MEMORIAL TVXOHOF, MAY, 2019 - ENSIGN CHARLES PARKER

From Variety:
Tim Conway, the agile comedian who was a core member of the “The Carol Burnett Show” troupe and starred in a string of Disney film comedies in the 1970s, died Tuesday morning in Los Angeles. He was 85.

A rep for Conway tells Variety he died from water on the brain.

Over his long career, Conway was nominated for 13 Emmys and won six. For “The Carol Burnett Show,” he was nominated six times as a supporting performer in a variety or comedy series, winning in 1973, 1977 and 1978. He was also nominated as part of the writing staff for the show, drawing three nominations and winning in 1978. In addition to those four Emmy wins, he won in 1996 for outstanding guest actor in a comedy, “Coach,” and in 2008 for guest actor in a comedy for “30 Rock.”

“I’m heartbroken. He was one in a million, not only as a brilliant comedian but as a loving human being,” said Burnett in a statement obtained by Variety. “I cherish the times we had together both on the screen and off. He’ll be in my heart forever.”

Toobworld Central knew that Conway's character of Ensign Charles Parker deserved to be in the Television Crossover Hall of Fame, but it was a matter of when.

ENSIGN CHARLES PARKER

From Wikipedia:
Ensign Charles Beaumont Parker (Tim Conway) — McHale's likable, but goofy second-in-command, he is referred to by McHale as "Chuck" and by the crew as "Mister Parker" (in the U.S. Navy, officers ranking from warrant officer to lieutenant commander who are not in command are often referred to as "Mister"). Tim Conway's bashful, unassertive, naïve, mildly gung-ho bungler often succeeds in spite of clownish ineptitude (a theme that was career-defining). Like Conway, Ensign Parker is from Chagrin Falls, Ohio. Parker was born between about 1916 and 1920 and worked for the Chagrin Falls Gazette.

Although he tries to be military, he is too much of a dimwitted klutz to command too much respect, and many of the episodes involve Parker getting into trouble because of his bumbling and ineptitude such as accidentally firing depth charges or shooting down Allied aircraft. Even before becoming a member of McHale's crew, Ensign Parker's personnel file is a laundry list of major foul-ups, including crashing a destroyer escort into a dock, doing something unspecified in heavy fog to the heavy cruiser USS Minneapolis, and calling in a naval airstrike on a Marine gasoline dump. Because of his considerable bumbling, the crew tries to protect Parker, who they feel will not survive as an officer without their help. Also, he is very slow to catch on and does not know when to keep his mouth closed (McHale usually gives Parker a discreet kick or stomp on the foot to get him to shut up). For instance, when Binghamton says "the cat is out of the bag", Parker says, "I'm sure it's around here somewhere, Sir. Here, kitty kitty".

Parker's catchphrase is "Gee, I love that kind of talk" and he loves to cite naval regulations which he knows by heart, but somehow can never remember his serial number correctly. In the episode titled "The Great Impersonation", Ensign Parker impersonates British General Smythe-Pelly (Conway in a dual role) in Noumea, New Caledonia (where he dodges assassins) while the actual general leads an invasion against Japanese forces. In another Conway dual role, Parker impersonates Admiral Chester "Rockpile" Beaty in "The Seven Faces of Ensign Parker". In "H.M.S. 73", Parker poses as a phony British rear admiral, Sir Reggie Grother-Smyth and impersonates British Admiral Clivedon Sommers in "The British Also Have Ensigns". From time to time, Parker is called upon to fool Captain Binghamton with a voice impersonation of President Franklin D. Roosevelt (Parker also does an impersonation of Roosevelt in McHale's Navy Joins the Air Force).

Since they both hailed from Chagrin Falls, Ohio, and since there are plenty of examples of Real World celebrities who are related to fictional Toobworldlings, it could be that Parker and Conway were “identical cousins” – in the darker interpretation of that phrase.  (Going with that, and since Conway did appear as himself in several fictional settings… stay tuned.)

Ensign Charles Parker only had one official credit to his name in television, that of the TV series ‘McHale’s Navy’.  He didn’t even make it into the dramatic pilot episode “Seven Against The Sea”, shown as part of an anthology series.

From Wikipedia:
McHale's Navy is an American sitcom starring Ernest Borgnine that aired 138 half-hour episodes over four seasons, from October 11, 1962, to April 12, 1966, on the ABC television network. The series was filmed in black and white and originated from an hour drama entitled Seven Against the Sea, broadcast on April 3, 1962.

The ABC series spawned three feature films: McHale's Navy (1964), a sequel McHale's Navy Joins the Air Force (1965), and a much later 1997 sequel-remake of the original series.

Years ago Toobworld Central declared that there were certain movies in the Cineverse which should be instead considered part of the Television Universe centered around Earth Prime-Time.  Among these movies were “Batman 1966”, most of the “Star Fleet” movies (right up to the moment when Spock entered the black hole), and the 1990s version of “Maverick”.  Also included in this group were the two spin-off movies for the sitcom.  So Toobworld Central didn’t just pull the movies in so that Charlie Parker could make it into the Television Crossover Hall of Fame.

So here are the two movies which complete Ensign Parker’s membership requirements for the Hall:

From Wikipedia:

McHale's Navy is a 1964 technicolor movie based on the 1962–1966 black and white television sitcom McHale's Navy starring a slimmed down Ernest Borgnine, Tim Conway and Joe Flynn, which had in turn originated with a one-hour anthology drama starring Borgnine entitled Seven Against the Sea. The movie version was directed by series producer Edward J. Montagne and its supporting cast includes Carl Ballantine, Gavin MacLeod, Jean Willes, Claudine Longet, and George Kennedy. The movie was followed by a sequel entitled McHale's Navy Joins the Air Force which did not feature Borgnine or Carl Ballantine. Another film, also called McHale's Navy, was released in 1997 with a completely different plot and an entirely different cast except for Borgnine playing a 35-year-older McHale.

In nearly every way the 1964 movie is merely an extension of the TV series and allows fans of the TV series to see the show in vibrant color. Even the film location for New Caledonia is identical to the one used in the series. For more information on the main characters see the TV series McHale's Navy. The movie was released on DVD for Region 1 on January 31, 2011.

The film was released following the end of the second season of the television series.

McHale's Navy Joins the Air Force is a 1965 movie based upon the television 1962–66 sitcom McHale's Navy. Series supporting players Joe Flynn and Tim Conway are the leads for this sequel to the first movie made in 1964 also named McHale's Navy. Most of the movie is based on their two characters particularly Ensign Parker. Series star Ernest Borgnine was unavailable due to a scheduling conflict while he appeared in the 1965 movie The Flight of the Phoenix. However, in a Cinema Retro interview, Borgnine said the producer Edward Montagne wanted to make the film cheaply, without him and would not show him the script.  Carl Ballantine also doesn't appear in the movie and the PT-73 crew is not seen in large portions of the film. The movie, which also features Ted Bessell and Gavin MacLeod, was directed by series producer Edward Montagne.

Except for Quinton McHale (Ernest Borgnine) and Lester Gruber (Carl Ballantine) the movie features all the main characters from the TV series. Binghamton (Joe Flynn) is sent to a staff meeting in Brisbane, Australia and is forced to use the PT-73 to get there after Fuji (Yoshio Yoda) sabotages Lt. Carpenter's PT-116 (Bob Hastings). While in Brisbane, Binghamton orders the PT-73 crew to remain on board, but they switch uniforms with Russian crewmen on the adjoining docked ship so they can leave the ship without being noticed. In a mix up Parker (Tim Conway) switches uniforms with Lt. Harkness (Ted Bessell) who then is mistakenly arrested by the Russian NKGB and put on the Russian ship, but he later escapes and spends the entire movie trying to get back. Parker impersonates Lt. Harkness with Binghamton helping him until Harkness comes back. Because of Harkness's reputation as a lady killer women are drawn to the very shy Parker. Parker also has to avoid General Harkness (Tom Tully) who is Lt Harkness's father for fear of being found out. In the meantime Harkness (or rather Parker) is promoted three times to Lt. Colonel by unwittingly scoring three military victories. Even after being found out, Parker is by then too big a hero and the military brass decide to sort of cover up the whole mix-up of Parker pretending to be someone else. At the end of the film Parker does an impressive impersonation of then President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Eventually, Ensign Parker would have made it into the Hall as the Monthly Showcase for April, but a great talent like Tim Conway should not have to wait to be acknowledged.  I apologize for taking this long.

Good night and may God bless, Chuck Parker….