Waterfront

I remember seeing this as a child. It was one of my favorite series.I was only seven when it went off the air, so I didn't remember a great deal of it later. However, when we first got cable in the 1980's, there was a short lived channel called the "Nostalgia Channel" which ran this and some other long forgotten old series.

I was pleased to find that my old impressions of this series were not exaggerated.It was superb on second viewing.I had forgotten most of it so it was like seeing it all over again. Preston Foster was great as the tugboat captain.Most of it was shot on location, on ships, on the waterfront,dock areas, salvage yards, etc. and gives a great picture of maritime life as it was then.This is one series that deserves to be shown on TV again, instead of rerunning the same 1970's and 80's series over and over again.

Roland Reed was one of the most prolific TV producers of the 1950's, and "Waterfront" ranks near the top of his creative output. Preston Foster was tailor-made for the role of "Cap'n John Herrick". He looks and acts the part, perhaps more so than than any other leading man or character actor of the time might have done. The stories are well-written and easy to wrap your arms around. The music, composed and arranged by long-time Roland Reed associate Alexander Laszlo, stands on its own quite well (as does Laszlo's work on so many other Roland Reed productions), but in the case of the haunting and melodic "Waterfront" theme, stands out all the more.

One of my earliest recollections of TV include a memory of this program. Actually I remember little more than that this program was set (duh) on a waterfront. What is, however, indelibly imprinted on my mind is from the end of the program. As the credits rolled, the background was a moonlit seascape as one would see it through a porthole. That with the theme song playing and the sound of a horn- I suppose from the tugboat- has haunted my mind through the years. I believe I can also hear and feel the wind from the electric fan in my grandfathers house where I watched the program. I would really like to hear that theme song and fog horn again. I am looking online for a sound link but as yet have been unsuccessful. I may have to just buy the whole enchilada and get the programs. Who knows I may enjoy them too, but sometime memories are best left unaltered.

As so many of the second line stars of the Thirties and Forties from the big screen, Preston Foster was finding fewer and fewer roles on the big screen. So he opted for a television series and found a good one in Waterfront. Foster was always a rugged sort and as Captain Jack Herrick, tugboat captain in San Diego he found a part that suited him perfectly.

Herrick was a family man he had a wife played by Lois Moran and two sons, Douglas Dick and Harry Lauter. Dick helped his father on the tugboat, but Lauter was a San Diego police detective. With some of the situations that Foster ran into on the docks a family member in the police department became downright essential.

Willie Best was also a member of Foster's tugboat crew, but he was also practically a family member as well. Best's character was not one of the shuffle-butt types he played on the big screen and that was a good thing. I'm glad Best ended his career with a part that afforded him dignity.

Waterfront had some good action filled stories with realistic shots around the San Diego harbor showing the daily life there. Sad it only lasted two seasons.

I would love to be able to review this, and I will see it one day, somehow. But I was named after that Tugboat, which shows just how popular this series was. I know 2 other Cheryl Ann's who were also named after the boat, and there is a FB group called "Cheryl Ann's Named after a Tugboat." Just wanted to share that. I think there were many "Cheryl Ann's" born in those years.