Posted by Donn on December 24, 2000 at 09:01:32:
In Reply to: Heublein's Brass Monkey posted by The Captain on December 23, 2000 at 22:10:15:
Ahoy Captain,
So, you're saying that the legend actually originated with that ad campaign? Too bad, that sort of takes all the fun out of it. I was hoping that the ad campaign had just incorporated the idea from some earlier source (literature, movies, or even an actual Polynesian legend) and bent it to its own uses. The Moto books by John P. Marquand were a promising lead for me because they capture so well (and so accurately) the "feeling" of those pre-WW2 times. I also considered the Mr. Moto movies with Peter Lorie.
Since I've discovered this great website, I've been prowling around and reading. On another webpage, Patricia (?) makes reference to the movie "Only Angels Have Wings" and implies that it might have contributed a good deal to the creation of the TOTGM show. I don't know. Perhaps indirectly.
OAHW was actually based upon the earliest days of Juan Trippe's Pan American Airways back in the late 1920s and early 1930s when they were desperately trying to secure contracts to haul mail to some of the more remote South American locations. It was a good old movie.
But when I used to watch TOTGM, I was reminded of an earlier ABC series which ran from 1959 to 1962. It was called "Adventures In Paradise" and starred another actor named McKay -- Gardner McKay -- as Captain Adam Troy. Each week, he sailed his schooner, "Tiki", among the islands of the South Pacific in search of paying cargo and adventure. Next to "Route 66", it was my favorite show on TV during those years.
What do you think, Captain?
Donn