McHale's Navy
A Purple Heart for Gruber
TV Flash files “A Purple Heart for Gruber” as hour 2 of 138 in the TV Flash guide — McHale's Navy (1962–1966) on ABC, season 1, episode 2, aired 1962-10-18, 30 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S01E02: listed hour 2 of 138 in the McHale's Navy guide, hour 2 of 36 in season 1. It aired 1962-10-18 (30 min). The listed hour before it is “An Ensign for McHale” (S01E01). Next is “McHale and His Seven Cupids” (S01E03).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
Gruber gets Binghamton's laundry white by towing it behind the 73 in a drum. However, when a Japanese sub torpedoes the drum, the Navy assumes the boat sunk it. Now McHale and his crew have to sink the sub for real.
Viewer FAQ
Where does A Purple Heart for Gruber sit in the McHale's Navy guide?
S01E02 is listed hour 2 of 138 — hour 2 of 36 in season 1, season 1 episode 2.
When did McHale's Navy S01E02 air?
A Purple Heart for Gruber aired 1962-10-18 and is listed at 30 minutes.
Where should I start?
McHale's crew versus Binghamton is the farce circuit: Borgnine's schemes, Flynn's apoplexy, Conway's ensign. PT-73 as sitcom playground.
In the series
Why this series still plays
McHale's Navy is WWII as PT-boat farce: Ernest Borgnine's sneaky skipper, Tim Conway's Ensign Parker, and Joe Flynn's apoplectic Captain Binghamton losing every argument with the crew of PT-73. Borgnine's post-Marty comedy turn is the engine. Service sitcom comfort with a movie star slumming gloriously — Pacific-theater hijinks that never let the war get in the way of the gag.
The flash is a movie star in the skipper's chair treating the Pacific as a punchline. McHale's Navy is WWII as PT-boat farce: Ernest Borgnine's sneaky skipper, Tim Conway's Ensign Parker, and Joe Flynn's apoplectic Captain Binghamton losing every argument with the crew of PT-73. ABC, 1962–1966 — four seasons, 138 episodes — from Edward Montagne. Borgnine's post-Marty comedy turn is the engine; Conway broke out as the ensign. **They are not amicable, the schemes and the spit-and-polish.** Pacific-theater hijinks…
Filed against
- Ernest Borgnine as Lt. Cmdr. Quinton McHale
Ernest Borgnine’s Lt. Cmdr. Quinton McHale made McHale’s Navy a PT-boat farce with a movie star’s grin — 1960s catalog WWII as sitcom, then Airwolf stretching the hangar-dad warmth around a black supercopter. TV Flash files him as the…
- Joe Flynn as Capt. Wallace B. Binghamton
Joe Flynn’s Capt. Wallace B. Binghamton lost every argument with PT-73 on McHale’s Navy — WWII as PT-boat farce, Ernest Borgnine’s sneaky skipper, Tim Conway’s Ensign Parker, and Flynn’s apoplexy as the weekly punchline. Service sitcom…
- Tim Conway as Ensign Charles Parker
Tim Conway’s corpse-making ad-libs detonated The Carol Burnett Show — eleven CBS seasons, movie parodies, the charwoman, Korman trying not to go — after McHale’s Navy’s Ensign Parker drove Joe Flynn apoplectic on PT-73. Sketch variety at…