Before Steve McGarrett had Danno booking them, before Thomas Magnum started sleuthing out of the guest house of the Robin Masters estate, this duo of Anthony Eisley and Robert Conrad had a detective agency in Honolulu in this first television series to be based out of the Aloha State, Hawaiian Eye.
Looking back if I was Robert Conrad and Connie Stevens I'd feel very cheated that Jack Warner didn't bother to spring for a location budget to Hawaii. The entire series was shot on the Warner Brothers sound stage with some establishing footage to make sure you knew it was Hawaii. This was good back in the day when you could have Dick Powell in Flirtation Walk singing Aloha Oe to Ruby Keeler on the sound stage, but audiences wanted more than that. At least movie audiences did. For the small screen Jack Warner and the rest of the brothers wanted things economical.
In fact though Warner proved to be quite shrewd in plunging headlong into television production. His son-in-law William T. Orr produced all those westerns and detectives shows that were sprouting like weeds all over TV Land. The sponsor's money for these shows kept Warner Brothers out of the red like other studios were going through.
Robert Conrad and Connie Stevens who was the gal pal of both Eisley and Conrad got their first big breaks in Hawaiian Eye. They're the reason the show is remembered today. Anthony Eisley never quite caught on the way the other two did.
Hawaiian Eye was a cloned show as was Bourbon Street Beat and Surfside Six of Bill Orr's first success, 77 Sunset Strip. Many times the same plots were used in episodes of the different shows. And the detectives on one series were probably required to do box office duty and make guest appearances on each other's shows, which they did frequently. Talk about a good neighbor policy.
Still Conrad and Stevens ought to feel cheated that they didn't get to go to Hawaii for Hawaiian Eye.
Looking back if I was Robert Conrad and Connie Stevens I'd feel very cheated that Jack Warner didn't bother to spring for a location budget to Hawaii. The entire series was shot on the Warner Brothers sound stage with some establishing footage to make sure you knew it was Hawaii. This was good back in the day when you could have Dick Powell in Flirtation Walk singing Aloha Oe to Ruby Keeler on the sound stage, but audiences wanted more than that. At least movie audiences did. For the small screen Jack Warner and the rest of the brothers wanted things economical.
In fact though Warner proved to be quite shrewd in plunging headlong into television production. His son-in-law William T. Orr produced all those westerns and detectives shows that were sprouting like weeds all over TV Land. The sponsor's money for these shows kept Warner Brothers out of the red like other studios were going through.
Robert Conrad and Connie Stevens who was the gal pal of both Eisley and Conrad got their first big breaks in Hawaiian Eye. They're the reason the show is remembered today. Anthony Eisley never quite caught on the way the other two did.
Hawaiian Eye was a cloned show as was Bourbon Street Beat and Surfside Six of Bill Orr's first success, 77 Sunset Strip. Many times the same plots were used in episodes of the different shows. And the detectives on one series were probably required to do box office duty and make guest appearances on each other's shows, which they did frequently. Talk about a good neighbor policy.
Still Conrad and Stevens ought to feel cheated that they didn't get to go to Hawaii for Hawaiian Eye.