LITTLE BIG SCREEN - "MAVERICK" AND DEPUTY GEORGE

We can connect so many of the riverboat poker players in the movie "Maverick" to other TV Westerns, but it's always nice when we can forge a link back to the series that inspired the movie.  And there are a few.

Here's one of them.....

Bert Remsen had the honor of playing at one of the tables with Bret Maverick, Junior, serving as just one more stepping stone as Bret advanced through the ranks to sit at the final table.  (It would look as though that table where Bret and Bert played may have been an old-timers' table......)

One of Bert Remsen's first acting jobs and his first Western, I believe, was an episode of 'Maverick':

'Maverick'
Deputy George
- "The Jail at Junction Flats" (1958)

Deputy George was left so flustered by the antics of Bret and Dandy Jim Buckley that I would not be surprised if he finally decided to quit working as a lawman and instead try his hand at making a living by playing poker.  (If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.*)

To have reached that championship marathon, he must have been pretty good.  But his memory may have been slipping in his dotage - otherwise he should have recognized Bret Maverick Senior from back in Junction Flats.  Of course, it's always pozz'ble, just pozz'ble, that he was in on the whole scheme and was working with the two Mavericks as extra protection.  That's why he maneuvered to play alongside Brett until the penultimate game.  (It was a nice extra touch as "George" shook hands with Brett Junior and wished him well in the big deal coming up.)

BCnU!

* Pappy always used to say "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.  And if you can't join 'em, best to leave the county."