Ensign O'Toole and Me is the title of a semi-autobiographical novel by William Lederer

William Lederer

William Julius Lederer, Jr. was an American author.-Biography:He was a US Naval Academy graduate in 1936. His first appointment was as the junior officer of a river gunboat on the Yangtze River....

. The book was loosely adapted to television

Television

Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

 in the 1962—1963 NBC

NBC

The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

 Four Star Television

Four Star Television

Four Star Television, also called Four Star International, was an American television production company. Founded in 1952 as Four Star Productions by prominent Hollywood actors Dick Powell, David Niven, Ida Lupino, and Charles Boyer, the company produced many well-known shows of the early days of...

 series Ensign O'Toole

Ensign O'Toole

Ensign O'Toole is a military comedy that aired on NBC from September 23, 1962, to May 5, 1963, with 31-year-old Dean Jones in the title role of a nonchalant Navy ensign during the early 1960s. Jones, born in 1931 in Alabama and a Navy veteran of the Korean War, played an officer aboard the...

, starring Dean Jones

Dean Jones (actor)

Dean Carroll Jones is an American actor. Jones is best known for his light-hearted leading roles in several Walt Disney movies between 1965 and 1977, most notably The Love Bug.-Early years:...

 in the title role and featuring Jack Mullaney

Jack Mullaney

Jack Mullaney was an American actor, born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Mullaney acted in several television series and films throughout his career....

, Jay C. Flippen

Jay C. Flippen

Jay C. Flippen is an American character actor who often played police officers or weary criminals in many films of the 1940s/'50s....

, Harvey Lembeck

Harvey Lembeck

Harvey Lembeck was an American comedic actor best remembered for his role as Cpl. Rocco Barbella on The Phil Silvers Show in the late 1950s, and as the stumbling, overconfident outlaw biker Eric Von Zipper in the beach party movie series during the 1960s...

, Beau Bridges

Beau Bridges

Lloyd Vernet "Beau" Bridges III is an American actor and director.- Early life :Bridges was born in Los Angeles, the son of actor Lloyd Bridges and his college sweetheart, Dorothy Bridges . He was nicknamed "Beau" by his mother and father after Ashley Wilkes's son in Gone with the Wind, the book...

, and Jack Albertson

Jack Albertson

Jack Albertson was an American character actor dating to vaudeville. A comedian, dancer, singer, and musician, Albertson is perhaps best known for his roles as Manny Rosen in The Poseidon Adventure , Grandpa Joe in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, Amos Slade in the 1981 animated film The Fox...

.

Early chapters are light-hearted and amusing. One early chapter describes how O'Toole, the hero, gives a clever explanation to his peers at Annapolis, why he chose, as his first assignment, the post of Executive Officer

Executive officer

An executive officer is generally a person responsible for running an organization, although the exact nature of the role varies depending on the organization.-Administrative law:...

 aboard an American River Gunboat

River gunboat

A river gunboat is a type of gunboat adapted for river operations. River gunboats required shallow draft for river navigation. They would be armed with relatively small caliber cannons, or a mix of cannons and machine guns. If they carried more than one cannon, one might be a howitzer, for shore...

 in China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

.

Several light-hearted chapters follow, all set in South-East Asia, prior to World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, where O'Toole learns oriental languages from beautiful, exotic oriental women, which enable him to bail his Captain out of jail after a drunken rampage.

Our hero and our narrator lose touch during World War II. When they reconnect our narrator has retired from the USN

United States Navy

The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

 and become a journalist

Journalist

A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...

. O'Toole is in Military Intelligence

Military intelligence

Military intelligence is a military discipline that exploits a number of information collection and analysis approaches to provide guidance and direction to commanders in support of their decisions....

. Our hero keeps running into O'Toole in improbable locations, returning from dangerous missions, behind enemy lines, where he pleads with our hero to make the US public pay more attention to the dangers of Communism

Communism

Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...

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The author, William Lederer, did serve briefly as the XO of a Chinese River Gunboat.