Thursday, November 16, 2006

Whatever Happened To...Jeff MacKay

Tales of the Gold Monkey kicked some serious TV butt back in the early 80s...That is, until ABC figured out that not a lot of people were watching the show, and gave it the boot.


With a one-eyed dog named Jack as his sidekick, cargo pilot Jake Cutter flew his "Cutter's Goose" through the sky above some islands in the tropics (mainly the fictitious island, Boragora), transporting goods here and there, all the while trying to dodge spies and villains in the war-consumed 1930s.





Actor Jeff MacKay played Cutter's bipedal buddy, Corky. Corky chased a lot of his demons with the bottle, and was more than a bit simple. But, he had a child-like quality about him that made the airplane mechanic sympathetic and lovable.



Tales of the Gold Monkey lasted only 21 episodes, from September 1982 to July 1983. It gathered quite a cult following in the years after it's short run, however. MacKay has worked pretty steadily in TV since Gold Monkey, most recently as Big Bud Roberts in several episodes of JAG.

Gold Monkey Trivia: Did you know the original title of this show was to be Tales of the Brass Monkey?

Not quite the same, huh?

2 comments:

Unknown said...

This was one of the greatest shows on television. Ever.

Sunday nights I was glued to the TV set, and I wanted to fly "Cutter's Goose" for about ten years afterwards.

Man, you should've thrown a Bon Chance Louie reference in there, too!

Excellent post!

larryosaurus said...

Word up.
I too was a huge "Tales of the Gold Monkey" fan. Like Off Route I became obsessed with the "Goose". I even did a few amphibious plane models, which for me was a big deal since I only did battleships...