Sail Away

 Remember Hap from McHale's Navy? I can't be absolutely sure, but I believe watching that character in reruns would have been my first exposure to Gavin MacLeod. There was a certain manic energy to him, way back then. That intensity was on full display in a different theater of operations when he showed up in Kelly's Heroes. This turn was not to be confused with his appearances on Hogan's Heroes, because he played a Nazi. A few times. 

Say it ain't so, Hap!

So while I was busy taking in all this World War II Gavin, he was busy preparing for what would be, in my mind, his signature role. In the autumn of 1970, MTM brought us Murray Slaughter, news writer for WJM-TV in Minneapolis, MN. How's that for a bunch of letters all jammed together? Murray was Mary Richard's co-worker, and comic foil thanks to his seemingly never-ending abuse of news reader Ted Baxter. It seemed important back then to note that Mary Richards was played by Mary Tyler Moore, and Ted Baxter was played by Ted Knight. Murray Slaughter was played by Gavin MacLeod. Somehow, that seemed to indicate that he was doing a little more acting than the other two, since he had to remember to answer to a completely different name. For me, Gavin's talent had not better showcase than the episode n which Chuckles The Clown dies. Sure, it's still Mary's show, but this one shines a light on Murray in a very particular way. For someone who cracks wise to know when to stop making jokes at the expense of the recently departed clown, then opens the door for Mary to make a complete fool of herself. Watch it again, and see if you don't agree.

I don't make the same suggestion for reruns of The Love Boat. Gavin was back on the high seas, this time as Captain Merrill Stubing, welcoming aboard the nearly and previously famous to cavort and canoodle while he drove the boat. For my money, Captain Stubing was pretty solidly a stuffed shirt, whose sense of humor and fun seemed to have vacated on his switch from one network to another. Perhaps the writers were more concerned with finding plausible story lines that would bring Charo together with Milton Berle rather than give Gavin MacLeod anything of substance to do once they left the dock. 

This past weekend, the Love Boat made its last port of call. Gavin MacLeod went on that cruise to a higher place. Leaving behind a list of credits that spanned nearly fifty years, he didn't stomp on the Terra as often as he frothed about in the Maria. But no matter where he roamed, he leaves a void. He will be missed. So when we say aloha, Gavin, we really mean it.