Adventures in Paradise

I was only eleven when the series debuted, but immediately developed a major crush on "Adam Troy". Yes the music was great. I know I would recognize it if I heard it but couldn't begin to tell you how it goes. Many balmy summer nights as I tried to get to sleep, I would fantasize about living in Tahiti on a white beach with turquoise water lapping at my feet, learning to surf, sailing a catamaran, sailing to exotic locales with "Adam" etc etc. You get the picture. Gardner McKay's life story was unique. Not your typical Hollywood ego maniac hunk. He seems to have been much more interested in the world than in having the world interested in him. Was very sorry to hear of his death in Nov 2001.

I was 14 years old when I 'fell in love' with Captain Troy. Then I became enamored with the whole idea of sailing on a schooner while classical music buoyed our spirits and encouraged us to participate in fantastic adventures on the South Seas. This early visual escapist series has always resided in my 'happy childhood memory bank.' While sailing, one did not have to worry about the mundane life issues such as bills, taxes, etc.

When I recently visited Hawaii, I managed to sail on a schooner for a couple of days and I fondly remembered this series. .

I know a lot of preservation work is occurring with old movies and TV series as technology improves. If a DVD box set ever comes available, I would be proud to own a set. With all the complications of today's world, a visit to a more innocent time would be happily welcomed.

I often wanted to somehow contact Garden McKay for his work in the TV series: Adventures in Paradise. The show, with 'Adam Troy' as the hero/adventurer, started a wanderlust cycle in me that has led to the South Pacific as well as Southeast Asia. The program intro was unique and captivating, the song penetrating (Claire d' Lune by Debussey, and the locations completely fascinating ..... to an idealistic 8th grader at the time. I've tried to track down the modernized videos with no luck. I loved the series as a youth and am sorry that Gardner McKay took himself out of TV and movies way too soon. "Welcome to James A. Michener's Adventures in Paradise, with Gardner McKay as Adam Troy .... sailing the South Seas....

My call to the producers and owners of the rights of the series: Why not transcript all the episodes in a beautiful DVD box set, before thousands of meters of film are waisted in some remote forgotten draw... Like many of the fans, many young viewers would be delighted to discover what their elders have watched with so much passion in their youth! They would then understand why some of their parents became either sailors, adventurers or travellers, and had their lives changed by watching Captain Troy and his schooner Tiki!

I was a fan of Adventures in Paradise (AIP) many years ago as a kid. It's nice to find a web site that has some info on it. Kudos to IMDB. I remember little more about this show than a big sailboat, a cute dark-haired girl, and a lot of exciting episodes. Oh, and of course, the theme music, which, by the way, you can download from a link on page 13 of this IMDB site. Many of these old TV shows were not preserved. Wouldn't it be nice if AIP was still available? I don't know if it is or not, but it would be fun to share it with my young ones. It beats much of what's on now. Makes you wonder what our kids will be reminiscing about years from now. Scary... I'm still looking for a site with photos from this series.