PARADISE ISLAND

Year Published: 1949

Format: 16mm

Description: This 1949 TV show "Paradise Island" is one of 26, 15-minute episodes produced by Jerry Fairbanks, Inc. It stars Danny O'Neil and Anne Sterling and features Everett Hoagland and his orchestra. "Paradise Island" was the first musical series produced for television, and to save money it used a lot of original songs. Over the course of its run, 90 songs and 26 musical productions were performed. The 15-minute format, which press materials indicated was the equivalent of "six full length films", were produced by Fairbanks in Mexico. At the time it was released, the show was syndicated on only 22 stations. It was nevertheless considered a success, and Fairbanks planned to follow up with a Western version -- but that never got off the ground. The music in this episode include O'Neil singing the theme song "Paradise Island" and "Easy Street", a performance by the orchestra, and Anne Sterling performing "Pedro Gonzalez" (5:13). At 6:37, a Hawaiian hula dance is performed with live musical accompaniment. At 9:20, the Irish ballad "Come Back to Erin" is sung by O'Neil.

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