"Gilligan's Island," Fun With the Castaways

At my age, I’ve seen lots and lots of television shows dating back to the 1950s, and some of those shows I loved, and still love, through various DVD sets. I loved “Gilligan’s Island” when it premiered way back in the mid 1960s, and likewise “Get Smart,” and “The Beverly Hillbillies.” "Gilligan's Island," which aired for three seasons on CBS, was about seven people shipwrecked on an uncharted Pacific island. The initial season was filmed in black and white, before the change to color. Bob Denver played Gilligan, who had a great heart, but who just couldn't do anything right. Alan Hale, Jr. played the Skipper, a big guy who had owned the S.S. Minnow, the tour boat which had carried the seven people to their island fate during a severe storm. The other castaways looked to him for leadership, including his sole crew member from the boat, Gilligan. Mr. Thurston Howell III was played by Cleveland's own Jim Backus, who grew up on the East Side and was actually taught a class or two in grade school by Margaret Hamilton, another native Clevelander, who was a teacher before her acting days. She is best remembered for being the Wicked Witch in "The Wizard of Oz." Thurston Howell was the equivalent of a multibillionaire in today's money and he was a business tycoon who couldn't help himself when it came to money, even once selling the Skipper a clock to be used for a timer on a bomb needed to help thwart the eruption of a volcano. He relished his ruthless reputation, but inside he was an insecure man, who slept with a teddy bear and downed all sorts of pills, but he also showed occasional bursts of compassion. The delightful Natalie Schafer played Mrs. Howell, a true blue blood, who was always concerned with social etiquette, including the proper apparel, even if she thought she was about to die, "What does one wear for an explosion," she might ask. The other cast members never knew until years later that Natalie Schafer was far older than she seemed, but still she supposedly also had a clause in her contract that prohibited close ups of her. Russell Johnson played the Professor, a man with several degrees, and the person the castaways turned to for the knowledge to help them survive, which included his many inventions to give them some comforts, besides survival. Tina Louise played Ginger Grant, a beautiful actress longing to get her big chance for stardom. Dawn Wells played Mary Ann, a farm girl, whose skimpy outfits (for those times), brought worry that the censors would demand edits of some of her scenes. While seen as silly today, back then the producer had to be sure her shorts, for it was a tropical island, were high enough so that her navel wasn't showing during filming. Both she and Tina Louise also had to be careful with their outfits so they didn't display too much "cleavage."

While many network execs thought of "Gilligan's Island" as a children's show, the comedy actually had appeal beyond kids, and from comments I've seen over the years, many adults viewed the show too, although "perhaps" some did so under the guise of "watching it with my kids." After the series ended, the cast found it difficult to get work, as the public strongly identified them with their characters from "Gilligan's Island." While actually quite a public tribute, the need for food and shelter left some of the cast embittered. As time passed, the cast members found much public love for the show, the reruns of which were red hot on television stations around the world for the next three or four decades! The kids of the 1960s were able to sit and watch the show all over again, but with their own kids, and then with their grand kids. In the interim, in the late 1970s and early 1980s, three full-length movies were made about "Gilligan's Island." All of the original cast participated, except for Tina Louise, who remained embittered about how the show had prevented her from getting other roles. Also, the declining health of Jim Backus left him to make only a short appearance in the third movie.

Little by little time began to claim the beloved performers, with Jim Backus dying in the summer of 1989 at the age of 76. Alan Hale, Jr. followed in early 1990, age 68, and Natalie Schafer passed away at the age of 90 in 1991. Bob Denver died in 2005, age 70, and Russell Johnson passed away in January 2014, age. 89. You just know they're all waiting on an uncharted island for the rest of us to join them, as we all came so far together.      

Photo is from the Turner Home Entertainment/Warner Brothers' Complete First Season DVD Set

WORD HISTORY:

Voice-This word goes back to Indo European "wek," which meant "to speak, to say." This gave Latin "vox," meaning "speech, voice." This then gave Old French, a Latin-based language, "voiz," with the same basic meaning. This was carried to England by the Normans and was borrowed by English as "voice" circa 1300.