‘Hawaii Five-O’ returns on DVD

“Book ‘em, Danno!”

That famous phrase from TV history was uttered at the end of many episodes of “Hawaii Five-O” by Jack Lord’s character, Steve McGarrett, head of the 50th state’s elite police unit.

Tuesday’s first-season DVD release of the long-running police drama reminds us that Lord – he of the suave demeanor and tousled good looks – didn’t even speak the phrase until the show’s sixth regular episode. But it quickly became a sensation with viewers in 1968 and still brings a smile decades later.

“Suddenly, the line just clicked,” says James MacArthur, who played Danny (Danno) Williams, McGarrett’s first lieutenant. “I don’t know why. I guess that’s why the show lasted 12 years.”

MacArthur says the phrase doesn’t haunt him today, because fans don’t stop him on the street to repeat it.

“I don’t even look like Danno anymore,” the 69-year-old actor says.

“I’ve got white hair, glasses – although not quite a walker yet,” he adds with a laugh.

A 45-minute extra on the seven-disc set (Paramount, $50) does show that MacArthur’s hair has turned a shocking white – and the retrospective was made for a local Hawaiian TV show more than 10 years ago – but he still has Danno’s charm and boyish face.

The DVD also offers the revelation for casual fans that MacArthur wasn’t even the original Danno. In the 97-minute movie pilot, which leads off the set, Danno was played by Tim O’Kelly, a forgotten actor whose most recent credit on the Internet Movie Database is the 1973 film “Schoolgirls in Chains.”

“Hawaii Five-O” creator Leonard Freeman decided to recast the part and called MacArthur, the son of Oscar-winning actress Helen Hayes. He had worked for Freeman in a small role as the preacher in the Clint Eastwood Western “Hang ‘Em High.”

“I read the script, and I saw the pilot, and I said, ‘It looks like a pretty good show to me,’ ” MacArthur says.

While the catch phrase helped make MacArthur famous, the series’ international calling card was the outrageously infectious theme music written by Morton Stevens. It became a hit single for the instrumental rock group the Ventures and a worldwide sensation.

MacArthur says fans have asked him to autograph records of the show’s music.

On DVD, the series holds up remarkably well nearly 40 years after its TV debut. It helps that the image quality of the episodes is fantastic – partly due, MacArthur says, to Freeman’s refusal to skimp on production costs for such things as proper lighting.

But the producer and writer also never compromised on creating compelling stories and rich characters as McGarrett, Danno and crew chased criminals, including nefarious crime lord Wo Fat, around their island paradise.

Hawaii was just as big a star as any person on the show. Freeman bucked Hollywood practice by filming entirely on location and casting local actors, such as series regulars Kam Fong (Chin Ho) and Zulu (Kono).

“I went out there in 1968 and didn’t come back to the mainland to live until 1990,” MacArthur says.

But it was more than scenery.

“Lenny Freeman said you can’t make a travelogue for prime time,” MacArthur recalls. “He said, ‘We’re living in gray times,’ 1968. He said, ‘There’s gonna be nothing gray about “Hawaii Five-O.” It’s black and white, and that’s all.’

“We didn’t try to understand criminals; we just put them in jail.”

And then it was: “Book ‘em, Danno!”