MAVERICK Mondays: "The Art Lovers" (1961)

MAVERICK Mondays: Number 18







MAVERICK: "The Art Lovers" (1961 ABC/Warner Brothers TV) Starring Jack Kelly as Bart Maverick, James Westerfield as Paul Sutton, Jack Cassidy as Roger Cushman, Maurine Dawson as Anne Sutton, John Hoyt as George Cushman, Leon Belasco as Cosmo, Laurie Main as Crimmins, John Alderson as Captain Bly, Stephen Chase as Tabor Scott, Lou Krugman as LaRouche, Stanley Farrar as Leighton.  Written by Peter Germano.  Directed by Michael O'Herilihy.


Recognizing Bart from a prior game in Denver, coxcomb Roger Cushman proposes a deal that sounds too good to be true: he'll back Maverick in a high-stakes game with rich men whose bank accounts far outstrip their poker skills.  Smarting from a $30,000 loss at the same table, Cushman only wants 25 percent of Maverick's winnings in exchange.  Bart warns that a loss is always possible, but reassuring young Cushman offers to back any losses 100 percent.  After agreeing to terms, "Colonel" Maverick from east Texas is seated at the table with Cushman's uncle George and three more high rollers.

Unfortunately, a bad beat against Paul Sutton's kings full of fives proves the prescience of Bart's warning to the tune of a $25,000 loss.  Roger quickly disavows any "deal", indignantly declaring to Uncle George that the imposter Colonel tricked him.  With no witnesses to concur with him and four wealthy, influential men vowing to prosecute, Bart finds himself paying off his debt as a butler at the Sutton home.  It looks like Maverick's poker career will be on hold for five to ten years, until he learns that a shortage of domestic staffing at the household is due to financial troubles Sutton has been keeping secret.  After Sutton fails to secure further financing for the railroad investment that has been draining his resources, Maverick learns of one highly confidential asset held by the troubled tycoon that could solve both of their problems.

Scripted by Peter Germano and directed by Michael O'Herlilihy (Poker Face), The Art Lovers continues the effort to reclaim MAVERICK's glory days during its abbreviated final season.  New producer William L. Stuart attempted to re-establish a cast of recurring rogues in the season opening Dade City Dodge by introducing an ersatz Dandy Jim Buckley (Mike Road's "Pearly Gates") as a frequent foil to go with Doc Holliday (Peter Breck) and the re-cast Modesty Blaine (Kathleen Crowley replacing Mona Freeman).  This followup installment harkens back to Shady Deal at Sunny Acres with its setup: Maverick trusts a wealthy, well-connected individual who turns out to be dishonorable, with the result that no one believes his story that he was cheated out of five figures by his well-to-do adversary.

In fact, Bart's task is even more daunting than brother Bret's was in the classic second season entry.  Bret was only facing the loss of $15,000 profit; here, Bart is facing ten years' identured servitude (stables included, thanks to cutbacks Sutton's been forced into) to repay an unpayable debt.  Bret squared off against one well-connected banker; Bart has five influential millionaires on the other side.  Bret had the help of brother Bart and some of the west's best con men; by this time, brother Bret is long gone from the series, and even frequent friend Doc Holliday isn't in San Francisco for The Art Lovers.

The confidential admission regarding a valuable (but illegally owned) treasure at the halfway point is only the first of multiple twists and turns in Germano's clever script.  It's the opening Bart needs to turn the tables on his supercilious adversary, played by a perfectly cast Jack Cassidy.  Oily sore loser Roger gets less patronizing and more desperate as the cracks begin to show.  When he goes back to the well for a second attempt at shanghaiing Bart, Roger isn't surrounded by family and support, and that makes all the difference.  It's easy to see from this excellent early performance why Cassidy was one of the best COLUMBO villains (and also the actor that Ted Baxter was written for).

Thin-lipped, steely eyed and prematurely grey John Hoyt is also an ideal choice to play Roger's uncle; he's just as ruthless as the younger Cushman, but much more accomplished at it.  For example, he shushes Roger's suggestion to have Bart killed--not because he's morally opposed, but because he feels his foppish nephew "will only muck it up" and take them both to the gallows.   The less pretentious Sutton (James Westerfield of The Ghost Soldiers) is easier to sympathize with, since he lets his guard down.  The only baron realizing that he and his fellow patrons have more in common with Maverick (who is into "engravings") than with the truly enlightened (none of them appreciate the live opera hosted by Mrs. Sutton, for example), Sutton admits it outright: "We wouldn't know real culture if we fell over it."  Men focused on acquisition over artistry are ripe targets for a dealer like Cosmo Nardi (aka "Duke Delaney" to Bart).

The Art Lovers is well paced.  The humor of work-shy Bart becoming an inept butler is exploited just long enough, getting the laughs out of the incongruity and then getting our hero back to what he does best (using his wits) before becoming tedious.  Once Bart recognizes Cosmo Nardi as a con-man from Louisiana (who's staying one step ahead of the law) he has a full foot in the door to regain his freedom (and his bankroll)--everyone involved, especially "Cosmo", needs Maverick's confidence.  It comes in especially handy once Bart finds himself face to face with Captain Bly.

A mutiny, ya say?

Germano's second (and last) installment is a notable improvement over his first (The Ice Man) but isn't without imperfections: Cosmo's convenient appearance at the dock is contrived, since Bly doesn't seem the type for him to be doing much business with.  There's also the realization that the return of the rare original painting to Louvre Palace would seem to leave Cosmo in danger of that California jail sentence that Bart escaped.  Nardi's fate is unknown (this was Leon Belasco's only appearance)--but hey, he had landed on his feet with a new name before.  These quibbles notwithstanding, The Art Lovers is still a very welcome return to form. The aging series needed one badly after a frequently frustrating 1960-61 season marred by too many hackneyed plots that could have been written for any western.

Butler Bart

HOW'D BART DO AT POKER?

As noted above, he got his ass kicked at the tables, but did much better away from the them this time out, wiping out his debt (and then some) by episode's end.

WISDOM FROM PAPPY?

The fifth season's biggest flaw?   Pappyisms that lacked freshness and humor, even.  Witness this one: "Travel broadens the imagination."  A better one is paraphrased earlier: "There are much worse things than being broke.  He just didn't know of any." 

THE BOTTOM LINE:

O'Herlihy debuts impressively, actually making the lack of exteriors a plus.  Germano produces a twisting script that I doubt Garner would have passed on if it had been written three years earlier.  Might be considered blasphemy to say this, but it is every bit as satisfying to see haughty Jack Cassidy taken down as it was to see John Dehner's crooked banker get his.  The Art Lovers is one of the best of the final batch of MAVERICK installments, even with its minor flaws.  Underrated.  One of Jack Kelly's funniest episodes.  (*** out of four)

MAVERICK currently airs Monday through Friday at 1 PM Central/2 PM Eastern without commercial interruption on Encore Westerns.

Television Review: LOVE THAT BOB: "Bob's Forgotten Fiancee" (1958)

LOVE THAT BOB: "Bob's Forgotten Fiancee" (Original Air Date: 6/17/58) Starring Bob Cummings as Bob Collins, Rosemary deCamp as Margaret, Lyle Talbot as Paul Fonda, Dwayne Hickman as Chuck, King Donovan as Harvey Helm, Olive Sturgess as Carol, Constance Towers as Patricia Plummer, Laurie Anders as Frances.  Written by Paul Henning, Shirl Gordon and Dick Wesson.  Directed by Bob Cummings.


Series overview of LOVE THAT BOB a.k.a. THE BOB CUMMINGS SHOW at this link. 


With Chuck dressing up in Bob's smoking jacket and using his uncle's corny lines to give Carol the brushoff, Margaret is again concerned about her playboy brother's influence on her teenaged son.  Margaret learns about Bob's time-tested dismissals from his old Air Force buddy Helm, who participated in the "foolproof" routine when both were stationed near San Antono.  Colonel Collins handed out 'friendship' rings with the promise to turn them into 'engagement' rings once the 'test of time' was proven in the future.

As usual, Uncle Bob is unrepentant about passing his wisdom on to his nephew, so Margaret decides to turn the tables on the Casanova who "treats women like paper plates".  Assisted by Bob's fellow USAF veteran Paul Fonda, Margaret recruits stewardess and aspiring actress Plummer to pose as one of those long-forgotten fiancées from the Lone Star state.   The playboy photographer is mighty intrigued by the beautiful blonde guest in his home--that is, until he gets a gander at that very familiar pinky ring she's wearing.

The finale of the show's fourth (and best) season, Bob's Forgotten Fiancee has a very familiar setup: Margaret's concern about Bob's Je Ne Sais Quoi rubbing off on Chuck.  In Bob Gets Out-Uncled, the photographer was exposed as a windbag on the athletic field; in Bob Plays Margaret's Game, the playboy suffers a tag-team cockblocking as his payback.  Despite trekking over well-trod LOVE THAT BOB territory, the team of Henning, Gordon and Wesson (responsible for all 36 of the season's scripts) still manages to find a few fresh wrinkles for the premise.

Usual blocker Schultzy is M.I.A., partly because the episode takes place on Saturday (and thus, like Bob Plays Margaret's Game, the action never visits the studio) and partly because for once there's nothing to foil: Bob's only date is golf with Harvey Helm and his interest in Miss Plummer dissipates in seconds.  No, the only comeuppance Margaret seeks this time is to scare some of the savoir faire out of her bachelor brother by making him think the past has come back to haunt him.

If Cummings' direction isn't as inventive here as it was in other segments, the star still keeps the smiles coming consistently, punctuated by a belly laugh or two.  Just about every flashback or dream sequence was a winner on LOVE THAT BOB, and predictably, this installment's San Antonio reminiscence from Helm provides the biggest laugh out loud moments, as we witness the silver tongued Major (now Colonel) Collins' routine in all its glory, complete with Helm's well-timed musical accompaniment.

There's also plenty of chuckles to be had as Chuck tries to emulate Uncle Bob, eagerly trying out the leisure wardrobe as well as all of those time-tested lines.  But the nephew lacks Mr. Collins' slipperiness, and Carol Henning isn't impressed by the secondhand deliveries--perhaps best demonstrated by the outcome of that dispute over Chuck's Fats Domino record.

That the younger generation finds Bob's lines highly resistible hints at the coming youth revolution, but the swanky Playboy was still in the lead in 1958.  And the ever-subversive LOVE THAT BOB continues to undermine any perceived agreement with Margaret about Bob's bachelor life, as our only married man Harvey Helm is as henpecked as they come.  Given Harv as our example of a "happily married man" ("I wish Bob had gotten married instead of me", Helm admits), it's no wonder why Chuck continues to emulate his Uncle despite all of his mother's efforts.  While Bob's romantic prowess isn't demonstrated first-hand for Chuck, other benefits to his unencumbered lifestyle are front and center.  For example, Colonel Collins can fly off to Mexico City at the drop of a hat if he wants.  Imagine Ruth Helm's reaction if "Harv" tried that!

Laurie Anders

Bob's 'real' forgotten San Antonio fiancee is played by Laurie Anders (Bob and Automation), in her final acting role.  Best known as a singer-comedienne on THE KEN MURRAY SHOW, Wyoming native Anders parlayed her catchphrase from it into a hit 1951 single, "I Like the Wide Open Spaces".  After one last TV appearance (Ken Murray's 1960 episode of THIS IS YOUR LIFE), Anders retired for good.

Anders was at the end of her show business career, but Constance Towers (billed here as Connie) was only beginning hers.   Known to film fans for her iconic role as the bald prostitute in THE NAKED KISS (1964), Towers starred in ANYA and THE KING AND I (opposite Yul Brynner) on Broadway.  Towers is still active today in her early eighties, playing Helena Cassadine on GENERAL HOSPITAL.

WHO WAS BLOCKING?

Atypically, nothing to block this time. 

DID BOB SCORE?

See above answer.

The scene-stealing Ann B. Davis is AWOL but isn't really missed, so Henning and company obviously did something right this time.  It isn't quite the best of the installments focusing on "Bob's Bad Influence",  but presents the familiar tale with just enough freshness.  Fewer sidesplitting moments than usual for the setup, but like Bob Collins himself, Bob's Forgotten Fiancee manages to slip through and score often than not.  (*** out of four)
 

Television Review: HONDO: "Hondo and The Savage" (1967)

"Your Lives are Meaningless compared to HONDO!"






HONDO: "Hondo and the Savage"  (1967 ABC-TV/MGM/Batjac Productions) Episode 5; Original Air Date: October 6, 1967.  Starring Ralph Taeger as Hondo Lane, Noah Beery Jr. as Buffalo Baker,  Gary Clarke as Captain Richards,  William Bryant as Colonel Crook.  Guest Stars: Charles McGraw as General Rutledge, Nico Minardos as Ponce Coloradas, Tom Monroe as Dink, William Henry as Sand. Teleplay by Frank Chase.  Directed by Michael D. (Mickey) Moore.




 Series Overview for HONDO: TV's Unlikeliest Cult Hit at this link  



While lassoing a wild horse he intends to sell to Richards, Ponce Colorados is ambushed by Sand and Dink, competitors also seeking to make the Army transaction.  Witness Hondo comes to Ponce's aid, and the grateful Apache Prince (son of Chief Mangas Colorados) gifts the scout with the stallion he just captured.  The would-be thieves vow revenge.

Once he's back at Fort Lowell, Hondo learns his new assignment: assisting General Luther B. Rutledge, a veritable living legend whose battle tactics from the Civil War are required study at West Point.  The blustery thirty year veteran has been sent from Washington to inspect all frontier posts and "improve conditions" for both settlers and natives.

Ostensibly there to learn and report, Rutledge imposes his "by the book" philosophy despite Hondo's advice that the west requires flexibility.  The General's resolute belief in army regulations results in the imprisonment of Ponce after Rutledge is accidentally hit in a melee (instigated by Sand and Dink).  After five days in solitary confinement, "the book" also calls for a dozen lashes with a whip for striking an officer.  The same punishment once befell Ponce's late father at the hands of the Mexican Army, and the General is undeterred by Hondo's revelation that the Senior Colorados killed 100 enemy soldiers for every scar afterward.

Frolific TV western scriptwriter Chase crafted an atypical HONDO in his series debut.  Sam disappears after the teaser, and the Dows and Chief Vittoro are completely absent--the latter certainly would have echoed Lane's warnings to General Rutledge.  But while the Chief of the Apache Nation isn't present during Hondo and the Savage, his desire for peace is shared by Ponce Colorados.

Actually, despite his great personal pride and fearsome reputation, the Prince's ambition to maintain harmony with the white man even exceeds Vittoro's.  Witnessing his father's vengeance and the resulting bloodshed as a child affected Ponce greatly---he is determined not to follow in Magnus' footsteps.  Ponce resolves to establish mutually beneficial co-existence and trade with Captain Richards and even orders the Apache braves to stand down while their leader is brutally punished in front of them.

The younger Colorados also takes mercy on the surrounded soldiers in battle, and resists the temptation to take full Apache revenge on the captured General when the opportunity presents itself.  Ponce's almost pacifist leanings don't diminish his ability on the battlefield (which the Prince capably displays after the General blunders into Apache land), but even-tempered, cerebral leadership away from combat is his defining quality.

Speaking of tempers, the closure for Lane's long-lasting grudge against his wife's killer in Hondo and the Superstition Massacre brought a noticeable improvement in Emberato's oft-referenced short fuse.   Lane is just as assured with the highest ranking U.S. officer as he is with Apache royalty: it is the revered "wise" elder Rutledge who is the hothead out West, with Lane more than once providing measured, cool counsel.   

The show's protagonist isn't the only one showing remarkable growth in the five episodes to date.  Formerly advocating extermination over conciliation (in Hondo and the War Cry), Captain Richards' own personal vendetta after his brother's death has softened also.  With Vittoro's consistent honesty and Lane's input taken into consideration, Richards now negotiates trade agreements with Colorados with full trust.  The Captain is in a difficult place: siding with Lane, but required to follow Rutledge's wrongheaded orders.  It's enough to drive teetotaler Richards to have a rare (offscreen) drink.

While Hondo's half-Apache status is never mentioned, it certainly wouldn't make Rutledge any more receptive to advice from the "Confederate Captain" he dismisses derisively.  The General is exalted upon his arrival, but proves to be stubborn, prideful, and bigoted.  He underestimates the "savages" every bit as much as Colonel Thursday does in the similarly themed FORT APACHE.

Even a pro like Chase isn't immune to laying it on too thick sometimes, and that's this segment's most significant drawback.  General Rutledge shows humility in his opening scene, fully aware he has a lot to learn about the West--but not one of his subsequent actions show any of this perception.  The Book Soldier's rigid adherence to the Army Manual, frequently stated to be his defining character trait, disappears quickly when he's faced with the same humiliation he subjected Prince Colorados to: the General is completely out of control, crazed enough to attempt to murder the only man who can get him back to the Fort safely.

"Prince of the Apache Nation.  General, out here he outranks even you."

In comparison, patient Ponce shows seemingly infinite discipline and wisdom.  He's Rutledge's superior in every way: handling punishment in a more mature fashion and much more forgiving of a similar accident by Rutledge at the Apache village.  As a result of the script's heavy-handedness, one is perplexed as to how Rutledge ever reached his current stature in the first place, and the General's closing monologue comes uncomfortably close to a sitcomish character change as resolution.   That it works as well as it does is a credit to Charles MacGraw's robust portrayal of an inconsistently written antagonist.

"I'm going to wash some of the stink off my soul."

Hondo knows the unintended consequences of fighting for the wrong reasons all too well from his war experience, but there's about as much chance that the General will listen to Hondo Lane as there was of Colonel Owen Thursday taking Captain York's advice.  However, Lane has the key advantage of talking to an esteemed older man at the tail end of a long career instead of a "disgraced" young officer who's been demoted.  Thursday was seeking to reestablish lost glory at any cost, and York couldn't talk him out of a foolish long-odds gamble to do it.  But Rutledge's glory is still intact to everyone outside Fort Lowell, and Hondo is able to make the General realize that a victory would be phyrric, tarnishing a still-stellar record.  Any loss of stature from his capture by Ponce is all in Rutledge's mind.  It's too bad MacGraw wasn't given steadier writing to work with--as it is, his performance still makes Hondo and the Savage worthwhile.

HOW MANY CANS OF WHOOPASS?

The softening of Emberato's temper doesn't mean we lack fisticuffs.  He and Ponce are getting the best of drunken ne'er-do-wells Sand and Dink when the fight is stopped by troopers.  Later, Hondo gets to finish the job with one punch in the saloon. 

IS THE CANTINA STILL STANDING?

For once, Hondo's one-punch knockout of Dink causes no property damage.  Chase must have been determined to avoid every audience expectation.

Maybe he shoulda listened to Hondo....

AN UNCOMMON EPISODE IN ONE MORE WAY:

Taeger keeps his shirt on for once, but MacGraw doesn't. See above.  

A DOG'S LIFE:

Sam is merely a spectator in the teaser, and M.I.A. for the rest of the installment. As is always the case when this happens, the scene stealing canine is missed.

WATCH CLOSELY:

Hondo has a wedding band on his left hand (see picture above); this was the first episode filmed after Ralph Taeger's July 1967 wedding.

THE BOTTOM LINE:

Propelled by a game performance by MacGraw and solid direction from Moore, who builds some genuine tension.  Ponce's punishment is as cringe-worthy as it could be on prime time circa 1967, and check out Hondo's realization that he's hearing the Apache Death Chant when he arrives to retrieve the General.  Lane trusts Colorados, but his uneasiness is palpable.  Unfortunately Chase stacks the deck too much, somewhat spoiling this interesting variation on FORT APACHE.  The ensuing Hondo and the War Hawks provided a more nuanced exploration of similar themes.  (**1/2 out of four)


HONDO: THE COMPLETE SERIES is currently streaming at Warner Archive Instant and the series also airs every Saturday afternoon at 3:30 PM Central on getTV.