Jake Cutter flew a seaplane called Cutter's Goose. He was a pilot for hire, noble hero, and friend to the decent wherever danger lurked. Plus, he had an eye-patch-wearing dog - like a pirate dog.
A singer named Sarah Stickney White had been dispatched to the South Seas as an American spy. She and Jake were in love with each other but wouldn't admit it. The 1930's were ending with the world at war, and the South Pacific was a volatile, multi-national region. Sidekick to Jake was a comical airplane mechanic with the suitable name of Corky, and there was a French Magistrate named Bon Chance Louie. This colorful cast, as well as other inhabitants of Boragora, would spend time in a place of wicker peacock chairs and ceiling fans called the Monkey Bar.
Reportedly, Donald Bellisario approached networks with his Tales of the Gold Monkey concept in the very late 1970's. The networks rejected Gold Monkey, believing there would be no public interest, and then Raiders of the Lost Ark effectively changed their minds. To many at the time, Gold Monkey seemed a shrewd rip-off of Indiana Jones. However, Raiders did not inspire Gold Monkey. The films and literary works that inspired George Lucas and Steven Spielberg were the same films and literary works that inspired Donald Bellisario.
Pulp authors, serial stars and classic adventure films, combined with enthusiasm for anything like Indiana Jones, gave Tales of the Gold Monkey its foundation and chance in the competitive world of prime time television. It lasted one season only. And yet, evidence of the concept's strength could be found in the way it threaded references throughout to Tarzan, Lost Horizon, King Solomon's Mines, Casablanca and Only Angels Have Wings; all the while these giants of adventure were revisited, Gold Monkey never lost an identity of its own.
The best of adventure films and literary works serve to remind us of the present and potential wonders in all our lives. Tales of the Gold Monkey did that and more. In paying homage to Hollywood's classic adventures, it took inspiration from the sentiments expressed in those stories and replicated the values of those times. American identity in the 1930's, as reflected in its movies, was more curious than cynical, more hopeful than nihilistic. For many, those stories of heroism and wide-eyed amazement mirrored the bright dreams of youth, which is part of the reason they are so easy to revisit.
A friend (Bradley Wynn, A.K.A. Shipwreck) granted me access to some of the people responsible for creating the series. Thankfully, they were more than generous with their memories. Participants included Stephen Collins who played Jake Cutter, Jeff MacKay who played Corky, Tom Greene who wrote and produced for the show and Harvey Laidman who was one of the series directors. *This interview was conducted in early 2006. - Stephen Jared
Stephen, was there a character you modeled your performance after? (Stephen Collins) I was partially inspired by Cary Grant in Howard Hawk's great, but little known movie, Only Angels Have Wings. Grant plays against type as a tough character who flies mail in and out of a tiny, mountainous country. It's a great film, and a great performance.
Were there discussions with you about old movie stars or movies they wanted you to emulate with Jake Cutter?(Stephen Collins) Not really. Don Bellisario had a sense of what he wanted and we talked about it, but he didn't ask me to copy anybody. I knew about Only Angels Have Wings, and Don got a copy of it and screened it for me and Jeff MacKay, which was great. From that moment, I think Jeff and I were in the same wavelength.
How close did the show come to matching its ideal and original concept?
(Tom Greene) Don's intention, I believe, was to create something with a "Great White Hunter" feel to it, however, had a maturity of character and situation that would get both the young viewer and one who was a bit more discriminating. As Don would say, the next half dozen shows or so, started to go in a different direction, becoming much more comic book than the vision Don had. You had mud people and exotic monsters, etc. Some of that may have been a nervous network, and some of it may have been just experimenting with different ideas, and also as Don would tell me, some wrong choices in writers. At the time I was producing his other hit series, Magnum P. I., and Don asked me if I'd like to come over and become a writer-producer on Monkey. As much as Magnum was a dream job there was something about Tales that had me totally enthralled. I found myself on the sets all the time, just to soak in the world he created. I was also good friends with Steve Collins, and was a huge fan of Roddy McDowell. And then there was the hands on aspect of Monkey in that Magnum was shot in Hawaii, and I was their Hollywood producer, which meant I worked on scripts, casting and post production. I love being on the set as much as possible, so I jumped at the chance to go over to Monkey (which was shot on the Universal lot). I had a lot of discussions with Don about how he wanted to get Monkey back on track, and after that, went off, and over a weekend wrote for him, my first script, Force of Habit.
Force of Habit was one of the best episodes, balanced humor and poignancy, desires of the flesh and respect for religion. Anybody ever say, "Hey, this is a kid's show! Don't work so hard!"
(Harvey Laidman) I didn't have any highfalutin' goals shooting it, just make a fast-moving adventure.
(Tom Greene) That episode had a two-fold purpose. First of all, Don wanted me to write what is called a "ship in the bottle" show, that is a show that was very contained, so that we could bring the budget back (it was written so that much of the action takes place in the cockpit of the "Goose"), and secondly, he wanted to bring the show back to a more mature direction, where character and plot took precedent over gimmicks. You also have to give Harvey a HUGE amount of credit for that, since he is one of the best directors in the biz, and it was his talent that kept the balance of humor and poignancy. Don never thought of this as a kid's show. He pushed us to exhaustion and beyond at times, to make the show as good as possible. On the contrary to the idea of "don't work so hard," Don expected everyone to work as he did: 20 hours a day, seven days a week. I must say, many marriages and relationships (mine included!) were brushed under the carpet because of our dedication to Don's vision. And that's why this show stays so alive with so many fans. They can sense the passion we felt as well. As a writer there are rare and wonderful times when you are truly inspired, and you find that the words just come ripping out of your fingers. It's like you are watching the movie or the TV show and are simply a court reporter writing down what you see. It literally unfolds before you in the big screen in your brain seemingly on its own. Those are the moments we live for. That episode was just that. If you look at the shows after that they also had that nice balance. Especially Last Chance Louie, which is very emotional. In fact I wrote that with our story editor George Geiger, who spoke French, and we basically wrote a version of Tale of Two Cities. We did something very unusual, in that the trial of Louie for murder is written all in French, and Don fought the network to not only let us do that, but without subtitles! Roddy's performance in that episode is especially poignant as he is willing to die to protect his daughter. One quick side note on that episode: in the story, Steve falls in love with Louie's Daughter. She was played by Faye Grant, and in real life, they both fell in love with each other while filming the show, got married, and are still married.
The vast majority of TV shows that last one season don't have cult followings years later. To what do you ascribe the lasting value of Gold Monkey? (Stephen Collins) It appealed to people's sense of fun and adventure. The characters were real and cared about each other. It was funny and it had heart. Brandon Tartikoff told me two years after we were cancelled that he thought Gold Monkey could have run as long as MASH. But ABC didn't know what they had. Tartikoff ran NBC.
(Jeff MacKay) Good family values. Imagination. A return to more innocent times when integrity and goodwill meant something. Honesty as a norm as opposed to something unusual. People that you could rely on to be the people that you see. Not having to look beyond the surface of the personality to see the real human being. We also had a lot of fun making the series. I think that always shows in the final product.
(Tom Greene) You'll find cult followings for so many short-lived TV shows, or movies that originally tanked at the box office, become classics because the men and women who originally made them had a passion for the subject. They didn't make the show to try and capture a fad, or simply for the money, or because their test results and focus groups told them it would work. Of all Don's successful shows, I think Monkey expresses his true deep felt spirit more than any other. And luckily at the time, he had the control to pull it off. That brings me to the second reason something becomes a cult, and that is that in those situations, the creator had full power to make the show with their own vision. There were no twelve-year old executives telling him what to do.
(Harvey Laidman) There's something wonderful about an adventure that is almost like a childhood fantasy. When I walked to and from school, I pretended I was the Phantom. Those pictures in my mind don't relate to the new adventures that feature stunts that exceed imagination. I think we all could identify with Jake.
Jeff, was there a character you modeled your performance after? (Tom Greene) By the way, one of the great, unsung talents and heroes of that series was Jeff MacKay.
(Jeff MacKay) Actually, there were three. Thomas Mitchell in It's a Wonderful Life and Only Angels Have Wings, Walter Brennan in To Have and Have Not, and Curly Howard of the Three Stooges. I simply combined the aspects of the personalities of these characters with characteristics of my own personality. I love the helpless, but well-meaning characters such as Mitchell in both movies; I also loved Walter Brennan for his innocence; and of course, Curly Howard for his insane sense of humor. And hopefully, I brought my own personality to the role. That is what an actor does: he brings to a role that which he knows about a personality or traits of a personality. That is what makes a role played by a certain actor unique. Everyone's experiences have been different; not to mention the ways in which the human being playing the part has reacted to such experiences. An actor's job is to bring what he knows about that kind of person (the character) to light. At the time, I was doing a recurring role on Magnum, P.I., playing Mac. Don Bellisario and I were great friends and many times we shared a sushi lunch and discussed my upcoming character in Gold Monkey. I told him that I'd like the character to be a cross between Curly Howard, Walter Brennan and Thomas Mitchell. The part was written for me. Don and I had done a couple of series together and he knew what I could do. Another example of 'who you know, not what you know.'
Stephen, I've read that you were involved in bringing Roddy McDowall to the show. Could you discuss the extent to which you were involved in various aspects of the show aside from your performance as Jake? I just talked to Don Bellisario and Don isn't afraid to listen to anyone who has a good idea. When they decided to replace Ron Moody, who played Louie in the pilot, I knew that Roddy was someone who understood the world and style that we were trying to create. Few people understood old movies better than Roddy. And Roddy really wanted it, which is usually a good sign. I always have a lot of ideas, some of which are good and some of which aren't, but Don would always listen, and, like a good editor, keep the good stuff. I also thought that Sarah White should have a middle name, something that would make her sound even more uppity. I suggested my real-life father's middle name, which is Stickney. Don liked it and Sarah White became Sarah Stickney White. Don is wonderfully collaborative that way.
Regarding the design of the series, did the network want you to shy away from too much that looked like the thirties? Or, was there pressure to make it more like Indiana Jones? (Tom Greene) The only pressure came at the last six or so shows when ABC -- in an act of insanity which is normal for networks -- took our obviously eight o'clock show and put it on at ten o'clock. Therefore, they suddenly wanted more sex and violence. Remember too, that Don created this show way before Indy came out, and the success of Indiana Jones simply helped give the network the courage to green-light Monkey. Networks are scared, frightened individuals who are more concerned with covering their ass than making decisions, so they have to find a reason to green-light something other than their own instincts, therefore if a huge blockbuster movie comes out, and you have something that is sort of like it, they can green-light it, and if it fails at least they can say "well Indy was a hit, it's not my fault!"
Were you inspired by serial adventures? Which ones? (Harvey Laidman) I was a big comic book fan! The comics taught me a lot about composition and editing. I loved Blackhawk, which is probably extremely politically incorrect today. Captain Marvel, Batman, The Phantom and Superman.
(Tom Greene) I have always loved any kind of adventure that was from another time and place. Somehow I have never been much for "right now." Therefore the idea of a world totally into itself is much more exciting than the horrid mess we really live in. That is why I've always been attracted to science fiction and adventure stories, especially westerns. My father was a writer, and wrote many adventure stories, and in fact is in the Cowboy Hall of Fame for his writings. So I grew up with that. I loved Robert Service from before I could read, and there wasn't a western I didn't know by heart after I watched it. My favorite movie of all time is 2001: A Space Odyssey, more for how it throws you into so many worlds of the past and future and leaves out the present, in the most amazing jump shot in movie history, and how it makes you think, and look at your own life in new and inspiring ways. After Monkey I made a mini-series called Wildside with Meg Ryan, Howard Rollins and Will Smith, which was a western, but frankly was influenced greatly by Don's writing, especially of Monkey. It's sort of like the way Disneyland was originally created. Walt felt that when you went into his "world" it should be airtight, and nothing from the outside world should be seen. He spent hours and hours making sure all sight lines were covered; that is, you couldn't see anything outside the park, no billboards or buildings or even mountains. He also sound proofed the borders so you didn't hear horns or sirens from the outside, and made a deal with the Orange County Airport to keep planes and helicopters from flying over the park. That is how an adventure should be as well. You should be totally involved in that world, and a concerted effort by the filmmaker must be made to keep the "billboards" out. And those are the ones I love. Probably the westerns of Sergio Leone, who was a master at the airtight adventure, was one of my biggest influences growing up.
Adventure stories produced by Hollywood today seem either inspired by video games or made to inspire video games. Have there been any old-fashioned adventure films or series you've seen and admired in the last 20 years? (Tom Greene) That's a hard one, since you sort of hit the nail on the head. Adventure movies, especially these days, are not story driven; they are all CGI driven. It's all about the effects and has nothing to do with character or plot. One of the great adventure writer-directors, John Milius, created some terrific work and it all came from character, and virtually no computer generated garbage. When you used to watch Ben Hur or Spartacus, or Lawrence of Arabia, you had a feeling that you were part of an event, since you realized that they really did have thousands of people on that field that day. To think that some geek working on his computer created the digital soldiers kills it for you, and there is no emotional response. Even if you don't know how they are stamped out on a computer screen, subconsciously there is an emotional disconnect. Probably the best adventure film of the last twenty years was Mountains on the Moon. A grand mixture of true adventure with intelligent dialogue, characters and story. Actually, for me, the best adventure series on TV are the ones created by Michael Palin in his true-life travel series. Again, Michael's own enthusiasm and deep emotions carry these programs to classic status.
(Harvey Laidman) A lot of the new shows are so laden with special and photographic and CGI effects that I can't seem to identify with the hero. Destination Moon by Robert Heinlein and George Pal is my favorite movie. I liked Tom Jones and 2001 a Space Odyssey, Dr. Strangelove and Failsafe.
Stephen, given that you are also a published novelist, I am wondering if you ever entertained the idea of writing your own Tales of the Gold Monkey novel. It never crossed my mind. But I did write a pretty good script for the show. It's about Jake finding Amelia Erhardt, who, it turns out, was an old girlfriend of his. If I thought there were a wide enough market for a novel, it would be fun to write it.
What's the biggest difference between Hollywood today and 25 years ago? (Stephen Collins) Executives don't trust genuine creativity as much as they used to. They're scared of quirky, real voices in writing. The blockbuster mentality is like a virus that has diminished the quality of the average studio movie. As a result, the audience has dumbed down. If they made All The President's Men or Midnight Cowboy today, they wouldn't find a wide audience because the studios would be afraid of them and wouldn't give them a wide release. Ironically, with cable, there are more original voices working now in TV than ever before. There's a lot of junk, but also a number of wonderfully written and acted shows.
(Jeff MacKay) I think as in most things, Hollywood has become more and more a commercial enterprise situation than it was when I started. I know it always was, but it seems to have become more of a corporate venture than an undertaking of imagination. Of course, that's what they told me when I started, but I really do think that creative decisions such as those made over the last few decades, made by uncreative people, is like hiring Rembrandt and then telling him how to paint. It seems to me there is no risk-taking any more. No room for it. It's the bottom line that counts. The studios are run, not by people with ideals, but by number crunchers who seem much more mercenary than they once did.
Stephen, what's your favorite memory from Gold Monkey? There were three Gooses. One was real and actually flew and they kept it in Hawaii to shoot the extraordinary second unit aerial footage, which gave the eventual scenes inside the Goose a tremendously real look; a second Goose was on the lake in the back lot at Universal. It couldn't fly, but it could taxi on the water. We used that one to film arrivals and departures at the Monkey Bar dock. The third Goose was on the sound stage where we filmed the aerial scenes. Jeff and I spent a lot of time in that one. It was so difficult to get in and out of it - a lot of ladders and climbing involved - that we often stayed inside it while they were lighting the scenes, instead of getting out and having stand-ins sit there during the lighting, which would be the usual way. Jeff and I would run our lines and just hang out and laugh a lot. He's one of the funniest people on earth and my favorite memories are sitting in the cockpit with him and laughing our heads off. One other great memory: There was an episode in which Jake and Corky rode an old motorcycle with a side-car. I had to practice on it because it was hellishly difficult to drive. It had what they call a suicide clutch because the clutch was where the brake would usually be and vice-versa. They were lighting a scene and Jeff and I just took off on the bike. We rode all over the Universal lot, and all through the labyrinths of the back lot. It was like we'd busted out of school. We'd been working incredibly long, difficult hours, it was a gorgeous day, and we were like Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn. That ride, which probably lasted less than an hour, was one of the best vacations I ever took. When we got back, the assistant directors had flipped out because they had no idea where we'd gone.
Jeff, favorite memories? The moments of delirium at the end of a long day when we got the giggles. They are always my favorite moments. Uncontrollable laughter is the best medicine on the planet for whatever ails you. My friendship with Stephen was a complete pleasure. The opportunity to play an unusual character on popular TV was also a privilege. The cast, the crew, the producers and the writers all combined to make the show one big very happy family. I had worked with some of the crew before, making the daily set experience a genuine pleasure. They had never seen me do a character like this before and the gained respect plus the respect I have for those who are behind the scenes made it so rewarding for me in so many ways. These are real people who are doing their jobs to the best of their abilities. Those crew members who did not fit into our family were soon gone. I remember the most affecting scenes I did in the series include a show called Cooked Goose. It's a long story, but the person who gave me my first professional acting job wrote the show. We were great friends and when I insisted that he write a spec script, he wrote one that had a number of problems. There were, however, a couple of scenes that were wonderful acting scenes. He began as an actor and we had worked in many stage productions together, so he knew how to write for actors, specifically, me.
(Stephen Collins) Jeff's friend, Jay Huguely's script for Cooked Goose was brilliant, but show runners don't like to hire outside writers very often, especially in the first year of a series. We pushed Don to read it. He could see that Jay clearly got the show; his script was brilliant and Don, who was exhausted from doing double duty on our show and Magnum, saw the value of the script, and hired Jay. Jay went on to become one of Don's main stable of writers for many years. It was obvious to me that Jeff had depth and range as an actor that hadn't yet seen the light of day. He's so funny that a lot of people didn't see more than that. But his performance as Corky could break your heart.
(Jeff MacKay) When Jay submitted the script, the two regular staff writers on the show thought these two particular scenes needed to be softened or at least made to be less dramatic. I read their rewrite and took the two versions to Steve, and we decided to make it an issue to restore what my friend had written. Actorially, they were strong; the rewrites were watered down. Steve and I prevailed and the scenes in that episode were restored. They remain my favorites - selfishly. There were many other scenes that stand out to me and always they involved Steve. He is a consummate professional and works with total humility, so am I. It was always a pleasure and a privilege to work with him. I'm not surprised at all that his series 7th Heaven has been on for so many years.
* (Sadly, a couple of years after this interview Jeff MacKay passed away.)
Content © copyright Stephen Jared - all rights reserved