Introduction

Broadside is an American sitcom that aired on ABC during the 1964-1965 TV season.

The series, produced by McHale’s Navy creator Edward Montagne, starred Kathleen Nolan, formerly of The Real McCoys.

Intended to be a female version of McHale’s Navy (1962-1965).

Outline

The series centred on the women of the Navy (WAVES: women’s branch of the US Naval Reserve during World War II) on “a supply base somewhere in the South Pacific, 1944,” who found themselves transferred to the island of Ranakai to run the motorpool in an otherwise all-male environment. Lieutenant Anne Morgan (Kathleen Nolan) was in command of the man-crazy, wisecracking Selma Kowalski (Sheila James), the alternately chipper and worried Molly McGuire (Lois Roberts), the slow-witted blonde and former exotic dancer Roberta Love (Joan Staley), and the unit’s only male recruit, Marion Botnik (Jimmy Boyd), assigned to the WAVES due to a clerical error.

Their nemesis was the rarefied Commander Roger Adrian (Edward Andrews), who regarded the war as a major intrusion on his idyllic, luxurious lifestyle; he felt that the WAVES experiment would attract official government supervision, endangering his private paradise. Adrian and his easily flustered junior officer Ensign Beasley (George Furth) constantly conspired to get rid of the WAVES, while executive officer Lieutenant Max Trotter (Dick Sargent) and streetwise sailor Nicky D’Angelo (Don Edmonds) sided with the girls in their counter-attacks on Adrian. Completing the ensemble was Adrian’s fussy personal chef Bernard (Richard Jury).

Producer Montagne had produced movie short subjects starring comedian Arnold Stang in the early 1950s. Midway through the Broadside run, Montagne recruited Stang to join the series and gave him co-star billing. Stang replaced both Richard Jury and Don Edmonds in the ensemble cast. He appeared as outspoken master chef Stanley Stubbs, reunited with his high-school classmate Selma of the WAVES motor pool.

Broadside boasted clever scripts and good direction by the McHale’s Navy staff, and enthusiastic performances by the ensemble cast. As it was a rule that vehicles on set could only be operated by union members, the cast playing drivers got honorary Teamsters’ cards.

Though ratings were not bad, the series ran for just a single season. The executives at Universal Studios felt the tropical exteriors being used by Broadside and McHale’s Navy – and nothing else – were taking up too much space on the backlot, so Broadside was cancelled and the setting for McHale’s Navy was changed to Italy, which could be shot on the studio’s more frequently used sets with European facades.

Cast

• Kathleen Nolan as Lieutenant Anne Morgan.
• Edward Andrews as Commander Roger Adrian.
• Dick Sargent as Lieutenant Maxwell Trotter.
• Jimmy Boyd as Marion Botnik.
• George Furth as Ensign Beasley.
• Sheila James as Selma Kowalski.
• Lois Roberts as Molly Maguire.
• Joan Staley as Roberta Love.
• Arnold Stang as 1st Class Stanley Stubbs.

Release

DVD

There is a:

• 6 disc set with 31 episodes; and
• 3 disc set with 29 episodes.

Trivia

• The idea for the show was to be “a woman’s McHale’s Navy”.
• Two of the waves had previously appeared together on the McHales Navy episode “The Happy Sleepwalker”.

Broadside Series

• Episode 01: Don’t Make Waves.
• Episode 02: The Non-Permanent Wave.
• Episode 03: Kill ‘Em with Kindness.
• Episode 04: Annie Shoots Down the Cupid.
• Episode 05: Lt. Morgan’s Secret Marriage.
• Episode 06: The Great Lipstick War.
• Episode 07: Adrian Gets Nipped.
• Episode 08: The Morale of Molly McGuire.
• Episode 09: Adrian’s Anniversary Waltz.
• Episode 10: Anne Bugs the Enemy.

• Episode 11: Ranakai Flips Its Wig.
• Episode 12: My Son, the Egg.
• Episode 13: Selma, the Love Trap.
• Episode 14: The Obstacle Course.
• Episode 15: Behind the Eight Ball.
• Episode 16: The Stowawaves.
• Episode 17: The Wolfman Cometh.
• Episode 18: Taurus to Aries to Chance.
• Episode 19: Adrian Goes Gung-Ho.
• Episode 20: The Arrival of Stanley Stubbs.

• Episode 21: Follow That Pigeon.
• Episode 22: Three Wishes.
• Episode 23: Lieutenant Love, Sir.
• Episode 24: Adrian’s Phantom Staff Car.
• Episode 25: Adrian Gets the Boot.
• Episode 26: Filet on the Hoof.
• Episode 27: The Great Ranakai Mutiny.
• Episode 28: Ann Morgan’s Home Movies.
• Episode 29: Witchcraft a Go-Go.
• Episode 30: Once Upon an Island.
  • Originally the last show of the series. Two shelved first-run episodes were broadcast late.
• Episode 31: Miss Ranakai.
  • Filmed earlier in the season but pre-empted; Don Edmonds appears instead of Arnold Stang.
• Episode 32: Operation Clip-Joint.
  • Filmed earlier in the season but pre-empted; Don Edmonds appears instead of Arnold Stang.

Production & Filming Details

• Director(s):
  • Hollingsworth Morse … (9 episodes, 1964-1965).
  • Charles Barton … (6 episodes, 1964-1965).
  • Jean Yarbrough … (4 episodes, 1965).
  • Frank McDonald … (3 episodes, 1964-1965).
  • Earl Bellamy … (2 episodes, 1964).
  • E.W. Swackhamer … (2 episodes, 1964).
  • Sidney Miller … (2 episodes, 1965).
  • Edward Montagne … (1 episode, 1964).
  • H. Bruce Humberstone … (1 episode, 1965).
  • Don Richardson … (1 episode, 1965).
• Producer(s):
  • George Carleton Brown … associate producer (32 episodes, 1964-1965).
  • Frank Gill Jr. … associate producer (32 episodes, 1964-1965).
  • Edward Montagne … producer (32 episodes, 1964-1965).
• Writer(s):
  • Earl Barret … (2 episodes, 1965).
  • Barry E. Blitzer … (2 episodes, 1964-1965).
  • Ray Brenner … (2 episodes, 1964-1965).
  • George Carleton Brown … (teleplay) (2 episodes, 1964).
  • Robert C. Dennis … (2 episodes, 1965).
  • Stan Dreben … (4 episodes, 1964-1965).
  • Frank Fox … (written by) (1 episode, 1965).
  • Benedict Freedman … (written by) (1 episode, 1964).
  • Frank Gill Jr. … (teleplay) (2 episodes, 1964).
  • Ralph Goodman … (3 episodes, 1964-1965).
  • Jack Harvey … (2 episodes, 1965).
  • Bruce Howard … (7 episodes, 1964-1965).
  • Sam Locke … (written by) (4 episodes, 1964).
  • Howard Merrill … (story) (1 episode, 1965).
  • John Fenton Murray … (written by) (1 episode, 1964).
  • Bud Nye … (6 episodes, 1964-1965).
  • Joel Rapp … (written by) (4 episodes, 1964).
  • William Raynor … (4 episodes, 1964-1965).
  • Si Rose … (story) (1 episode, 1964).
  • Elroy Schwartz … (4 episodes, 1965).
  • Irving Taylor … (2 episodes, 1965).
  • Myles Wilder … (4 episodes, 1964-1965).
• Music:
  • Jerry Fielding … (32 episodes, 1964-1965).
• Cinematography:
  • Ray Flin … (22 episodes, 1964-1965).
  • Walter Strenge … (3 episodes, 1964-1965).
  • Benjamin H. Kline … (1 episode, 1964).
  • Russell Metty … (1 episode, 1964).
  • John L. Russell … (1 episode, 1964).
  • William Margulies … (1 episode, 1965).
  • Jacques R. Marquette … (1 episode, 1965).
  • Bud Thackery … (1 episode, 1965).
• Editor(s):
  • Danford B. Greene … (29 episodes, 1964-1965).
  • Sam E. Waxman … (2 episodes, 1964).
• Production:
  • Revue Studios (1964).
  • Universal Television (1965).
• Distributor(s):
  • American Broadcasting Company (ABC) (1964-1965) (USA) (TV).
  • Studios USA Television (all media).
• Release Date: 20 September 1964 to 02 May 1965.
• Rating: TV-PG.
• Running Time: 30 minutes (per episode).
• Country: US.
• Language: English.

Video Link