Disgracing James MacArthur

Tuesday, November 9, 2010
End of the original 'Book 'em' era

Morsch disgraces the memory of James MacArthur. He has truly sunk to a new low.

I was saddened to learn of the recent death of James MacArthur, who played Detective Danny “Danno” Williams, the right-hand man of Jack Lord’s character Steve McGarrett on the television show “Hawaii Five-0.”

He actually mentioned (and tagged!) Hawaii Five-0 in another post. The only problem is that it's tagged as "Hawaii 5-0," so there's no way to connect the two. Another savvy move by our favorite blogger.

The original television series, which ran from 1968 through 1980, was one of my favorites as a kid and the attraction lasted into my college years. No matter what was going on with my schedule of toga parties, I always tried to find time to catch the show. At the very least, I tried to get in on the last few minutes of the episode, just to hear McGarrett say to Williams, “Book ’em Danno, murder one.”

McGarrett really didn't say it that often. Per Morsch's previous post on this subject: I spent many a night ditching the books in college... primarily just so I could hear Steve McGarrett say “Book ’em, Dano!” at the end of each episode. Ignore the "Dano" and focus on how this guy's terrible style varies so little from post to post.

Although I never got to meet MacArthur, I did get the opportunity to meet another “Hawaii Five-0" regular before the end of the original show’s run.

Really? Was he friendly and gracious? Did he take the time to greet fans after the event?

In 1979, our college baseball team’s spring trip was to Hawaii. (It was a good time to be a baseball player in Iowa in 1979.)

What was a good time? 1979? How nonsensical is this statement?

We were there for 10 days and were scheduled to play 10 games against the University of Hawaii.
Many of those games were played during the day, which left us the evenings to explore as much of Hawaii as we could with our limited free time.
My folks went along on the trip, and one evening we attended a nightclub act by Al Harrington, who played Detective Ben Kokua, another cop in McGarrett’s crew, for several years on the show. (On rare occasions, McGarrett would ask Ben to “Book ’em.”)

There's a website that analyzes the Five-0 series episode by episode. There are maybe only two or three instances of Steve saying "Book 'em" each season. I love how Morsch is trying to sound like an authority here. Stick with the Stooges, pal.

In addition to his television gig, Harrington was a singer and dancer in Waikiki, and along with Don Ho, helped define Hawaii’s entertainment industry in the 1970s and 1980s.

Because the history of the Hawaiian entertainment industry is funny! ... Right?

I got to meet Harrington after his show and asked him to sign my program, which he did. He signed it, “Book ’em Mike.” Given that I was such a big fan of the show, I got a kick out of that.

What a kind, generous, gracious man that Al Harrington is, taking the time to sign that autograph.

Unfortunately, I haven’t been back to Hawaii since.
All the main actors on the original “Hawaii Five-0” are gone now. I’ve watched the new version of the show Monday nights on CBS and it’s OK. Hawaii is still Hawaii, so the scenery is still fabulous. And the McGarrett character still says “Book ’em Danno” to the Williams character.

What is this post about? The death of James MacArthur? Al Harrington? Morsch's trip to Hawaii? "Hawaii Five-0"?

As with a lot of things, in this instance though, the original still outshines the remake.

"I was sad that MacArthur died. I never met him, but I met someone on the same show as him while I was in Hawaii once. I liked that show. The new version of the show is okay, but not as good as the original."

I'd like to linger on this last sentence for a moment. It would make sense if it read "As with a lot of things, the original still outshines the remake." But the inclusion of "in this instance though" destroys it. It's a complete contradiction. It's like saying, "Quite often, but fairly rarely."

Labels: Hawaii Five-0, Mike Morsch, Montgomery Newspapers, Outta Leftfield