Men of Annapolis

I remember lying on the carpet in the front room when I was just a lad and watching this fine old naval series on the family's black and white 21 inch Electrohome TV. I can't recall what night it was on, but it always opened with an aerial shot of an aircraft carrier steaming through calm seas. I had no idea that Annapolis was the United States Naval Academy; I thought Annapolis was the name of the aircraft carrier. This was one of a few very entertaining military dramas of the 1950s - 1960s that dealt with the men of America's armed forces. I remember a few other similar series, ie: "The Silent Service" and "Men of West Point" and "Combat". They were also great TV series and dealt with the adventures of America's soldiers, sailors and airmen, usually during the Second World War. I watched in amazement as I saw a different story of bravery and courage each week. The men of the military were a hallowed breed in those days, only a decade or so following WWII. Just as brave were the courageous young men and women who followed in their footsteps in conflicts that have raged around the globe since the 50s.

ONCE AGAIN WE must rely on our less than perfect memory to write about this series. We saw it in rerun syndication on WGN TV, Channel 9, right here in Chicago. During this period (late '50's to early '60's) Channel 9's programming consisted largely of syndicated reruns of series from the Webs*. This was added to the local programming, news, kiddie shows and their monopoly on Chicago Baseball, from both Comiskey Park and Wrigley Field.

WELL, WHOEVER CALLED the shots in the scheduling department put the two carbon copy ZIV Television Productios' half hour service academy series on back to back. On whatever weekday evening it was, we could view WEST POINT followed by MEN OF ANNAPOLIS. It was very confusing to a schoolboy; yet at the same time, quite revealing.

IT BECAME VERY evident that the plots and scripts were quite similar even identical.

INASMUCH AS NEITHER series has been available for over 50 years, we can't be sure about this possibility.

HOW ABOUT SOME video releases, huh?

NOTE: * Oh yeah we almost forgot! "Web" is a Show Biz type slang for network. It's used frequently in the page headlines of VARIETY, THE BIBLE OF SHOW BUSINESS Newspaper. interchangeable and, unless they had a story based on some real life happenings, they could be easily swapped.