Hawaiian Eye
Tom Lopaka, Tracy Steele and Greg MacKenzie

Created by Roy Huggins?

Another piece of product from the Warner Bros. TV Eye factory, picture this as "77 Sunset Strip goes Hawaiian."

But actually, Hawaiian Eye was the most successful of the Sunset clones, lasting four seasons, and still has fans to this day.

Personally, I can't see it, judging from the few episodes I've managed to catch. Unlike say, Peter Gunn, I don't think the show has held up all that well over the years, beyond a certain lightweight nostalgac charm and easy-going harmlessness. The plots are rather loose, coincidence-prone shambles, the acting glib, the gags obvious. But hey, that's just me...

Set in Honolulu, it featured the exploits of handsome (natch!) private eyes TOM LOPAKA (Robert Conrad) and TRACY STEELE (Anthony Eisley), who worked out of a poolside office at the ritzy Hawaiian Village Hotel. Adding comic relief were Cricket, a ditzy nightclub singer/photographer (played by Connie Stevens), and Kim, a ukulele-playing local cabbie. And, of course, there were crossovers with other WB P.I.s from 77 Sunset Strip, Bourbon Street Beat and Surfside Six.

New eye GREG MacKENZIE, played by Grant Williams, joined the agency in December 1960, and Troy Donahue, who'd recently played private eye Sandy Winfield II in Surfside Six, joined the cast as social director Phillip Barton in 1962.All the eyes made good use of their police contact, Quon.

All in all, it was no better or worse than any of the other shows being pumped out like so much video Play Doh. If you're keeping score, this is the one with the occasional palm trees and scenes of women in grass skirts.

AN INSIDE JOB

"Although the show was basically 77 Sunset Strip (with Hawaiian shirts), which in turn was based on Roy Huggins Stuart Bailey character, Huggins never actually wrote an episode of Hawaiian Eye. The only credit he had was for Dead Ringer, during the 59-60 season. But it was actually an old Maverick script, "The Jeweled Gun," that was recycled during a writer's strike, and "rewritten" for Hawaiian Eye by another writer. And Warner Brothers took the position that since it was a remake of a previously aired script, no additional payment for additional uses of the script were due the writer credited on the original TV film."

UNDER OATH

• "Thanks for the memory. Even after all these years, I can still hear Poncie Ponce singing, "Mele Kalekimaka" on one of the Christmas shows, AND I still know all the words. It's become one of my husband's favorite "carols."
  (Elizabeth)

TELEVISION

• HAWAIIAN EYE
  (1959-63, ABC)
  134 60-minute episodes
  Writers: Robert J. Shaw, Gibson Fox, Philip Saltzman, Stanley Niss, Robert Hamner, Gloria Elmore, Sam Ross, Lee Loeb, Ed Jurist, Roy Huggins
  Directors: Robert Sparr, Dick Benedict, Bob Totten, Irving J. Moore, Charles Rondeau, george waGGner (yes, that's the way he signed his name), Robert Douglas
  Producers: Stanley Niss, Charles Hoffman, Ed Jurist
  Executive Producer: William T. Orr
  Theme Music composed by Mack David and Jerry Livingstone (see below)
  Performed by Warren Barker
  Starring Robert Conrad as TOM LOPAKA
  Anthony Eisley as TRACY STEELE (1959-62)
  and Grant Williams as GREG MacKENZIE (1960-63)
  with Connie Stevens as Cricket Blake
  Poncie Ponce as Kazuo Kim
  Mel Prestidge as Quon (1960-63)
  and Troy Donahue as Philip Barton (1962-63)
  Guest Stars: Doug Mossman, Tina Cole. Chad Everett, Gale Garnett, Cloris Leachman, Mary Tyler Moore, Warren Oates, Stella Stevens, Adam West
  Crossover appearances by: Edd Byrnes, Richard Long, Efrem Zimbalist Jr.
  

• 1st season
• "Malihini Holiday" (October 7, 1959)
• "Waikiki Widow" October 14, 1959)
• "Second Day of Infamy" (October 21, 1959)
• "All Expenses Paid" (October 28, 1959)
• "Cloud Over Kaola" (November 11, 1959)
• "Beach Boy" (November 18, 1959)
• "Three Tickets to Lani" (November 25, 1959)
• "Quick Return" (December 2, 1959)
• "Secret of the Second Door" (December 9, 1959)
• "Shipment from Kihei" (December 16, 1959)
• "A Dime a Dozen" (December 23, 1959)
• "The Koa Man" (December 30, 1959)
• "Stamped for Danger" (January 6, 1960)
• "The Kamehameha Cloak" (January 13, 1960)
• "The Kikiki Kid" (January 20, 1960)
• "Then There Were Three" (January 27, 1960)
• "Sword of the Samurai" (February 3, 1960)
• "Hong Kong Passage" (February 10, 1960)
• "Cut of Ice" (February 17, 1960)
• "Fatal Cruise" (February 24, 1960)
• "Danger on Credit" (March 2, 1960)
• "Bequest of Arthur Goodwin" (March 9, 1960)
• "A Birthday Boy" (March 16, 1960)
• "Second Fiddle" (March 23, 1960)
• "Kim Quixote" (March 30, 1960)
• "The Lady's Not for Travelling" (April 6, 1960)
• "Murder, Anyone?" (April 13, 1960)
• "Typhoon" (April 27, 1960)
• "Shadow of the Blade" (May 4, 1960)
• "Dead Ringer" (May 11, 1960)
• "Little Blalah" (May 18, 1960)
• "Assignment: Manilla" (May 25, 1960)
  
  
• 2nd season
• "I Wed Three Wives" (September 14, 1960)
• "Princess from Manhattan" (September 21, 1960)"
• "With This Ring" (September 28, 1960)
• "Sea Fire" (October 5, 1960)
• "The Blue Goddess" (October 19, 1960)
• "White Pigeon Ticket" (October 26, 1960)
• "Vanessa Vanishes" (November 2, 1960)
• "The Kahuna Curtain" (November 9, 1960)
• "Girl on a String" (November 16, 1960)
• "Kakua Woman" (November 23, 1960)
• "The Contenders" (November 30, 1960)
• "Swan Song for a Hero" (December 7, 1960)
• "The Money Blossom" (December 14, 1960)
• "Services Rendered" (December 21, 1960)
• "Baker's Half Dozen" (December 28, 1960)
• "Made in Japan" (January 4, 1961)
• "A Touch of Velvet" (January 11, 1961)
• "Talk and You're Dead" (January 18, 1961)
• "Robinson Koyoto" (January 25, 1961)
• "The Manabi Figurine" (February 1, 1961)
• "Caves of Pele" (February 8, 1961)
• "Man in a Rage" (February 15, 1961)
• "The Stanhope Brand" (February 22, 1961)
• "The Trouble with Murder" (March 1, 1961)
• "Man from Manilla" (March 8, 1961)
• "Her Father's House" (March 15, 1961)
• "The Humuhumunukunukuapuaa Kid" (March 22, 1961)
• "Don't Kiss Me Goodbye" (March 29, 1961)
• "Dragon Road" (April 5, 1961)
• "It Ain't Cricket" (April 12, 1961)
• "The Comics" (April 19, 1961)
• "Father, Dear Father" (April 26, 1961)
• "The Manchu Formula" (May 3, 1961)
• "The Pretty People" (May 10, 1961)
• "The Big Dealer" (May 17, 1961)
• "Maid in America" (May 24, 1961)
• "A Taste for Money" (AKA Stranger in Paradise; May 31, 1961)
  
  
• 3rd season
• "Satan City" (September 27, 1961)
• "The Kapua of Coconut Bay" (October 4, 1961)
• "The Moon of Mindinao" (October 11, 1961)
• "The Doctor's Lady" (October 18, 1961)
• "Thomas Jefferson Chu" (October 25, 1961)
• "Pill in the Box" (November 1, 1961)
• "Kill a Grey Fox" (November 8, 1961)
• "The Reluctant Visit" (AKA Point Zero; November 15, 1961)
• "The Queen from Kern County" (November 22, 1961)
• "The Final Score" (November 29, 1961)
• "Two for the Money" (December 6, 1961)
• "Tusitala" (December 13, 1961)
• "The Classic Cab" (December 20, 1961)
• "Concert in Hawaii" (December 27, 1961)
• "The Missile Rogues" (January 3, 1962)
• "Little Miss Rich Witch" (January 10, 1962)
• "Big Fever" (January 17, 1962)
• "Year of Grace" (January 24, 1962)
• "My Love, But Lightly" (January 31, 1962)
• "Cricket's Millionaire" (February 7, 1962)
• "Four-Cornered Triangle" (February 14, 1962)
• "Total Eclipse" (February 21, 1962)
• "Blackmail in Satin" (February 28, 1962)
• "A Scent in Whales" (March 7, 1962)
• "A Likely Story" (March 14, 1962)
• "The Meeting on Molokai" (March 21, 1962)
• "Payoff" (March 28, 1962)
• "An Echo of Honor" (April 4, 1962)
• "Nightmare in Paradise" (April 11, 1962)
• "Aloha, Cricket" (April 18, 1962)
• "The Last Samurai" (April 25, 1962)
• "RX Cricket" (May 2, 1962)
• "Location Shooting" (May 9, 1962)
• "Across the River Lethe" (May 16, 1962)
• "Scene of the Crime" (May 23, 1962)
• "Among the Living" (May 30, 1962)
• "V is for Victim" (June 6, 1962)
• "Koko Kate une 13, 1962)
• "Lalama Lady" (June 20, 1962)
  
  
• 4th season
• "Day in the Sun" (October 2, 1962)
• "Somewhere There's Music" (October 9, 1962)
• "There'll Be Some Changes Made" (October 16, 1962)
• "The Broken Thread" (October 23, 1962)
• "Lament for a Saturday Warrior" (October 30, 1962)
• "The After Hours Heart" (November 13, 1962)
• "The Sign-Off" (November 20, 1962)
• "A Night with Nora Stewart" (November 27, 1962)
• "To See, Perchance to Dream" (December 4, 1962)
• "Pursuit of a Lady" (December 11, 1962)
• "Shannon Malloy" (December 18, 1962)
• "Go Steady with Danger"" (January 1, 1963)
• "The Kupikio Kid" (january 8, 1963)
• "Maybe Menehuenes" (january 15, 1963)
• "Pretty Pigeon" (January 22, 1963)
• "Two Too Many" (January 29, 1963)
• "Boar Hunt" (February 5, 1963)
• "Go for Baroque" (February 12, 1963)
• "The Long Way Home" (February 19, 1963)
• "Two Million Too Much" (February 26, 1963)
• "Blow Low, Blow Blue" (March 5, 1963)
• "Gift of Love" (March 19, 1963)
• "The Sisters" (March 26, 1963)
• "Passport" (April 2, 1963).

COMIC BOOKS

• HAWAIIAN EYE
  (1963, Gold Key)
  1 issue, photo cover.

• "The Case of the Brunette Blonde" (July 1963, #1; played up the roles of Cricket and Phil Barton; backup feature about a surfing detective called Beach Boy)

NOVELIZATION

• Hawaiian Eye (1962, by Frank Castle)

ETC.

• The "Hawaiian Eye Theme," by Jerry Livingston and Mack David, is available on "Crimestoppers: TV's Greatest P.I. Themes. The theme boast such cheesy lyrics as:
  
  "The soft island breeze brings you strange melodies
  And they tell of exotic mysteries under the tropical spell of
  Hawaiian Eye. Hawaiian Eye. Hawaiian Eye.
  
  Where love and adventure await
  This is your fate and you can not stray from
  You can't run away from
  Hawaiian Eye. Hawaiian Eye. Hawaiian Eye."

Respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith. Thanks to Dick Martin and Henkinex for some of the info on this page.

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