Tales of the Brass Monkey Oldies But Goodies II (See previous post)

Tales of the Gold/Brass Monkey

Another of those dusty memories came to me while I was lying around thinking so I bought a DVD set of the 1982 television production of its version of Indiana Jones.

When the pilot was being made as Tales of the Brass Monkey, it was discovered that there is a bar in the Far East called The Brass Monkey. To avoid legal difficulties, they changed the name to Gold.  In the first episode, a supposedly solid gold statue of a monkey is discovered. Turned out it's really brass. Sneaky way to infer gold for brass.

Tales of the Gold Monkey is an action adventure, international intrigue, exotic locals, handsome leading man, central casting sidekick, beautiful woman and a dog that communicates with one bark for yes, two barks for no. Or vice versa, it depends on how the dog feels.

The main characters are superficial but the actors bring their roles off in a delightful manner. Humor abounds with sharp repartee. The bad guy characters give stock villain actors a candy role in as they chew up the scenery and steal whatever scene they are in. Nazi’s, semi-evil Japanese Princess, fake Priest, Surly natives, oily bar owner (played by Roddy McDowell) make up most of the supporting players.

Jake, the lead handsome man flies a Grumman Goose seaplane like a UPS delivery van between the islands. Sara, the pretty leading lady is a chanteuse that sometimes sings at the Tiki bar and “helps” Jake with the different blackmail, murder and subterfuge plots that take place each episode. Sara dresses in the frocks worn by young ladies in the 40’s that are so retro.

Jake’s back-story is he was pilot for the Flying Tigers in China during Chennault’s time as the leader of the squadron fighting the Japanese. He ended up trying to make a living in the islands. Never mind that the Flying Tigers didn’t exist in 1938 and didn’t become operational until 1941. One can’t let facts get in the way of a good story, especially in Hollywood. As a former Flying Tiger, Jake wears an airman’s hat from the period along with Jodhpurs, riding boots and leather jacket.

Entire cast including the gold monkey

Jack the dog, played by Leo The Dog, has a Opal glass eye with a sapphire iris. It gets lost in a high stake poker game because the one bark for yes got mixed up with one for no. Jack wears a patch over that eye for the rest of the seasons.

Set in 1938 on an island called Borabora deep in the South Pacific where a bar called the Gold Monkey resides. It looks like a Tiki Bar with palm leaves, orchids and bamboo pretty much everywhere but is mainly a hotel for passengers from the Flying Clipper. (Which really existed then and there)

The story lines are pretty much standard television for the 80’s or 90’s or even up until today’s TV fare. I’ve heard that there are only 5 plots for stage and film since Shakespeare penned his first plays and this show hits them all except for the boy gets girl boy loses girl boy gets girl. Well, maybe they hit on this one too.

Although I like this show a lot, Soldiers of Fortune is better for just stewing in the old days and a whole lot better than the next one I will write about called Terry and the Pirates.