50 Fun Facts About McHale's Navy

Decades after McHale's Navy, its two stars reunited to voice an elderly superhero duo on which animated series?

SpongeBob SquarePants cast them as Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy because its creators were fans of the 1960s sitcom. They approached both actors directly, and both said yes.

Which aviation tycoon once owned the boat used at sea on McHale's Navy, buying it to follow his giant seaplane?

Howard Hughes bought the surplus boat as a chase vessel for the one time his Spruce Goose took to the air. The studio later purchased it and dressed it up as an American PT boat.

Which Oscar-winning actor, a real Navy veteran of nearly ten years, played Quinton McHale on McHale's Navy?

Ernest Borgnine enlisted in 1935 and rejoined after Pearl Harbor, patrolling the Atlantic coast on an anti-submarine ship. A decade after his discharge he won Best Actor for Marty.

Which comedian, later a regular on The Carol Burnett Show, played bumbling Ensign Parker on McHale's Navy?

Tim Conway won a national following as the naive ensign, a part that brought him an Emmy nomination. His habit of cracking up co-stars later became a Burnett trademark.

Which comedian starred as the son of Quinton McHale in the 1997 big-screen remake of McHale's Navy?

Tom Arnold led a modern-day crew against a terrorist in a film that earned roughly a tenth of its budget. He had dropped a planned Honeymooners movie to take the part.

On which Hollywood studio's back lot did the lagoon set of McHale's Navy stand, later a stop on the tram tour?

Universal kept the sets as a tour attraction for years after the sitcom ended.

On McHale's Navy, what nickname does the crew use for Captain Binghamton, mostly behind his back?

Old Leadbottom got the name from a bullet wound to his backside. Admirals on the sitcom carried nicknames too, among them Iron Pants, Rockpile and Bull Dog.

Which future star of The Love Boat played seaman "Happy" Haines in the early seasons of McHale's Navy?

Gavin MacLeod found the part thin, later saying Haines got about two lines a week. He quit after two seasons and went on to play Murray on The Mary Tyler Moore Show.

For its final season, McHale's Navy moved the crew from the South Pacific to which European country?

Italy became the setting in late 1944, with the crew camped by the beach of a fictional coastal town called Voltafiore. Fuji came along too, stowed away inside the boat.

On McHale's Navy, the hidden Japanese prisoner Fuji avoids a prison camp by serving the crew in which role?

Cook and houseboy Fuji deserted the Japanese navy and is loyal only to McHale's men. Keeping him out of the captain's sight is one of the sitcom's longest-running gags.

On McHale's Navy, Ensign Parker fools Captain Binghamton with a voice impersonation of which wartime leader?

Franklin D. Roosevelt is the timid ensign's party piece, a voice good enough to take in his own commanding officer. Parker repeats the act at the end of the 1965 film sequel.

On McHale's Navy, Ensign Parker comes from which Ohio town, the same place where his actor grew up?

Chagrin Falls sits near Cleveland, and the writers gave Parker a past at its local Gazette. His fellow bumbler Lieutenant Carpenter claims Cleveland itself as home.

Which New York borough is home to torpedoman Lester Gruber, the get-rich-quick schemer of McHale's Navy?

Brooklyn shapes Gruber's patter: he sold used cars there and keeps bringing up the Dodgers and Ebbets Field. His sidelines run to gambling, moonshine and war souvenirs.

Besides Captain Binghamton, which McHale's Navy regular is the only married man, and the only one with children?

Christy, the quartermaster, weds a Navy lieutenant early in the run. Their daughter is given a mouthful of a name honoring every man aboard, from Quintina to Fujiana.

On McHale's Navy, which Tennessee-born crewman runs the radio and tends the crew's moonshine still?

Willy Moss is the good-natured Southerner of the crew and doubles as its sonar operator. One episode reveals that he has nine brothers and sisters back home.

Before the war, Quinton McHale of McHale's Navy learned the South Pacific islands as captain of what vessel?

A tramp steamer took McHale all over the region, so he knows the islands and their people. That knowledge helps him in combat and makes him a favorite with the admirals.

On McHale's Navy, what civilian post on Long Island did reservist Captain Binghamton hold before the war?

Yacht club commodore Binghamton also edited a yachting magazine in peacetime. One episode has him angling to win the old job back from the club owner's self-centered son.

On McHale's Navy, Urulu flips his portrait of the US president to reveal whom when Japanese troops arrive?

Emperor Hirohito waits on the back of the picture, ready for whichever side walks in. Urulu, the island's scheming witch doctor, pulls the same trick with the two nations' flags.

On McHale's Navy, Captain Binghamton's one turn commanding the boat in battle ends with a torpedo destroying what?

A truck parked on land is all he manages to sink. The gag had appeared in the Cary Grant film Operation Petticoat and came from a real attack by the submarine USS Bowfin.

Which actor, later Dean Higgins in Disney's Medfield College comedies, played Captain Binghamton on McHale's Navy?

Joe Flynn landed the part after Edward Andrews turned it down, a choice Andrews later said he kept kicking himself over. Flynn went on to appear in all but one episode.

Which stage magician, famous for an act of tricks that flop, played hustler Lester Gruber on McHale's Navy?

Carl Ballantine billed himself as The Great Ballantine, and Gruber dabbles in hack magic too. Steve Martin later called him the king of bungling magicians.

The actor who played "Happy" Haines left McHale's Navy after two seasons to appear in which Steve McQueen film?

The Sand Pebbles cast him as Signalman Crosley, another Navy man. Mako, who had played Japanese soldiers and sailors on the sitcom, starred in the same film.

Which later voice of Batman's Commissioner Gordon played Lieutenant Carpenter on McHale's Navy?

Bob Hastings played the captain's yes-man, a clumsy aide who keeps getting his boss knocked over. After the sitcom ended he was paid to roam the studio lot and chat with tourists.

Which Tokyo-born actor, discovered while a student at USC, played prisoner of war Fuji on McHale's Navy?

Yoshio Yoda had moved to California hoping to become a film producer. He later left acting behind and became a Toyota executive in Hawaii.

Which burly future Oscar winner played the thieving French smuggler Big Frenchy on McHale's Navy?

George Kennedy played McHale's light-fingered old friend in two episodes, then a New Caledonia businessman in the 1964 film. He had started in television as a technical adviser.

Which Andy Griffith Show star guested on McHale's Navy as an Army psychiatrist sent to judge the crew's sanity?

Don Knotts played Lieutenant Pratt, whom the captain hopes will declare the crew unfit for duty. Pratt finds nothing wrong until he sees them dressed for a Red Riding Hood play.

Which 1960s film star appeared on McHale's Navy as Navy nurse Lieutenant Wilson before her big-screen breakthrough?

Raquel Welch, then a newcomer, is sent in a bathing suit to lure McHale away while he stands in as base commander. A visiting admiral catches the captain with her instead.

Which 1960s sitcom star played Captain Binghamton's anthropology-student niece on McHale's Navy?

Marlo Thomas played Cynthia Prentice, who takes a keen interest in Ensign Parker. Her reasons are strictly scientific: his build reminds her of an early human fossil.

Which future Mary Tyler Moore Show newsman played youth-minded Admiral "Go-Go" Granger on McHale's Navy?

Ted Knight played the admiral in two episodes, and the captain renames himself Bing-Bing to look just as spry. Knight later found fame as vain anchorman Ted Baxter.

What is the hull number of the PT boat that Quinton McHale commands on McHale's Navy?

PT-73 was played by three vessels: one larger seagoing boat and two converted rescue boats kept at the studio. Lieutenant Carpenter briefly commands the rival PT-116.

On McHale's Navy, what is the name of the South Pacific island base where the crew is stationed?

Taratupa houses the main base, but McHale's men live on an island of their own across the bay. The distance lets them gamble, brew and water-ski out of the captain's sight.

What was the title of the hour-long 1962 drama that served as the pilot for McHale's Navy?

Seven Against the Sea was a serious war story in which McHale's men capture an enemy boat and torpedo a cruiser. Only afterwards was the idea reworked as a half-hour comedy.

Which Hollywood star hosted the anthology series whose 1962 drama first introduced the hero of McHale's Navy?

Fred Astaire presented the weekly drama anthology and introduced viewers to McHale himself. The hour drew respectable ratings, and the network ordered a series.

Producer Edward Montagne modeled McHale's Navy on which 1950s sitcom that he had produced earlier?

The Phil Silvers Show starred a scheming Army sergeant who runs rings around his camp commander. Montagne recruited its actors and writers and moved the formula onto a boat.

The hero of McHale's Navy shares a surname with Richard Widmark's character in which 1953 film?

Destination Gobi was the film a studio producer remembered when the serious pilot was being rethought. It gave him the idea of a half-hour comedy built around the PT boat skipper.

Which American network aired all four seasons of McHale's Navy, having first shown its hour-long drama pilot?

ABC ran 138 half-hour episodes from October 1962 to April 1966. Six months before the premiere it had shown the pilot on its Alcoa Premiere anthology.

The two 1960s McHale's Navy feature films differed from the television series by being shot in what?

Technicolor was new for fans, because every television episode had been filmed in black and white. The first film did well at the box office; the sequel fared worse.

The boat used at sea on McHale's Navy was a British Vosper design built in America for export to which country?

The Soviet Union never received it, because the fighting ended before the boat could be shipped. One episode even has McHale's boat earmarked for the Russians under Lend-Lease.

The real wartime PT boat whose number McHale's Navy borrowed was built by Higgins Industries in which city?

New Orleans launched a boat with a far quieter record than the sitcom's. It served in the Aleutians and was destroyed by its own crew after running aground in the Philippines.

Which British actor played the terrorist villain Major Vladakov in the 1997 big-screen version of McHale's Navy?

Tim Curry's Vladakov commands a stealth boat and blows up McHale's home early in the film. McHale finally stops him with a torpedo.

The 1997 McHale's Navy film left the 1940s Pacific behind for a modern-day setting in which region?

The Caribbean is where a retired McHale trades home-brewed beer and ice cream with sailors at the local naval base. A terrorist's arrival on the island pulls him back into action.

Which future Will & Grace star played Lieutenant Penelope Carpenter in the 1997 film of McHale's Navy?

Debra Messing played a female version of the captain's aide, a part written for a man in the 1960s sitcom. Her character ends the film with a promotion.

In the 1964 McHale's Navy film, the crew hopes to clear its gambling debts using what find on a remote island?

A lost racehorse named Silver Spot is entered in a New Caledonia race under a shaggy disguise. When the hair starts falling off, the crew hides the horse behind a smoke screen.

The star of McHale's Navy missed the 1965 film sequel because of a reported scheduling clash with which movie?

The Flight of the Phoenix was the stated reason, though he later said the producer wanted to make the sequel cheaply without him and would not show him the script.

When McHale's Navy relocates to Europe for its final season, Captain Binghamton takes on what new role in town?

Military governor Binghamton settles comfortably into the city hall with his aide. McHale's men, on his orders, have to pitch tents near the beach.

In the final season of McHale's Navy, what abandoned space becomes the crew's secret underground hideout?

A wine cellar becomes home to Fuji, some fancy furniture and a submarine-style periscope. The captain comes close to discovering it several times.

Which 1964 sitcom about Navy WAVES running a Pacific motor pool was created as a female version of McHale's Navy?

Broadside came from the same producer and lasted a single season of 32 episodes. Kathleen Nolan led the WAVES against a base commander who wanted them off his island.

In 1970 the actors who played Parker and Binghamton on McHale's Navy reunited in a sitcom about running what?

A one-plane airline, flying a Beechcraft named Lucky Linda, was their shared business. The sitcom debuted in January 1970 and aired its last new episode that June.

In the first episode of McHale's Navy, the hidden prisoner Fuji survives an inspection disguised as what?

A Polynesian chief is what the captain accepts, despite first questioning the stranger's Japanese looks and accent. A later episode passes Fuji off as a part-Hawaiian sailor.

Which In Living Color comedian played Ensign Parker in the 1997 film version of McHale's Navy?

David Alan Grier's Parker is planted in McHale's crew as the captain's spy. He finishes the film a hero after rescuing a boy, and is promoted for it.