MovieChat Forums > Maverick (1957) Discussion > The date of "The Jeweled Gun"

The date of "The Jeweled Gun"

posted 6 years ago by MAGolding (1231)
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"The Jeweled Gun" was the tenth episode aired, on 24 November 1957, a date which is starting to seem almost as distant - 61 years instead of 81 years - as the episode's fictional date of 1876 was in 1857.

This episode opens with a shot of tombstone giving the dates of Mr. John Harris as 1841-1876, and the narrator says that the grave is empty. Bart's adventure ends up with him impersonating Mr. Harris and getting "killed". There is another shot of the tombstone, and the narrator says the (fake) funeral was on a late Wednesday afternoon in May, 1876.

Any perpetual calendar will show which day of the week was on which dates of the month in 1876.

Sundays in May, 1876 included May 7, 14, 21, and 28.
Mondays in May, 1876 included May 1, 8, 15, 22, & 29.
Tuesdays in May, 1876 included May 2, 9, 16, 23, & 30.
Wednesdays in May, 1876 included May 3, 10, 17, 24, & 31.
Thursdays in May, 1876 included May 4, 11, 18, & 25.
Fridays in May, 1876 included May 5, 12, 19, & 26.
Saturdays in May, 1876 included May 6, 13, 20, & 27.

https://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/?year=1876&country=1

So anyone who watches the episode and notes which day of the week is mentioned for the funeral will have a choice of only 4 or 5 days in the 19th century that the funeral could have been held on.

Going by the ages of James Garner and Jack Kelly in 1957, Bret and Bart would have been born about 1837 and 1836 respectively, though they might have been younger than their actors.

[–] funkychicken (613) 6 years ago

James Garner is awesome, and this is a great show.

But I think you might be over thinking this just a bit?

[–] MAGolding (1231) 6 years ago

Not at all overthinking. It is always good to know the fictional dates - if any are specified - of famous western movies and TV shows.

For example, I asked about the fictional date of the movie Shane (1953) and one answer is that the character Joe Starrett carries a 1877 Colt double action Lightning revolver that started production in 1877. Thus the year would be 1877 or later. And a comment indicates the story was based on the Johnson County range war of 1892.

In one scene the cattle baron trying to drive the homesteaders out of the valley says that he and the other early ranchers had to fight Indians and rustlers. He implies that he made the valley a safe place for white people. The main hostile Indians in Wyoming would have been the Sioux and their Northern Cheyenne and Northern Arapaho allies. And a mighty hostile alliance like that was not defeated by a few ranchers and their cowhands, but by the US Army.

So it seems to me that Joe Starrett's answer would be better if he reminded the cattle baron that he didn't defeat the Sioux and stop their raids and make the valley safe for white men to live in. So Starrett could have asked the cattle baron if he was at various victories against the Sioux like Ash Hollow/Blue Water, Stony Lake, Big Mound, Dead Buffalo Lake, Whitestone Hill, Killdeer Mountain, the Badlands, The Hayfield Fight, the Wagon Box Fight, The Rosebud, Slim Buttes, etc. Or even ask if the Cattle Baron had died in the Grattan Massacre or the Fetterman Massacre or Custer's Last Stand.

Continued.

[–] MAGolding (1231) 6 years ago

Continued And similarly knowing that the Maverick brothers were having some of their adventures during the Great Sioux War of 1876-77 offers possibilities for anyone writing a story about it.

For example, someone could be hiring scouts or wagon drivers or other civilian workers for one of the expeditions during the Great Sioux War. And someone could say to Bret or Bart that he was out of luck and owed people money and should sign up and the Maverick would decline citing the Maverick code.

Or, it is recorded that in 1876 a group of miners and prospectors from Montana who came to the Black Hills were unlucky there and decided to return to Montana, and took a direct route through Sioux territory to do so. And by chance or possibly prearrangement they met the expedition of General Crook and decided to ride with it partway for mutual protection. So some or all of the miners were in the great Battle of the Rosebud on 17 June 1876 where many persons on each side had narrow escapes from death.

So a story about the Great Sioux War could include as one of the minor plots a prospector from Montana getting in a card game in the Black Hills with Bret or Bart and losing a lot of money, more money than he actually had. The miner may have been the part owner of a mining claim or ranch back in Montana and offered to pay his debt by giving his share to Bret or Bart Maverick. But they would have to go to Montana together to arrange it. So the miner and Bret or Bart would join the group of miners returning to Montana.

The miner could be very depressed and possibly suicidal for various reasons and might think that Bret or Bart cheated in the card game. So the miner would ride to the Rosebud with the soldiers and constantly risk his life in the battle, and Bret or Bart would have to risk his life to protect the miner and get his winnings, and everyone would think he was a hero.

[–] wanton87 (934) 6 years ago

Funny, but I watched this very episode just the other night. I’m kind of on a Kathleen Crowley kick right now, so I’m watching all of the episodes that I can find with her in them.

I’ve never really watched this show all that much, but it’s not half bad.

[–] MAGolding (1231) 6 years ago

Wikipedia list of Maverick episodes has this note at the episode "Family Pride":

"With Karl Swenson as a genial general, Denver Pyle as a blackthorn stick-wielding Irishman, and Stacy Keach, Sr. as a sheriff. An early plot point involves standard time, which was not introduced to the United States until 1883, eight years after the 1875 setting for this episode."

It the note is correct that the fictional date of "Family Pride" is 1875, it means that the 8th episode aired "The Jeweled Gun", in the 1st season, on 24 November 1857, has a fictional date in the year after that of "Family Pride", in the 4th season, aired on 8 January 1961.

Thus Maverick episodes would not necessarily be produced or broadcast in order of their fictional dates.

[–] MAGolding (1231) 6 years ago

I saw "The Jeweled Gun" again on January 4, 2019.

The Funeral was said to be on a Wednesday afternoon in May, 1876.

According to perpetual calendars:

Wednesdays in May, 1876 included May 3, 10, 17, 24, & 31.

Thus the funeral would have been on May 3, 10, 17, 24, or 31, 1876.

Bart Maverick travels by stage north from Santa Fe, New Mexico toward Laramie, Wyoming, he travels for several days and stays in hotels in several towns. At the end of the episode he gets on the stage at La Mesa to continue north to Laramie, Wyoming. Laramie, Wyoming, is almost due north of Santa Fe, New Mexico. So obviously La Mesa should be in New Mexico, Colorado, or Wyoming unless the stage route is very winding.

Maybe the stage route would have to have a big bend eastwards to take it into territory where Comanche Indians raid stagecoaches, especially since there shouldn't have been any hostile Comanche on the warpath in May, 1876.

Mr. Haskell is buried in La Mesa, New Mexico. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0644504/goofs/?tab=gf&ref_=tt_trv_gf

Santa Fe is only about 90 miles south of the border with Colorado, so one might think that there would be a good chance that after going by stage for a few days La Mesa might be over the border in Colorado.

There is a real La Mesa, New Mexico, and it is about 200 or 300 miles south, not north, of Santa Fe. So may be the stage took the long and winding scenic route to Laramie, Wyoming, or else maybe La Mesa in the episode is a fictional town somewhere north of Santa Fe.

Added 06-27-19 I saw "The Jeweled Gun" again today and it seem to take four days to get from Santa Fe to La Mesa, New Mexico by Stagecoach. 90 miles in four days makes an average of about 23 miles per day, which seems a bit slow for a stagecoach. And apparently nobody was surprised it took the lawyer only 2 days or less to get from Santa Fe to La Mesa. So the stagecoach route probably loops to the east (into Comanche territory) to visit the towns they stopped in and back west to La Mesa while the lawyer would have ridden his horse by a more direct road to La Mesa.