Royal Four Flush

Swindlers and con artists! Virginia City is booming! No, it is not in Virginia. It is in Nevada. I was there in 1980. Bart recognizes the "countess" as a New Orleans card dealer, then convinces a couple of old coots that he is a Untied States marshal. "I arrest you in the name of the United States government!" LOL! Roberta Shore is Judy, trying to protect her father from people who want his money. I remember Shore from my movie magazines in those days. She was a cutie! A four-flush is a poker hand one card short of being a full flush. A four-flusher is a liar. If human nature is the way it is portrayed in nature, there is little hope for us. Pappyism: "Stay clear of weddings because one of them is liable to be your own." It was writer Marion Hargrove who came up with the idea of Pappy. Roy Huggins loved it. It provided a Maverick philosophy.

It's Virginia City that Bart Maverick hits, center of the Comstock Lode and home to a lot of rich gentleman who like to gamble. One of those is David Frankham a blarney spouting rogue who ran out on a $4000.00 IOU to Jack Kelly. Of course Kelly wants his money, but he's also intrigued with what he sees as an obvious con game that Frankham is pushing in regard to Comstock millionaire Arch Johnson with Roxanne Berard whom he's passing off as a countess.

The object is to get Berard hitched to Johnson. But Johnson also has a pair of kids Jimmy Baird and Roberta Shore who object to their stepmother to be.

Bart's problem is one of priorities. He hates seeing Frankham and Berard pulling what they're pulling, but he wants what's owed him first. Should he keep quiet or speak out?

Best scenes in the story is Bart being held prisoner by a pair of rustics played by veteran character actors Tom Fadden and Raymond Hatton. Frankham told these two yokels a tall tale to get their cooperation. Jack Kelly tells them an even taller tale to get them to set him free. Has to be seen.

I'd watch the episode for that alone.