Tales of the Gold Monkey

Tales of the Gold Monkey
Jake and Sarah in Tales of the Gold Monkey
Genre	Adventure
Created by	Donald P. Bellisario
Starring	Stephen Collins Jeff MacKay Caitlin O'Heaney Roddy McDowall
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	21 (list of episodes)
Production
Running time	60 min
Production company(s)	Belisarius Productions Universal Television
Release
Original network	ABC
Picture format	Film
Audio format	Monaural
Original release	September 22, 1982 – June 1, 1983

Tales of the Gold Monkey is a 1982 adventure television show broadcast in prime time on Wednesday nights by ABC. The series featured the romance of early aviation, exotic locales, and cliff-hanging action. It was aired following the success of the film Raiders of the Lost Ark the previous year.

Set in 1938 in the South Pacific, the series is about an ex-Flying Tigers pilot (an anachronism, since the Flying Tigers operated from 1941-1942) named Jake Cutter (Stephen Collins). Now the operator of an air cargo delivery service based on the fictional South Seas island Bora Gora, he flies a red and white Grumman Goose called Cutter's Goose. Jake's best friend is his mechanic Corky (Jeff MacKay), a good-hearted alcoholic with a memory hazy from heavy drinking. However, a one-eyed Jack Russell terrier named Jack, which barks once for "no" and twice for "yes" (or the opposite if it suits him) would dispute just who Jake's best friend really is. Jack wears an eye patch, but used to have a false eye made of opal with a star sapphire center that Jake lost in a poker game—and refuses to let Jake forget it.

Jake's love interest/U.S. government spy contact is Sarah Stickney White (Caitlin O'Heaney). She sings in the Monkey Bar as a cover for her espionage activities. The Reverend Willie Tenboom (John Calvin), a phony man of the cloth who likes to "bless" the female natives in private "prayer", is in actuality a Nazi spy named Willy, with interests in both sides.