by Mr. Mike » Sat Nov 05, 2016 11:54 am
https://youtu.be/-pkudfKlGl8
by RickNewportBeach » Sat Nov 05, 2016 12:18 pmGreat clip... thanks for that Mike. I like getting the backstory on this stuff from the people who were there...
by Vrinda » Mon Nov 07, 2016 11:36 amExcept that story is false in certain places. Leonard Freeman stated in interviews in the late '60s and early '70s that he came up with the idea for Hawaii Five-O himself, and made no mention of CBS's input. In Karen Rhodes's book, "Booking Hawaii Five-O," she states that Freeman's mother-in-law suggested that he do a show in Hawaii so he can visit her more often. Then Freeman went to Hawaii and sourced out locations and gathered information. He met with Governor John Burns, who told him that he wanted to form a state police unit, but they didn't have the money to do so. He also said that during WWII, he was part of a four-man unit that patrolled the islands. That gave him the idea for Hawaii Five-O. There was no hotel detective series, unless Lafferty is mixing up Hawaii Five-O with Hawaiian Eye, an ABC series that aired from 1959-1963 and starred Robert Conrad and Anthony Eisley.
There is a 1971 interview with Freeman from Hawaiian Public Television, which is on the H5O boxset, where - when asked about hiring Jack Lord - Freeman said he knew Jack from when they worked on Grand Hotel, a TV pilot that was not picked up. Freeman said to give Jack the script and if he wanted the role, it was his. Rose Freeman also told this story a few times over the years.
Lafferty and Jack did not get along, and the only time Lafferty showed his face in Hawaii was when he came for some yearly party CBS hosted there. I got this from people who worked on the show and a friend of Jack's who got it from Jack himself. It's strange that Lafferty did not go into great detail about his fights with Jack over the years, but made it look like the issue was with Jack and Freeman.