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CURRENT: Craig's Brush with The Cast Of PREVIOUS BRUSHES: Mad's DON MARTIN Super-Editor JULIE SCHWARTZ |
The advent of the new reality show, "The Real Gilligan's Island," has inspired me to dig this fragment out of my file cabinet. The following is an unpublished interview with the surviving cast members of the original Gilligan's Island, which took place on June 17, 1994 in Cincinnati, Ohio. As to why the article remained unpublished until now, I can't quite remember. Since the piece was never really completed, I'm posting what was done, followed by a complete, unedited transcript of the session.
Postcards From Gilligan's Island
by Craig Boldman
It's not just that they're as instantly recognizable as a Cher or a Robin Williams -- which they are. It's that they are so familiar and comfortable to be around; so approachable. They are the stars we grew up with.
Many of the lunchtime crowd who filed through the atrium of the Westin Hotel on a Friday in June did a double-take at the sight of Gilligan, the Professor and Mary Ann (Bob Denver, Russell Johnson and Dawn Wells) seated behind a table, signing autographs and posing for photos. But just as many smiled, with recognition, perhaps feeling the way one feels when a favorite pair of long-lost sneakers suddenly turns up.
The Castaways' appearance did more than raise eyebrows-- it inspired serenades.
A woman sees the trio and, blinking, says, "Oh my goodness." She looks at me and I nod to assure her that yes, it is them. "Isn't that something," she says, and moves on, as though it's not that out of the ordinary to see them.
It's not. After all, "Gilligan's Island" has been with us for 30 years, and shows no signs of going away. The trio had assembled to tout the introduction of a line of "Gilligan's Island" clothing, produced by Cincinnati-based Hometown TV, Inc. which has previously launched an "Andy Griffith Show" clothing collection.
To mark the event, Gilligan, the Professor and Mary Ann would host a proverbial "three hour cruise" along the Ohio River in a ship temporarily re-christened the S.S. Minnow. "If anybody's foolish enough to get on a boat with us for three hours," said Dawn (Mary Ann) Wells, invoking the legend of the original Minnow and the 3-hour cruise which went awry and stranded its passengers on an uncharted Pacific island in the series.
The ship will host a steel band, the stars and a full complement of guests paying Eagles-level prices of $100 a head for the privelege. To guard against life imitating art too much, a Coast Guard escort will accompany the party boat.
With the passage of time it seems unlikely-- though not impossible-- that they will play their well-known alter-egos again. It should be said that the "Gilligan's Islans" crew has gone back to the lagoon more often than one would expect of a long-cancelled series. Reunion movies aside, various combinations of the Castaways have reprised their roles in such diverse locations as episodes of "Alf," "Baywatch," "The New Monkees," the film "Back To The Beach," and even "The Howard Stern Show."
When asked if he's retired the Professor for good, outside these promotional jaunts, Russell Johnson speaks of passing the baton. "They're going to do a feature film version of "Gilligan's Island" with a new, younger cast, and we may be in it in one fashion or another I don't know what we'll be doing, but I see someone else playing the Professor." And if he could hand pick his sucessor? Russell laughs. "Sir Anthony Hopkins." The suggestion is made that Hopkins might have his eye on the Gilligan role. "Oh, he does? Oh, okay. Well then, I'll have to go with Tom Cruise. Or, I know, Jack Nicholson."
Dawn Wells, looking very much like she did during the filming of the series, could concievably take up the mantle again. Nevertheless, she has thought about a possible replacement Mary Ann-- "Meg Ryan." On the other hand, Bob Denver has no ideas about who is a feasible Gilligan mark II. Dawn understands the ambivolence. "I don't know if you could duplicate the essence of Gilligan. And you can't recreate the relationship between (Bob) and Alan (Hale, Jr., who played the Skipper).
While the roles may be behind them, the Castaway alumni have no reservations about maintaining the memories of the show. (Cast members Alan Hale, Jr.; Jim Backus and Natalie Shafer have all passed away. Tina Louise, who played movie star Ginger Grant on the series, has disassociated herself from the show since its original network run.) All three have recently written books about their time on the island.
Bob Denver's autobiography, "Gilligan, Maynard and Me" also focuses on his first noteworthy TV role, beatnik Maynard G. Krebbs (the G. stands for Walter) on "The Many Loves Of Dobie Gillis," which ran from 1959 to 1963.
Asked if his book, "Here On Gilligan's Isle" is a scathing Hollywood tell-all, Russell Johnson says "Not at all. There's nothing scathing in the book and there's no reason for there to be. We had a good cast and we loved each other."
Dawn Wells' volume is more likely to be found in the cullinary section of the bookshelf. "Mary Ann's Gilligan's Island Cookbook" is a collection of recipes such as "Lagoon Lasagna" and " Mrs. Howell's Orient Express Chicken," interspersed with nuggets of trivia about the show.
In addition, Dawn is readying the release of a game she has developed, called "The Castaways Escape." "It's a combination of Trivial Pursuit and Charades. Actual Gilligan trivia question quotes and then actual scenes from the show that you get to act out." The game comes with instructions and character descriptions that are audio-narrated by Wells, Denver and Johnson.
Dawn is also working with a network on a Gilligan's Island 30th Anniversary special, for which she will contribute home movies and interview some of the shows many guest stars, such as Kurt Russell, who was twelve years old when he played a jungle boy for an episode.
6/17/94
UNEDITED TAPE TRANSCRIPTION
CRAIG: Craig Boldman
GREG: Greg Akers, of Hometown TV
DAWN: Dawn Wells, Mary Ann
BOB: Bob Denver, Gilligan
RUSSELL: Russell Johnson, The Professor.
MINDY: Mindy Abrahamson, partner of Hometown TV
RICK: Rick Abrahamson, co-owner of Toon Art Gallery
DAVID: David Underhill, co-owner of Toon Art Gallery
(Several idiots have gathered around the guests of honor and are singing the theme song loudly, in harmony. The guests of honor politely applaud at the conclusion.)
***
CRAIG: Would you like to discuss the clothing line?
GREG: Yeah, sure.
CRAIG: This is not the first line you've produced. You did Mayberry...
GREG: Right, our first idea was, we would go out looking for merchandise to buy for each other, my partner Mindy Abrahmson and I. We grew up together; we've been best friends for all our lives. For Christmas and birthdays, we couldn't find anything with the Andy Griffith Show on it. So we had this bright idea that hey, if we're out there wanting this merchandise then why wouldn't anybody else want it? We went to New York and pursued Andy Griffith's people and got the rights to produce merchandise for the Griffith show.
CRAIG: Had you been in the clothing business?
GREG: No actually, I was in the beer business. I worked for a Coors distributor my father owned and he sold out his stock in the business so I decided that if I'm not going to own this company then I'd better get into something that'll work. I'd always loved the Andy Griffith Show and Gilligan's Island and I always had it in the back of my mind that we could really do something with these shirts, cause there was no merchandise.
CRAIG: Were you a TV junkie?
GREG: No, I wasn't a junkie. I always thought I was the biggest fan, but then I got put in my place. And I've got a little one to feed here, so...
So we started out with a mailing list of about 3,000 people, and all of a sudden we took in over 50,000 phone calls. Phone calls and written requests for catalogs. People were just going nuts over them. We realized then that there were so many more fans out there who had no way of expressing their love for the shows. This was an outlet for them. They wear The Andy Griffith Show or Gilligan's Island.
CRAIG: I know the Andy Griffith Show has a large fan club.
GREG: And Gilligan's Island has a fan club based in Salt Lake City.
CRAIG: (To Dawn) Tell me about the riverboat cruise.
DAWN: Uh-- (to Greg) Tell me the name of the boat.
GREG: It's a BB Riverboat. But it's going to be christened the S.S. Minnow.
DAWN: It's going to be christened the S.S. Minnow. If any body's foolish enough to get on a boat for three hours with us.
CRAIG: Yeah, I know. I imagine you hear that comment a lot, don't you?
DAWN: But this time the Coast Guard's involved.
CRAIG: The Coast Guard?
DAWN: Yeah. It'll either escort us in or out or rescue us or something.
CRAIG: This is not the first one of these you've done, is it?
DAWN: No. Cute idea though.
CRAIG: Yeah, it's a really cute idea, and I imagine people are really eager to come aboard.
DAWN: Well, it's the kind of thing where, we've been a part of their families for the past thirty years.
CRAIG: Does that surprise you?
DAWN: No. No, it's real love. And it's interesting because it's that generation that's had thirty years of television. It's never been off the air since 1964. The longest-running show in the history of television. It passed "I Love Lucy" four years ago. It's never been off the air since '64 and we're in 30 languages right now.
CRAIG: Did you ever think when you were doing it at the time that it would have this kind of staying power?
DAWN: I remember the producer saying to us that we'd never get syndication because we have one year in black and white. We don't have enough color, they'll never rerun us.
CRAIG: They're being colorized now, aren't they?
DAWN: Yeah.
CRAIG: What do you think about that?
DAWN: I don't like it.
BOB: The fans hate it. They say "Don't colorize the black and white, don't touch it." They don't want them touching the memories of when they were little.
CRAIG: Ted Turner owns them now. He's the colorizing guy.
BOB: Yep.
CRAIG: Can I ask you about the reunion show, "Rescue from Gilligan's Island? Did it come as a big surprise to you that they would consider a project like that?"
BOB: No, I knew it would happen eventually. The mothers in this country begged us to do a rescue show. 'Cause all the kids they had kept waiting for it. You know... ten years went by, twelve years... we never got rescued. They never made one. But I knew that when they did it was going to get a good rating. And it did. It got a 52 share.
CRAIG: (to Dawn) I'm asking about "Rescue from Gilligan's Island." What was that like?"
DAWN: It was like we stopped on a Friday and started on a Monday. There was no twelve years in-between. Because we never got to say good-bye. Cancellation.
CRAIG: The cancellation was sudden, wasn't it?
DAWN: Oh yeah. We were picked up for the new season and sets ordered and everything. That's why we don't have any of the props or anything. You know, we didn't get to take anything home or anything, because we were on vacation. I mean gosh, who knows what we could've had in our hands.
BOB: A lot of the guys scored all those sets for their pools.
CRAIG: When you did that TV movie, was that intended to be the first of several or was it expected to be the last word?
DAWN: I think they expected it to be the last. It was the first of its kind. I remember we got the highest rating that year, but one thing beat us. It was either the Mohammed Ali fight or the Super Bowl. We beat one or the other.
CRAIG: There's a big-screen motion picture in the works. What do you think about that?
DAWN: I don't know, I think it's interesting; kinda fun. I don't know if you could have the same essence or the same feeling because we're part of your families and have been there so long. But (???)
CRAIG: There's also been a stage show.
DAWN: They've done a Gilligan's Island musical. I don't know, it's interesting, all the little offspins.
CRAIG: If you had a choice, who would you pick to play Mary Ann in the film?
DAWN: Meg Ryan.
CRAIG: That's not a bad choice, actually.
DAWN: Bob, how about you? Who would play Gilligan?
BOB: No idea.
DAWN: Nobody could equal that. You know, the essence of Gilligan is an essence. I don't know that you could duplicate that. I've seen lots of little skits and such. You can't duplicate that. And the relationship between he and Alan (Hale, Jr.) you can't re-create.
BOB: No.
DAWN: So it'll be interesting to see what happens.
CRAIG: I've got a question about Dobie Gillis.
BOB: Go ahead.
CRAIG: The last episode of Dobie Gillis was a remake of the first episode. Was that intentional?
BOB: Max Shulman once decided he wanted to write a script-- he wanted to know what the ruling was with the Screenwriter's Guild, what had to be changed from the original to have it acceptable (as new). They said you've got to change at least forty percent of the script from the original. So then you can submit it again. So he had his secretary count all the words in the original from one of the first years. And he said, well how many is forty percent? She said it's this many words. And he said, I'm going to change it exactly that many words. And he changed the sexes of two characters, male to female, female to male. That was it. I said to him, this is very familiar, and he said, it should be, it's a first year script. I said, how do you get away with that? He said, I changed forty percent. EXACTLY forty percent.
CRAIG: When they were running it on Nick at Night they would get to the last episode and start over with the first episode and it was the same story.
BOB: I know. We did a two-hour movie in '88, and that was off of one of the scripts. You know, where Dobie thought he was going to be killed because it was his birthday. It's the same plot, but they turned it into a two-hour movie. He believed in recycling. (laughs)
CRAIG: Was he involved in the show all the way through?
BOB: Yeah.
CRAIG: After Dobie went off the air there was an attempt to revive it at one point, wasn't there? A pilot?
BOB: In '70, yeah.
***
CRAIG: Is there any particular message you want to get out?
BOB: No, not particularly. "Have a good time."
CRAIG: You do these cruises periodically?
BOB: Yeah, about five or six times a year.
CRAIG: How often do the three of you see each other?
BOB: About five or six times a year. And it's getting more and more, too. Every year the show is more popular than it was the year before.
CRAIG: Does that surprise you?
BOB: Yes.
CRAIG: (laughs) Yes?
BOB: It just amazes me that it's still picking up the little kids. The audiences just keep getting bigger and bigger. Hilarious.
CRAIG: What was behind the cancellation?
BOB: Buy one of our books and it'll tell you.
CRAIG: Oh, I've bought your books and I've read them but I wanted to...
BOB: Oh, oh I see. It's just that Gunsmoke had to go back on the air, so we got bumped. Not very complicated.
***
CRAIG: Dawn, have you seen the Bud commercial with the guys who call Ginger a bimbo?
DAWN: I keep getting cans of Budweiser in the mail to autograph. And they (Budweiser) didn't even ask my permission. I love it. That thirty years later we're talking about it. In fact, Playboy just asked me to do a topless layout.
CRAIG: And...?
DAWN: (Indicates no.) ??? Cute idea. (laughs)
***
CRAIG: Will you be able to find the new clothing line everywhere?
GREG: Well mostly through the catalog right now. This may sound silly, but we don't actively solicit. Most of it's by word of mouth. We don't do any type of major advertising. If someone comes to us and says we'd like to sell it we take a look at it and decide whether to go with it or not.
This is my partner by the way, Mindy Abrahamson.
MINDY: Hi.
CRAIG: Mindy, why don't you give me your take on what's going on here this weekend.
MINDY: What we're trying to do is kick off our catalog. We brought them in to promote Gilligan's Island and make Cincinnati aware of Gilligan's Island. We're having the cruise, the book signing...
CRAIG: This is the first promotion of this type you've done?
MINDY: Yes. We didn't do anything of this sort with the cast of Mayberry.
CRAIG: Are most of your customers die-hard fans of the show?
MINDY: They're TV fans. Fans of TV of the 60's.
CRAIG: Do you get requests for merchandise from other shows?
MINDY: Yeah. The Brady Bunch, I Love Lucy, Lost In Space...
CRAIG: What would be the biggest contender?
MINDY: The Beverly Hillbillies.
CRAIG: And that's already in the works.
MINDY: Yes, It'll be out in the fall.
CRAIG: What will happen on the cruise?
MINDY: The three Castaways, Mary Ann, Gilligan and the Professor, and we're taking 160 people. Paying customers. They will spend three hours with the cast. Dinner, trivia contest, band.
CRAIG: How long are they in town?
MINDY: They arrived last night and they'll leave on Sunday.
***
(Someone asks Dawn where they got all the clothes. She replies that Mrs. Howell brought them.)
DAWN: I've made that my official answer now after thirty years.
***
CRAIG: Greg, is the Gilligan's Island catalog available now?
GREG: Uh-huh, it'll be available in about three, three to four weeks by the time we get it printed.
DAWN: I invented a Gilligan's Island game. Want to hear about that?
CRAIG: Please.
DAWN: It's a combination of Trivial Pursuit and Charades. Actual Gilligan trivia question quotes and then actual scenes from the show that you get to act out.
CRAIG: Are you as big a fan of the show as your fans are?
DAWN: Well, you know what I think it is, you see the reactions of the people and nobody knows the show better than we do, and I thought, why not put that together? It's called "The Castaways Escape." It'll be audio-narrated by the three of us. We do the instructions and the character descriptions.
CRAIG: Is it available now?
DAWN: It's just coming out. I'm sure he'll be offering it and, uh, I'm just negotiating it. Don't put that on the thing. Right now we're negotiating how it's going to be distributed. It's so complicated that I-- But it's neat.
CRAIG: That's great.
DAWN: I've got a thing in front of one of the networks right now to do a Gilligan's Island 30th Anniversary Special Celebration. Going back over the film clips I have of home movies nobody's seen before. Interviewing guest stars-- Kurt Russell was only twelve; he's just had his fortieth birthday.
CRAIG: He was the jungle boy, right?
DAWN: Yes. Yes.
***
GREG: Mindy and her husband, along with David Underhill, own Toon Art, America's largest publisher of cartoon art. It's sold in Warner Bros. Stores and, I believe, over 200 galleries.
CRAIG: Do you have an 800 number?
GREG: Yeah, it's in the catalog but it's 1-800-933-2357. This is Rick Abrahamson. He's an opthamologist here in town and he owns Toon Art.
***
RICK: We're a distributor of animation. Warner Bros., Popeye, Mighty Mouse, we have licenses with Major League Baseball, NFL, Collegiate licensing-- are you out of Cincinnati?
CRAIG: Yes.
RICK: Our company just created a new cartoon character Bearcat for the University of Cincinnati. Did you see that in the paper?
CRAIG: Sure.
RICK: That was us. We just did one for U.N.L.B. and U.C.L.A. also which is really catching on. This is my partner David Underhill(?). He's the guy you would need to talk to.
CRAIG: The cruise will be a wild party, I'm guessing?
DAVID: Oh yeah.
CRAIG: Who's playing?
DAVID: I don't know who the band is. It's a steel band.
***
CRAIG: (Pointing out a drawing of the Professor) Who did the picture here?
RUSSELL: A little nine year-old girl did that, she did one of each of us. And I'm going to take that home.
CRAIG: What do you think about all this attention that the show is still getting?
RUSSELL: Really, we don't know what to make of it except that we're delighted about it. We have all these fans thirty years later and they're still around and will probably be around for a long time to come. It's a phenomenon that we don't really understand. But we're grateful for it. They're still around and they love these characters and they love this show and we're grateful for it.
CRAIG: There are actors who become identified with a role and spend the rest of their careers trying to get out from under that. You don't seem to have ever gone through that syndrome.
RUSSELL: Well, we've been typecast, there's no doubt about that. But it's all right. We've all done other things since then and we've had good careers. And I'll tell you something, it's just nice to be remembered thirty years later for a show that you did. There aren't many shows that people are talking about thirty years after they're done. So we're rather unique and we're very grateful about it.
CRAIG: Would you say that you've played the Professor for the last time, or is there still one more in you?
RUSSELL: Well, they're going to do a movie, a feature film about Gilligan's Island with a new cast. You know, younger cast. But there may be something where we may be in it in one fashion or another. I doubt seriously-- I don't know what we'll be doing but I can't see us-- I see someone else playing the Professor.
CRAIG: If you could hand-pick your successor, who would it be?
RUSSELL: (Laughs) Sir Anthony Hopkins. (Laughs)
CRAIG: I think he's already signed up to play Gilligan.
RUSSELL: Oh, he is? Oh, okay. Well then I'll have to go with Tom Cruise.(laughs) Or, I know, Jack Nicholson.
CRAIG: Tell me about your book.
RUSSELL: Yeah, my book is called "Here On Gilligan's Isle." It's about my time on the show and my assessment of other actors and actresses on the show.
CRAIG: A scathing tell-all...
RUSSELL: Not at all. There's nothing scathing in the book and there's no reason for it. We had a good cast and we loved each other. But it's an interesting book, it's got about 150 pictures in it. It has a lot to do about the show and something to do about the rest of my life, and has something to do about the rest of my career. An eclectic kind of book.
(Another idiot pops up and does his own solo rendition of the theme song. He really sells it, and does broad gestures toward each of the stars as he sings their character names.)
CRAIG: Any last words you'd like to leave with your fans?
RUSSELL: Gee. All I can say is I am a supporter of people who are H.I.V. Positive and who have AIDS. And I pray for them and I love them and I ask for everyone's help and understanding and prayers for those people. And God bless us all.
CRAIG: It's great to have you in town. I hope you enjoy your stay.
RUSSELL: See what you can do about the heat.
CRAIG: I'll do what I can.
