Lorain Journal TV Page Featuring "Maverick" – Jan. 1958

Anyone who reads this blog regularly knows I'm a big fan of Westerns. Rare is the night that my TV isn't tuned in to either GRIT or OUTLAW cable channels. And my DVD collection is almost all Westerns as well, including some of my favorite television ones including Tales of Wells Fargo, Wanted Dead or Alive and Maverick.

It's all I can do to keep from wearing my cowboy hat around the house and eating beans for dinner every night.

Anyway, when I saw the Lorain Journal's TV page of January 20, 1958, I just had to post it here. As you can see (below), it features a photo of Bret (James Garner) and Bart (Jack Kelly) Maverick.

The way the photo has been scanned and digitized along with the rest of the page leaves something to be desired. Here's a similar photo from the same shoot.

Maverick had premiered in September 1957, with Bret as the only Maverick in town. Production problems (the shows couldn't be shot and edited fast enough to make airtime) necessitated adding a brother (Bart) and a second production unit.

Jack Kelly's first show as brother Bart aired in November 1957, so he really hadn't been around that long in January 1958 when the Journal ran the photo. I'm guessing all of these promotional photos were intended to help introduce him to the public. It looks like originally, he was supposed to dress differently than Bret for contrast. But it didn't work out like that; his eventual outfit was similar to Bret's but with a tan hat and a different tie.

Although the show ran until April 1962 (the last two seasons without Garner), I don't remember watching it until the reruns appeared on WUAB Channel 43 on Sunday nights at 5:00 in the 1970s. (Remember the rest of the lineup? After Maverick, there was The Wild Wild West at 6:00, followed by Star Trek at 7:00.)

Elsewhere on that Lorain Journal TV page, there's lots of fun things to look at, including the program grids and the little synopses of the episodes.