Una serie de mi infancia "Aventuras en el Paraiso"

The Series in details... The schooner "Tiki" The main cast The music Videos

The schooner: The "TIKI" The schooner (a sailing boat with at least two masts, of which the first in front is smaller or equal to the second mast) was 85 feet long, 73 Tons weight with 9 feet draft. She was equipped for 6 passengers and 4 crew. (the photo does not show the "Tiki" but it's a lookalike. The real one of the series is on the right). Hollywood Studios had a huge lagoon in their vast acres, on which all water scenes could be shot in all circumstances. For the series, the producers have used 5 different versions of the schooner, of which a 65' replica "standing" steadily on a steel stank, in 4 feet of water... She had telegraphic poles shortened insterad of mast , which for that reason compelled the film director to shoot close to the action. A further 44 feet schooner "The Pilgrim" was also used, also a small scale miniature of 8 feet for special effects scenes of fire or storms, then an "open" version for the action shots. Some tell that the real Tiki has been later bought by Gardner McKay himself at the end of the series! The name should probably come from the well-known "Kon-Tiki", a timber raft-boat built by the norwegian explorer Thor Heyendahl, who sailed his "boat" all the way through the Pacific in order to prove that the polynesian god "Tiki" was in fact a Peruvian imigrated idol drifted by the "Humboldt" sea-current. The Tiki is also the lucky charm representing the polynesian god which Captain Troy wore around his neck (you can notice on the hereunder pictures...). May 2004: Information received says that the "Tiki " was built at Wollongong on the Southern coast of New South Wales (Australia) prior to 1920 . It was owned by a Mr Bob Morris for many years and was, apparently, moored at Birkenhead Marina in Sydney Harbour in the late 1980s. The schooner was bought buy a young couple who took it to the Mediterranean where it still is as far as we know. To the best of this knowledge , the boat was always called the "Tiki". (Thanks Bob and Bruce for these infos!) October 2004: I received news from a webviewer who got information from a book "John G. Alden and His Yacht Designs" by Robert W. Carrick & Richard Henderson. Alden is a famous yacht designer notably of schooners. Pilgrim was designed & built by Alden in 1932. In 1934, the schooner finished a 40,000 mile voyage which appeared in the August 1937 issue of National Geographic magazine. Pilgrim was later named Tiki & starred in Adventures in Paradise. In 1976, the yacht was owned by the "Seven Seas Sailing Club of New York" and sailed in Operation Sail for the Bicentennial of Declaration of Independance. (Thank you Laurence for these infos). October 2004 : A French Canadian amateur Radio operator informs that in the radio room of the Tiki, you can read the radio call sign ZL2AMU.(Thanks Michel from Quebec/Canada). Jan/Feb 2005 : The before mentionned radio call sign been found wrong, as a sailor and an U.S. amateur radio operator confirmed me that in an episode you can hear the letters "KAMU" (a typical call sign for ships radio station) distinguishly pronounced by Adam Troy himself in one of the episode.(Thank you Capt Bob for the wav. file and the beside picture taken of one of the TIKI versions on the Studio settings ). 2006 : Last but not least information on Tiki's origin, which has my agreement as it sticks well with comments already stated above: The Tiki was a John Alden designed schooner named Pilgrim built for American yachtsman adventurer Donald C.Starr who sailed her around the world from Boston Massachusetts in 1932. One can read about this voyage in his book "The Schooner Pilgrim's Progress" (still available from the bookshop at the Mystic Seaport. Mystic Connecticut, USA). Mr. Starr sold her shortly after the voyage and the Pilgrim/Tiki passed through many owners including Gardner McKay. The schooner sadly sunk in the Grenadine Islands off the island of Bequia during Hurricane Allen in August 1980. 2009 : Following information received from Mr. Bruce Buckman, of Fairhaven, MA USA: The schooner TIKI was built for the TV series. It was 102ft on-deck, not 82ft, and made of steel. The vessel was purchased by Gardner Mckay at the end of the tv series. Tiki is listed as being in the Parade of Sail at Boston, Massachusetts, USA for the Bi-Centennial in 1976. The schooner Pilgrim/Tiki "starred" in two other movies: - "Pearl of The South Pacific", a 1955, B class movie, available on DVD (see at Amazon.com) - "Sealed Cargo" unfortunately not released in DVD. (Thank you Mr. L.H.)

Gardner McKay sailing on "Catalina II"(?), a 72 footer or was it the 96 foot "Marapatcha"?

The series in the United States: All the episodes

Duration of the episode: 60 minutes TV Channel: ABC (Américain Broadcasting Corporation) - Total : 91 episodes Saison 1 : 5 october 1959 - 9 may 196 30 episodes Saison 2 : 3 october 1960 - 19 june 1961 35 episodes Saison 3 : 1st october 1961 - 1st april 1962 26 episodes

McKay with female cast

Cast of the series: cast name - season (years) - birth/death years

	Gardner McKay - Capt. Adam Troy (his page)
	Guy Stockwell - Chris Parker (saisons 2&3) - 1934-2002 - was a drama teacher, and co-founder of the "Los Angeles Art Theater". Had 2 sons and a girl. He was the brother of Dean Stockwell, better known for smoking the cigar in the science fiction TV series Quantum Leap.
	James Holden - Clay Baker (1960-1962), Troy's 1st mate in the series was born in Birmingham, Alabama.
	Weaver Levy - Oliver Lee (1959-1961) - played in Japanese War Bride (1952)
	Marcel Hillaire - Inspector Bouchard (saison 3) - 1908-1988 - Born Koeln in Germany, he played in many films such as: Sabrina (1960), The Seven Thieves(1960), The Four cavaliers of the Apocalypse (61), Branle-bas Au Casino(61), Take the Money and Run(69) with Woody Alen, but also in TV series such as The Twilight Zone.
	Henry Slate - Bulldog Lovey (saison 2)
	George Tobias - Trader Penrose (2 saisons:59-61) - 1901-1980. Seen many times in James Cagney films, but moreover well know later in the TV series "Bewitched" in which he played Herbert Kravitz (1964 to 1971), the one whose wife was always sneeking in Samantha's home!
	Sondi Sodsai - Sondi (saison 2) - Miss Thailand in 1960 - She represented the typical tahitian beauty on board...
	Lani Kai - Kelly (saisons 2&3) - Was the second tahitian on board the Tiki ... but was the first to sing calypso songs, sea songs and pop tunes with Gardner and James Holden when out of the 20th studios.
	(Guest Stars...)

Some of the best film directors:

Many episodes were filmed by the best directors of 20th Century Fox at the time, such as : Jus Addiss, Robert Aldrich (Big Leaguer, The Big Knife, Autumn Leaves, The Dirty Dozen...), Richard L. Bare, James B. Clark, Roy Del Ruth, Felix E. Feist, Robert Florey, Norman Foster, Alvin Ganzer, Bernard Girard, Tom Gries; Charles F. Haas, Gilbert Kay (as Gilbert L. Kay), Mitchell Leisen, Joseph Lejtes, Francis D. Lyon, Gerald Mayer, David Orrick McDearmon, Don Medford, James Neilson, Gerd Oswald, John Peyser, Sutton Roley, Charles R. Rondeau, Stuart Rosenberg, Boris Sagal, Paul Stanley, Jacques Tourneur (A tale of Two Cities, Cat People, I Walked With A Zombie, The Flame and the Arrow, Night of the Demon...), Bud Townsend, Ronald Weyman.

Music & other sounds:

Music: Theme composers : Dorcas Cochran & Lionel Newman. For a few episodes, collaboration of Henry Mancini - 1924-1994 (winner of Best Music Oscar for Breakfast at Tiffany's, directed by Blake Edwards in 1962. The former is also the well-known composer of the again Blake Edwards's film Pink Panther's theme. You can listen to the theme music by clicking on these links: - in the Original Version in Quicktime format (504 Kb.) And two other versions in MP3 to download ... - Hawaiian style, starting with seagulls ?... (2430 kb.) - Played on xylophone ?... (3930 kb.) Other sounds... - Listen to the beginning of an episode (Walk Through the night) and another. - Listen to Captain Troy calling over Tiki's radio. (If you want to download the music, right-click your mouse on the link and click on "save as...")

Production:

Martin Manulis Production, Dominik Dunne (executive producer), , Richard Goldstone (Producer), Perter Nelson (Assistant Producer), and Art Wallace (Fox) Lloyd Ahren (Photo director), Dancan Crameer, Charles Myall (Art directors). Set decorations: Walter M.Scott, Ruby Levitt By clicking on the logo...listen to the introduction of each episode! ( format.wav/40Ko.)

Videos/DVD

Watch a video clip

VHS/DVD: For US viewers, no problem, as many on-line web sites sells VHS and DVDs directly. For the Europeans, VHS standards are not under the same system (NTSC in the States), but most modern VCRs can read such format too. Please check what format your VCR can read before purchase! Same problem applies on DVDs. U.S. issued DVDs are under "zone 1", whereas European are under "zone 2". Check you DVD player if it can read "zone 1" before any purchase in the United States. Hereunder some links been suggested by a few fans of the series to purchase some episodes.I must add that I have no commercial link whatsoever with these companies. I suggest these links only to help fans. amazon.com : One of the biggest On-Line stores in the U.S. is offering Volume 1 "Castaways" and Volume 2 :"Treasure Hunt". Only VHS format. Also at : www.bygonevideo.com ebay.com : Ebay USA, the famous auction web-site: Direct to the Gardner McKay's page. Its the main way that many fans buy their copy. Videos and/or DVDs are not always available every week. Just have patience for the next week... sepnet.com/rcramer/tv_a-c.htm - (One fan commented " they were not "good quality" but watchable".) rareserials.com/adventures-in-paradise.htm tvideo.com (So far, have no comments received on those two previous links). Glory days Entertainment: 3 volumes. Understood from one client that "they are of good quality , and the audio is fine as well". My call to the producers and owners of the rights of the series: Why not transcript all the episodes in a beautiful DVD box set (and why not in color!), before thousands of meters of film are waisted in some remote forgotten draw... Like many of the fans, many young viewers would be delighted to discover what their elders have watched with so much passion in their youth! They would then understand why some of their parents became either sailors, adventurers or travellers, and had their lives changed by watching "Adventures in Paradise", with Captain Troy and his schooner Tiki!