John Mahoney Passes On

John Mahoney, best known for playing Martin Crane on the sitcom Frasier, as well as appearing in such films as Eight Men Out (1988) and The Hudsucker Proxy (1994), died on February 4 2018 at the age of 77. The cause was complications from throat cancer.

John Mahoney was born on June 20 1940 in Blackpool, Lancashire. Following World War II he visited his older, married sister in the United States, and he decided he wanted to move there. He returned to the United States in his late teens and served in the United States Army. He earned his citizenship in 1959. After serving in the military he earned a Bachelor's degree at Quincy College in Quincy, Illinois. He earned a Master's degree Western Illinois University in Macomb. He was a teacher for a time and later edited a medical journal. He also found himself unhappy. He decided to take up acting and took classes at the St. Nicholas Theatre in Chicago.

David Mamet was his teacher at the St. Nicholas Theatre, and Mr. Mahoney appeared in Mr. Mamet's The Water Engine. A fellow member of the cast, John Malkovich, invited him to join the Steppenwolf Theatre. At the Steppenwolf Theatre he appeared in such productions as Of Mice and Men, The Man Who Came to Dinner, and The Dresser.

In 1981 he made his movie debut in Hudson Taylor. He made his television debut in 1982 in an episode of Crime Story. In 1986 he made his Broadway debut in The House of Blue Leaves. In the Eighties he appeared in such films as Mission Hill (1982), Code of Silence (1985), The Manhattan Project (1986), Tin Men (1987), Moonstruck (1987), Eight Men Out (1988), Say Anything (1989), and The Russia House (1990). On television he guest starred on such shows as Lady Blue, Saturday Night Live, and American Playhouse. He was a regular on the short-lived series H.E.L.P. He appeared in such television movies as The Christmas Gift and Favourite Son.

In the Nineties Mr. Mahoney was a regular on the short-lived show The Human Factor. It was in 1993 that he began an eleven year stint on Frasier, playing the title psychiatrist's curmudgeonly father Martin Crane. He was twice nominated for the Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for the role. In the Nineties he guest starred on such shows as Cheers, 3rd Rock from the Sun, Tracy Takes On, and Becker. He appeared in such films as Barton Fink (1991), Striking Distance (1993), The Hudsucker Proxy (1994), The American President (1995), and Primal Fear (1996). He provided voices for the animated films Antz (1998) and The Iron Giant (1999).

In the Naughts John Mahoney continued to appear on Frasier. He guest starred on ER, The Simpsons, and Burn Notice. He was a regular on the short lived show In Treatment. He appeared in the films Almost Salinas (2001), Dan in Real Life (2007), and Flipped (2010). He provided a voice for the animated film Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001).  He appeared on Broadway in Prelude to a Kiss. In the Teens he guest starred on Burn Notice, $#*! My Dad Says, and Foyle's War.  He had a recurring role on Hot in Cleveland.

John Mahoney was an extremely talented actor. This can be seen in his performance as Martin Crane. He was totally convincing as Martin, even though he was much younger than the character (in reality Mr. Mahoney was only around 15 years older than the show's star, Kelsey Grammer, who played his son). Of course, Mr. Mahoney played more than Martin Crane and his career is notable for the variety of roles he played. In Eight Men Out he played White Sox manager Kid Gleason. In Say Anything he played a divorced father. In The Iron Giant he was the voice of General Rogard. Throughout his career John Mahoney played a variety of roles, from police officers to doctors.

Ann Gillis Passes On

Ann Gillis, who played both Little Orphan Annie and Becky Thatcher, died on January 31 2018 at the age of 90.

Ann Gillis was born on February 12 1927 in Little Rock, Arkansas. She made her film debut when she was only seven years old, in an uncredited role in Men in White in 1934. She appeared in small roles in such films as The Great Ziegfeld (1936), The Singing Cowboy (1936), and The Garden of Allah (1936) before receiving her big break in the film King of Hockey in 1936. Arguably the height of Ann Gillis's career was in the late Thirties, when she appeared as Beck Thatcher in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1938) and starred as the title character in Little Orphan Annie (1938).  In the late Thirties she also appeared in such movies as Off to the Races (1937), Peck's Bad Boy with the Circus (1938), Beau Geste (1939), All This, and Heaven Too (1940), and Little Men (1940).

In the Forties Miss Gillis appeared in such films as Nice Girl? (1941), Glamour Boy (1941), Meet the Stewarts (1942), Tough As They Come (1942), Man from Music Mountain (1943), A Wave, a WAC and a Marine (1944), The Time of Their Lives (1946), Sweetheart of Sigma Chi (1946), and Big Town After Dark (1947). She more or less retired after 1947 and only appeared in a few television shows for much of the Fifties and Sixties. She made her television debut in 1951 on the sci-fi anthology Out There and then guest starred on such shows as Studio One, BBC Sunday-Night Play, Man of the World, Espionage, and The Saint. Her last appearance on screen was as Poole's mother in 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968).

Super Bowl Commercials 2018

The Super Bowl is often counted as one of the big events in the American calendar. That having been said, I suspect a lot of people look forward to the commercials that air during the game more than the game itself. As someone who prefers the commercials to the game (in fact, I don't even watch the Super Bowl--I watch the commercials later), I have to confess that I was somewhat disappointed in this year's adverts. Unlike the past few years most advertisers eschewed politics and instead made commercials that tried to be funny (usually a good thing, IMHO). And I cannot emphasise "tried" enough. The M&M's commercial with Danny DeVito had potential, but it ultimately fell flat. Amazon's advertisement didn't work for me because, quite frankly, I would just as soon Alexa lose its voice (I truly despise virtual assistants).  I didn't find a lot of the Super Bowl commercials very funny and some didn't seem that special either, almost as if they could have debuted during a summer rerun of Blue Bloods.

While this year's Super Bowl commercials weren't particularly funny, they also steered clear of controversy for the most part. There was nothing as disturbing as Nationwide's "dead kid" commercial from a  few years ago. That is not to say this year's Super Bowl commercials were entirely free of controversy. A Dodge commercial used the words of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as a voiceover to sell their trucks. Outrage on the part of viewers was swift and immediate, as they took to Twitter to take Dodge to task for their sheer tastelessness. Strangely enough, the particular sermon  from which Dodge lifted the Rev. Dr. King's words addressed, among other things, the dangers of overspending on material goods. Somehow Dodge apparently missed that.

While I was disappointed in most of this year's commercials, I do have to say that Tide rolled out some of the best (and most meta) Super Bowl commercials ever.  The Tide ads were a series of commercials  starring David Harbour of Stranger Things. They began as if they were for cars or beer, only to have them turn out to be for Tide instead. The spots were truly funny and truly witty as well.


Of course, several movie trailers also aired during the Super Bowl. In the past it has generally been the big blockbusters that Hollywood chose to advertise during the big game. Certainly some blockbusters were advertised this year: Han Solo, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, and Marvel's Avengers: Infinity War, among others. Other film trailers just seemed out of place as they were not what one would consider "Hollywood blockbusters".  A Quiet Place, Skyscraper, and Red Sparrow just did not seem like the sort of movies whose trailers would debut during the Super Bowl . Here I want to stress that I am not saying that these are not necessarily good movies. In fact, I would rather see A Quiet Place in the theatre than another Jurassic Park or Mission: Impossible movie. It looks very interesting That having been said, they don't seem typical of the sort of movies usually advertised during the Super Bowl.

Anyhow, I am hoping that next year's batch of Super Bowl commercials will be better over all than this year's batch.  At the very least, at least there was nothing as truly frightening as Mountain Dew's creepy PuppyMonkeyBaby from two years ago....

The 100th Anniversary of Ida Lupino's Birth

It seems likely that most people know Ida Lupino only as  a beautiful and talented actress from the Golden Age of Hollywood. Classic movie buffs know otherwise. We know that she was not only a talented actress, but a talented director as well. Over the years she directed several films and several hours worth of television. As only the second woman to join the Directors Guild of America (Dorothy Arzner was the first), Ida Lupino was a true pioneer. She was born 100 years ago today.

Ida Lupino was born into an acting dynasty. Miss Lupino's grandfather was actor and dancer George Hook. George Hook took the surname "Lupino" after working with the Lupino family, another acting dynasty that had migrated from Italy to England in the 17th Century. Yet other members of the Hook family would take the surname "Lane", taken from Sarah Lane, the director of the Britannia Theatre in Hoxton. Among George Hook's children were actor Arthur Lupino and Ida Lupino's father, music hall entertainer Stanley Lupino. Besides Ida Lupino, another one of George Hook's famous grandchildren was music hall performer Lupino Lane, whose great aunt was Sarah Lane.

Interestingly enough, Ida Lupino had wanted to be a writer. In fact, she wrote her first play when she was only seven years old. Of course, her father wanted her to go into the family business, so after playing various parts as a child, she enrolled in the Royal Academy for Dramatic Art. She made her film debut when she was very young, appearing at age 13 in The Love Race (1931), which starred her father Stanley Lupino.

It was not long before Ida Lupino was playing leads in such British films as Money for Speed (1933), I Lived with You (1933), and High Finance (1933). Paramount spotted her in Money for Speed and gave her a five year contract. It was then that she moved to Hollywood. Her first film for Paramount was Search for Beauty (1934). Over the next several years she appeared in such films as Peter Ibbetson (1935), Yours for the Asking (1936), Fight for Your Lady (1937), and The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1939) for such studios as Paramount, United Artists, RKO, and Columbia. Her big break as an actress came with The Light That Failed in 1939. It was following The Light That Failed that Ida Lupino was taken more seriously as an actress. In fact, her performance in the film would lead to one of her best known roles. Impressed by her performance in The Light That Failed, Warner Bros. cast Miss Lupino as Lana Carlsen in They Drive By Night (1940).

Although Ida Lupino did not emerge as a major star in the Forties, she did become a very respected actress with good deal of critical acclaim. During the decade she appeared in such films as Ladies in Retirement (1941), The Hard Way (1943), and Pillow to Post (1945). At times she clashed with Jack Warner, the head of Warner Bros. She was suspended from the studio when she rejected a role in Kings Row (1942).  It was neither her first nor last clash with the studio, so it was probably no surprise to anyone when she left Warner Bros. in 1947.

As it was, it would not be long before Ida Lupino embarked on a new career. It was while she was on her various suspensions through the years that Miss Lupino was able to observe films being made more closely than she had been while acting. As a result she took an interest in directing. She and her husband at the time, Collier Young, formed their own production company through which they would make independent films. That having been said, her directorial debut would come about through unusual circumstances. With screenwriter Paul Jarrico she wrote the film Not Wanted (1949) about a girl who has a baby out of wedlock. Elmer Clifton was set to direct the movie, but had a heart attack and as a result could not complete it. Miss Lupino then took over directing the film.

Like Not Wanted, most of Ida Lupino's films dealt with issues not often addressed by Hollywood at the time. Her first film on which she was credited as director, Never Fear (1939), dealt with an issue Miss Lupino knew all too well. Never Fear centred on a young dancer crippled by polio. While young Ida Lupino had also suffered with polio. In her films Ida Lupino also dealt with such issues as rape (1950's Outrage) and bigamy (1952's The Bigamist). With The Hitch-Hiker (1953) she not only became the first woman to direct a film noir, but also directed one of the most important films in the genre.

The Bigamist would be the last film Ida Lupino would direct until The Trouble With Angels in 1966, but she would have a very successful directorial career in television. She directed multiple episodes of the classic shows Have Gun--Will Travel, General Electric Theatre, and Thriller. She also directed episodes of such shows as The Donna Reed Show, 77 Sunset Strip, The Rifleman, The Untouchables, The Fugitive, The Twilight Zone, Gilligan's Island, and The Virginian.  Ida Lupino had her own idiosyncratic directorial style. She was referred to as "Mother" and the back of her director's chair read "Mother of Us All". Rather than ordering the cast and crew around, she would phrase what she wanted done as a suggestion and as a result it would always get done the way that Miss Lupino wanted it.

Of course, after Ida Lupino began directing, she also continued acting, although following the Fifties much of her acting career would be spent on television. She was a frequent guest star on Four Star Playhouse and starred alongside her husband Howard Duff in the sitcom Mr. Adams and Eve. She would go onto guest star on such shows as The Twilight Zone, Bonanza, The Virginian, The Wild Wild West, Batman, The Mod Squad, The Streets of San Francisco, Columbo, and Ellery Queen. She returned to films in the Seventies, appearing in Junior Bonner (1972), The Devil's Rain (1975), The Food of the Gods (1976), and My Boys Are Good Boys (1978).

Ida Lupino retired from filmmaking in 1978. She died in 1995 at the age of 77 from a stroke while undergoing treatment for colon cancer.

As an actress Ida Lupino was sometimes described as "the poor man's Bette Davis". As a director she jokingly referred to herself as "the poor man's Don Siegel." To a large degree neither of these things were particularly accurate. While Ida Lupino had considerable talent much as Bette Davis had, she also considerable sex appeal, which was something that Miss Davis lacked. Quite simply, while Ida Lupino could play most of the roles that Bette Davis did, it is difficult seeing Miss Davis play the sort of femmes fatales that Miss Lupino so often did. Of course, both actresses were very versatile. In the case of Ida Lupino, she played everything from the ambitious Helen Chernen in The Hard Way to socialite turned travelling salesman in Pillow to Post farm girl Libby Saul in Deep Valley.  Although best known for her dramas, Ida Lupino could play comedy. Aside from Pillow to Post, she also guest starred in the Bonanza episode, "The Saga of Annie O'Toole".

As to being "the poor man's Don Siegel", while both he and Miss Lupino were great directors, an argument can be made that Ida Lupino was the more versatile of the two. Don Seigel is best known for such suspense thrillers and action films as Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), The Killers (1964), Coogan's Bluff (1968), and Dirty Harry (1971). Including her career directing television shows, Miss Lupino directed in a diverse number of genres. Many of her films were issue-oriented dramas. The Hitch-hiker is both film noir and a suspense movie. The Trouble with Angels was a comedy. With regards to television, Ida Lupino directed shows in a diverse number of genres, including Westerns (Have Gun--Will Travel), horror (Thriller), crime (The Untouchables), and comedy (Bewitched), among others. Had Ida Lupino directed in an era that gave women more opportunities in the field, one has to suspect that she would have directed many more films in a wide range of genres.

Although to this day Ida Lupino is remembered as a very talented actress, she was so much more. Miss Lupino was a pioneering director, screenwriter, and producer at a time in Hollywood when opportunities for women were much more limited than they are now. What is more, she covered topics in her films that were largely ignored by Hollywood at the time. In the end Ida Lupino wasn't simply a legendary actress. She was a true pioneer.

(For a closer look at Ida Lupino's directorial career, read my blog post "Ida Lupino as Director" from many years ago)

Great Movie Endings on TCM in March

I have a confession to make. While I love almost everything about Turner Classic Movies, I have never been very fond of the 31 Days of Oscar. For one thing, it is the one time of year when TCM shows more movies that I am not particularly interested in seeing than any other. For another thing, it pre-empts all of TCM's regularly scheduled programming. That means no Noir Alley, no Silent Sunday Nights, no TCM Underground for the whole month of February and the first few days of March. It is for that reason I find myself particularly looking forward to March on Turner Classic Movies (which also happens to be my birth month).

Of course, this March will mean more than the return of Noir Alley and other programming I love on TCM. I was looking through the schedule for March and I noticed a special block airing during the week of March 18 from Monday through Friday. It is called "Great Movie Endings", and I am assuming its title sums it all up. Regardless, they are showing some of my favourite films during the week. On March 19 at 10:45 PM they are airing King Kong (1933). On March 20 they are showing The Graduate (1967) at 7:00 PM followed by Modern Times (1938) at 9:00 PM.  At 7:00 PM on March 21 they are showing Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961). The night of March 22 may be the best night of the week as TCM is showing films counted among the greatest ever made. At 7:00 PM they are showing Sunset Boulevard (1950) followed by Gone with the Wind (1939) at 9:00 PM. At 1:00 AM on March 23 they are showing Casablanca (1942), followed by Citizen Kane (1941) at 3:00 AM. On the night of March 23 they are showing The Third Man (1949) at 7:00 followed by Diabolique (1955) at 9:00.  Here I want to stress that these are not the only films TCM is showing as part of "Great Movie Endings", as there are many others. In fact, I have to say this is one of the most solid line-ups Turner Classic Movies might ever have had.

That having been said, over all the whole March looks very good on TCM this year. It almost makes up for missing Noir Alley for the entire month of February....

My Cinema Shame

On her blog Out of the Past my dear friend Raquel wrote about her Cinema Shame. If you are wondering what Cinema Shame is, the concept originated with Nick Britt and James David Patrick. Quite simply, Cinema Shame is the feeling of regret with regards to those films one has not seen. There is even a website for the concept, fittingly called Cinema Shame. Anyway, Raquel's post inspired me to write my own blog post about my own Cinema Shame.

That having been said, I had some trouble coming up with films that I have not seen. A good part of this is because I am not exactly young (although I am not particularly old either) and I have seen a whole lot of movies in my lifetime. I came of age when local television stations, particularly independent stations, still showed movies on a regular basis. I reached adulthood just as VCRs were becoming common and as a result I saw a ton of classic films (both foreign and domestic) through 9th Street Video in Columbia (AKA the Greatest Video Rental Place of Them All).  Before Turner Classic Movies went on the air in 1994, then, I had already had seen a good deal of classic movies.

That having been said, there are those few movies that, for whatever reason, I have never seen. The Cinema Shame website encourages people to submit lists of twelve films that they haven't seen. I honestly could not think of that many without including movies of recent vintage (I have never seen Marvel's Avengers, for instance). That having been said, I did come up with a list of six classics that I have never seen but really would like to.

Der blaue Engel (1930): Literally in English, The Blue Angel. This film is best known as the movie that brought Marlene Dietrich to the attention of English speaking audiences. Even though I have seen plenty of early German films and plenty of Marlene Dietrich movies, this one somehow slipped through my grasp.

The Life of Emile Zola (1937): I have seen pretty much every winner of the Academy Award for Best Picture from 1927 to 2001 except this one. And I have to admit that I really regret never having seen The Life of Emile Zola. It is not simply that it won the Oscar for Best Picture, it is that it has maintained its reputation over the years. To this day many not only consider it the best film of 1937, but one of the best films ever made.

Ladri di biciclette (1948): Also known in English as Bicycle Thieves and The Bicycle Thief, this is my biggest Cinema Shame.  Given just how many classic foreign films I rented from 9th Street Video, one would think I would have seen it by now. This is one of those movies it seems as if everyone has seen, even classic film buffs who aren't particularly fond of foreign movies. It is also counted as one of the greatest movies ever made. In fact, in 1952 the magazine Sight & Sound named it as the greatest film ever made.

This Island Earth (1955): Given I was a huge science fiction fan as a kid, one would think I would have seen this long ago. As hard as it may be to believe, I never have. An edited version of the movie was parodied in Mystery Science Theatre 3000: The Movie (1996), which I have avoided like the plague because I really want to see the original first.

Frenzy (1972):  I am a huge Alfred Hitchcock fan. In fact, I have seen the vast majority of his films (all of them from 1938 to 1969). For whatever reason, however, I have never seen Frenzy. That is a shame for me as it was the last film that Hitchcock made in Britain, as well as his penultimate movie. Frenzy also received good reviews upon its release and is still highly respected to this day.

Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974): Just as I am a huge Alfred Hitchcock fan, I am also a huge Martin Scorsese fan. Outside of some of his more recent films, Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore is the only Martin Scorsese movie I have not seen. It received a good deal of acclaim when it was first released and it is still well respected to this day. It also inspired the classic sitcom Alice (which I have seen).

The Military Sitcoms of The Sixties

From the early to mid-Sixties, American television saw a cycle towards military comedies, also known as service comedies. Beginning in 1962, the cycle would wind down during the 1965-1966 season. In all, the cycle would produce around eleven different shows. Of those shows, many are still remembered to this day. McHale's Navy, Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C., F Troop, and Hogan's Heroes are all still seen on various outlets even now.

When looking for the reasons why a cycle towards military comedies emerged on the American broadcast networks in the early Sixties, one does not have to look long. The answers can be found both in recent films and even on television itself. The Fifties had seen such successful military comedies as Mister Roberts (1955), The Perfect Furlough (1958), and Operation Petticoat (1959). Among the most successful shows of the Fifties was The Phil Silvers Show, which would sometimes be syndicated as Sgt. Bilko after its network run ended. The Phil Silvers Show was not only very successful in its first run on CBS, but proved very successful as an off-network, syndicated rerun. In addition to The Phil Silvers Show, the now forgotten comedy Hennesey (starring Jackie Cooper as a U.S. Navy physician) proved to be a modest success that ran from 1959 to 1962. Between the success of various military comedy feature films in the Fifties and The Phil Silvers Show, for many television producers in the early Sixties service comedies must have seemed like a sure thing.

Indeed, the cycle towards military comedies began all at once during the 1962-1963 season. It was that season that four different military comedies debuted. Strangely enough, the first to debut would be one of the worst failures to emerge from the cycle. Stranger still, the show emerged from the creator of a previous military comedy that had not only had moderate success, but also had received its share of acclaim. Don't Call Me Charlie was created by Don McGuire, who had previously created the aforementioned Hennesey. Not only had Hennesey ran for three seasons, but it had also received Emmy nominations in both acting and writing. This would not be the case for Don't Call Me Charlie.

Don't Call Me Charlie centred on Iowa veterinarian Judson McKay, who is drafted into the Army. When he saved a bird who belonged to a little girl who was related to Charles De Gaulle, he finds himself stationed in Paris. Country bumpkin McKay then found himself often at odds with his commanding officer Colonel U. Charles Barker (played by John Hubbard). Colonel Parker insisted people do not call him "Charlie", hence the title. The show was originally going to be titled Viva Judson McKay, but studies indicated people then thought the show was going to be about a Mexican revolutionary.

While Hennesey had seen some success and received some acclaim, Don't Call Me Charlie would not. In fact, it received over all bad notices from critics. Rick Du Brow of United Press International wrote that the show "...would best be put out of misery, removed from the air instantly, if not sooner." Worse yet, it performed horribly in the ratings. At a time when most shows managed to last at least one season, Don't Call Me Charlie only lasted from September 21 1962 to January 25 1963.

In some respects it could be argued that McKeever and the Colonel was not a military comedy, although it was set at a military academy where cadet Gary McKeever (played by Scott Lane) was constantly resulting in trouble. As a result, it certainly shared a lot in common with military comedies, even if it did not centre on members of the armed forces. McKeever's nemesis was the academy's commandant, the strict, by the book Colonel Harvey T. Bullock (played by legendary character actor Allyn Joslyn). The series was created by the writing team of R. S. Allen and Harvey Bullock, who in their long career wrote episodes of such shows as The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Andy Griffith Show, and Hogan's Heroes. Ultimately McKeever and the Colonel would not prove to be a success, lasting only a single season. Debuting on September 23 1962, it was gone by the next fall. Much of the show's failure may have been because it occupied a rather awkward time slot. It aired on NBC at 6:30 PM Eastern time on Sunday.

Later on September 23 another military comedy debuted on NBC. Ensign O'Toole was based on the 1957 novel Ensign O'Toole and Me by William Lederer. While the novel was set before and during World War II, the television show was set during the early Sixties. The show starred Dean Jones as Ensign O'Toole, who served aboard the destroyer U.S. S. Appleby. Ensign O'Toole spent much of his time pulling pranks and avoiding work. Aside from starring Dean Jones, the show was notable for starring Beau Bridges in the minor role of Seaman Howard Spicer. Ensign O'Toole only lasted one season, but was rerun by ABC from March to September the following season.

If every military comedy that debuted in the 1962-1963 season had failed, it seems doubtful that the cycle would have ever emerged. That having been said, the last service comedy to debut in the 1962-1963 season would be one of the most successful shows in the genre ever. McHale's Navy starred Ernest Borgnine as Lt. Commander Quinton McHale, commander of the U.S. Navy PT boat PT-73 in the South Pacific during World War II. Lt. Commander McHale was far from being strict when it came to military discipline. In fact, he and his men perpetrated any number of schemes during the run of the show, all the time avoiding the watchful eye of their commanding officer, Captain Binghamton (played by Joe Flynn). The show was often compared to The Phil Silvers Show, and any resemblances between the two should come as no surprise. McHale's Navy was produced by Edward J. Montagne, who had been a producer on The Phil Silvers Show.

What might come as a surprise is that the sitcom McHale's Navy emerged from a very serious, World War II drama that had aired as an episode of Alcoa Premiere. "Seven Against the Sea" aired on April 3 1962 and centred on Lt. Commander McHale (played by Ernest Borgnine), the commander of PT-73 in the South Pacific during World War II. Lt. Commander McHale's relatively peaceful life is disrupted by the arrival of a new executive officer, Lt. Durham (played by Ron Foster), whose job it it is to get the base back to fighting the war. Naturally McHale and Durham clash, until word comes that a battalion of United States Marines are under siege. While "Seven Against the Seas" featured some humour, it was primarily a drama and a very serious one at that. Reportedly it was the pilot for a World War II drama to be called McHale's Men, although in later interviews Ernest Borgnine has said that Lt. Durham was to be the main character on the show. Regardless, it sparked little interest at Revue Productions. It was Jennings Lang of Revue, who had been involved in some of the studio's successes such as Wagon Train and The Bob Cummings Show, who suggested changing the format from a World War II drama to a comedy.

Only two actors besides Ernest Borgnine would make the transition from "Seven Against the Sea" to McHale's Navy. Gary Vinson played Quartermaster George "Christy" Christopher, while John Wright played radioman Willy Moss. The crew was filled out by Torpedoman's Mate Lester Gruber (played by Carl Ballantine), who always had some get-rich-quick scheme going on; Machinist Mate Harrison James "Tinker" Bell (played by Billy Sands); Gunner's Mate Virgil Edwards (played by Edson Stroll), the handsome ladies man of the crew; and Seaman Joseph "Happy" Haines (played by Gavin MacLeod).  Ensign Parker (played by Tim Conway) was McHale's naive, shy, and inept second in command.

McHale's Navy proved to be a moderate success, spending two of its four years in top thirty highest rated shows for the year. It spawned two feature films during its run. McHale's Navy (1964) was essentially a big screen, colour adaptation of the show.  McHale's Navy Joins the Air Force (1965) was essentially McHale's Navy without McHale. Neither Ernest Borgnine nor Carl Ballantine appeared in the film. Instead it centred on Tim Conway as Ensign Parker, who is mistaken as an Air Force officer (a bit of an anachronism as the Air Force was still part of the U.S. Army at the time and would not become a separate branch of the service until 1947).

For its fourth and final season the entire crew of the PT-73, as well as Captain Binghamton and his aide-de-camp Lt. Carpenter (played by Bob Hastings), all moved to Italy. Joining the cast was Jay Novello as the scheming mayor of Voltafiore, Mario Lugatto. The move to Italy appears to have not been particularly popular with the show's fans. Ranked a very respectable #29 for the 1964-1965 season, in its fourth season the ratings for McHale's Navy slipped so low that it was cancelled at the end of the season. Regardless, it proved to be a hit in syndication and can still be seen on various outlets to this day.

The 1963-1964 season would see no new military comedies, but the 1964-1965 season would see three more debut. The first of these would be No Time for Sergeants. The closing credits for the show read that it was "from the play by Ira Levin, presented by Maurice Evans, based on the novel by Mac Hyman". This was a fancy way the closing credits of the new TV show had of acknowledging the original novel by Mac Hyman, which Ira Levin adapted as a teleplay for The United States Steel Hour, which Ira Levin expanded into a Broadway play produced by Maurice Evans (the famous Shakespearean actor who would go onto play Samantha Stephens's father Maurice on Bewitched). While the closing credits did not acknowledge it, it is safe to say the TV series also owed a good deal to the 1958 film No Time For Sergeants, starring Andy Griffith in the role he had originated on The United States Steel Hour and then played on Broadway. Ironically, it would be Andy Griffith who would be partly responsible for the show's downfall. ABC unwisely scheduled No Time for Sergeants against the high-rated Andy Griffith Show (which ranked no. 4 for the season). Unable to compete with The Andy Griffith Show, No Time for Sergeants lasted only one season.

Although sometimes called a spinoff of McHale's Navy, it would be more accurate to describe the next military sitcom to debut in the 1964-1965 season as a separate show with a similar premise from the same creative team as McHale's Navy. Broadside was set during World War II and centred on a group of WAVES who were in charge of the motor pool on an island in the South Pacific. Their commander was Lieutenant Anne Morgan (played by Kathleen Nolan), who was always running afoul of the base's commanding officer, Commander Roger Adrian (played by Edward Andrews).  Broadside was created by McHale's Navy producer Edward Montagne, but it would not see that show's success. Broadside had the misfortune to be scheduled against The Ed Sullivan Show and later in the season the hit Western Branded. It left the air after only one season.

The third military comedy to debut in the 1964-1965 season would be the highest rated new show of the season. That having been said, its lead character was hardly new to audiences. Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C. starred Jim Nabors as Gomer Pyle, who had originated as an inept filling station attendant on The Andy Griffith Show. Gomer Pyle was created by writers Everett Greenbaum and Jim Fritzell for The Andy Griffith Show episode "The Bank Job", which aired on December 24 1962. The character was based on an incompetent filling station attendant Mr. Greenbaum had once encountered. Jim Nabors was cast in the role of Gomer Pyle after Andy Griffith had seen his show at The Horn, a nightclub in Santa Monica, California. Gomer Pyle was only meant to appear once on The Andy Griffith Show, but the character proved popular and as a result he became one of the regulars.

On Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C. Gomer had enlisted in the Marine Corps where his naivete and good nature caused him a good deal of trouble. The show owed a good deal to Andy Griffith's first big success, No Time for Sergeants.   It was Aaron Ruben, producer and one of the writers on The Andy Griffith Show, who came up with the idea of Gomer being spun off into his own show, in which he would be a Marine. The pilot for Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C. was shot in 1963 and aired on May 18 1964 as The Andy Griffith Show's final episode of the 1963-1964 season.


Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C. proved to be the big hit of the 1964-1965 season. Coming in at #3, it even beat The Andy Griffith Show (which came in at #4).  Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C.remained in the top ten shows for each season for the remainder of its run. When it ended its network run, it was not due to ratings, but instead because Jim Nabors wanted to move onto other things. Namely, with the 1969-1970 season Jim Nabors received his own variety show, The Jim Nabors Show, which also proved to be a hit. Gomer Pyle never again appeared on The Andy Griffith Show or its successor Mayberry R.F.D., although he did appear in the reunion movie Return to Mayberry, aired in 1986.

The 1965-1966 season would see yet more military comedies debut. It would also be the last season of the cycle towards military comedies. The first military comedy to debut that season also happened to be part of a cycle towards Westerns that had began the prior season and a cycle towards spoofs and parodies that began in the 1965-1966 season itself. Quite simply, F Troop  was a parody of Westerns centred around the United States Cavalry troop of the title. It was Richard Bluel who initially had the idea of a  U. S. Cavalry sergeant who has a deal with the local Indians to make money. It would be writers Seaman Jacobs and Ed James who wrote the script for the show's pilot, "Scourge of the West", which expanded upon Mr. Bluel's initial idea.

A cursory glance at F Troop might lead some to conclude it was simply The Phil Silvers Show in the Old West, but that would hardly be accurate. Certainly F Troop's two non-commissioned officers, Sgt.  Morgan O'Rourke (played by Forrest Tucker) and Corporal Randolph Agarn (played by Larry Storch), were engaged in many shady business dealings, including a a secret business partnership with the local American Indian tribe, the Hekawis.That having been said, thrown into the mix was an extremely inept commanding officer Captain Wilton Parmenter (played by Ken Berry). Assigned to the command of Fort Courage after having been promoted from private, he was hardly suited to the job. As to how he went from private to captain, then Private Parmenter was retrieving his commanding officer's laundry during a battle when he began sneezing. The soldiers around him took his sneezes as a command to charge. The end result was that Parmenter inadvertently turned what could have been a defeat into a victory.

As to F Troop themselves, except for possibly Sgt. O'Rourke and Corporal Agarn (who were crooks), none of them were exactly competent soldiers. Private Dobbs (played by James Hampton) was the troop's bugler, despite the fact that he couldn't play the bugle. Trooper Vanderbilt (played by Joe Brooks) was the troop's lookout, even though he could barely see with his glasses on. Trooper Duffy (Bob Steele) was positively ancient and had claimed to be the sole survivor of the Battle of the Alamo. F Troop was fortunate in that the neighbouring Hekwais were more concerned with making money than waging war on the U.S. Army. Had they actually faced a hostile tribe, there can be no doubt F Troop would have been slaughtered. Fortunately Wrangler Jane (played by Melody Patterson), who owned the local trading post, was around in case there was any real trouble. She could outshoot, outfight, and out-rope anyone around

Although it only ran two seasons, F Troop would prove to be one of the most successful  military comedies of the Sixties.  While it did not rank in the top thirty in its first season, its ratings remained above a 32 share. The show did respectably well in its second season as well, ranking no. 40 for the year, making it ABC's highest rated sitcom besides Bewitched. Unfortunately there were those at Warner Bros. who were not happy with the expense spent on a television sitcom. This was not helped by the fact that F Troop went $3000 over budget in its second season. In the end, Benny Kalmenson, then a vice president at Warner Bros, ended production on the series even though it would have almost inevitably been renewed by ABC. Regardless, it went into syndication where it proved to be a lasting success.

The next military comedy to debut in the 1965-1966 season would also prove to be a lasting success. Hogan's Heroes centred on Colonel Robert E. Hogan (played by Bob Crane), a United States Army Air Forces officer and ranking prisoner of war in the POW camp Luft Stalag 13. Unbeknownst to Stalag 13's commandant, Colonel Wilhelm Klink (played by Werner Klemperer), Colonel Hogan and his men belonged to a special operations unit that was conducting Allied espionage right under his nose. Hogan's Heroes was then simultaneously a military comedy, a parody of such POW camp movies as Stalag 17 (1953) and The Great Escape (1963), and a spy comedy.

Curiously, Hogan's Heroes did not begin its life as a military comedy, let alone one set in a POW camp. Creators Bernard Fein and Albert S. Ruddy developed an idea for a television series titled The Heroes set in a penitentiary. Messrs. Fein and Ruddy spent four years trying to sell the show with no luck. Bernie Fein often told a story that they changed the premise after he saw a fellow passenger on a plane reading Von Ryan's Express, a novel about Allied POWs during World War II. In truth, the premise appears to have been changed because of another prospective show. In 1964 there was news of a prospective sitcom created by Von Ryan Express author David Westheimer. Campo 44 was set in an Italian POW camp and would centre on the American and British soldiers held there. It was planned to air on NBC in the 1965-1966 season. It was apparently after news of Campo 44 came out that Bernard Fein and Albert S. Ruddy changed the setting of their prospective sitcom from a penitentiary to a German POW camp during World War II.  As to Campo 44, a pilot was shot and would later air on NBC in 1967. It is unknown why NBC did not pick up Campo 44, but it seems quite likely it was because CBS picked up Hogan's Heroes first.

Hogan's Heroes would prove controversial because of its setting. Many feared the series would make light of Nazism and as a result trivialise the horrible truths behind Nazi Germany. In its "television and radio" reviews from September 18 1965, The New York Times commented, "There's something a little sick about Hogan's Heroes..." The controversy would only be made worse by remarks from Bob Crane in an interview with Stan Freberg published in the September 19 1965 issue of The Sunday Times. Asked by Mr. Freberg what some of the other amusing aspects were, Bob Crane replied, "German police dogs, machine guns, the Gestapo..." Unfortunately, Mr. Crane's quote would later appear in Newsweek.

The controversy would fade after Hogan's Heroes had been on the air for a few weeks. In fact, the show ranked no 9 for its first season and no. 17 for its second. It ultimately ran for six seasons and would proved to be a success in syndication. It was also nominated for twelve Emmy Awards during its run and won two.

Despite this,  controversy regarding the show would resurface from time to time. In its October 25 1998 issue, when the possibility of a movie based on Hogan's Heroes was being discussed, The Boston Globe stated "...under no circumstances should a film of Hogan's Heroes be made," claiming it "...presented the Nazis as the biggest cutups since the Keystone Kops." In his 2000 book The Powers That Be, David Halberstam's examination of the rise of modern media, the author referred to Hogan's Heroes as a "...programme with an almost obscenely comic view of the Third Reich..." In 2002, despite the fact that the show had received good reviews in the Sixties (even from that particular magazine), TV Guide ranked it as the fifth worst show of all time, primarily because by that time they thought the show was offensive. While many current criticism directed towards the show is grossly inaccurate (although the Nazis were portrayed as fools, there was very little physical comedy of the sort for which the Keystone Kops were known), the fact remains that there are still those who today find the show offensive. Of course, given Hogan's Heroes still airs on various outlets, it would seem likely that they are in the minority.

While Hogan's Heroes would prove to be a success, the next military comedy of the 1965-1966 season,  Mister Roberts, would not. Mister Roberts was based on the 1955 movie of the same name, which in turn was based on the 1948 play which was itself based on the 1946 novel by Thomas Heggen. Like the movie, novel, and play, Mister Roberts was set on the United States Navy cargo ship the USS Reluctant. It centred on the ship's executive officer, Lieutenant Doug Roberts (played by Roger Smith). Mr. Roberts often found himself having to defend the crew against the ship's overly strict commander, Captain John Morton (played by Richard X. Slattery). Mister Roberts aired on NBC on Friday night, where it received lacklustre ratings. It then ended its run after only one season.

The Wackiest Ship in the Army was another sitcom that was based on a movie. Debuting on September 19 1965 on NBC, it was based on the 1960 film of the same name, which in turn was based on the short story "Big Fella Wash-Wash" by Herbert Carlson (published in the July 1956 issue of Argosy). The Wackiest Ship in the Army was set during World War II and centred on the crew of the USS Kiwi, a twin masted schooner used by the United States Army to plant spies behind Japanese lines. In some respects The Wackiest Ship in the Army was neither fish nor fowl. Although regarded as a comedy, it ran for an hour and, unlike most comedies of the time, it had no laugh track. It also contained a good deal of adventure in addition to the laughs.

While The Wackiest Ship in the Navy followed the top rated Bonanza on NBC, it still received poor ratings. It had the misfortune to air opposite Candid Camera and What's My Line on CBS and The ABC Sunday Night Movie on ABC. The show then lasted only one season.

The 1965-1966 season would be the season that the cycle towards military sitcoms ended. For the remainder of the Sixties no other shows in the genre would debut. As to why the cycle ended, it would seem likely that it simply ran its course. From 1962 to 1965 a total of eleven different military comedies debuted. Out of those eleven, only four would prove to be successes (McHale's Navy, Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C., F Troop, and Hogan's Heroes) and only two of them would break the top ten shows for the year (Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C. and Hogan's Heroes).  Given the cycle towards military comedies produced only a few hits, it would seem unrealistic for the American television industry to continue to debuting them.

Of course, this is not to say that there would be no more military comedies. In 1972, only three years after Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C. had ended its run and only a year after Hogan's Heroes went off the air, possibly the most successful military comedy of all time debuted, M*A*S*H. The Seventies would see further military comedies in the form of Roll Out, C.P.O. Sharkey, and Operation Petticoat. The genre was hardly dead, but at no point since the Sixties have so many military comedies debuted in so short a time.