- BEAMER’S LAST CASE
Original Air Date: September 16, 1977
Synopsis. Rockford returns from an aborted fishing vacation in the Caribbean to find that someone has wrecked his car, disturbed his home, used his credit card to purchase several expensive detection devices, and even impersonated him. The culprit: Freddie Beamer, a mechanic at Tony’s Body Shop—and a private detective wannabe. Not only must Rockford clean up the mess Freddie made of his own life, he finds himself having to rescue Beamer (played by James Whitmore Jr.) after Freddie stumbles onto a taxicab company owner’s plot to sabotage his own business.In this episode, writer/director Stephen J. Cannell borrows a concept from the classic Maverick episode “The Saga of Waco Williams” by pairing Rockford with a character, Freddie Beamer, with a penchant for landing in the middle of situations that Rockford would normally avoid. James Whitmore Jr., who plays Beamer, had just finished production of the first season of the World War II drama Baa Baa Black Sheep (NBC, 1976-1978) at the time he filmed this episode. Baa Baa Black Sheep was Cannell’s first series as an executive producer.
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
Maverick
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 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 MAVERICK TV History: “The Rattlesnake Brigade,” an episode of BRET MAVERICK, airs on Apr. 27, 1982
- THE RATTLESNAKE BRIGADE
Original Airdate: April 27, 1982
Synopsis. A band of desperados tricks Bret and Tom into protecting a gold shipment.
The third of three attempts to resurrect Maverick in the late ’70s and early ’80s, Bret Maverick (NBC, 1981-1982) saw James Garner reprise the role that originally made him a star.
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 both in softcover and, very soon, as an eBook through Black Pawn Press, Amazon.com, and wherever books are sold online.
This date in MAVERICK TV History: James Garner files a cross-complaint against Warner Bros. on Apr. 26, 1960, reiterating his claim that the studio had breached his contract by suspending payment of his salary. The ensuing legal battle set in motion a chain of events that not only changed the course of Garner’s career, but led to the demise of MAVERICK
LEARN MORE about the lawsuit between James Garner and Warner Bros. 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 both in softcover and, very soon, as an eBook through Black Pawn Press, Amazon.com, and wherever books are sold online.
This date in MAVERICK TV History: Robert Webber, Marj Dusay, and Jameson Parker star in the conclusion of “Faith, Hope and Clarity,” a two-part episode of BRET MAVERICK that originally aired on Apr. 20, 1982
- FAITH, HOPE AND CLARITY (two-parter)
Original Airdates: April 13 and 20, 1982
Synopsis. Everest Sinclair, a utopianist who hopes to make Sweetwater the center of his “new society,” purchases all of the town’s mortgages and immediately forecloses on them. In order to win back their land, the townspeople rally behind Maverick, who hatches an elaborate “sting” aimed at Sinclair.
The third of three attempts to resurrect Maverick in the late ’70s and early ’80s, Bret Maverick (NBC, 1981-1982) saw James Garner reprise the role that originally made him a star. The premise of “Faith, Hope and Clarity” drew inspiration from one of the most famous Maverick episodes of all, “Shady Deal at Sunny Acres.”
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 both in softcover and, very soon, as an eBook through Black Pawn Press, Amazon.com, and wherever books are sold online.
This date in MAVERICK TV History: Part 1 of “The Devil’s Necklace,” the only two-part episode of the original MAVERICK series, airs on Apr. 16, 1961
- THE DEVIL’S NECKLACE, Part 1
Original Airdate: April 16, 1961
Synopsis. After his horse breaks down in the Arizona heat, Bart seeks shelter at Fort Distress, operated by his friend Major Reidinger. A greedy peddler named Luther Cannonbaugh suckers Bart into buying a wagon containing illegal whiskey—and the Indian squaw Tawny, whom Cannonbaugh kidnapped to sell into slavery. An angry Bob Tallhorse, the Apache warrior to whom Tawny is betrothed, threatens to attack the fort unless she is released. Maverick tries to return Tawny to her tribe, but Tallhorse captures him. Meanwhile, Cannonbaugh (whom the Apaches had also imprisoned) bargains his way out of trouble by offering Tallhorse “strong medicine”—a bear tooth necklace that supposedly makes its wearer impervious to bullets. The conniving Cannonbaugh demonstrates the neckpiece’s “power” by testing it himself (using blank cartridges). Bart warns Tallhorse of the fraud, but Cannonbaugh shoots him with a real bullet that grazes him in the temple.
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 both in softcover and, very soon, as an eBook through Black Pawn Press, Amazon.com, and wherever books are sold online.
This date in MAVERICK TV History: Andrew Duggan stars as Big Ed Murphy in “The Money Machine,” airing Apr. 15, 1962
- THE MONEY MACHINE
Original Airdate: April 15, 1962
Synopsis. Bart meets his cousin Jacqueline Sutton in Kansas City to collect the $10,000 that Pappy owes to a bruiser named Cannonball Clyde Bassett. But Jackie quickly loses the money when she purchases a phony money-making machine from con artist Big Ed Murphy. Bart and Jackie trail Murphy to Denver, where they decide to beat him at his own game.
The con man played by Andrew Duggan in this episode, “Big Ed Murphy,” shares the same name as the safecracker played by John Dehner in “Greenbacks, Unlimited.”
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 both in softcover and, very soon, as an eBook through Black Pawn Press, Amazon.com, and wherever books are sold online.
This day in MAVERICK TV History: Adele Mara and Joi Lansing star in “Seed of Deception,” airing Apr. 13, 1958
- SEED OF DECEPTION
Original Airdate: April 13, 1958
Synopsis. The townspeople of Bonita welcome Bret and Bart with open arms―they believe that the Mavericks are Doc Holliday and Wyatt Earp, and that they’ve arrived in town to take care of Jim Mundy and his gang of troublemakers. The sheriff of Bonita thinks that Mundy is planning to rob the payroll of a nearby mining company from the bank, and he knows that the town will lose the company’s business if Mundy is successful. The Mavericks try to stay out of the matter, but Bret becomes involved after Bart is shot by a henchman of Mundy’s who believed Bart had stumbled onto their plan.
Adele Mara, who was married to Maverick creator and producer Roy Huggins for nearly fifty years, stars in this episode as a professional dancer whose role in the scheme is to cause a diversion by dancing in the bar precisely when Mundy and his boys are drilling a hole through the floor of their hotel room, which is located directly above the bank vault. For the dance scene, Mara wore a diaphanous costume that prompted one irate viewer to write Roy Huggins with a complaint about putting a “half-naked woman” on network television. Huggins replied, “That was no half-naked woman… that was my wife.”
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 both in softcover and, very soon, as an eBook through Black Pawn Press, Amazon.com, and wherever books are sold online.
This date in MAVERICK TV History: “Benefit of Doubt,” the second of two episodes starring Robert Colbert as Brent Maverick, aired on Apr. 9, 1961
- BENEFIT OF DOUBT
Original Airdate: April 9, 1961
Synopsis. In Amber Flats, three men rob the American Mail Company of $7,000. The thieves die in a shootout, but the money disappears. Brent Maverick discovers the stolen funds at the Midway station and decides to return it to Amber Flats. Unbeknownst to Brent, the sheriff of Amber Flats confiscated the money after gunning down the robbers and hid it in Midway. When Maverick arrives in Amber Flats, he finds himself arrested for the theft.
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.