McHale's Navy
Encyclopedia
McHale's Navy is an American television sitcom series which ran for 138 half-hour episodes from October 11,1962
1962 in television
The year 1962 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 1962.For the American TV schedule, see: 1962-63 American network television schedule.-Events:...

, to August 31, 1966
1966 in television
The year 1966 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 1966.For the American TV schedule, see: 1966-67 American network television schedule.-Events:...

, on the ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

 network. The series was filmed in black and white and originated in a one-hour drama called Seven Against the Sea, broadcast on April 3, 1962. Universal commissioned the colorization of the series in the late 1980s for syndication in hopes of reviving its popularity. Those episodes are available on Hulu
Hulu
Hulu is a website and over-the-top subscription service offering ad-supported on-demand streaming video of TV shows, movies, webisodes and other new media, trailers, clips, and behind-the-scenes footage from NBC, Fox, ABC, and Obstacle on October 20th 2011 Nickelodeon and CBS and many other...

.

Seven Against the Sea (1962)

Academy Award-winning dramatic actor Ernest Borgnine
Ernest Borgnine
Ernest Borgnine is an American actor of television and film. His career has spanned more than six decades. He was an unconventional lead in many films of the 1950s, including his Academy Award-winning turn in the 1955 film Marty...

 as McHale first appeared as the lead character in a one-shot non-comedy drama called Seven Against the Sea, which aired as an episode of Alcoa Presents in 1962, an ABC dramatic anthology also known as Fred Astaire's Premiere Theatre and hosted by Fred Astaire
Fred Astaire
Fred Astaire was an American film and Broadway stage dancer, choreographer, singer and actor. His stage and subsequent film career spanned a total of 76 years, during which he made 31 musical films. He was named the fifth Greatest Male Star of All Time by the American Film Institute...

, who introduced television audiences to the Quinton McHale character.

Plot

During World War II, Lieutenant Commander Quinton McHale (Borgnine
Ernest Borgnine
Ernest Borgnine is an American actor of television and film. His career has spanned more than six decades. He was an unconventional lead in many films of the 1950s, including his Academy Award-winning turn in the 1955 film Marty...

) is the commanding officer of the U.S. Navy PT boat
PT boat
PT Boats were a variety of motor torpedo boat , a small, fast vessel used by the United States Navy in World War II to attack larger surface ships. The PT boat squadrons were nicknamed "the mosquito fleet". The Japanese called them "Devil Boats".The original pre–World War I torpedo boats were...

, PT-73, stationed at the Pacific island base Taratupa. In the late spring of 1942, the Japanese heavily bombed the island, virtually destroying the base. Only 18 out of the 150 Naval Aviator
United States Naval Aviator
A United States Naval Aviator is a qualified pilot in the United States Navy, Marine Corps or Coast Guard.-Naming Conventions:Most Naval Aviators are Unrestricted Line Officers; however, a small number of Limited Duty Officers and Chief Warrant Officers are also trained as Naval Aviators.Until 1981...

s and Marines
United States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...

 assigned to the base survived. With the Japanese patrols in the region too heavy for the Navy to mount a rescue mission, McHale and his men were forced to survive by hiding on the island. Assisted by the native tribes whom they befriend, the sailors live a relatively paradisaical island existence. After months of rather leisurely living, straight-laced, by-the-book Annapolis
United States Naval Academy
The United States Naval Academy is a four-year coeducational federal service academy located in Annapolis, Maryland, United States...

 graduate Lieutenant Durham (Ron Foster
Ron Foster (actor)
Ronald R. Foster, known as Ron Foster , is an American actor, whose longest-running role was as Dr. Charles Grant from 1991-1995 in the defunct CBS soap opera The Guiding Light....

) parachutes onto the island. His job is to assume duties as McHale's executive officer (XO) and help him get the base on Taratupa back into the action.

Durham faces an uphill battle, however: The men have gone native. One of them has started a native laundry service, and McHale has a still
Still
A still is a permanent apparatus used to distill miscible or immiscible liquid mixtures by heating to selectively boil and then cooling to condense the vapor...

 and makes moonshine
Moonshine
Moonshine is an illegally produced distilled beverage...

 for the men and the natives. In addition, McHale is close friends with the native chief and even bathes with him. When Durham informs McHale of his new orders, McHale refuses to follow them. It becomes clear that while McHale is as loyal as any American, following the devastation the Japanese rendered on the previous attack on the base, he is now extremely reluctant to risk losing any more men. His primary concern now is for their survival until they can be rescued, which creates a great deal of friction between Durham and McHale.

When they receive word that a Marine battalion is pinned on a beach, and an enemy cruiser is planning to attack the beachhead in the morning, McHale's attitude changes. McHale is ordered to use all boats they have to protect the beachhead and the Marines; however, McHale does not have any boats, as the Japanese have sunk them all. However, McHale manages to capture a Japanese PT boat that has come to patrol the island. In a surprise to both his men and Durham, McHale does not plan to use the boat to evacuate either his men or the Marine battalion. Instead, he plans to attack and destroy the Japanese cruiser
Cruiser
A cruiser is a type of warship. The term has been in use for several hundreds of years, and has had different meanings throughout this period...

. His plan is that since they are on a Japanese boat, flying a Japanese flag, that they can get close enough to torpedo the cruiser twice and send it to the bottom.

Seven Against the Sea remains available for public viewing at the Paley Center for Media (formerly the Museum of Television and Radio) in New York City and Los Angeles.

Cast

  • Ernest Borgnine
    Ernest Borgnine
    Ernest Borgnine is an American actor of television and film. His career has spanned more than six decades. He was an unconventional lead in many films of the 1950s, including his Academy Award-winning turn in the 1955 film Marty...

     as Lieutenant Commander Quinton McHale
  • Joe Flynn
    Joe Flynn (US actor)
    Joseph A. Flynn was an American character actor. He was best known for his role in the 1960s ABC television situation comedy, McHale's Navy. He was also a frequent guest star on 1960s TV shows such as Batman and appeared in several Walt Disney film comedies...

     as Captain Wallace "Wally" Burton Binghamton
  • Tim Conway
    Tim Conway
    Thomas Daniel "Tim" Conway is an American comedian and actor, primarily known for his roles in sitcoms, films and television. Conway is best known for his role as the inept second-in-command officer, Ensign Charles Parker, to Lt...

     as Ensign Charles Parker

Response

This episode of an early dramatic anthology series received respectable enough ratings for ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

 to order it as a series. However, the series they requested was significantly different in tone from the pilot show.

In an interview in Cinema Retro
Cinema Retro
Cinema Retro is an English magazine devoted to "celebrating films of the 1960s & 1970s". Founded in 2005 by Lee Pfeiffer and Dave Worrall, it is subtitled "the Essential Guide to Cult and Classic Movies"...

magazine, Ernest Borgnine said the show was originally meant as a vehicle for Ron Foster
Ron Foster (actor)
Ronald R. Foster, known as Ron Foster , is an American actor, whose longest-running role was as Dr. Charles Grant from 1991-1995 in the defunct CBS soap opera The Guiding Light....

, who was to have been put on contract at Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures
-1920:* White Youth* The Flaming Disc* Am I Dreaming?* The Dragon's Net* The Adorable Savage* Putting It Over* The Line Runners-1921:* The Fire Eater* A Battle of Wits* Dream Girl* The Millionaire...

, but the idea didn't work out.

One of the producers, Jennings Lang
Jennings Lang
Jennings Lang was an American film producer, as well as a screenwriter and actor.- Biography :...

, recalled the film Destination Gobi
Destination Gobi
Destination Gobi is a 1953 Technicolor war film in which Sam McHale heads a group of US Navy men, sent to Mongolia for weather observation. McHale must lead his men across the treacherous Gobi desert to the freedom of the seacoast...

that gave him the idea to turn the idea into a half hour comedy with Borgnine's PT Boat. Coincidentally, the lead character in Destination Gobi, played by Richard Widmark
Richard Widmark
Richard Weedt Widmark was an American film, stage and television actor.He was nominated for an Academy Award for his role as the villainous Tommy Udo in his debut film, Kiss of Death...

, was also named McHale.

McHale's Navy (1962–1966)

The series was also set in the Pacific theatre
Pacific War
The Pacific War, also sometimes called the Asia-Pacific War refers broadly to the parts of World War II that took place in the Pacific Ocean, its islands, and in East Asia, then called the Far East...

 of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 — although in the show's last season the setting was switched to the European theatre
European Theatre of World War II
The European Theatre of World War II was a huge area of heavy fighting across Europe from Germany's invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939 until the end of the war with the German unconditional surrender on May 8, 1945...

 in Italy — and focused on the crew of PT-73
PT boat
PT Boats were a variety of motor torpedo boat , a small, fast vessel used by the United States Navy in World War II to attack larger surface ships. The PT boat squadrons were nicknamed "the mosquito fleet". The Japanese called them "Devil Boats".The original pre–World War I torpedo boats were...

, again led by Lieutenant Commander Quinton McHale played by Ernest Borgnine.

The producer of the series, Edward J. Montagne, had had great success with the top-rated series The Phil Silvers Show
The Phil Silvers Show
The Phil Silvers Show is a comedy television series which ran on CBS from 1955 to 1959 for 142 episodes, plus a 1959 special. The series starred Phil Silvers as Master Sergeant Ernest G...

(1955–1959), a military comedy with an opportunistic non-commissioned officer and his loyal platoon constantly putting something over on the base commander. While the pilot had been dramatic, with overtones of Henry Fonda
Henry Fonda
Henry Jaynes Fonda was an American film and stage actor.Fonda made his mark early as a Broadway actor. He also appeared in 1938 in plays performed in White Plains, New York, with Joan Tompkins...

's introspective Mister Roberts, Montagne essentially turned the project into "Bilko in the Navy", and even recruited some of the Bilko actors and writers. If Borgnine had any misgivings about his show's change of direction, he hid them well enough and happily played straight-man to the comedians surrounding him. At the time of the series, then- President John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....

 was well-known as being the wartime commander of PT-109
Motor Torpedo Boat PT-109
PT-109 was a PT boat last commanded by Lieutenant, junior grade John F. Kennedy in the Pacific Theater during World War II...

. A popular book, PT 109: John F. Kennedy in WWII by Robert J. Donovan
Robert J. Donovan
Robert John Donovan was a Washington correspondent, author and presidential historian. Donovan attended Lafayette High School in Buffalo, New York, where he was Captain of the Hockey and Track Teams, won honors as the Champion Orator of Buffalo and was a member of the Alpha Beta Chapter of the...

 had come out the previous year, and PT-109 was sometimes slyly referenced in a few episodes relating to a young commissioned PT-boat officer.

In the first episode it is established that McHale was a former merchant ship captain who was intimately familiar with the South Pacific over a period of 20 years. McHale's second-in-command is Ensign Charles Parker (Tim Conway
Tim Conway
Thomas Daniel "Tim" Conway is an American comedian and actor, primarily known for his roles in sitcoms, films and television. Conway is best known for his role as the inept second-in-command officer, Ensign Charles Parker, to Lt...

), who is referred to by McHale as "Chuck" and by the crew as "Mr. Parker" (in the United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

 all officers ranked from Ensign
Ensign
An ensign is a national flag when used at sea, in vexillology, or a distinguishing token, emblem, or badge, such as a symbol of office in heraldry...

 to Lieutenant Commander
Lieutenant Commander
Lieutenant Commander is a commissioned officer rank in many navies. The rank is superior to a lieutenant and subordinate to a commander...

 who are not in command are more often than not referred to as "Mister"). Conway's performance as a gentle, naive but somewhat gung-ho bungler who usually succeeded in spite of his own ineptitude was career-defining. Parker frequently mentions that he is from Chagrin Falls, Ohio
Chagrin Falls, Ohio
Chagrin Falls is a village in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, United States. It is a suburb of Cleveland in the Northeast Ohio region, the 14th largest Combined Statistical Area nationwide. The village was established and has grown around a natural waterfall on the Chagrin River. As of the 2010 census,...

 (Tim Conway grew up there in real life). Among Parker's catchphrases were "Gee, I love that kind of talk" and citations of various naval regulations. In an episode entitled, "The Great Impersonation", Mr. Parker is called upon to impersonate a famous British General (Tim Conway in a dual role) in Noumea, New Caledonia (where he dodges assassins) while the real general leads an invasion against Japanese forces.

McHale's perpetually frustrated commander is Captain Wallace Burton Binghamton (Joe Flynn
Joe Flynn (US actor)
Joseph A. Flynn was an American character actor. He was best known for his role in the 1960s ABC television situation comedy, McHale's Navy. He was also a frequent guest star on 1960s TV shows such as Batman and appeared in several Walt Disney film comedies...

), known behind his back as "Old Leadbottom" (a nickname he received from a bullet wound to the posterior), who is constantly trying to get the goods on "McHale and his pirates." Binghamton often had dreams of military glory, but, in reality, he is a lot more inept than he thinks he is. His job before the war was running a yacht club on Long Island Sound
Long Island Sound
Long Island Sound is an estuary of the Atlantic Ocean, located in the United States between Connecticut to the north and Long Island, New York to the south. The mouth of the Connecticut River at Old Saybrook, Connecticut, empties into the sound. On its western end the sound is bounded by the Bronx...

. Among his catchphrases were "What in the name of the Blue Pacific" or "What in the name of Nimitz (or Halsey)?" when he saw gambling or native dancing girls on McHale's island, and "What is it, wha', wha', wha', what?!" Another one, when he was totally frustrated, was "I could just scream!" Binghamton's dream is to send McHale and his men to prison and he did come close on more than one occasion. Binghamton's enthusiastic assistant is the sycophantic Lieutenant Elroy Carpenter (Bob Hastings
Bob Hastings
Robert "Bob" Hastings is an American film, radio, and television character actor. He has also provided voices for animated cartoons....

, a Bilko
The Phil Silvers Show
The Phil Silvers Show is a comedy television series which ran on CBS from 1955 to 1959 for 142 episodes, plus a 1959 special. The series starred Phil Silvers as Master Sergeant Ernest G...

veteran), who, at times, is shown to be just as much of a bumbler as Parker. The one time Binghamton leads the PT-73 into battle, his only success is sinking an enemy truck on land — with a torpedo (a gag previously used in the Cary Grant
Cary Grant
Archibald Alexander Leach , better known by his stage name Cary Grant, was an English actor who later took U.S. citizenship...

 movie Operation Petticoat
Operation Petticoat
Operation Petticoat is a 1959 comedy film directed by Blake Edwards, and starring Cary Grant and Tony Curtis. It was the basis for a television series in 1977 starring John Astin in Grant's role...

). He also once had McHale replace him as base commander so that he wouldn't have to face tough-as-nails Admiral "Iron Pants" Rafferty (Philip Ober
Philip Ober
Philip Ober was an American actor.Ober often appeared in roles as a straight man in farcical circumstances. One of his most memorable stage role was in Lawrence Riley's Broadway hit Personal Appearance opposite Gladys George. From 1954 to 1967 he frequently appeared in television series...

) who was inspecting naval installations in the area (an episode that featured a young Raquel Welch
Raquel Welch
Jo Raquel Tejada , better known as Raquel Welch, is an American actress, author and sex symbol. Welch came to attention as a "new-star" on the 20th Century-Fox lot in the mid-1960s. She posed iconically in a animal skin bikini for the British-release One Million Years B.C. , for which she may be...

). In a sequel movie, McHale's Navy Joins The Air Force, the only time Binghamton gets the better of the PT-73 crew is when he orders them to jump off a dock. Throughout the run of the series, characters are frequently shown saluting without a hat on and indoors. In contrast, in the actual United States Navy, personnel are not supposed to salute "uncovered" (without a hat on) nor "in the house" (indoors) unless "covered" and "under arms", i.e., wearing headgear and carrying a weapon, typically a sidearm such as a pistol. Binghamton also mentions The Pentagon
The Pentagon
The Pentagon is the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense, located in Arlington County, Virginia. As a symbol of the U.S. military, "the Pentagon" is often used metonymically to refer to the Department of Defense rather than the building itself.Designed by the American architect...

 on more than one occasion. This would have been historically accurate because the series was set in 1943–1944 and The Pentagon was ready for occupancy in 1942.
The plots revolved around the efforts of McHale's crew to make money, get girls and have a good time, and the efforts of Captain Binghamton to rid himself of the PT-73 crew. Sometimes, Binghamton would use legitimate means to try to get rid of McHale and/or his crew. In one episode, he even tried to get the whole crew promoted to Chief Petty Officer
Chief Petty Officer
A chief petty officer is a senior non-commissioned officer in many navies and coast guards.-Canada:"Chief Petty Officer" refers to two ranks in the Canadian Navy...

 so that they would all be split up and reassigned. In the crew, actor and comic magician Carl Ballantine
Carl Ballantine
Carl Ballantine was an American magician, comedian and actor. Billing himself as "The Great Ballantine", "The Amazing Ballantine" or "Ballantine: The World's Greatest Magician", his vaudeville-style comedy routine involved transparent or incompetent stage magic tricks, which tended to flop and go...

 was featured as confident con man Torpedoman Lester Gruber, whose get-rich-quick schemes often got the crew in trouble. Gruber hails from Brooklyn, New York and makes frequent references to the Dodgers and Ebbets Field
Ebbets Field
Ebbets Field was a Major League Baseball park located in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn, New York, USA, on a city block which is now considered to be part of the Crown Heights neighborhood. It was the home of the Brooklyn Dodgers of the National League. It was also a venue for professional football...

. Motor Machinist Mate Harrison "Tinker" Bell was played by Billy Sands
Billy Sands
Billy Sands was an American character actor who appeared as a regular on The Phil Silvers Show as Pvt Dino Papparelli and was a regular on McHale's Navy as Tinker...

 ("Pvt. Paparelli" on Bilko). Gavin MacLeod
Gavin MacLeod
Gavin MacLeod is an American actor most notable for playing Happy Haines on McHale's Navy, Murray Slaughter on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Captain Merrill Stubing on The Love Boat...

 (later of both The Mary Tyler Moore Show
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
The Mary Tyler Moore Show is an American television sitcom created by James L. Brooks and Allan Burns that aired on CBS from 1970 to 1977...

and The Love Boat
The Love Boat
The Love Boat is an American television series set on a cruise ship, which aired on the ABC Television Network from September 24,1977, until May 24,1986.The show starred Gavin MacLeod as the ship's captain...

) played crew member Seaman Joseph "Happy" Haines. MacLeod ended up leaving the series before its final season. Besides Borgnine, the only actors from the dramatic pilot who made it to the series were Gary Vinson
Gary Vinson
Gary Vinson was an American actor who appeared in significant roles in three television series of the 1960s: The Roaring 20s, McHale's Navy, and Pistols 'n' Petticoats.-Early life and career:...

 as Quartermaster George "Christy" Christopher, who ends up becoming a devoted family man, Edson Stroll
Edson Stroll
Edson Stroll was an American actor. He made over 20 film and television appearances since 1958.-Career:Stroll began his career as a bodybuilder in the 1950s. He then moved to acting in 1958 with bit parts on television shows such as How to Marry a Millionaire, Sea Hunt and The Twilight Zone...

 as Gunner's Mate Virgil Edwards, the handsome lover boy of the crew, and John Wright as Radioman Willy Moss, a good-natured Southerner who operates the crew's still (a carryover from the original dramatic pilot). During the first season, the whole crew seemed to be on a somewhat equal footing, but during the later seasons, a sort of "pecking order" was established with Gruber at its head. The most unusual crew member was a Japanese POW
Prisoner of war
A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...

 named Fuji Kobiaji (Yoshio Yoda
Yoshio Yoda
Yoshio Yoda is a Japanese actor who played Fuji Kobiaji on the television series McHale's Navy. He also appeared in the movie The Horizontal Lieutenant...

), who had become a de facto comrade that the PT-73 crew kept hidden from Binghamton. However, in at least one episode as well as the feature McHale's Navy Joins The Air Force, his name is given as Takeo Fujiwara. In exchange for being given a home, Fuji gladly served as the crew's houseboy. Keeping Fuji hidden from Captain Binghamton became a running gag
Running gag
A running gag, or running joke, is a literary device that takes the form of an amusing joke or a comical reference and appears repeatedly throughout a work of literature or other form of storytelling....

 throughout the entire run of the series.

Quite often, Binghamton is ready to send McHale and his gang to the brig, only to see them pull off a military success against the enemy that impresses Admiral Reynolds (Herbert Lytton) or Admiral Rodgers (Roy Roberts
Roy Roberts
Roy Roberts was an American character actor. Over his more than 40-year career, he appeared in more than nine hundred productions on stage and screen.-Biography:...

), many times thanks to McHale's knowledge of the area, gained from his service in the South Pacific as a Merchant Marine
Merchant Navy
The Merchant Navy is the maritime register of the United Kingdom, and describes the seagoing commercial interests of UK-registered ships and their crews. Merchant Navy vessels fly the Red Ensign and are regulated by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency...

 officer. Despite their reputations as schemers and connivers, McHale's men were highly competent when it came to their jobs — something McHale constantly pointed out to Binghamton and also to Mister Parker in the very first episode. Sometimes, various members of the crew would have to disguise themselves in order to carry out their elaborate schemes. Whenever a situation arose that called for disguise as a woman, it was usually Tinker or Mister Parker that would end up dressing in drag
Drag (clothing)
Drag is used for any clothing carrying symbolic significance but usually referring to the clothing associated with one gender role when worn by a person of another gender. The origin of the term "drag" is unknown, but it may have originated in Polari, a gay street argot in England in the early...

. Another running gag has a frustrated Binghamton turning to the camera (see: breaking the fourth wall
Fourth wall
The fourth wall is the imaginary "wall" at the front of the stage in a traditional three-walled box set in a proscenium theatre, through which the audience sees the action in the world of the play...

), and saying, "I could just scream!", "Why me? Why is it always me?", or "Somebody up there hates me!"

A Polynesia
Polynesia
Polynesia is a subregion of Oceania, made up of over 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean. The indigenous people who inhabit the islands of Polynesia are termed Polynesians and they share many similar traits including language, culture and beliefs...

n chief, Pali Urulu (Jacques Aubuchon) is as crooked as McHale's men. When McHale and his men are in Urulu's village, the chief displays a large photo of President Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...

; when the Japanese troops arrive, Urulu turns over the picture to reveal a photo of Japanese Emperor Hirohito
Hirohito
, posthumously in Japan officially called Emperor Shōwa or , was the 124th Emperor of Japan according to the traditional order, reigning from December 25, 1926, until his death in 1989. Although better known outside of Japan by his personal name Hirohito, in Japan he is now referred to...

. Another character who was as crooked as Urulu was "Big Frenchy" (George Kennedy
George Kennedy
George Harris Kennedy, Jr. is an American actor who has appeared in over 200 film and television productions. He is perhaps most familiar as the convict Dragline in Cool Hand Luke , airline troubleshooter Joe Patroni in the Airport series of disaster movies from the 1970s and...

) from New Caledonia, who always played up to McHale.

One episode entitled "The Comrades of 73" portrayed the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 and the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

 as being allies in the Pacific Theater of World War II. However, during the 1943–1944 time period during which the series is supposed to be set, this would be incorrect. The Soviet Union did not actually declare war against Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

 until August 8, 1945 — two days after the U.S. dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima
Hiroshima
is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture, and the largest city in the Chūgoku region of western Honshu, the largest island of Japan. It became best known as the first city in history to be destroyed by a nuclear weapon when the United States Army Air Forces dropped an atomic bomb on it at 8:15 A.M...

. Despite this, the series was known for being more historically accurate than its contemporary series, F Troop
F Troop
F Troop is a satirical American television sitcom that originally aired for two seasons on ABC-TV. It debuted in the United States on September 14, 1965 and concluded its run on April 6, 1967 with a total of 65 episodes. The first season of 34 episodes was filmed in black-and-white, but the show...

.

McHale's love interest is a Navy nurse, Molly Turner (Bilkos Jane Dulo). Parker's love interest is a French girl from New Caledonia
New Caledonia
New Caledonia is a special collectivity of France located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, east of Australia and about from Metropolitan France. The archipelago, part of the Melanesia subregion, includes the main island of Grande Terre, the Loyalty Islands, the Belep archipelago, the Isle of...

, Yvette Gerard, played by Claudine Longet
Claudine Longet
Claudine Georgette Longet is a French singer and recording artist who was popular during the 1960s and 1970s. She is also an actress and a dancer.Born in Paris, France, Longet was married to pop singer Andy Williams from 1961 until 1975...

. When McHale and his men transfer to the European Theater, there are hints of a relationship developing between Mister Parker and by-the-book female Ensign Sandra Collins (Maura McGiveney), who with a few other WAVES
WAVES
The WAVES were a World War II-era division of the U.S. Navy that consisted entirely of women. The name of this group is an acronym for "Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service" ; the word "emergency" implied that the acceptance of women was due to the unusual circumstances of the war and...

 clad only in bathing suits, provided valuable (albeit unwitting) assistance in capturing a German U-Boat
U-boat
U-boat is the anglicized version of the German word U-Boot , itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot , and refers to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in World War I and World War II...

.

The final season saw a major change in scenery, as both Binghamton and the 73 crew (including Fuji who, in the final season's first episode, was found stowed away in the 73 as it was being transported) are transferred to the recently liberated Italian theater. In the first episode of the final season, it was discovered that McHale could speak fluent Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...

 — something that served him well in his new assignment. The addition of the clever moneymaking schemes of the Mayor Mario Lugatto (Jay Novello
Jay Novello
Jay Novello was an American radio, film, and television character actor.Born in Chicago as Michael Romano, of Italian descent, Novello began his career as a radio actor, playing Jack Packard on the Hollywood version of I Love a Mystery for a brief period, circa 1944...

) and the antics of the citizens of the coastal city of Voltafiore (where Binghamton was serving as Military Governor) increased the plot twist
Plot twist
A plot twist is a change in the expected direction or outcome of the plot of a film, television series, video game, novel, comic or other fictional work. It is a common practice in narration used to keep the interest of an audience, usually surprising them with a revelation...

s. While Binghamton and Carpenter lived in the city hall building, McHale and his men were assigned to bivouac
Bivouac
Bivouac may refer to:* Bivouac Peak, a mountain in the Teton Range, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming, USA* A military camp** Bivouac shelter** Bivouac sack, or "bivy sack" or bivy bag, an extremely lightweight alternative to traditional tent systems...

 in tents on the nearby beach. However, they stumbled onto an abandoned wine cellar where they hid Fuji and it became their underground hideout as well — a fact that was kept a carefully guarded secret from the ever-suspicious Binghamton, though he did almost discover it on one occasion. Colonel Douglas Harrigan (Henry Beckman
Henry Beckman
Henry Beckman was a Canadian stage, film and television actor. He appeared in well over 100 productions in the United States and Canada, including recurring roles as Commander Paul Richards in the 1954 Flash Gordon space opera television series, Bob Mulligan in the ABC sitcom I'm Dickens, He's...

) represents the U.S. Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...

 in the area and becomes another thorn in McHale's side. Something of a schemer himself, Harrigan would sometimes be on McHale's side, sometimes be on Binghamton's side, or he would play one off against the other — whatever happened to suit his purposes at the time. It has been speculated that the locale shift was done because the Pacific sets were taking up too much space on the Universal lot that could have been used for feature films instead (a fate that also befell F Troop
F Troop
F Troop is a satirical American television sitcom that originally aired for two seasons on ABC-TV. It debuted in the United States on September 14, 1965 and concluded its run on April 6, 1967 with a total of 65 episodes. The first season of 34 episodes was filmed in black-and-white, but the show...

), though as noted below, they remained standing for several years.

Cast

Except where noted, all the actors appeared on the show for every season:
  • Ernest Borgnine
    Ernest Borgnine
    Ernest Borgnine is an American actor of television and film. His career has spanned more than six decades. He was an unconventional lead in many films of the 1950s, including his Academy Award-winning turn in the 1955 film Marty...

     as Lieutenant Commander Quinton McHale
  • Tim Conway
    Tim Conway
    Thomas Daniel "Tim" Conway is an American comedian and actor, primarily known for his roles in sitcoms, films and television. Conway is best known for his role as the inept second-in-command officer, Ensign Charles Parker, to Lt...

    as Ensign Charles Parker
  • Joe Flynn
    Joe Flynn (US actor)
    Joseph A. Flynn was an American character actor. He was best known for his role in the 1960s ABC television situation comedy, McHale's Navy. He was also a frequent guest star on 1960s TV shows such as Batman and appeared in several Walt Disney film comedies...

     as Captain Wallace B. Binghamton
  • Carl Ballantine
    Carl Ballantine
    Carl Ballantine was an American magician, comedian and actor. Billing himself as "The Great Ballantine", "The Amazing Ballantine" or "Ballantine: The World's Greatest Magician", his vaudeville-style comedy routine involved transparent or incompetent stage magic tricks, which tended to flop and go...

     as Lester Gruber, Torpedoman's Mate
    Torpedoman's Mate
    Torpedoman's Mate was a United States Navy occupational rating. It was disestablished on 1 October 2007. Surface Torpedomen were merged into the Gunner's Mate rating, while submarine Torpedomen were merged into the Machinist Mate rating, becoming MM or Machinist Mates...

  • Gary Vinson
    Gary Vinson
    Gary Vinson was an American actor who appeared in significant roles in three television series of the 1960s: The Roaring 20s, McHale's Navy, and Pistols 'n' Petticoats.-Early life and career:...

     as George "Christy" Christopher, Quartermaster
    Quartermaster
    Quartermaster refers to two different military occupations depending on if the assigned unit is land based or naval.In land armies, especially US units, it is a term referring to either an individual soldier or a unit who specializes in distributing supplies and provisions to troops. The senior...

  • Billy Sands
    Billy Sands
    Billy Sands was an American character actor who appeared as a regular on The Phil Silvers Show as Pvt Dino Papparelli and was a regular on McHale's Navy as Tinker...

     as Harrison "Tinker" Bell, Engineman
    Engineman
    Engineman is a United States Navy occupational rating.-Scope of Rating:Enginemen operate, service and repair internal combustion engines used to power some of the Navy's ships and most of the Navy's small craft. Most Enginemen work with diesel engines...

  • Edson Stroll
    Edson Stroll
    Edson Stroll was an American actor. He made over 20 film and television appearances since 1958.-Career:Stroll began his career as a bodybuilder in the 1950s. He then moved to acting in 1958 with bit parts on television shows such as How to Marry a Millionaire, Sea Hunt and The Twilight Zone...

     as Virgil Edwards, Gunner's Mate
    Gunner's Mate
    The United States Navy occupational rating of gunner's mate also known as gunsmens mate is a designation given by the Bureau of Naval Personnel to enlisted sailors who either satisfactorily complete initial Gunner's Mate "A" school training, or who "strike" for the rating as a deck seaman by...

  • Gavin MacLeod
    Gavin MacLeod
    Gavin MacLeod is an American actor most notable for playing Happy Haines on McHale's Navy, Murray Slaughter on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Captain Merrill Stubing on The Love Boat...

     as Joseph "Happy" Haines, Torpedoman's mate (1962–1964) (left the show to appear in The Sand Pebbles
    The Sand Pebbles (film)
    The Sand Pebbles is a 1966 American period war film directed by Robert Wise. It tells the story of an independent, rebellious U.S. Navy Machinist's Mate aboard the fictional gunboat USS San Pablo in 1920s China....

    )
  • Yoshio Yoda
    Yoshio Yoda
    Yoshio Yoda is a Japanese actor who played Fuji Kobiaji on the television series McHale's Navy. He also appeared in the movie The Horizontal Lieutenant...

     as Fuji Kobiaji, Cook, Seaman
    Seaman
    Seaman is one of the lowest ranks in a Navy. In the Commonwealth it is the lowest rank in the Navy, followed by Able Seaman and Leading Seaman, and followed by the Petty Officer ranks....

     3C, Japanese PW
  • John Wright as Willy Moss, Radioman
    Radioman
    Radioman was a rating for United States Navy and United States Coast Guard enlisted personnel, specializing in communications technology.-History of the rating:...

  • Bob Hastings
    Bob Hastings
    Robert "Bob" Hastings is an American film, radio, and television character actor. He has also provided voices for animated cartoons....

     as Lt. Elroy Carpenter

Dual roles

In several episodes of the series, principal actors played dual roles, including:
  • Ernest Borgnine, who played McHale's look-alike Italian cousin, Giuseppe, in "Giuseppe McHale" and "The Return of Giuseppe".
  • Joe Flynn, who played Seaman Smoot in "Alias Captain Binghamton".
  • Tim Conway, who played British General Smythe-Pelly in "The Great Impersonation" and Admiral Chester "Rockpile" Beaty in "The Seven Faces of Ensign Parker".

Production

The entire Pacific Ocean naval base was built on the back-lot of Universal Studios
Universal Studios
Universal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios....

. For many years after the show went off the air, the sets were used as an attraction on the studio tour. The portion of the Universal Studios tour involving Bruce the Shark attacking the tourist tram takes place on the part of the lot known as McHale's Lagoon, according to the tour guides.

There were Three PT-73 boats. One was used for the shots at sea and two were converted 63' WW II Army Air Force Sea Rescue Boats which were based at Universal studios. The vessels used for shots of the PT-73 under way was a 72-foot type II Vosper
Vosper
Vosper may refer to:*People**Cyril Ronald Vosper, a British Scientologist and, later, critic of Scientology**Dennis Forwood Vosper, Baron Runcorn, a British Conservative politician...

 MTB (Motor Torpedo Boat
Motor Torpedo Boat
Motor Torpedo Boat was the name given to fast torpedo boats by the Royal Navy, and the Royal Canadian Navy.The capitalised term is generally used for the Royal Navy boats and abbreviated to "MTB"...

), a British design built under license in the U.S. for export to Russia. The war ended in August 1945 before the boat, the real number of which was
PT-694, could be sent to the Soviet Union. The boat was then purchased by Howard Hughes
Howard Hughes
Howard Robard Hughes, Jr. was an American business magnate, investor, aviator, engineer, film producer, director, and philanthropist. He was one of the wealthiest people in the world...

 and used as a chase boat for the one and only flight of his Spruce Goose aircraft. The boat was then sold to the studio — as there were few other real PT boats left in existence at the time — and some liberties were taken in reconfiguring it (machine gun turrets were added to both sides of the pilot house, and a mainmast was added just aft of mid-hull) to look like a PT Boat. Shots of the crew aboard the PT-73 were filmed on a full-scale mock-up in a sound stage
Sound stage
In common usage, a sound stage is a soundproof, hangar-like structure, building, or room, used for the production of theatrical filmmaking and television production, usually located on a secure movie studio property.-Overview:...

.

"
PT-73" was later sold to the mayor of Hawthorne, California
Hawthorne, California
Hawthorne is a city in southwestern Los Angeles County, California. The city at the 2010 census had a population of 84,293, up from 84,112 at the 2000 census.-Geography:...

, Hal Crozer and was converted to a sport fishing boat. In 1992 the boat was destroyed when it broke loose of its mooring near Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, California
Santa Barbara is the county seat of Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Situated on an east-west trending section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coast of the United States, the city lies between the steeply-rising Santa Ynez Mountains and the Pacific Ocean...

 and washed up on the beach during a storm.

The real
PT-73 was a 78-foot Higgins boat
LCVP
The Landing Craft, Vehicle, Personnel or Higgins boat was a landing craft used extensively in amphibious landings in World War II. The craft was designed by Andrew Higgins of Louisiana, United States, based on boats made for operating in swamps and marshes...

  assigned to Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron 13, which saw service in the Aleutians and in the Southwest Pacific theater. The real
PT-73 did not have as illustrious a combat record as its fictitious counterpart. On January 15, 1945 it ran aground, and was destroyed to prevent it falling into enemy hands.

PT-73s final appearance on television was in an episode of the 1970s show Emergency!
Emergency!
Emergency! is an American television series that combines the medical drama and action-adventure genres. It was produced by Mark VII Limited and distributed by Universal Studios...

("Quicker Than the Eye," Season 4, Episode 8 — Aired: 11/9/1974). Station 51 was dispatched to a movie studio to rescue a man trapped beneath a boat. The boat in question was being moved from one end of the studio to another by truck and the wooden supports holding it had broken and trapped a man underneath. "PT-73" is clearly visible on the bow, appearing as if the numbers had been removed, but the image of them remained. The boat was also missing its pilot house, masts, and depth charges.

Spinoff

Producer Edward Montagne provided a female version of McHale's Navy entitled Broadside
Broadside (TV series)
Broadside is an American sitcom that aired on ABC during the 1964-1965 TV season. The series, produced by McHale's Navy creator Edward Montagne, starred Kathleen Nolan, formerly of The Real McCoys .-Synopsis:The series centered around the women of the Navy circa World War II,...

, which ran for 32 episodes in the 1964–1965 ABC season. In place of the PT crew were a group of WAVES
WAVES
The WAVES were a World War II-era division of the U.S. Navy that consisted entirely of women. The name of this group is an acronym for "Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service" ; the word "emergency" implied that the acceptance of women was due to the unusual circumstances of the war and...

 led by Lt j.g. Anne Morgan (Kathleen Nolan
Kathleen Nolan
Kathleen Nolan is an American actress. She is sometimes confused with actress Jeanette Nolan. From 1957 to 1962, she played the role of Kate McCoy, a housewife in her late twenties, in the Walter Brennan series The Real McCoys....

) consisting of Joan Staley
Joan Staley
Joan Staley is an American actress and model. She is perhaps best known for being Playboy magazine's Playmate of the Month for its November 1958 issue. Her centerfold was photographed by Lawrence Schiller and Ron Vogel...

, Sheila James, Lois Roberts and Jimmy Boyd (as a male with a female name), up against Binghamton type Captain Edward Andrews
Edward Andrews
Edward Andrews was an American actor, one of the most recognizable character actors on television and films between the 1950s and the 1980s...

 and his Lt Carpenter clone George Furth
George Furth
George Furth was an American librettist, playwright, and actor.-Biography:Furth was born George Schweinfurth in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Evelyn and George Schweinfurth...

. Furth had guest starred in an episode of McHale's Navy entitled, "Dart Gun Wedding". Dick Sargent
Dick Sargent
Richard Stanford Cox , known professionally as Dick Sargent, was an American actor, notable as the second actor to portray Darrin Stephens on the television series Bewitched...

 provided a love interest for Nolan.

Theatrical films

There were two feature film
Feature film
In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...

 spin-offs
Spin-off (media)
In media, a spin-off is a radio program, television program, video game, or any narrative work, derived from one or more already existing works, that focuses, in particular, in more detail on one aspect of that original work...

 based on the series: McHale's Navy (1964) and McHale's Navy Joins the Air Force (1965). The full cast appeared in both films, with the exception of Borgnine and Ballantine in the latter film; Borgnine was unavailable due to schedule conflicts resulting from the filming of The Flight of the Phoenix
The Flight of the Phoenix (1965 film)
The Flight of the Phoenix is a 1965 American film produced and directed by Robert Aldrich and based on the 1964 novel The Flight of the Phoenix by Elleston Trevor...

; it is not known why Ballantine was absent. To beef up the crew, Gavin MacLeod
Gavin MacLeod
Gavin MacLeod is an American actor most notable for playing Happy Haines on McHale's Navy, Murray Slaughter on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Captain Merrill Stubing on The Love Boat...

, who had left the series, agreed to return for this one appearance. In a Cinema Retro interview, Borgnine said the producer Edward Montagne wanted to make the film cheaply without him and wouldn't show him the script.

Both films were essentially extended-length episodes of the series, without the laugh track
Laugh track
A laugh track is a separate soundtrack invented by Charles "Charley" Douglass, with the artificial sound of audience laughter, made to be inserted into television programming of comedy shows and sitcoms.The term "laugh track" does not apply to the genuine audience laughter on shows that shoot in...

s. While both did well at the box office, the latter one was not as successful and was derided by some critics as being far too excessive in its use of slapstick
Slapstick
Slapstick is a type of comedy involving exaggerated violence and activities which may exceed the boundaries of common sense.- Origins :The phrase comes from the batacchio or bataccio — called the 'slap stick' in English — a club-like object composed of two wooden slats used in Commedia dell'arte...

 comedy, though others praised it for its satirizing of military incompetence (after a typical screw-up, the Japanese POW Fuji sighs, "Beats me how they beating us."). William Lederer
William Lederer
William Julius Lederer, Jr. was an American author.-Biography:He was a US Naval Academy graduate in 1936. His first appointment was as the junior officer of a river gunboat on the Yangtze River....

, who co-authored the second film with John Fenton Murray, used some scenes lifted directly from his comic novel, All the Ships at Sea. Unlike the television series, both movies were filmed in Technicolor
Technicolor
Technicolor is a color motion picture process invented in 1916 and improved over several decades.It was the second major process, after Britain's Kinemacolor, and the most widely used color process in Hollywood from 1922 to 1952...

.

In 1997 a remake
McHale's Navy (1997 film)
McHale's Navy is a 1997 military comedy film starring Tom Arnold as the son of Lieutenant Commander Quinton McHale , known by the same name. The movie is based on the television series that starred Ernest Borgnine.-Plot:...

 was released, starring Tom Arnold
Tom Arnold (actor)
Thomas Dwaine "Tom" Arnold is an American actor and comedian. He has appeared in many films, perhaps most notably True Lies . He was the host of The Best Damn Sports Show Period for four years.-Early life:...

 as McHale's Naval Academy graduate son, which showed the PT-73 and its crew operating in a more modern, post-World War II setting in the Caribbean. Borgnine has a cameo appearance
Cameo appearance
A cameo role or cameo appearance is a brief appearance of a known person in a work of the performing arts, such as plays, films, video games and television...

 as the senior McHale, now a Rear Admiral.

DVD releases

Shout! Factory
Shout! Factory
Shout! Factory is an entertainment company founded in 2003 that was started by Richard Foos , Bob Emmer and Garson Foos initially as a specialty music label...

 has released all four seasons of McHale's Navy on DVD in Region 1. In Australia, Madman Entertainment
Madman Entertainment
Madman Entertainment is an Australian company that distributes international films as well as Japanese anime and manga in Australia and New Zealand. The company is owned by Funtastic Limited and is one of the major entertainment companies in Australia. It employs 130 people and has an annual...

 has released all 4 seasons on DVD. Madman Entertainment
Madman Entertainment
Madman Entertainment is an Australian company that distributes international films as well as Japanese anime and manga in Australia and New Zealand. The company is owned by Funtastic Limited and is one of the major entertainment companies in Australia. It employs 130 people and has an annual...

 had released the first three season in Australia on August 3, 2009 in Slimline packaging replacing the original releases which, were box sets. In June 2011, a Slimline packaged set of Season 4 was seen in Big W stores in Australia in Region 4, however, there is no details on the item being available any where else.
DVD Name Ep # Release dates
Region 1 Region 4
Season 1 36 March 20, 2007 August 16, 2007
Season 2 36 September 11, 2007 November 8, 2007
Season 3 36 March 18, 2008 August 6, 2008
Season 4 30 November 18, 2008 May 20, 2009

Production notes

  • Occasionally a character would mention an unnamed commander of torpedo boat PT-109 most notably when Ensign Parker describes the distinctive voice of the commander with Conway doing a JFK impression. PT-109
    Motor Torpedo Boat PT-109
    PT-109 was a PT boat last commanded by Lieutenant, junior grade John F. Kennedy in the Pacific Theater during World War II...

    was the boat commanded by future President John F. Kennedy
    John F. Kennedy
    John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....

     during World War II. The PT-73 is considered the most recognizable PT boat
    PT boat
    PT Boats were a variety of motor torpedo boat , a small, fast vessel used by the United States Navy in World War II to attack larger surface ships. The PT boat squadrons were nicknamed "the mosquito fleet". The Japanese called them "Devil Boats".The original pre–World War I torpedo boats were...

     designator next to PT-109.
  • Alone among the principal officer characters, McHale wears a historically accurately-sized US Navy crest on his hat (prior to the '50s, the crest was noticeably smaller than it is today).
  • In one of the extras on the First Season DVD release of the show, Ernest Borgnine mentions that Yoshio Yoda who portrayed "Fuji" had changed his name to James Yoda and eventually became an executive at Toyota. Borgnine also mentions that, "for years, McHale's Navy was one of the best recruiting tools the Navy ever had."
  • Actor Mako Iwamatsu portrayed several Japanese Enemy characters throughout the series.
  • The signal
    Naval flag signalling
    Naval flag signalling covers various forms of flag signalling, such as semaphore or flaghoist, used by various navies; distinguished from maritime flag signalling by merchant or other non-naval vessels or flags used for identification.-History:...

     flags seen under the "Written By..." at the beginning of episodes spell out "C-H-A-L" the central letters of "McHale"
  • Novelist Joseph Heller
    Joseph Heller
    Joseph Heller was a US satirical novelist, short story writer, and playwright. His best known work is Catch-22, a novel about US servicemen during World War II...

    , author of the celebrated Catch-22
    Catch-22
    Catch-22 is a satirical, historical novel by the American author Joseph Heller. He began writing it in 1953, and the novel was first published in 1961. It is set during World War II in 1943 and is frequently cited as one of the great literary works of the twentieth century...

    , wrote the first season episode "PT 73 Where Are You?" (credited as "Joe Heller").

External links

  • McHale's Navy at Hulu
    Hulu
    Hulu is a website and over-the-top subscription service offering ad-supported on-demand streaming video of TV shows, movies, webisodes and other new media, trailers, clips, and behind-the-scenes footage from NBC, Fox, ABC, and Obstacle on October 20th 2011 Nickelodeon and CBS and many other...

  • History of the real PT-73

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK