FRIDAY HALL OF FAMERS -- BEAU MAVERICK

When Sir Roger Moore died in May of 2017, I wanted to honor him in some way here at Inner Toob.  And my first inclination was the Television Crossover Hall of Fame.  But it didn’t feel as though there really wasn’t any option in which he could even be hypothetically qualified.

On paper, it looks like Simon Templar AKA ‘The Saint’ might have the three separate appearances to qualify, but the two movies – “The Fiction Makers” and “Vendetta For The Saint” – were both cobbled together from episodes from the TV series.

And then there’s Lord Brett Sinclair (‘The Persuaders!’), Silky Harris (‘The Alaskans’), and Sir Wilfred of Ivanhoe (‘Ivanhoe’).  Each of them was limited to just the short-lived series in which they appeared.  But at least they were all a longer, more visible presence than a regular role he took late in his career – ‘The Dream Team’.

Maybe with Lord Bret or Sir Wilfred at least, I could work through allusions to them in other TV shows; well, at least for ‘Ivanhoe’, certainly.  But hey.  I’m getting older and my interests are more focused on Life in Wayside, Connecticut.  I just don’t want to extend that sort of time any longer on Toobworld.

But there is one glimmer of hope and I’ve got some splainin to do which will cover it, at least….

BEAU MAVERICK!

From Wikipedia:
Though very popular, Garner quit over a contract dispute with the studio after the series' third year in order to graduate to a much anticipated movie career, and was replaced by Roger Moore as cousin Beau, nephew of Beau "Pappy" Maverick. It is unclear if Beau was supposed to be the son of Bret and Bart's uncle Bentley. Sean Connery turned down the role, but accepted a free trip to America; the following decade, Moore would replace Connery as James Bond in the 007 film series based upon Ian Fleming's spy novels.

Beau's first appearance was in the season four opener, "The Bundle From Britain", in which he returns from an extended stay in England to meet cousin Bart. Moore had earlier played a completely different role in the episode "The Rivals", a drawing room comedy episode with Garner in which Moore's character switched identities with Bret.

Beau's amusingly self-described "slight English accent" was explained by his having spent the last few years in England. Moore was exactly the same age as Kelly and brought a flair for light comedy and a physical similarity to Garner fitting the show—Moore even looked like the profile drawing (apparently based on Garner) of the card player at the beginning of each episode. Moore noted in his autobiography that the producers told him he was not being brought in to replace Garner. However, when he got to wardrobe, all of his costumes had the name "Jim Garner" scratched out on the tags. Moore also mentioned in the book that he, Garner, Kelly, and their wives would regularly gather at the Kelly home for what they called "poker school".

There was also a dispute between the cast and producers during this time over the long hours they were putting in each day. The producers placed a time clock in the makeup department and required the actors to punch in. Moore brought his own makeup, and refused to do so. Moore wrote in his book that Kelly was "similarly minded, and one day took the time clock and used it as a football."

Moore had already played ‘Maverick’ dialogue written for Garner in his earlier series, ‘The Alaskans’. The studio had a policy of recycling scripts through their various television series to save money on writers, changing as little dialogue as possible, usually only names and locations. Recycled scripts were often credited to "W. Hermanos" (Spanish for W. Brothers).

One of Moore's episodes, "Bolt From the Blue," was written and directed by Robert Altman.

Moore quit due to what he felt was a declining script quality (without having to resort to legal measures as Garner had); Moore insisted that if he had gotten the level of writing Garner had enjoyed during the first two years of the show's run, he would have stayed.

So how did I get the splainin to do which could qualify Beau to join his ‘Maverick’ cousins Bart (inducted first) and Bret  (but NOT Brent!) in the TVXOHOF?

A theory of relateeveety – Beau was responsible for the family trees which led to Simon Templar and Lord Bret Sinclair.

Here’s how it works:

During his banishment to England after the Civil War, Beau became romantically entwined with several women of British society… and probably with a few outside that social strata.

Lord Brett Sinclair
&
Danny Wilde

In one case, Beau carried on an affair with the young wife of the heir apparent to the Sinclair title, probably Bret’s great-grandfather.  And so the line of succession then passed down from Beau Maverick, but was passed off as a Sinclair.  And ironically, probably coincidentally, Beau’s great-great-grandson would be named after Beau’s first cousin, Bret Maverick.

In the other theory, Beau probably didn’t mingle and tumble with a young lass found in the pages of Burke’s Peerage.  Instead, she was probably more on a par with his own social standings in America.  She may have already been a Templar and not ever married, bringing scandal to her name.  That’s more in keeping with fanfic, not theories of relateeveety.  But it might be she had a totally different name and over the next few generations a daughter or granddaughter married into the Templars.

We can carry the family line forward directly for Beau Maverick which can be partially verified by the show itself.  Bret and Bart had an uncle named Bentley and it assumed (by others beside me) that he was the father of Beau, naming him after his older brother, Beauregard.  In turn, Beau eventually had a son of his own, whom he named after his own father.  (But the lad chose to be known as Ben rather than Bentley.)

Getting back to the Templar lineage, when a new version of ‘The Saint’ was broadcast in the late 1970s, star Ian Ogilvie claimed during one of the publicity sessions that his Simon Templar was the son of Moore’s original (as far as Toobworld goes, of course.)  And that’s good enough for me.  I’ve built theories of relateeveety on far less.  In fact, I’m going to do so right now!

In his travels around the world, Simon Templar II was just as indiscreet as his forefathers with the distribution of his seed.  And it’s my contention that one of his dalliances yielded a son -  in Weld, New Zealand.

“I went by the petrol station and Ollie's dad told me that Ollie has moved to Stafford to live with mum.”
Siouxie MacNamara
‘800 Words’

I chose this character as a possible, illegitimate, member of the Templar family because there were times during the show’s run where I could see a resemblance two generations back to Simon Templar I.  And if Simon Templar II did have a quickie relationship with Ollie’s Mom back in 1993, it looks as though the father who raised Ollie might have found out and that’s why Ollie’s parents broke up.

Unfortunately it's a fluid resemblance.  Frozen in a screencap, it's hard to see any similarity to Roger Moore.  But not all telegenetics lead to exact copies.  Otherwise, Noah Beery would never have been hired to play Joseph Rockford on 'The Rockford Files'. 

As for Ben Maverick continuing the lineage of “The Maverick Line”, it’s pozz’ble, just pozz’ble, that a young cowboy in Greenwich Village might be able to count ‘Young Maverick’ in his family tree.

Like I said, it’s a theory of relateeveety.  But I think it holds up.  And as I always point out, what can’t be proven can’t be disproven either.

There is one more reason to consider Beau Maverick for induction into the TV Crossover Hall of Fame.  This doesn’t fall into the category of Theories of Relateeveety; it’s more along the lines of Game of the Name.

‘Maverick’
“Bolt From The Blue”

From the IMDb:
Beau and an old man riding with him are both captured and accused of being horse thieves, in Beau's case, one Benson January. Despite the efforts of a young lawyer (who may or may not be Tom Brewster), Beau is sentenced to hang. His fate may depend on a young woman - the sister of the girl January was engaged to. But will she be willing to help?  

I’m making the claim that Will Hutchins was indeed playing Tom Brewster from ‘Sugarfoot’.  So Beau was responsible for at least one crossover for the series.

Welcome to the Hall, Beau!  You’ll find your cousins Bret and Bart in the gaming room, along with other poker players… like Bat Masterson, Brady Hawkes, and Wes Craven…

SHOWS CITED:
‘Maverick’‘The Saint’ (1)‘The Saint’ (2)‘Young Maverick’‘Sugarfoot'‘800 Words’
'Barney Miller'

Happy Trails!