Saturday, June 18, 2011

For Father's Day - TV's Best Pappy

Jack Kelly, James Garner

Legends of the West, Bret and Bart Maverick, of the perpetually popular Maverick TV series (1957 - 1962) roamed the TV west with a deck of cards and a ready wit, conning con men, romancing pretty Warner's contractees and being generally adventurous. How did they become these dashing, rascally rogues with their peculiar brand of honour? Anyone familiar with Maverick knows that the greatest influence on these boys was their oft-quoted "Pappy".


The third season of Maverick featured the episode Pappy wherein James Garner, with the help of make-up, played Bret and Bart's father, and also Bret in disguise as Bret and Bart's father. Are you with me?

The story, written and directed by Montgomery Pittman, finds the boys forced to extricate Pappy out of a complicated situation involving a young woman. Well, they think they have to extricate Pappy out of a complicated situation involving a young woman. Youngsters seem to strongly hold to the position that old folks require constant guidance and assistance. Bret and Bart should have had more faith in the man who handed them a legacy of sage advice. After all, they quoted Beau often enough to make him the real Legend of the West.

- As my old pappy used to say, "work is fine for killin' time, but it's a shaky way to make a living."

- As my old pappy used to say, "a man does what he has to do - if he can't get out of it."

- As my old pappy used to say, "if at first you don't succeed, try something else."

- As my old pappy used to say, "son, the best time to get lucky is when the other man's dealin'."

- As my old pappy used to say, "a fox isn't sly; he just can't think any slower."

- As my old pappy used to say, "you can be a gentleman and still not forget all you know about self-defense."

- As my old pappy used to say, "faint heart never filled a flush."

- As my old pappy used to say, "man is the only animal you can skin more than once."

- As my old pappy used to say, "love your fellow man, and stay out of his troubles if you can."

- As my old pappy used to say, "marriage is the only game of chance I know of where both people can lose."

- As my old pappy used to say, "never play in a rigged game, unless you rig it yourself."

- As my old pappy used to say, "if you haven't got something nice to say about a man, it's time to change the subject."

- As my old pappy used to say, "never cry over spilled milk... it could've been whiskey."

- As my old pappy used to say, "early to bed and early to rise, is the curse of the working class.”

- As my old pappy used to say, "if the Lord had more respect for money, He would have given it to a higher class of people."











2 comments:

  1. It's not a series I've ever seen but those are some awesome quotes. I especially like this one, "love your fellow man, and stay out of his troubles if you can."

    Ellie Garratt

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ellie, thanks for proving that you don't have to be familiar with the series to get a kick out of those quotes.

    "Maverick" is very popular with fans because of its irreverent scripts and charismatic lead actors. A DVD set is long overdue.

    ReplyDelete

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