- ONLY ROCK ‘N’ ROLL WILL NEVER DIE (conclusion)
Original Air Date: October 26, 1979
Synopsis. Pop music superstar Tim Ritchie, already facing a palimony lawsuit by his former live-in girlfriend Diane Bjornstrom, hires Rockford to locate his record producer and longtime friend Bryan Charles, who disappeared after they had a major dispute seven days earlier. Jim learns that Charles supplied Evergreen Management, a rival record label run by mobster Bernie Seldon, with bootlegged copies of Ritchie’s latest LP Renegade Lotion—a move that has cost Ritchie’s company $1.4 million in profits. The matter turns to murder when Rockford finds Charles buried in the back yard of his own home.“Only Rock ‘n’ Roll Will Never Die” marked the final appearance of “Jimmy Joe Meeker,” the smooth-talking alias that Rockford assumed on several occasions during the fourth, fifth, and sixth seasons.
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
Ed Robertson
Author ● Journalist ● Radio Host ● Collaborative Writer
James Garner
This Date in ROCKFORD FILES History: Jill Clayburgh and Suzanne Somers star in “The Big Ripoff,” airing Oct. 25, 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 BIG RIPOFF
Original Air Date: October 25, 1974
Synopsis. Nancy Frazier hires Rockford to investigate the death of her lover Steve Nelson, who allegedly perished in a plane crash. Nancy believes that Steve’s wife Ginny arranged for the accident, but Rockford suspects that Steve is alive—and that he and Ginny faked the accident as part of a scheme to bilk their insurance company out of $400,000. Jim also believes that Nancy may also be part of the scam, because Nancy skipped town almost immediately after Rockford reported back to her. Rockford persuades the insurance company to hire him to find Steve Nelson and recover the money.“The Big Ripoff” features another Maverick touch. After the two operatives beat up Rockford and leave him to die along the side of a lonely road, model Marilyn Polanski (Oscar and Emmy nominee Jill Clayburgh) rescues Rockford after following him in his car. Marilyn urges Jim to take it easy, but our hero is determined to press on with the case.
“Is there anything you won’t do for money?” asks Marilyn.
“I won’t kill for it, and I won’t marry for it,” replies Rockford. “Other than that, I’m open to just about anything.”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: Joel Grey, Nancy Kulp, and Robert Lowery star in “Full House,” airing Oct. 25, 1959. MAVERICK: LEGEND OF THE WEST: Revised Third Edition is now available both as an eBook and in softcover paperback through Black Pawn Press
- FULL HOUSE
Original Airdate: October 25, 1959
Synopsis. In Denver, Bret wins $2,000 playing cards with a man who is temporarily short of cash. Maverick wants the man’s fancy tie pin as collateral, but the man is reluctant to give up what he calls his “good luck charm.” After a struggle, Bret walks away with the tie pin, while the man is arrested. Later, in the nearby town of Bubbly Springs, Maverick discovers that the man with the tie pin is a renowned criminal operative named Foxy Smith, who has arranged to meet Cole Younger, Billy the Kid, Willie Thimble, Sam Bass, Black Bart, Ben Thompson, Jesse James, and Belle Starr to plan a big job. None of the outlaws have ever seen Smith—they only know him by his trademark tie pin. When Maverick arrives in town, they mistake him for Foxy Smith.
Executive producer William T. Orr first came up with the premise for this episode, which features future Academy Award winner Joel Grey (Cabaret) as Billy the Kid and future Beverly Hillbillies star Nancy Kulp in a small role as a waitress whose tears lead Maverick into a trap.
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
This Date in MAVERICK TV History: Gerald Mohr and Myrna Fahey star in “Mano Nera,” the first of four episodes co-written by Leo Gordon, airing Oct. 23, 1960. MAVERICK: LEGEND OF THE WEST: Revised Third Edition is now available both as an eBook and in softcover paperback through Black Pawn Press
- MANO NERA
Original Airdate: October 23, 1960
Synopsis. In New Orleans, an Italian shop owner dies at Bart’s feet―the latest victim of a murderous band of extortionists known as Mano Nera (“black hand”), who have been terrorizing members of the Italian business community. Bart suspects that Giacomo Beretti, a prominent businessman, is linked to the organization after Beretti has Maverick beaten and robbed of $3,500. Bart helps his friend Joe Petrino, a police lieutenant, investigate the matter.
“Mano Nera” is the first of four shows written by Leo Gordon and Paul Leslie Peil. Gordon, of course, played Big Mike McComb during Maverick‘s first two seasons.
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
This Date in ROCKFORD FILES History: Ed Lauter, Joanne Nail and Michael Bell star in “The Dog and Pony Show,” airing Oct. 21, 1977. 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 DOG AND PONY SHOW
Original Air Date: October 21, 1977
Synopsis. Rockford meets his latest client, Mary Jo Flynn, in a group therapy session after a judge convicts him of petty theft and sentences him to undergo psychiatric counseling. (Not surprisingly, it was all Angel’s fault: he stole $200 worth of silverware, then tried to haul the stash away in Jim’s car.) While she was recently institutionalized for paranoid schizophrenia, Mary Jo met another patient named Joseph Bloomberg, who claimed to be an intelligence agent victimized by the U.S. government. But “Joey B” is a renowned mob informer who was committed by his own family to prevent rival crime factions from killing him. Rockford must protect Mary Jo from Bloomberg’s family, who perceive her as a threat because she could leak Joey’s location.
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 ROCKFORD FILES History: “White on White and Nearly Perfect,” the first of two episodes starring Tom Selleck as Lance White, airs on Oct. 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
- WHITE ON WHITE AND NEARLY PERFECT
Original Air Date: October 20, 1978
Synopsis. While investigating the disappearance of the daughter of a millionaire industrialist, Rockford must also contend with Lance White, a rival private detective whose intrepid yet oblivious approach to their profession nearly gets them both killed.This episode introduced one of Rockford’s most memorable characters: Lance White, a rival private investigator with a knack for landing in situations that the pragmatic Jim Rockford would normally avoid. Series co-creator Stephen J. Cannell patterned White after gunslinger Waco Williams, the title character of one of the most famous Maverick episodes of all, “The Saga of Waco Williams.”
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: “The Long Hunt” airs on Oct. 20, 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 LONG HUNT
Original Airdate: October 20, 1957
Synopsis. Maverick befriends Lefty Dolan, a bank robber who rescued Bret from “a parcel of very disappointed poker players.” Their friendship is cut short when Lefty is gunned down by two other holdup men—but before he dies, Lefty tells Bret an incredible story. Several years earlier, he and three others had pulled a bank robbery in Dry Springs, Arizona. A man named Jed Ferris, who bore a slight physical resemblance to Lefty, was arrested and convicted for the crime. Lefty, whose conscience has bothered him over the fact that an innocent man has paid for his crime, asks Bret to do whatever he can to clear Jed’s name.
“The Long Hunt” features two of the most famous Pappyisms of all: “Hell has no fury like a man who loses with four of a kind” and “Love your fellow man, and stay out of his troubles if you can.”
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
This Date in ROCKFORD FILES History: Marcia Strassman, Kristoffer Tabori and George Loros star in Part 1 of the two-part episode “Only Rock ‘n’ Roll Will Never Die,” airing on Oct. 19, 1979. 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
- ONLY ROCK ‘N’ ROLL WILL NEVER DIE (Part 1)
Original Air Date: October 19, 1979
Synopsis. Pop music superstar Tim Ritchie (played by Kristoffer Tabori), already facing a palimony lawsuit by his former live-in girlfriend Diane Bjornstrom, hires Rockford to locate his record producer and longtime friend Bryan Charles, who disappeared after they had a major dispute seven days earlier. Jim learns that Charles supplied Evergreen Management, a rival record label run by mobster Bernie Seldon, with bootlegged copies of Ritchie’s latest LP Renegade Lotion—a move that has cost Ritchie’s company $1.4 million in profits. The matter turns to murder when Rockford finds Charles buried in the back yard of his own home.Marcia Strassman (Welcome Back, Kotter, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids) later played Dr. Trish George in Friends and Foul Play, the fifth of the eight Rockford telefilms that James Garner produced for CBS in the late 1990s. George Loros previously appeared as tightly-wound mobster “Anthony Boy” Gagglio in “To Protect and Serve” and “The Man Who Saw the Alligators” and as equally paranoid hitman Tommy Lorentz in “The Dog and Pony Show.”
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 ROCKFORD FILES History: Joseph Cotten, James McEachin and Sharon Gless star in “This Case is Closed,” the 90-minute episode that sparked one of the most colorful chapters in the history of the series, airs on Oct. 18, 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
- THIS CASE IS CLOSED
Original Air Date: October 18, 1974
Synopsis. Warner Jameson (played by Joseph Cotten) believes that Mark Chalmers, the jet setting Ivy Leaguer engaged to his daughter Sue (played by Sharon Gless), is not all that he appears to be, so he hires Rockford to check into Mark’s past. Rockford’s investigation takes him to Newark, New Jersey, where he is hounded by local police and federal agents. The matter becomes worse when Rockford returns to L.A., to the point where he not only quits the case, but drops out of the private eye business all together.
“This Case is Closed” fueled one of the most colorful chapters in the history of The Rockford Files. For more on that, see our discussion of “The Resurrection of Angie.” In the meantime, we’ll give you a hint: The story involves producer Glen Larson and ends with James Garner taking the matter into his own hands—literally.Guest star James McEachin later co-starred with James Garner in First Monday (CBS, 2001), the short-lived series set against the backdrop of the United States Supreme Court. Garner played the Chief Justice of the court.
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 ROCKFORD FILES History: Dana Elcar, Noble Willingham and Bob Hastings guest star in “The Great Blue Lake Land and Development Company,” airing Oct. 17, 1975. 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 GREAT BLUE LAKE LAND AND DEVELOPMENT COMPANY
Original Air Date: October 17, 1975
Synopsis. En route to Los Angeles to deliver a client’s $10,000 bail money, Rockford becomes stranded in the small desert town of Great Blue Lake after his car breaks down. Needing a place to store the money overnight, he deposits the cash with Murray Johnson, a salesman at the Great Blue Lake Land and Development Company (the only building in town with a safe). But when Jim arrives to pick up the money in the morning, he finds that the money is gone—and that nobody named Johnson works for the company. With the help of Rocky and con artis Harry Danova, Rockford plots a sting to recover his money, but drops his plans when company president Walter Hart suddenly returns the $10,000. However, when the phantom Murray Johnson is found murdered, Rockford becomes the prime suspect.A variation of the classic Maverick episode “Shady Deal at Sunny Acres,” “The Great Blue Lake Land and Development Company” also marks the first instance in which The Rockford Files used the Jim Rockford character to address certain social inequities. This is a characteristic for which Rockford would become particularly known beginning in the third 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