# Old 1950's Tugboat Captain-Themed TV Show? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 5, 2009, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-1950s-tugboat-captain-themed-tv-show/498879 "2009-06-05T21:55:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2009, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-1950s-tugboat-captain-themed-tv-show/498879/1 "2009-06-05T21:55:06Z")
I dimly remember a TV show about a tugboat crew and captain. As I recall, the captain had various perilous adventures, and everybody alway survived. I also recall the shows closing crdits ran while a ppictire of the moonlight reflecting off the sea, seen through a porthole. I haven’t been able to find anything on IMDB.anybody remember this show? ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2009, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-1950s-tugboat-captain-themed-tv-show/498879/2 "2009-06-05T22:20:56Z")
Wasn’t that the original premise of “Gilligan’s island”?😃 ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2009, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-1950s-tugboat-captain-themed-tv-show/498879/3 "2009-06-05T22:31:42Z")
OK, dim memories of it being shown in Chicago, in the early/middle 60s. No clue as to the title. ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2009, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-1950s-tugboat-captain-themed-tv-show/498879/4 "2009-06-05T23:27:42Z")
Very, very vague memories of one existing in the late '50s. But I could be remembering that series of B movies about an old ne’er-do-well captain of a tug boat from the mid or early 40s that ended up on the tube as mid day movies a number of times. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2009, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-1950s-tugboat-captain-themed-tv-show/498879/5 "2009-06-06T00:21:29Z")
I’m pretty sure that it was a TV series. As I recall, there was the captain and his crew, and it always ended happily. ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2009, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-1950s-tugboat-captain-themed-tv-show/498879/6 "2009-06-06T00:25:38Z")
Could it be either [_Waterfront_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0046660/plotsummary) or [_The Adventures of Tugboat Annie_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0051249/plotsummary)? On preview, more likely the former, as **ralph124c** specified “his” crew in the most recent post. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2009, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-1950s-tugboat-captain-themed-tv-show/498879/7 "2009-06-06T00:53:56Z")
> [@Sternvogel](#): > > Could it be either [_Waterfront_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0046660/plotsummary) or [_The Adventures of Tugboat Annie_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0051249/plotsummary)? > > On preview, more likely the former, as **ralph124c** specified “his” crew in the most recent post. Almost certainly Waterfront with Preston Foster. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2009, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-1950s-tugboat-captain-themed-tv-show/498879/8 "2009-06-06T03:55:48Z")
Could it possibly be \*Para Handy \*or _The Vital Spark_? (different TV versions of the same stories) > **[Para Handy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Para_Handy)** > > Para Handy is a character created by the journalist and writer Neil Munro in a series of stories published in the Glasgow Evening News between 1905 and 1923 under the pen name of Hugh Foulis. He is the crafty Gaelic skipper of the Vital Spark, a Clyde puffer (steamboat) of the sort that delivered goods from Glasgow to Loch Fyne, the Hebrides, and the coast of Argyllshire and Inverness-shire in the early 20th century. > The character's proper name is Peter Macfarlane. Para Handy is a nickname ... ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2009, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-1950s-tugboat-captain-themed-tv-show/498879/9 "2009-06-06T04:12:22Z")
This sounds like something I vaguely recall involving an old-time riverboat captain. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2009, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-1950s-tugboat-captain-themed-tv-show/498879/10 "2009-06-06T09:29:09Z")
[Trade ad](http://books.google.com/books?id=1RkEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA8) for Preston Foster in the syndicated television series _Waterfront_, from 1955. ---
**Author:** ![Roberat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/5fc32e/32.png) [@Roberat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roberat)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2012, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-1950s-tugboat-captain-themed-tv-show/498879/11 "2012-02-29T16:19:06Z")
The name of the show is Waterfront starring Preston Foster ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2012, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-1950s-tugboat-captain-themed-tv-show/498879/12 "2012-02-29T19:14:22Z")
Was he fightin’ 'round the world? ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2012, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-1950s-tugboat-captain-themed-tv-show/498879/13 "2012-03-01T22:43:41Z")
Damn! You beat me to it! [_Come on Tuggah!_](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvu0Bm2kQFc)