"Hostage" introduced Bret Maverick's younger brother Bart to the Maverick Saga. Never seen or even mentioned in earlier episodes, his creation came well into the production of Maverick's first season.[2]

Maverick was the first weekly hour-long series produced by Warner Brothers that featured a single star. But each episode took a week and a day to shoot. After filming several episodes, production fell behind and it became clear that something would have to give in order to meet the weekly demand of the network.[2]

Roy Huggins solved the problem by creating another Maverick. A brother, with the same attitude and philosophy as the original, would allow the studio to shoot two separate episodes simultaneously and stay ahead of the game. Any Maverick script could be assigned to either brother, interchangeably. Thus, Bart Maverick, played by Jack Kelly, became an integral part of the Saga.[2]

Because the regular television audience had already embraced James Garner as Maverick, the studio was concerned about how well a second full-fledged Maverick, introduced mid-stream, would be accepted. Therefore, a somewhat gruesome creative decision was made to ensure Bart Maverick would gain the audience's sympathy and acceptance in his very first story. The script called for Bart to be mercilessly beaten by the very police inspector he went to for help.[2]

It did not garner sympathy from Henry Kaiser, president of Kaiser Industries, however. He had become a partner in Maverick soley due to James Garner's performance in the pilot, "War of the Silver Kings." Kaiser negotiated with Warner Brothers and ABC through his advertising agency, Young & Rubicam, and became Maverick's primary sponsor, owning one third of the series.[2]

Studio and network executives had met with representatives of Kaiser and their ad agency and gotten approval for the addition of Bart Maverick and the casting of Jack Kelly, but no one had thought to inform Henry Kaiser himself. He had learned about Brother Bart only by watching "Hostage" when it first aired, and was not pleased with what he saw.[2]

ABC ultimately had to pay Kaiser $600,000 to smooth the waters, but Maverick stayed on the air and became the foundation for the network's Sunday-night empire, as well as setting James Garner on the trail to stardom.[2]

MAVERICK

Season 1, Episode 8

ALTERNATE TITLE
“Showdown at Midnight”[2]

ORIGINAL AIRDATE
November 10, 1957[2]

WRITTEN BY
Gerald Drayson Adams

DIRECTOR

Richard L. Bare

PRODUCER

Roy Huggins

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER

William T. Orr

CAST

CREW

James Garner

Jack Kelly

Laurie Carroll

Don Durant

Stephen Bekassy

Trevor Bardette

Wright King

Mickey Simpson

John Harmon

Jean Del Val

Roy Glenn (uncredited)[3]

Nicholas Musuraca

and Harold Stine

Art Loel

James Moore

Elbert K. Hollingsworth

Oren W. Haglund

Samuel F. Goode

Jerry Welch

Gordon Bau

Claude E. Archer

Bret Maverick

Bart Maverick

Yvette Devereaux

Jody Collins

Henri Devereaux

Inspector Marvin

Rick

Jubal

Ziggy

Anton Rivage

stevedore
(

Directors of Photography

Art Director

Supervising Film Editor

Film Editor

Production Manager

Sound

Set Decorator

Makeup Supervisor

Assistant Director