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Being fired by Mark Goodson at that exact moment in time was one of the luckiest timings in my career. Twentieth Century Fox had sold a new one-hour series to ABC called Adventures in Paradise. It was about a young ex-Korean War veteran named Adam Troy who ran a freight and taxi service among the islands of the South Pacific aboard his sail boat Tiki. The noted novelist James Michener had created the series for Fox. Martin Manulis, a highly regarded producer of New York live television was executive producer. In Hollywood the best way to get a project launched (movie or TV series) is to have at least one important “element ” attached to it: a big-name star, an important director, writer, or producer. Manulis sold his series partly on the strength of having a big-name writer attached to the project—James A. Michener, author of Tales of the South Pacific upon which the hit musical South Pacific was based. Michener’s reputation as a best-selling author was just about to take off big-time. That he himself had nothing whatever to do with the writing, producing, editing, casting, directing, even consulting on the series was irrelevant. The Michener name tied in 6 Paradise Found, Paradise Lost 108 109 Paradise Found, Paradise Lost with Tales of the South Pacific was the key element in the sale. Manulis chose as “line” producer Richard Goldstone, a producer whose credentials were in feature motion pictures, not television. My agent advised me that Goldstone was looking for writers. He suggested to Goldstone that I was a perfect fit for the series. While in the Navy, my ship had been ordered to atolls from Midway Island to Johnson Island below the equator to Eniwetok and Majuro across the international date line. I had fallen in love with the South Pacific, the circular coral reefs, the arching palms waving in the ever-present breezes in sunny skies over pale greenish blue waters and paradisiacal lagoons. No doubt this idyllic view of mine was born of the fact that my subchaser’s duties primarily consisted of escort services hundred of miles from the bloody scenes of island invasions going on far to the west of us. We escorted wounded ships home from island invasion battles or assured safe passage for our own submarines on their way into enemy waters. We saw no action though we dropped a few depth charges in vain; enemy subs were probably long gone. Yet I had spent two and a half years at sea in the backwaters of the Pacific Theater of War without being in harm’s way. I had served my country, done my duty. Clearly, Adventures in Paradise was the series for me. My agent arranged a meeting with Goldstone, who turned out to be a friendly, open-faced, gracious gentleman. He had produced the first Cinerama movie. I told him of my background and pitched him a couple of story ideas. He immediately put me to work on an assignment. He liked the script when I turned it in and brought me back for another and another. Writing about sailing the coral island reefs was like writing about my home away from home for three years. Goldstone and I got along famously. We had the same point of view for the new series: exploit the South Pacific, try to find stories that were indigenous to the area and could not happen anywhere else. Dick did not write, so he welcomed a hyphenate on board. (Critics complained that the series was unlike the real South Pacific, that Michener’s imprint was missing. We would have most certainly welcomed him, but he was not available.) We, however, knew the South Pacific firsthand. After producing a couple of my scripts, Goldstone confided that he found producing a weekly one-hour series overwhelming. He had unspecified health problems and asked if I would be interested in rotating with him, writing and producing my own teleplays whenever I had one ready. He hoped I would commit to producing and writing at least nine of my own scripts during the coming season, more if possible. He also welcomed me to produce the teleplays of other writers. I was free to write and/or produce any teleplays Goldstone and I liked. We were virtually on our own. It was a heady experience. The series already had a few regular contributing writers, thanks...

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