Maverick Legend of The West

This Date in MAVERICK TV History: Kathleen Crowley stars in “Maverick Springs,” airing Dec. 6, 1959. MAVERICK: LEGEND OF THE WEST: Revised Third Edition is now available both as an eBook and in softcover paperback through Black Pawn Press

MAVERICK SPRINGS
Original Airdate: November 29, 1959

Synopsis. After bailing Bret out of jail (he was arrested for playing poker with the mayor—and winning), Texas rancher Kate Dawson sends Maverick after her brother Mark, a lightweight gambler who is squandering away his fortune in Saratoga. Maverick finds Mark moments after he loses his share of the Queen’s Ranch, the family spread, to a card cheat named Flannery. With the aid of Bart and an old card shark named Kronkhite, Bret reels Flannery into a bogus investment deal involving a luxurious resort built on worthless swampland. The con works perfectly—until Kate shows up and blows their cover.

In “Trail West to Fury,” we learned that the Mavericks cannot return to their native Texas until they were cleared of the murder of Jesse Hayden. Apparently, that matter was quietly resolved, because Bret sets foot in Texas at the outset of “Maverick Springs” and is in no apparent danger.

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: J. Pat O’Malley and Vito Scotti star in “A Fistful of Oats,” an episode of YOUNG MAVERICK, airing Dec. 5, 1979. MAVERICK: LEGEND OF THE WEST: Revised Third Edition is now available both as an eBook and in softcover paperback through Black Pawn Press

A FISTFUL OF OATS
Original Airdate: December 5, 1979

Synopsis. Nell’s uncle faces the gallows after he accidentally spooks the horse of a hanging judge.

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: Kathleen Crowley stars as “Kiz,” airing Dec. 4, 1960. MAVERICK: LEGEND OF THE WEST: Revised Third Edition is now available both as an eBook and in softcover paperback through Black Pawn Press

KIZ
Original Airdate: December 4, 1960

Synopsis. In Virginia City, Beau crashes a party thrown by Kiz Bouchet (played by Kathleen Crowley), an eccentric socialite with a penchant for smoking cigars, playing poker, and fighting fires. Believing that her life is in danger, and recognizing Beau as a fellow free spirit, Kiz hires Maverick to protect her.

As a gag, director Robert Douglas asked guest star Kathleen Crowley to wear the jet black wig she needed for “Kiz” when she first reported to the set. The stunt worked. Crowley, who was certainly no stranger around the Warner Bros. lot (she appeared frequently on many of the series that were filmed there at the time, including Maverick), made such a convincing brunette that everyone on the set wondered who “the new actress” was. We’ll see Crowley again in “Dade City Dodge,” “The Troubled Heir,” and the final episode of the series, “One of Our Trains is Missing.”

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: BRET MAVERICK premieres on NBC with “The Lazy Ace,” a two-hour episode airing Dec. 1, 1981. MAVERICK: LEGEND OF THE WEST: Revised Third Edition is now available both as an eBook and in softcover paperback through Black Pawn Press

THE LAZY ACE
Original Airdate: December 1, 1981

Synopsis. Bret Maverick rides into Sweetwater, a town in the Arizona territory, to play in a high-stakes poker game with Doc Holliday, Ramsey Bass, Joe Dakota, Lyman Nickerson, the Delta Fox, and Mandy Packard. After winning the $100,000 jackpot and ownership of Mandy’s saloon, the Red Ox, Maverick purchases a 100-acre ranch, which he christens The Lazy Ace. However, Bret doesn’t realize that he also inherited liability toward a $50,000 loan that Mandy took out from the bank against the saloon’s mortgage. To make matters worse, the bank is robbed shortly after Bret deposits his money.

An injury to James Garner shut down production of this episode for three days. Keep an eye out for the sequence where Bret’s horse goes ballistic after hearing gunshots. Garner was on a mechanical horse to film part of that sequence; he was thrown from the horse, and suffered nine broken ribs as a result.

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: “The Wrecker,” an adaptation of the novel by Robert Louis Stevenson, airs on Dec. 1, 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 WRECKER
Original Airdate: December 1, 1957

Synopsis. After buying their way into an exclusive ring of auction bidders, the Maverick brothers try to purchase The Flying Scud, a beached brig containing a cargo of Oriental rice and silk valued at $10,000. Bret’s scheme to sell the goods for a quick profit runs aground when he gets into a bidding war with a man named Bellairs, who raises the price to $21,000 before dropping out. Bart soon discovers that Bellairs acted as a middle man for James Dickson (whose real name is Paul Carthew). Carthew believes that the wrecked ship contains evidence that could link him to a crime that took place at sea many years ago.

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: Edgar Buchanan stars in “Island in the Swamp,” the second of five episodes written by Montgomery Pittman, airing Nov. 30, 1958. MAVERICK: LEGEND OF THE WEST: Revised Third Edition is now available both as an eBook and in softcover paperback through Black Pawn Press

ISLAND IN THE SWAMP
Original Airdate: November 30, 1958

Synopsis. Set adrift in a lifeboat after he was robbed, Bret lands on an island outside New Orleans, where he meets Buddy Forge (played by Edgar Buchanan) and his eccentric community of black market smugglers. Forge mistakes Maverick for a government spy and holds him prisoner.

Montgomery Pittman’s scripts were known for featuring detailed directions for certain sequences, as well as his singular sense of humor. When he found that other directors had a difficult time capturing aspects of his unique style, Pittman ended up directing most of his own scripts, including this one for “Island in the Swamp.”

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: Herbert Rudley stars in “Trooper Maverick,” airing Nov. 29, 1959. MAVERICK: LEGEND OF THE WEST: Revised Third Edition is now available both as an eBook and in softcover paperback through Black Pawn Press

TROOPER MAVERICK
Original Airdate: November 29, 1959

Synopsis. Whenever he’s in the Dakota Territories, Bart drops in on the Army fort run by his friend, Colonel Sam Percy, so that he can check out the poker action between the soldiers and the local settlers. Maverick becomes suspicious when Sam, normally one of the card players, arrests him for gambling and sentences him to 180 days service. Behind closed doors, Sam explains why he had Bart imprisoned—a war with the Sioux Indians is imminent, and one of his soldiers has been funneling weapons to the other side. Percy needs Maverick to uncover the spy and stop the smuggling.

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: Denny Miller, Morgan Woodward, and Dick O’Neill star in “Clancy,” the premiere episode of YOUNG MAVERICK, airing Nov. 28, 1979. MAVERICK: LEGEND OF THE WEST: Revised Third Edition is now available both as an eBook and in softcover paperback through Black Pawn Press

CLANCY
Original Airdate: November 28, 1979

Synopsis. Ben thinks he’s found the perfect opponent for a barnstorming prizefighter: Nell’s mammoth cousin Clancy (played by Denny Miller). James Garner makes a cameo appearance as 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 MAVERICK TV History: “Bolt from the Blue,” written and directed by Robert Altman, airs on Nov. 27, 1960. MAVERICK: LEGEND OF THE WEST: Revised Third Edition is now available both as an eBook and in softcover paperback through Black Pawn Press

BOLT FROM THE BLUE
Original Airdate: November 27, 1960

Synopsis. Beau befriends a kindly old prospector named Ebenezer Bolt (played by Tim Graham), unaware that he’s the partner of notorious horse thief Benson January (Owen Bush). An angry posse intercepts Maverick and mistakes him for January. Although the posse is determined to hang Beau, a young lawyer (played by Will Hutchins) halts the proceedings until Maverick can have a trial. But Beau’s conviction seems imminent when the lawyer locates a notorious “hanging judge” (played by Richard Hale), while a woman whose sister was January’s fiancée fingers Maverick for the thefts.

Full of the wit and biting humor that characterized many of the early Maverick scripts, Robert Altman’s “Bolt from the Blue” is by far the best episode of the fourth season. Altman was apparently such a huge fan of Maverick that he’d finished his script before he presented the idea to producer Coles Trapnell.

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: Peter Breck, Reginald Owen, and Jolene Brand star in “A Technical Error,” airing Nov. 26, 1961. MAVERICK: LEGEND OF THE WEST: Revised Third Edition is now available both as an eBook and in softcover paperback through Black Pawn Press

A TECHNICAL ERROR
Original Airdate: November 26, 1961

Synopsis. In Junction Corners, Bart wins ownership of the Bank on the Square from Major Holbrook Sims (played by Reginald Owen), who seems suspiciously eager to unload the bank. Maverick soon discovers why: the bank is short $20,000 due to a bookkeeping error. When the word leaks out, the angry townspeople threaten to make a run on the bank. Bart’s problems increase when Doc Holliday (Peter Breck) “borrows” the money from Blackjack Carney and his gang of thieves, who demand $25,000 in return.

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.