Sherwood Schwartz proves he can create something even dumber that “Gilligan’s Island.” No wonder this lasted for only one season. It should have been cancelled after ten minutes of the first episode. Frank Aletter and Jack Mullaney are two astronauts who find themselves back in caveman times. Playing cave people are Joe E.Ros, Imogene Coca, Cliff Norton and Mike Mazurki.
Opening episode: September 11,1966 – “And Then I Wrote Happy Birthday” – Astronauts Mac (Frank Aletter) and Hector (Jack Mullaney) find themselves back in the days of cavemen and dinosaurs. They hear a cry for help. They rescue a kid who is hanging from a branch and is the object of a dinosaur’s hungry look. After the rescue he runs away.
Mac and Hector are surrounded by cavemen. Good thing they speak English. Boss (Cliff Norton) and Clon (Mike Mazurki) want to introduce them to their clubs. Then the kid, Bleer, runs in and saves them. He takes them back to his parents cave, His father is Gronk (Joe E.Ross) and his mother is Shag (Imogene Coca). They also meet his blonde sister Mlor (Mary Grace). She starts to light a fire with rocks. Then Hector lights a match. That almost gets them killed as evil spirits.
They find out a rite of passage for young boys is to spend a day on their own in the jungle. Mac and Hector suggest a new custom instead, a birthday party. Bleer and his parents help them to escape back to the capsule. Then they feel they can’t leave because maybe they can save a lot of boy’s lives if they bring in a new custom. They go back.
The birthday party is a success. Time for Bleer’s present. Clon and the boys bring in the capsule and proceed to start taking parts off of it. The party’s over and Mac and Hector try some repairs. They don’t have the skills. It looks like they’ll be there a while.
Frank Aletter-Jack Mullaney
Huh. I guess that was a tv theme in the 50-60s, ‘new worlds to conquer’ or ‘new worlds to feel superior to the average shmoe in’ or ‘new worlds to find not as hard as the old world’ like Gilligan’s Island. I guess it all led to Star Trek and was influenced at least a bit by WWII and Japan getting nuked and the seamonster films they came out with, only much less scary to the average person. Your reviews make me speculate about what caused it all!
By this time the space program caught everyone’s imagination and the race was on to try for a hit TV show. Anything with an astronaut would do..ex:I Dream Of Jeannie. It all reminds me of the standard….”Imitation is the sincerest form of forgery.”