after two French-speaking men nearly kill her. Rita Moreno won an Emmy for her performance in this episode. That made her one of just three actresses—Barbra Streisand and Helen Hayes being the other two—to be honored with all four major awards in the entertainment industry: the Emmy, the Grammy, the Oscar, and the Tony. (Colloquially speaking, that feat is known in the trades as an EGOT.)

In accepting the Emmy for “The Paper Palace,” Moreno thanked James Garner, executive producer Meta Rosenberg, producer Charles Floyd Johnson, and particularly singled out the writer of the episode—Juanita Bartlett—as “a lady who really knows how to write about ladies.” We’ll see Moreno again as Rita in “Rosendahl and Gilda Stern Are Dead” and “No-Fault Affair,” both of which were also written by Juanita Bartlett.

LEARN MORE about this episode in the revised third edition of 45 YEARS OF THE ROCKFORD FILES, featuring more than sixty new pages of never before published information about both the original Rockford Files and the CBS reunion movies, including twenty new interviews and six new appendices. 25 percent of the net proceeds from the sales of 45 YEARS OF THE ROCKFORD FILES will be donated to The James Garner Animal Rescue Fund, a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising funds to help rescue organizations, shelters, individuals, fosters, and veterans with emergencies, evacuations, medical care, adoptions, training, pet supplies, shelter, rehabilitation, boarding, transportation, food, and other pressing needs. JGARF is one way for Garner fans to honor Jim’s memory and extend his legacy. Plus… if you order 45 YEARS OF THE ROCKFORD FILES directly from Black Pawn Press, you will receive an exclusive bonus gift. Go to Rockford45.com for more details.

This Date in MAVERICK TV History: Ruta Lee and Werner Klemperer star in “The Comstock Conspiracy,” airing Dec. 29, 1957. MAVERICK: LEGEND OF THE WEST: Revised Third Edition is now available both as an eBook and in softcover paperback through Black Pawn Press

THE COMSTOCK CONSPIRACY
Original Airdate: December 29, 1957

Synopsis. Jerome Horne and John Bordeen run the largest railroad company in Virginia City. Bordeen owes Bret $10,000, but he’d rather shoot him than pay him. Maverick kills Bordeen in self-defense—but after reporting the shooting to the sheriff, he discovers that the body (and all other evidence) has been removed. Maverick becomes further confounded the next day, when Horne pays him the money—and insists that Bordeen is alive and well.

This episode features an exchange that epitomizes what Roy Huggins had in mind when he created Maverick. In this sequence, Ellen Bordeen (played by Ruta Lee) asks Bret for help:

ELLEN
If my father’s posing as John Bordeen,
he’s doing it against his will, Mr. Maverick.

MAVERICK
Possibly.

ELLEN
Probably. But what can I do about it?

MAVERICK
Go to the sheriff, I guess.

ELLEN
Jerome Horne put the sheriff in office.
Can you help me?

MAVERICK
No, ma’am.

ELLEN
Because you have your $10,000?

MAVERICK
Yes, ma’am.

ELLEN
You aren’t very noble.

MAVERICK
No, ma’am.

Maverick decides to help Ellen, anyway—but only after she convinces him that she knows how to handle a gun. We’ll see Ruta Lee again in “Plunder of Paradise” and “Betrayal.”

LEARN MORE about this episode in the revised third edition of Maverick: Legend of the West, featuring more than 100 pages of new information about the show that made James Garner a star. 25 percent of the net proceeds from the sales of the third edition will be donated to The James Garner Animal Rescue Fund, a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising funds to help rescue organizations, shelters, individuals, fosters, and veterans with emergencies, evacuations, medical care, adoptions, training, pet supplies, shelter, rehabilitation, boarding, transportation, food, and other pressing needs. JGARF is one way for Garner fans to honor Jim’s memory and extend his legacy. The revised third edition of Maverick: Legend of the West is available through Black Pawn Press, Amazon.com, and wherever books are sold online.

This Date in MAVERICK TV History: William Reynolds and George O’Hanlon star in “Holiday at Hollow Rock,” airing Dec. 28, 1958. MAVERICK: LEGEND OF THE WEST: Revised Third Edition is now available both as an eBook and in softcover paperback through Black Pawn Press

HOLIDAY AT HOLLOW ROCK
Original Airdate: December 28, 1958

Synopsis. Bret spends the Fourth of July in Hollow Rock, where he hopes to make some easy money by betting on Silver King, the prize quarter-horse owned by his friend Colonel Arnold Taylor, in the town’s annual horse race. When crooked Sheriff Jesse Carson robs and beats Bret out of more than $4,200, Maverick uses the race to even the score.

William Reynolds previously appeared in “Rope of Cards” and “Diamond in the Rough.” George O’Hanlon, best known as the voice of George Jetson, starred in the Joe McDoakes comedy shorts that Richard Bare, who directed “Holiday at Hollow Rock,” wrote and directed for Warner Bros.

LEARN MORE about this episode in the revised third edition of Maverick: Legend of the West, featuring more than 100 pages of new information about the show that made James Garner a star. 25 percent of the net proceeds from the sales of the third edition will be donated to The James Garner Animal Rescue Fund, a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising funds to help rescue organizations, shelters, individuals, fosters, and veterans with emergencies, evacuations, medical care, adoptions, training, pet supplies, shelter, rehabilitation, boarding, transportation, food, and other pressing needs. JGARF is one way for Garner fans to honor Jim’s memory and extend his legacy. The revised third edition of Maverick: Legend of the West is available through Black Pawn Press, Amazon.com, and wherever books are sold online.

This Date in ROCKFORD FILES History: “Loss,” the conclusion of the two-part episode “Profit and Loss,” airs on Dec. 27, 1974. LEARN MORE about this episode in 45 YEARS OF THE ROCKFORD FILES, available in softcover paperback and now as an eBook through Black Pawn Press

PROFIT AND LOSS (Part 2: LOSS)
Original Air Date: December 27, 1974

Synopsis. Rockford considers quitting the FDI case when he is hired by Doris Parker, the widow of an FDI computer programmer. Doris has long suspected the company of murdering her husband. Upon reading that the man who printed FDI’s annual report was found dead in his shop, Rockford deduces that both Doris’ husband and the printer were killed after they, like Alec Morris, discovered the forgery scheme. With help from Doris and Rocky, Jim sets out to prove it. According to “The House on Willis Avenue” (an episode that aired at the end of the fourth season), Rockford’s efforts in cracking the FDI case were recognized in a front-page story that ran in the Los Angeles Times. That article, “Willis Avenue” adds, helped cement Rockford’s reputation as one of the top private detectives in Los Angeles.

LEARN MORE about this episode in the revised third edition of 45 YEARS OF THE ROCKFORD FILES, featuring more than sixty new pages of never before published information about both the original Rockford Files and the CBS reunion movies, including twenty new interviews and six new appendices. 25 percent of the net proceeds from the sales of 45 YEARS OF THE ROCKFORD FILES will be donated to The James Garner Animal Rescue Fund, a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising funds to help rescue organizations, shelters, individuals, fosters, and veterans with emergencies, evacuations, medical care, adoptions, training, pet supplies, shelter, rehabilitation, boarding, transportation, food, and other pressing needs. JGARF is one way for Garner fans to honor Jim’s memory and extend his legacy. Plus… if you order 45 YEARS OF THE ROCKFORD FILES directly from Black Pawn Press, you will receive an exclusive bonus gift. Go to Rockford45.com for more details