Posted on 09/06/2005 11:44:34 AM PDT by conservative in nyc
I think it was mentioned in the first episode, Roy Hinckley. I think the skipper was Jonas Grumby.
I'm with Marianne myself. :-)
According to everything I have been able to find, it was "Willie Gilligan." But the name "Willie" was never used in the show.
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Know what sucks about getting older (besides the AARP junk mail)? The question starts to include Lovey Howell.
Thalia Menninger (whose mother always needed an operation) was Tuesday Weld.
Just damn. I loved Maynard.
Chatsworth Osborne Junior and Mumsy.
Trivia for
"Gilligan's Island" (1964)
Jayne Mansfield turned down the role of "Ginger"; Carroll O'Connor tested for the role of The Skipper; Dabney Coleman tested for the role of The Professor.
Raquel Welch auditioned for the role of Mary Anne.
Jerry Van Dyke turned down the role of Gilligan.
The first season had the cast using cups that were made from real coconuts. However, they found that the cups were porous and soaked through like they were sweating. Thus in the later seasons, the coconut cups were plastic replicas.
Natalie Schafer's contract stipulated that there be no close-ups of her in the show. The reason was producers knew her real age, which was 13 years older than Jim Backus, who played her character's husband. It was not until years after the series ended that her co-stars found out her actual age.
The characters' full names:
The Skipper: Jonas Grumby
The Professor: Roy Hinkley
Mr. Howell: Thurston Howell III
Mrs. Howell: Eunice Howell
Ginger: Ginger Grant
Mary Ann: Mary Ann Summers
Gilligan's first name: the subject of some debate ever since the series first aired.
The original pilot was filmed in November 1963 but not aired until October of 1992. In it, the characters of the Professor and Ginger were player by a different actor and actress. There was no character of Mary Ann. There was a character called Bunny, who was a buxom blonde, and Ginger was a practical brunette. Ginger and Bunny were both secretaries. The music for the theme song was written by John Williams (then known as Johnny Williams). This music had a Latin sound and the lyrics were sung with a Spanish accent. In the pilot, it was a six-hour trip, not a three-hour tour.
The show was originally slated to return for the 1967-68 television season but cancelled at the last minute by CBS head William Paley, to make room for the long-running "Gunsmoke" (1955).
The three-man folk singing group The Wellingtons sang the theme song for the first season, but were replaced by a similar sounding group, The Eligibles, for the following seasons. The Wellingtons (plus one) also portrayed 'The Mosquitoes' in a classic episode of the series.
The opening credits for the first season were shot shortly after the assassination of U.S. president John F. Kennedy. A flag at half mast can be seen in the background.
The character of the Professor was supposedly a graduate from SMU, TCU and UCLA, Thurston Howell III went to Harvard. Howell would call an inferior a "Yale Man".
In the credits, Russell Johnson and Dawn Wells were relegated to being simply "The Rest". That changed in the second season when Bob Denver demanded that they be given an equal share in the credits, thus changing the lyrics to "The Professor and Mary Ann." Sherwood Schwartz, who composed both themes, has said it didn't occur to him the Professor and Mary Ann would turn into prominent characters.
According to series creator Sherwood Schwartz, Gilligan's full name was Willy Gilligan. Bob Denver says he never heard the name Willy Gilligan until long after the show was off the air.
I remember the book, "The lives and Loves of Dobie Gillis" being pretty raunchy for its time.
His three hour tour is finally over.
Goodbye Little Buddy, you will be missed.
The last names of the characters (other than the Howells) were only used once -- in the initial show. In the black and white premier, the castaways had a transistor radio and listened to a broadcast reporting that the S.S. Minnow was overdue and presumed lost. The announcer listed those on board by name (including my favorite, Skipper Jonas Grumby). However, when he came to Gilligan, the announcer referred to him only as "First Mate Gilligan."
That's where the controvery regarding Gilligan's first or last name. It was never given on the show.
I believe you are correct...I was a mere lad when Dobie Gillis played on tv...A young hoodlum in my early teens...
Thinking back on it now, Maynard wasn't all that bad...I guess my biggest problem was I didn't think much of the character of Dwayne Hickman, Dopey Gillis...I guess it was the Zelda and Maynard characters that generated the humor...
In fact, during an 8th grade class picture, my best friend stuck a black go-tee on his chin just before the shutter snapped...Yep, that was a shutter...And that's the way the class picture showed up...Man, were his parents mad...
Terrible news. He will be missed -
Date Ginger, marry Mary Ann. ;-)
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