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Within the weeks following the September 26, 1964, premiere of Gilligan’s Island, the U.S. Coast Guard started getting letters from involved residents. “Folks had been writing saying, ‘Why can’t you get these good Individuals off an island?’” recollects Lloyd Schwartz, the son of sequence creator Sherwood Schwartz, to Nearer.
Sherwood got here up with the concept of marooning his characters on a tropical island in a dream. “His thought was that the island is like Earth,” his daughter, Hope Schwartz Juber, explains to Nearer. “We’re all caught on it collectively, so we have to determine find out how to dwell collectively.”
Regardless of this message of unity, the creator wasn’t above having somewhat enjoyable. He named the present’s storm-tossed boat, the S.S. Minnow, after FCC chairman Newton Minow, who had decried TV as a “huge wasteland.” “My father thought tv was precious,” says Lloyd. “So he named the boat after him.”
The ‘Gilligan’s Island’ Crew Was an Unlikely Bunch
The pilot filmed in Hawaii, which was a giant draw for Natalie Schafer, a.okay.a. Lovey Howell. “She assumed the present would by no means be picked up,” says Joey Inexperienced, writer of The Unofficial Gilligan’s Island Handbook. And Natalie wasn’t the one solid member hoping for a quick rescue. The position of Ginger, which had been turned down by Jayne Mansfield, had been accepted by Tina Louise underneath false pretenses. “She thought she’d be extra of the central character,” says Hope. “She was upset, however she was sensible within the half.”
Even Bob Denver, who performed Gilligan, had second ideas. He had been a breakout star taking part in a beatnik on The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis and anxious about taking part in one other quirky character. “However he beloved bodily comedy,” says his widow, Dreama Denver, whose e-book Island to Icon: The Many Lives of Bob Denver will likely be launched on September 17. And he discovered an ideal accomplice in comedy in Alan Hale’s Skipper. “He was simply this massive teddy bear of a person, and Bob adored him,” Dreama tells Nearer.
Gilligan’s Island moved to a Los Angeles studio after it was picked up, and an outside lagoon was created for the present. “It appears to be like like a giant, deep lake, however it was truly actually shallow,” recollects Hope. “It additionally acquired form of soiled as a result of they couldn’t put chlorine in it.” Exterior noise may be an issue. “It backed as much as the 101 [Freeway],” says Inexperienced. “They needed to be actually cautious to not decide up the sounds of visitors, which might be odd on a desert island!”
Gilligan’s Island lasted solely three sea- sons on CBS, however its slapstick comedy, coconut telephones and fantasy sequences made it a beloved traditional in syndication. “The solid by no means dreamed it could go on and on,” says Dreama. “Bob was very humbled by that.”
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