Maverick TV Series

This Date in MAVERICK TV History: Edd Byrnes and Joanna Barnes star in “Ghost Rider,” airing Oct. 13, 1957. MAVERICK: LEGEND OF THE WEST: Revised Third Edition is now available both as an eBook and in softcover paperback through Black Pawn Press

GHOST RIDER
Original Airdate: October 13, 1957

Synopsis. Maverick has a bad day in the town of White Rock. First, he’s robbed of $3,000 by a young punk known as “The Kid” (played by Edd Byrnes). Then he discovers that The Kid not only lost all of his money playing poker, but was shot and killed for cheating. Then Bret loses his coat (containing the $1,000 bill he keeps for emergencies) after helping out a red-haired woman who, according to the townsfolk, died ten days earlier. When Maverick returns to town, he’s nearly shot to death by the undertaker. When the undertaker, a very popular man in town, is later gunned down by a man named Foster (who matches Bret’s general physical appearance), Maverick becomes the likely suspect.

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: Reginald Owen stars in “The Belcastle Brand,” airing Oct. 12, 1958. MAVERICK: LEGEND OF THE WEST: Revised Third Edition is now available both as an eBook and in softcover paperback through Black Pawn Press

THE BELCASTLE BRAND
Original Airdate: October 12, 1958

Synopsis. In Wyoming, Bret collapses outside Belcastle Manor, the home of an eccentric family of British aristocrats. After the Belcastles nurse him back to health, Bret earns his keep by leading the family on a bear hunt across the desert. But the expedition comes to a sudden halt when the Shaughnessy gang robs the group of their supplies—and leaves them to die in the desert.

“The Belcastle Brand” features one of the most famous Pappyisms of the entire Maverick series: “It would be a pitiful thing if you had to work for a living. Son, use your wits; the good Lord didn’t give you brains.”

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: Mona Freeman, Buddy Ebsen, and Richard Deacon star in “The Cats of Paradise,” airing Oct. 11, 1959. MAVERICK: LEGEND OF THE WEST: Revised Third Edition is now available both as an eBook and in softcover paperback through Black Pawn Press

THE CATS OF PARADISE
Original Airdate: October 11, 1959

Synopsis. Bret goes into business selling cats to a town besieged by rats and mice. Bret doesn’t realize that his charming partner, Modesty Blaine, is also a crafty, and completely amoral, con artist who robs him of $500 and nearly has him shanghaied. Maverick locates Modesty in Paradise, where he finds her conveniently protected by the town’s two-faced mayor and its superstitious but equally corrupt sheriff.

“The Cats of Paradise” is the first of three episodes featuring Modesty Blaine, a Samantha Crawford-like character who bedevils Bret Maverick (and, later, brother Bart) over the remainder of the series. In this episode, however, Modesty comes across more like Dandy Jim Buckley, only worse: she doesn’t think twice about hiring a gunman to kill Bret. (While Buckley was an all-out grafter, even he had his limitations.) When Maverick‘s audience dropped 5 percent the week after “Paradise” aired, series producer Coles Trapnell took steps to refine the Blaine character.

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: Alan Hale, Joanna Barnes and Donald “Red” Barry star in “Arizona Black Maria,” airing Oct. 9, 1960. MAVERICK: LEGEND OF THE WEST: Revised Third Edition is now available both as an eBook and in softcover paperback through Black Pawn Press

ARIZONA BLACK MARIA
Original Airdate: October 9, 1960

Synopsis. While camping in the Arizona desert, Bart finds himself the target of a determined Indian named Redfeather, who needs to collect one scalp in order to be named chief. Two gunmen rescue Maverick in the nick of time, but they steal his water as payment and leave him to die of thirst. The next morning, Redfeather tries to scalp Bart again, only this time a federal marshal comes to the rescue. The marshal asks Bart to help him transport a wagonload of prisoners to the federal penitentiary. Redfeather’s tribe overtakes the wagon, but agrees to let the marshal pass through if he turns over Maverick.

“Arizona Black Maria” features one of the most-remembered lines of the entire Maverick series. Captain Jim Paddishaw (played by Alan Hale) tries to console Bart after turning him to the Indians: “You’re a brave man, Maverick. At least you know that you won’t have died in vain.” Bart’s response? “I’d rather live in vain, then die any way there is.”

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 Golden Fleecing” airs on Oct. 8, 1961. MAVERICK: LEGEND OF THE WEST: Revised Third Edition is now available both as an eBook and in softcover paperback through Black Pawn Press

THE GOLDEN FLEECING
Original Airdate: October 8, 1961

Synopsis. Bart enters the stock market when he oversees the investment of a mining company owned by the Albrights, a family of Quakers who rescued Maverick from drowning in the Sacramento River. Maverick must then protect the Albrights’ interests when a greedy industrialist and his equally covetous daughter plot to take over the company.

This episode features the following Pappyism: “The most important thing to know about any gambling game is when to quit.”

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: “According to Hoyle,” Diane Brewster’s first appearance as Samantha Crawford, airs on Oct. 6, 1957. MAVERICK: LEGEND OF THE WEST: Revised Third Edition is now available both as an eBook and in softcover paperback through Black Pawn Press

ACCORDING TO HOYLE
Original Airdate: October 6, 1957

Synopsis. Bret loses more than $17,000 playing poker with Samantha Crawford, a con artist employed by George Cross—who once lost $50,000 to Maverick and is determined to get it back. Samantha claims that Cross is her father and that he needs to recover the money in order to get out of jail. Bret also needs money (two riverboat owners staked him to $5,000, which he promptly lost to Samantha), so he forms a partnership with Samantha. Maverick purchases gambling equipment (with money loaned by Samantha) as part of a scheme to put a crooked game room owner named Joe Riggs out of business. But Samantha and Cross decide to double-cross Maverick by selling the equipment to Riggs.

Besides marking the first appearance of Diana Brewster (Leave It to Beaver, The Fugitive) as con artist Samantha Crawford, “According to Hoyle” features these two famous Pappyisms: “Faint heart never filled a flush” and “Man is the only animal you can skin more than once.”

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: “Alias Bart Maverick,” Richard Long’s first appearance as Gentleman Jack Darby, airs on Oct. 5, 1958. MAVERICK: LEGEND OF THE WEST: Revised Third Edition is now available both as an eBook and in softcover paperback through Black Pawn Press

ALIAS BART MAVERICK
Original Airdate: October 5, 1958

Synopsis. Outside Crescent City, Bart encounters Gentleman Jack Darby (played by Richard Long), a fugitive wanted for embezzlement by the Missouri Surety Company. Although innocent of that charge (a dishonest bank clerk stole the money), Darby is no angel―in order to collect the $1,000 reward money, Darby convinces the Crescent City sheriff that Bart really is Gentleman Jack. While Bart sits in jail, Darby wins $2,600 playing poker, but leaves town after he kills one of the troublemaking Plummer brothers in self-defense. Darby then frees Bart, only to rob him later. With an assist from entertainer Cindy Lou Brown, Darby’s charming but not-too-bright girlfriend, Bart trails Gentleman Jack to Deadwood.

This episode marks Richard Long’s first appearance as Gentleman Jack Darby, another all-out grafter meant to contrast Maverick’s gentle grafter. Series creator Roy Huggins devised the Darby character to replace Dandy Jim Buckley once Efrem Zimbalist began production of 77 Sunset Strip (which, of course, precluded him from making further appearances as Buckley). While Darby and Buckley are essentially the same character, there are a few differences. Unlike Buckley, for example, Darby has some semblance of a conscience, because he helps Bart fend off the Plummer brothers at the end of this episode.

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: Gerald Mohr stars in “You Can’t Beat the Percentage,” airing Oct. 4, 1959. MAVERICK: LEGEND OF THE WEST: Revised Third Edition is now available both as an eBook and in softcover paperback through Black Pawn Press

YOU CAN’T BEAT THE PERCENTAGE
Original Airdate: October 4, 1959

Synopsis. Bart arrives in the town of Arroyo after receiving a letter Myra (played by Karen Steele), a saloon girl whom he met long ago in Missouri. Myra tells Bart that she plans to buy the saloon from Dave Wendell (Gerald Mohr) and that she needs Bart as a business partner. Maverick soon realizes that Myra plans to implicate him in the murder of her husband, a cowboy who has followed her from their home in Texas, so that she will become free to marry Wendell.

Guest stars include Gerald Mohr, the first actor to play Doc Holliday on Maverick, and Karen Steele, who co-starred with Mike Connors in “Point Blank,” the episode that series creator Roy Huggins considered to be the pilot episode of 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: John Astin makes one of his first television appearances in “The Town That Wasn’t There,” airing Oct. 2, 1960. MAVERICK: LEGEND OF THE WEST: Revised Third Edition is now available both as an eBook and in softcover paperback through Black Pawn Press

THE TOWN THAT WASN’T THERE
Original Airdate: October 2, 1960

Synopsis. Beau wins ownership of the Silver Hill ore mine, only to discover that the mine is worthless. Meanwhile, a crooked railroad agent named Wilbur Shanks tries to cheat the townspeople out of their land by offering them a price that is well below market value. Beau rallies the town together into relocating Silver Hill to a sheep ranch twenty miles away. But the plan backfires when a new vein of silver is discovered in the supposedly worthless Silver Hill mine, thus enabling Shanks to claim the land without cost. The town’s only hope is to relocate back to Silver Hill before the railroad takes over the land.

Guest stars include actor/director John Astin. Known for playing Gomez Addams on The Addams Family (and, later, Harry Anderson’s dad on Night Court), Astin made one of his first TV acting appearances in this episode. His early movie credits include the James Garner/Doris Day romantic comedy Move Over, Darling.

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 and ROCKFORD FILES History: “James Garner: Hollywood Maverick” airs for the first time on the Oct. 2, 2000 edition of A&E’s Biography. The hour-long documentary includes comments, tributes and remembrances from Clint Eastwood, Blake Edwards, Stephen J. Cannell, Bill Robinson, Glenn Jordan, Stuart Margolin, Sally Field, Mariette Hartley, Gigi Garner, author Ed Robertson and more. LEARN MORE in 45 YEARS OF THE ROCKFORD FILES, available in softcover paperback and now as an eBook through Black Pawn Press

LEARN MORE about it 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

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