- 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.
Ed Robertson
Author ● Journalist ● Radio Host ● Collaborative Writer
Ballad of Bret Maverick
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: Robert Colbert, Edgar Buchanan, and a host of other Warner Bros. Western actors star in “Hadley’s Hunters,” airing Sept. 25, 1960. MAVERICK: LEGEND OF THE WEST: Revised Third Edition is now available both as an eBook and in softcover paperback through Black Pawn Press
- HADLEY’S HUNTERS
Original Airdate: September 25, 1960
Synopsis. Bart rides into Hadley, a town named after its sheriff, a shrewd politician (played by Edgar Buchanan) who has carefully crafted a reputation for apprehending notorious criminals. Hadley’s legend, however, is a fraud: The sheriff has his deputies pull the jobs themselves, then pins the crimes on innocent victims whom Hadley later arrests. When Bart stumbles onto a bogus stagecoach robbery (which springs a “criminal” named Cherokee Dan Evans), the crooked sheriff gives Maverick five days to capture Evans—or else Bart will hang.
In the annals of Maverick, “Hadley’s Hunters” is known as the episode that features cameo appearances by Warner Bros. stars Will Hutchins (Sugarfoot), John Russell (Lawman), Clint Walker (Cheyenne), Peter Brown (Lawman), Ty Hardin (Bronco), and Edd Byrnes (77 Sunset Strip). But it also features future Maverick star Robert Colbert as Dan Evans, one of Hadley’s victims. Colbert, of course, joined the cast of Maverick as Brent Maverick later in the 1960-1961 season.
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: MAVERICK premieres on ABC with “The War of Silver Kings,” airing on Sept. 22, 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 WAR OF THE SILVER KINGS
Original Airdate: September 22, 1957
Synopsis. Soon after arriving in the mining community of Echo Springs, Maverick wins a high-stakes poker game with Phineas King, the unscrupulous town magnate. King doesn’t take kindly to losing—he has Maverick beaten up, and later tries to have him killed. Knowing that King is as much a cheater as he is a millionaire, Maverick is determined to beat him at his own game.
“The War of the Silver Kings” establishes the key elements of Maverick’s character. Twice, Bret beats Phineas King by sheer bluff—he stayed in the poker game, and later won the game, by betting with an envelope filled with clipped newspaper; then he snows King into settling with the miners even though Maverick knew that the court had reversed the decision upholding the apex law. Upon accepting defeat, King thinks back and then realizes exactly how Bret did it. “It was guts, nothing but guts,” he said, with clear respect for Maverick’s abilities.
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: Whitney Blake stars in “The Day They Hanged Bret Maverick,” airing Sept. 21, 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 DAY THEY HANGED BRET MAVERICK
Original Airdate: September 21, 1958
Synopsis. In the town of Hallelujah, outlaw Cliff Sharp breaks into Bret’s hotel room and plants evidence linking Maverick to a $40,000 robbery-and-murder scheme. After the town convicts him on circumstantial evidence, Bret faces the gallows. When greedy Sheriff Tucker offers to fake the hanging if Bret leads him to the stolen money, Maverick goes along with the ruse but ditches the sheriff at the first opportunity. When Bret discovers that Molly Clifford, Sharp’s wife (played by Whitney Blake) arrives in Hallelujah, he trails her to New Mexico in the hopes of finding the money and clearing his name.
Whitney Blake played Dorothy Baxter on the popular NBC sitcom Hazel for four seasons in the early 1960s. Also the creator—along with her husband Alan Manings—of the iconic 1970s sitcom One Day at a Time, she is known to Perry Mason fans as the defendant in “The Case of the Restless Redhead,” the premiere episode of that long-running CBS series.
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: David Frankham stars in “Royal Four Flush,” airing Sept. 20, 1959. MAVERICK: LEGEND OF THE WEST: Revised Third Edition is now available both as an eBook and in softcover paperback through Black Pawn Press
- ROYAL FOUR FLUSH
Original Airdate: September 20, 1959
Synopsis. David Frankham guest stars as “Captain” Rory Fitzgerald, a con artist acquaintance whom Bart encounters in Virginia City. Fitzgerald owes Maverick $4,000, but claims to be out of money. Bart becomes suspicious when he recognizes the glamorous “countess” whom Fitzgerald is escorting as Liz Bancroft, a card dealer from New Orleans. He later discovers that Fitzgerald and Bancroft are plotting to swindle wealthy Placer Jack Mason out of $200,000.
At the time he filmed this episode, David Frankham was well on his way to becoming one of the busiest actors in Hollywood, including a recent appearance opposite Vincent Price in Roger Corman’s Return of the Fly. According to Frankham, his performance in Return of the Fly was a key factor that led to his being cast in “Royal Four Flush.”
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: 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: “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: 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: 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.”