- THE ART LOVERS
Original Airdate: October 1, 1961
Synopsis. In San Francisco, Bart becomes a servant to railroad tycoon Paul Sutton in order to pay off a $25,000 gambling debt. Sutton faces bankruptcy—a new railroad project has encountered delays, and the board of directors has denied his request for another loan of $500,000. Sutton’s one asset, an apparently original daVinci Mona Lisa, can’t help him because he bought it from a dealer who claims it was stolen. When Maverick recognizes the dealer as a con artist friend (whose specialty is forging daVincis), he devises a scheme to sway the board members into changing their vote.
At the time he filmed “The Art Lovers,” Jack Cassidy was married to singer/actress Shirley Jones (Oklahoma!, The Partridge Family). In April 1961, six months before this episode aired, Jones won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance opposite Burt Lancaster in Elmer Gantry (1960). More than twenty years later, she would star with James Garner in Tank (1984).
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.
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.
