McHale's Navy

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McHale's Navy was an American television sitcom series. The series ran for 138 half-hour episodes from September 11, 1962 to August 20, 1966 on ABC. The series was filmed in black and white. The show sprang from a one-hour drama called Seven Against the Sea broadcast on April 3, 1962.

Contents

[edit] 1962 pilot

[edit] Plot summary

Ernest Borgnine as McHale first appeared as the lead character in a one-shot non-comedy drama called Seven Against the Sea. Aired as an episode of Alcoa Presents, a dramatic anthology also known as Fred Astaire's Premiere Theatre and hosted by Fred Astaire, the idyllic island setting introduces the audience to Lieutenant Commander Quinton McHale (played by Borgnine), the commanding officer of the U.S. Navy WWII PT boat-73 stationed at the Pacific island base Taratupa. In the late spring of 1942, the Japanese heavily bombed the island and virtually destroyed the base. Only 18 out of the 150 Navy aviators and Marines 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 paradisical island existence. After months of rather leisurely living, straight-laced, by-the-book Annapolis graduate Lieutenant Durham (Ron Foster) parachutes onto the island. His job is to assume duties as McHale's executive officer 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 and makes moonshine 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 towards the prospect of losing any more men. His primary concern now is for their survival until they can be rescued. This 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; boats McHale does not have, as the Japanese have sunk all their boats. 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. 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.

[edit] Cast

  • Ernest Borgnine as Quinton McHale
  • William Bramley as Bosun Gallagher
  • Ron Foster as Lieutenant Durham
  • Steve Harris as Plumber Harris
  • Juan Hernandez as Crew Member
  • Gary Vinson as Christy Christopher
  • John Wright as Willy Moss
  • Edson Stroll as Virgil Edwards

[edit] Result

This episode of an early dramatic anthology series received respectable enough ratings for ABC to order it as a series. However, the series they requested was significantly different in tone than the pilot show.

[edit] Series: McHale's Navy (1962–1966)

As was the pilot, the series was set in the Pacific theatre of World War II (in the show's last season the setting was switched to Italy) and focused on the crew of PT-73, again led by Lt. Commander Quinton McHale (Borgnine).

The producer of the series, Edward J. Montagne, had had great success with the top-rated series The Phil Silvers Show (1955-59), a military comedy with an opportunistic non-commissioned officer (Sgt. Ernest G. Bilko) and his loyal platoon constantly putting something over on the base commander. The Ernest Borgnine pilot had been dramatic, with overtones of Henry Fonda's introspective Mister Roberts. Producer 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 superb comics surrounding him.

McHale's second-in-command is Ensign Chuck Parker (Tim Conway), in his career-defining performance as a gentle, naïve but somewhat gung-ho bumbler who usually succeeded in spite of his own ineptitude.

McHale's perpetually frustrated commander is Captain Wallace Burton Binghamton (Joe Flynn), known behind his back as "Old Leadbottom" (nickname he received from a bullet wound to the posterior) and constantly trying to get the goods on "McHale and his pirates." Binghamton's catchphrases were "What in the name of the Blue Pacific" or "What in the name of Halsey" when he saw gambling or native dancing girls on McHale's island and "What is it, What, What, What!?" Despite his bombast, Binghamton was not the most effective officer: his only wartime "accomplishment" consisted of launching a torpedo from the PT-73 and destroying a truck on land. The only time Binghamton ever got the best of the PT-73 crew was in one scene of the sequel movie "Mchale's Navy Joins The Air Force" when Binghamton knocks the Pt-73 crew off a dock into the water-with the exception of Ensign Parker-who follows orders to jump into the sea!

Capt. Binghamton's enthusiastic assistant is the sycophantic Lieutenant Elroy Carpenter (Bob Hastings, a Bilko veteran).

The plots revolve around the efforts of Captain Binghamton to rid himself of the PT-73 crew. Besides Borgnine, the only actors from the dramatic pilot who made it to the series were Gary Vinson as George "Christy" Christopher and John Wright as radioman Willy Moss. Actor and comic magician Carl Ballantine was featured as confident con man Lester Gruber, whose get-rich-quick schemes often got the crew in trouble. Electrician's mate Harrison "Tinker" Bell was played by Billy Sands ("Pvt. Paparelli" on Bilko). The lover boy of the crew was handsome Virgil Edwards (Edson Stroll). Gavin MacLeod (later of both The Mary Tyler Moore Show and The Love Boat) played crew member Joseph "Happy" Haines. The most unusual crew member was a privately held Japanese POW called Fuji (Yoshio Yoda), who had become a de facto comrade that the PT-73 crew kept hidden from Binghamton.

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) and headquarters. Binghamton would then turn to the camera and say, "I could just scream!" "Why me?, Why is it always me?" or "Somebody up there hates me!". With the exception of Binghamton, the Navy brass likes and respects McHale. He had served in the Navy (World War I) and knew the South Pacific as a former Merchant Marine officer, while Binghamton held a reserve commission.

A Polynesian 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; when the Japanese troops arrive, Urulu turns over the picture to reveal a photo of Japanese Emperor Hirohito.

McHale's love interest is a Navy nurse, Molly Turner (Bilko's Jane Dulo). Parker's love interest is a French girl from New Caledonia, played by Claudine Longet.

The final season saw a major change in scenery, as both Binghamton and the 73 and her crew are transferred to the recently liberated Italian theater—a change of assignment that was, in the real WWII, so rare that many military historians disagree as to whether such reassignments ever actually happened. (Only high-ranking officers in the Army Air Force were transferred to Europe from the Pacific. A notable exception was John D. Bulkeley, a PT Boat Skipper). The addition of the clever moneymaking schemes of the Mayor Mario Lugatto (Jay Novello) and citizens of the coastal city of Voltafiore increased the plot twists. Colonel Douglas Harrigan (Henry Beckman) represents the US Army and is at odds with McHale.

[edit] Cast

All the actors, with the exception of Gavin McLeod, appeared on the show for every season.

[edit] Production

The entire Pacific Ocean naval base was built on the backlot of Universal Studios. For many years after the show went off the air, the sets were used as an attraction on the studio tour.

The vessel used for underway shots of the PT 73 in the series was a 70-foot Vosper MTB (Motor Torpedo Boat); a British design built under license in the U.S. for export to Russia. The war ended before the boat could be sent to the Soviet Union. The boat was purchased by Howard Hughes and used as a chase boat for the one and only flight of his Spruce Goose aircraft.[1] Because shots of the crew aboard the PT-73a were filmed on a full-scale mock-up in a soundstage, an echo can frequently be heard during dialog.

The real PT-73 was a 78-foot Higgins boat [2] assigned to Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron 13, which saw service in the Aleutians and in the Southwest Pacific theater. [3] On 15 January 1945, it ran aground, and was destroyed to prevent it falling into enemy hands. [4]

[edit] Theatrical films

There were two feature film spin-offs 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; it is not known why Ballantine was absent. Both McHale films were essentially extended-length episodes of the series, without the laugh tracks. While both did well at the box office, the latter one was not as successful and was derided by the critics as being far too excessive in the slapstick. William Lederer co-authored the second film, used some scenes lifted directly from his comic novel, All the Ship's at Sea.

Some critics claimed Borgnine refused to appear in the second movie due to a poor script. Although Borgnine has denied this repeatedly over the years, the notion that he refused to appear in a third film due to a desire to move on to more dramatic roles still led many fans and critics to believe otherwise. Unlike the television series, both movie versions were fimed in Technicolor.

In 1997, there was a remake, where the PT-73 and its crew operate in a more modern, post-WWII setting. Borgnine reprises his old role in a cameo appearance as an admiral. This film was one of that year's biggest box office flops.

[edit] DVD releases

Shout! Factory has released the first three seasons of McHale's Navy on DVD in Region 1 for the very first time.

DVD Name Ep # Release Date
Season 1 36 March 20, 2007
Season 2 36 September 11, 2007
Season 3 36 March 18, 2008
Season 4 30 TBA

[edit] Trivia

 Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines.
The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.
  • Sometimes a character mentioned an unnamed commander of torpedo boat PT-109. PT-109 was the boat commanded by future President John F. Kennedy during WWII. Ironically, the PT-73 is considered the most recognizable PT boat designator next to PT-109.[citation needed]
  • 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).
  • Ernest Borgnine and Tim Conway provide the voices for MermaidMan and Barnacle Boy in the animated children's show, Spongebob Squarepants
  • 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.

[edit] External links

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ McHale's Navy (1964)
  2. ^ Silverstone, Paul H. (1968). U.S. Warships of WWII. Doubleday, 258. 
  3. ^ PT Boats, Inc.. PT Boat Squadron - RONs 11-15. Retrieved on 2007-04-21.
  4. ^ PT Boats, Inc.. PT Boat Data - PT Boats placed in U.S. Navy service. Retrieved on 2007-04-21.