Set Sail with McHale is a new book on the history of the ABC TV sitcom, McHale’s Navy, which aired for four seasons between 1962 and 1966 (as well as having feature length films based on it in 1964, 1965, and 1997). Set Sail with McHale is written by lifelong Covington, Kentucky resident Steven Thompson along with Illinois writer Denny Reese. “I enjoyed watching the silly comedy show when I was a kid,” recalls Thompson, “and enjoyed it even more when it aired in reruns throughout the seventies when I was a teenager.”
The premise of the show is that you have a small band of goof-offs on an island naval base in the South Pacific in World War II who always heroically rise to the occasion when they need to…much to the consternation of the base’s commanding officer, who’d rather see them all court martialed for their disdain for military rules and regulations.
With numerous other military sitcoms from Sgt. Bilko to M*A*S*H having variations on the same theme, what makes McHale’s Navy memorable in its own right is its ensemble cast. Academy-Award winner Ernest Borgnine is Lt. Cmdr. McHale. McHale’s men include Carl Ballantine (better known as comic stage magician The Great Ballantine), Gavin MacLeod (later captain of The Love Boat), Bobby Wright (later a major country music star), Gary Vinson, Edson Stroll, Billy Sands, and Yoshio Yoda.
The series also had not one but two comedy secret weapons—Tim Conway and Joe Flynn. Long before his legendary sketch comedy work with Carol Burnett, McHale’s Navy was Tim’s first TV series and he was nominated for numerous awards. He played McHale’s naïve and bumbling ensign. Joe Flynn as the eternally flustered Captain Binghamton chewed the scenery more and more as the series went on but audiences loved it. In fact, for the second movie, McHale’s Navy Joins the Air Force, McHale isn’t even in the picture, leaving Conway and Flynn teamed up for goofier antics than ever.
The only other actual regular on the series was actor Bob Hastings, a radio star since childhood and a prolific presence in movies and TV. He ended his career with voicing Commissioner Gordon in the animated Batman franchise beginning in the early 1990s. Hastings was a regular guest at the long-running Greater Cincinnati Old-Time Radio and Nostalgia Conventions between 1989 and 2012. That’s where Thompson met and acted opposite him on stage.
On McHale’s Navy, Bob Hastings plays Lt. Carpenter, the nervous, sycophantic sidekick to Capt. Binghamton. Quite often, his fidgety appearances upstage everyone. It was because of his personal connection that Thompson chose to dedicate Set Sail with McHale to Bob Hastings. Denny Reese dedicated the book to Flynn.
McHale’s Navy can be found on DVD, online, and currently on Antenna TV. Thompson and Reese felt the show wasn’t getting the respect it deserved and are hoping fans old and new pick up their book and read about the show, both in front of the camera and behind the camera.
Set Sail with McHale by Steven Thompson and Denny Reese (with a cover by Mad artist Tom Richmond) is published by Bear Manor Media and can be purchased in paperback or hardcover on the Amazon or Barnes and Noble websites.
