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When it returned for its second season in September 1965, "Gilligan's Island" was broadcast in color for the first time. The show just happened to straddle the line between CBS's transition from black and white to color broadcasting, and thus its first season forever remains immortalized in monochrome, though attempts were made to colorize it in syndication. But color wasn't the only new addition to the show in its second season. The iconic "Gilligan's Island" theme, originally sung by the band The Wellingtons, had been switched out for a brand new title song.

"The Ballad of Gilligan's Isle," was written by executive producer and show creator Sherwood Schwartz and songwriter George Wyle, and recorded by The Wellingtons (who actually played the band The Mosquitoes in a later episode of "Gilligan's Island") in a mad rush at director Mel Shavelson's home studio. But for season 2, the song needed to include...

To the eyes of this author, there are four perfect TV theme songs in the history of the medium. For instrumentals, the two best themes are Jack Marshall's surf-like monster music he composed for "The Munsters" and Danny Elfman's Platonic-ideal-of-a-haunted-house music for "Tales from the Crypt."

For theme songs with lyrics, the two best of all time were, not coincidentally, written by Sherwood Schwartz. He and Frank de Vol composed the handy, catchy theme for Schwartz's own sitcom "The Brady Bunch," while Schwartz teamed with George Wyle to compose "The Ballad of Gilligan's Isle." These two theme songs, each only about 60 seconds, managed to explain -- in rhyme -- the premise of their respective shows succinctly while also introducing each of the characters. Additionally, the songs are catchy earworms that burrow deep into the brains of listeners, latching onto the memory and never letting go. When I'm in my 90s,...

Thanks to the earworm that is "The Ballad of Gilligan's Island," most audiences know how Gilligan (Bob Denver) and the other castaways became stranded. Gilligan and the Skipper (Alan Hale) took five passengers on an intended three-hour tour of the Hawai'ian islands when they hit rough weather and were thrown off-course. The ship set ground on the shore of an uncharted desert isle, and the seven castaways had to learn to survive. Because "Gilligan's Island" was broad and cartoonish, however, the survival was never harrowing or even particularly difficult. There were rarely food or water shortages, and everyone brought huge amounts of clothes and supplies. Life actually seemed okay on Gilligan's Island, the utter isolation notwithstanding.

Series creator Sherwood Schwartz said that he intended "Gilligan's Island" to be an idealized microcosm of a well-functioning American democracy. Seven character, all from different classes, are forced to live together by extreme circumstances,...

Sherwood Schwartz's 1964 sitcom "Gilligan's Island" is simultaneously hopeful and hopeless. It is hopeful in that seven ostensible strangers, all from different classes and walks of life, became stranded on a remote tropical island, and managed to survive and thrive, living together in harmony and often working together to achieve common goals. Even though there are rich people and poor people on the island, all sense of class has been erased. On Gilligan's Island, everyone is equal. Democracy works.  

The show is hopeless, however, because the seven stranded castaways seem to be eternally trapped on that island. Every time an opportunity for escape presents itself -- a hot air balloon, a new signaling device, etc. -- Gilligan (Bob Denver) fouls it up for everyone. Gilligan, a friendly, gentle, clumsy idiot, bumbles his way through life, often ripping hope from his compatriots. 

More viewers likely see "Gilligan's Island" in its former context,...

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There are many ways to interpret Sherwood Schwartz's 1964 sitcom "Gilligan's Island." Author Paul A. Cantor once wrote in his 2001 book "Gilligan Unbound: Pop Culture in the Age of Globalization" that the series presents an idealized version of American democracy. Cantor's thesis pointed out that the show's seven castaways all came from different American classes -- there were two millionaires, a professor, a farmer, a pair of military men, and an entertainer -- but when they were forced to live on a deserted island together, they became fast friends. Not only that, but they also thrived. Schwartz was said to have confirmed Cantor's thesis in an obituary printed in the Washington Post.

Many (including this author) see a Sisyphean element to "Gilligan's Island." Every episode begins with hope. Often, a new person or object will wash ashore, offering the castaways an opportunity for escape.

"Gilligan's Island" is a fun show about a group of castaways who never seem to get rescued despite nigh-weekly opportunities to make their way back to civilization. It's a premise that requires a certain suspension of disbelief from the get-go, especially by the time you witness the other castaways forgive Gilligan (Bob Denver) for sabotaging their attempts to secure a rescue for the umpteenth time.

However, there's a reason the CBS show is a classic. It carries a rare charm that's able to lull the viewer into said disbelief so easily that whenever you watch the show, it's hard to resist going with the flow from the second you hear that infinitely catchy theme song. This ability to casually sweep the viewer away for 25 minutes of desert island levity helped "Gilligan's Island" become one of the best TV shows of the 1960s, despite the fact that it contains some truly hilarious mistakes.

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The seven lead characters in Sherwood Schwartz's 1960s sitcom "Gilligan's Island" have become an indelible part of the world's pop consciousness, emerging as a new canon of distinctly American Commedia del'arte archetypes. The Professor (Russell Johnson) is the updated version of Il Dottore. Mr. Howell (Jim Backus) is the new Pantolone. The Skipper (Alan Hale) is clearly a modern Scaramuccia, and Gilligan (Bob Denver), well, he's Arlecchino. Additionally, Mary Ann (Dawn Wells) is likely Colombiana, Ginger (Tina Louise) is Gianduja, and Mrs. Howell (Natalie Schafer) is ... I guess another Pantolone.

It's hard to imagine a world where the seven stock "Gilligan's Island" characters were dramatically altered, as the seven characters audiences saw were downright perfect. One could always predict how one character might interact with any of the others.

Of course, it took a little trial and error to get the characters right.

"The Ballad of Gilligan's Island," in case it needs repeating, is the single best TV theme song of all time. In addition to explicitly explaining the premise of the classic show, "Ballad" introduces every single one of its seven main characters by name. It also helps that it's one of the most insidious earworms this side of "Yellow Submarine"; once you get "The Ballad of Gilligan's Island" stuck in your head, it will never leave. Your mind will be as lost as the Minnow.

In the original pilot episode for "Gilligan's Island," back before the final cast had been selected, the theme song was a calypso number composed by John Williams. That song, however, wasn't exactly what show creator Sherwood Schwartz wanted, so he and songwriter George Wyle wrote a second, better theme.. His and Schwartz's "Ballad" was written as a sea shanty, and no one can hear its...

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When Alan Hale Jr. made his "Gilligan's Island" debut as the Skipper, it wasn't the first time he'd gotten stranded somewhere. According to MeTV (which references a 1988 interview featuring the actor), Hale actually hitchhiked out of the Pine Valley Mountains in order to make it back to Hollywood for his casting meeting.

"I was in St. George, Utah, doing a picture with Audie Murphy and I get this call to come down," Hale, who died in 1990, explained. "Well, we had a small budget picture and there was kind of a difficulty as to how I was going to get there." The film in question was "Bullet for a Badman," a 1964 Western directed by R.G. Springsteen. It follows two brothers, both ex-Texas Rangers, who come into conflict when one marries the other's ex-wife while he's away in jail. Hale had...

The premise of Sherwood Schwartz's popular 1964 sitcom "Gilligan's Island" is handily explained in its theme song: five passengers check into a three-hour boat tour, run by the skipper and first mate of a tiny tourist boat called the S.S. Minnow. The ship hits some bad weather and is thrown miles off course, landing on an uncharted desert isle. The seven tourists become seven stranded castaways. No phones, no lights, no motorcars, not a single luxury. Like "Robinson Crusoe," it's as primitive as can be. The septet have to learn to live together, usually to comedic effect. 

Gilligan (Bob Denver) was the above-mentioned first mate, and his innocent cluelessness and tendency to bumble often thwarted the castaways' ability to escape. He shared the island with his Skipper (Alan Hale), a professor (Russell Johnson), a pair of married millionaires (Natalie Schafer and Jim Backus), a farmer (Dawn Wells), and a...

60 years ago, "Gilligan's Island" blessed the world with an ensemble seemingly fashioned by the gods. Bob Denver as Gilligan, Alan Hale Jr. as the Skipper, Russell Johnson as the Professor, Jim Backus as Thurston Howell III, Natalie Schafer as Eunice Howell, Dawn Wells as Mary Ann, and Tina Louise as Ginger. They are immortalized in the theme song, and ironclad comedic types thanks to the reinforcement of syndication. "Gilligan's Island" was always meant to be, and we must consider ourselves fortunate that we lived to behold its goofball majesty.

So prepare to be shocked. When the "Gilligan's Island" pilot went before cameras, Sherwood Schwartz hadn't yet fully communed with the comedy gods. In terms of the castaways, he had five out of seven figured out. Where he'd yet to strike gold was with the young female characters. Schwartz had a very different notion of how to give the show the...

In the "Gilligan's Island" episode "New Neighbor Sam," the castaways begin hearing mysterious voices from the bushes. Suspecting there are other people on the island, several of them go to investigate and discover -- after some slapstick shenanigans, of course -- that the voices were all coming from a talking macaw. The macaw identifies itself as Sam, and the Professor (Russell Johnson) tries to get the bird to say more, hoping to glean more information as to where it came from. The macaw also speaks like a gangster, so the Professor figures it must have once belonged to a career criminal, but somehow escaped and flew to their island.

The Professor's suspicions are confirmed when Sam steals a diamond belonging to Mrs. Howell (Natalie Schafer) and tries to abscond with it. Clearly, this macaw knows about jewels. Eventually, the castaways find the cave where the parrot had been hiding, and...

In the "Gilligan's Island" episode "Forward March", the castaways find themselves unexpectedly under attack. Grenades begin flying at them from the bushes, thrown by an unseen assailant. The explosions activate the war trauma of Mr. Howell (Jim Backus), and he immediately appoints himself a General, taking charge of the castaways and organizing a slapstick counterstrike. The castaways search the island and find that they are being attacked by a gorilla (Janos Prohaska), who has been living in a nearby cave. The gorilla has a machine gun and boxes upon boxes of hand grenades, presumably left over from World War II. The Professor (Russell Johnson) figures that the gorilla was merely imitating the soldiers it once observed, decades earlier. 

Gilligan (Bob Denver) manages to stare the gorilla down, and eventually trains it to throw its explosives out into the nearby lagoon, where no one will be hurt. The gorilla eventually runs out of ammo,...

For many years, fans of "Gilligan's Island" heard the rumors that actress Tina Louise, who played the glamorous movie star Ginger on the series, openly hated the show. These rumors were founded mostly on the fact that Louise, after "Gilligan's Island" went off the air in 1967, refused to reunite with her old co-stars for any of the follow-up TV movies or animated spinoffs. Everyone else returned for those projects, but Louise stayed far away. 

Additionally, stories from the set detailed a strained working relationship between Louise and star Bob Denver. Some might know the story about how Louise signed a contract allowing her to be listed last in the credits, forcing the writers of the "Gilligan's Island" theme song to refer to the Professor and Mary Ann as "and the rest!" It wouldn't be until Bob Denver pulled rank and theatened to put his own starring credit last that Louise...

Bob Denver began his professional television career in 1957, appearing in one episode of "The Silent Service," but his career took off in earnest in 1959 when he was cast as the comedic beatnik Maynard G. Krebs in the long-running sitcom "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis." He appeared in 144 episodes of that series throughout its four seasons, cementing Denver as a reliable, funny supporting player. 

After "Dobie Gillis," Denver secured a few notable gigs, appearing on "The Andry Griffith Show" and "Dr. Kildare," as well as the feature films "Take Her, She's Mine," and "For Those Who Think Young." By 1964, however, Denver's legacy was secured when he was cast as the title character in Sherwood Schwartz's hit sitcom "Gilligan's Island." Although that series only lasted 98 episodes in three seasons, it was a massive hit, beloved by audiences everywhere. Critics often lambasted "Gilligan's Island" for being too silly, but its reputation preceded it,...

In the first season of Sherwood Schwartz's "Gilligan's Island," the opening theme song infamously left out character descriptors for Dawn Wells and Russell Johnson. It listed Gilligan, the Skipper too, the millionaire and his wife, the Movie Star, but then merely described Wells and Johnson as "And the rest." This was certainly unfair, as all seven members of the show's ensemble were equally important, each one bringing something valuable to the overall character dynamic. 

As many "Gilligan's" fans know, the reason Wells and Johnson weren't described was because of a stipulation in co-star Tina Louise's contract. Louise, who played Ginger the Movie Star, required that she be named last on any opening credits roll. Title star Bob Denver, however, felt that Wells and Johnson deserved more, and pulled rank on Louise. It seemed that he, too, had a contract stipulation allowing him to be listed in the credits wherever he wanted.

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Author Paul A. Cantor suggested in his book "Gilligan Unbound: Pop Culture in the Age of Globalization" that Sherwood Schwartz's 1964 sitcom "Gilligan's Island" stood as a confident symbol for the triumph of American democracy during the post-war Baby Boom. Cantor noted that the series essentially created a random seven-character cross-section of the United States, and then abandoned them in a remote location. Despite their isolation and lack of resources, the seven stranded castaways formed a functional democracy. The rich and the poor, the farmers and the intelligentsia, actors and sailors, all became fast friends and easily set up shelter and systems of acquiring food. 

Additionally, Schwartz assembled a great ensemble of diverse character types, allowing them all to serve a particular dramatic function. Sure, the castaways were broad archetypes without much richness or complexity, but they certainly functioned. The...

In the realm of television, shooting a pilot is by no means a guarantee of going to series. The broadcast landscape is littered with failed one-and-done ventures like "Heat Vision and Jack," "Lookwell" and the "Beverly Hills Cop" series starring Brandon T. Jackson. If network executives don't like the way a promising concept plays once its up on its feet and before a camera, they'll nix it without a second thought. So it's important for show creators to put their best foot forward with that pilot, lest they join those aforementioned shows and hundreds of others on the scrap heap.

Amazingly, some shows can slap together a disastrous pilot and still make it to series. "Game of Thrones" famously stumbled out of the gate (forcing the producers to recast Daenerys Targaryen). Meanwhile, on the other end of the tonal spectrum, "Gilligan's Island" encountered choppy waters on its way to smooth...

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Every comedy team needs a straight man. Lou Costello had Bud Abbot. The Marx Brothers had Margaret Dumont. The Three Stooges had everyone they came in contact with. And while it may not sound like a good deal of fun to be the person setting up the funny folks for laughs, it does take a lot of skill to do it proficiently. And any comedian worth their weight in yuks knows the better the setup, the bigger the laugh.

This applies to many sitcoms, where the cast of zanies needs a steadily turning planet around which to wildly orbit. If you're really good at it, there could be multiple Primetime Emmys coming to you (e.g. Ed Asner won three for "The Mary Tyler Moore Show"). And if you happen to find yourself on "Gilligan's Island," while there might not...

There are some sitcoms that simply don't work if you're down so much as a single cast member. Could you imagine an episode of "Cheers" without Sam, Carla, Cliff and Norm? The series' producers and writers couldn't, which is why they never missed an episode. The same was true on a much larger scale for "The Brady Bunch," where every single member of the family (and their live-in housekeeper Alice) reported for duty on all 117 episodes.

This kind of consistency was evidently key to a successful Sherwood Schwartz sitcom. The writer/producer who created "The Brady Bunch" was also the mastermind behind "Gilligan's Island," the CBS joker about seven castaways who wash up on the shore of an uncharted island somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. The key to the show's success was its shamelessness: from the pilot to the series finale (which arrived a little sooner than expected thanks to...

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The writers of "Gilligan's Island" were typically careful to retain storytelling clarity by pairing two of seven stranded castaways for their stories. Most typically, the bumbling Gilligan (Bob Denver) was paired with the short-tempered Skipper and their explosive relationship would unfold naturally. Mr. and Mrs. Howell (Jim Backus and Natalie Schafer) tended to move as a unit, and many felt that there was romantic chemistry between Mary Ann (Dawn Wells) and the Professor (Russell Johnson). Mary Ann was also often paired with Ginger (Tina Louise) as they were the only two unmarried women on the island and they bunked together.

Seen less often was the pairing of Mary Ann and Gilligan, which is a bit of a head-scratcher. Gilligan was the slapstick buffoon, while Mary Ann was the optimistic farm girl, both possessed of a disarming friendliness and an appealing naïveté.

Prior to "Gilligan's Island" in 1964, Tina Louise was already a long-working actress. Indeed, Louise worked her first modeling gig at the age of two, appearing in an ad campaign for her father's candy store. In high school, she started studying acting, and landed her first professional gig in 1956, appearing in an episode of the TV series "Studio One." She made her feature film debut in Anthony Mann's celebrated drama "God's Little Acre," in which Louise played Griselda, the wife of a character played by Jack Lord. She was nominated for a Golden Globe for her performance. 

Louise went on to star in other high-profile film projects, including Michael Curtiz's "The Hangman," and the 1960 Italian historical epic "The Siege of Syracuse," in which she played three different roles. Louise also played the poet Sappho in a film called "The Warrior Empress." In 1964, she appeared in a film called "For Those Who Think Young,...

The overarching story of "Gilligan's Island" is, upon a moment of reflection, surprisingly nihilistic. Sherwood Schwartz's whimsical 1964 sitcom may take place in a cartoon-like universe where no one is really desperate, starving, or unclean, but it also takes place in a world where hope cannot thrive. At the beginning of every episode, the seven stranded castaways are presented with the opportunity to escape the island and return home. They become joyous and hopeful. Then a cataclysm occurs, usually at the bumbling hands of the clueless Gilligan (Bob Denver), and their opportunity is squandered. The castaways are stranded for another week, their prison sentence essentially extended. Hope becomes despair, again and again, creeping into this petty pace from day to day, to the last syllable of recorded time.

Sisyphus would relate.

"Gilligan's Island," however, offsets its despair with an unshakeable sense of whimsy. The show's characters may have eternally been pushing a boulder uphill,...

When Sherwood Schwartz was creating "Gilligan's Island" back in 1964, he designed the series as one might an animated show. It was meant to be a broad, unrealistic farce, so Schwartz had no issues with making "Gilligan's Island" into something colorful and artificial. The characters, for the most part, wore the same clothes every day, allowing Schwartz to color-code them. Gilligan (Bob Denver) always wore a long-sleeve red shirt and sailor's cap. The Skipper (Alan Hale) always wore blue and wore a captain's hat. The Professor (Russell Johnson) always wore slacks and a white shirt with the sleeves rolled up. Ginger (Tina Louise) may have changed often, but she always wore something glamorous, and her red hair was always highlighted. 

What's more, Schwartz seemingly kept a close eye on characters' silhouettes. One of the reasons why The Skipper and Gilligan emerged as such an effective comedy duo was that Gilligan was...

Producer Sherwood Schwartz wasn't looking to make anyone a star when he began casting his 1960s sitcom "Gilligan's Island." The show was intended to be slapstick fun for the whole family, peppered with jokes that landed just as hard with parents as they did with their children. To get this across, he needed an ensemble that could remain in mellifluous orbit around Bob Denver's blundering Gilligan. (Denver himself was already a small screen star thanks to his portrayal of beatnik Maynard G. Krebs on "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis.") If the actors could get away with delivering Schwartz's groan-worthy banter without evoking groans from the undemanding folks at home, they were welcome on his uncharted desert island.

This isn't to say he hired a bunch of nobodies to fill out the cast of "Gilligan's Island." Jim Backus and Natalie Schafer were established, veteran performers, while Tina Louise...

Sherwood Schwartz's 1964 sitcom "Gilligan's Island" was a pop-cultural powerhouse, attracting a mass audience larger than any of the CBS executives expected. While many critics and audience members criticized the show for being silly, unrealistic, and simplistic, it nonetheless lasted for three hit seasons, and was put into eternal syndication, staying alive in reruns for decades. What's more, the series warranted numerous TV movie sequels and spinoffs, including a 1981 TV movie wherein Gilligan (Bob Denver) and the other castaways met the Harlem Globetrotters -- called, helpfully, "The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan's Island" -- and an animated series wherein the castaways became stranded on a distant planet (!). Yes, "Gilligan's Planet" is a thing.

The spinoffs retained all the original cast members, with the exception of Tina Louise, whose character, Ginger, was played by various other actors. Curiously, the Globetrotters movie was the last time an original "Gilligan's Island" project graced the screen.

Natalie Schafer had been working for four decades before she was offered the role of Lovey Howell on Sherwood Schwartz's 1964 sitcom "Gilligan's Island." Schafer later admitted that she only took the gig to get a free Hawaiian vacation, convinced that the show would fail, and she would be allowed to go on to better jobs. She was dismayed to learn that the original pilot had been picked up, and was further bummed out when the series became a hit. She was in the for the long haul. Luckily, the success of "Gilligan's Island" was so unexpectedly overwhelming that it likely smoothed over any trepidation she might have had, providing the actress with one of her most recognizable roles. 

Schafer was 64 years old when she appeared on the show, but that wasn't a fact she wanted anyone to know. The actress was raised in an era when it was considered...

It's hard to think of a sitcom that typecast its actors more severely than "Gilligan's Island." Even though it only aired for three seasons, the slapstick comedy series about seven castaways marooned on a desert island somewhere in the Pacific Ocean proved inescapable professionally for its entire ensemble.

This was partly due to the albatross of syndication. After its cancellation, "Gilligan's Island" quickly became a favorite with undiscriminating couch potatoes, who got off on the show's laughably simple formula, inane gags, and colorful locale. They loved watching Bob Denver's blundering Gilligan repeatedly sabotage every single effort to get off the island, Ginger doing just about anything, and the Howells somehow living in the lap of bamboo luxury.

The show's enduring popularity was understandably bad news for the future endeavors of its younger performers, particularly Denver, Tina Louise, and Dawn Wells, all three of whom lacked a strong enough pre-...

In the "Gilligan's Island" episode "The Kidnapper", the castaways are found, but not in the most helpful way. A rogue kidnapper named Norbert Wiley (Don Rickles) has found his way to the island, and he begins to ply his trade immediately. He kidnaps Lovey Howell (Natalie Schafer) and demands the castaways pay $10,000. Mrs. Howell manages to give her kidnapper the slip, but he manages to kidnap Mary Ann (Dawn Wells) in exchange, now demanding $20,000. The cycle repeats itself again when Mary Ann escapes, and Norbert kidnaps Ginger (Tina Louise), demanding $30,000. 

Eventually, the castaways capture Norbert using Gilligan (Bob Denver) as the ultimate bait. In a bamboo cage, Norbert explains that kidnapping is a compulsion for him and that he cannot be reformed. Ginger takes it upon herself to psychoanalyze him and reform him, while the Skipper and the Professor (Russell Johnson) repair the boat that brought him to the island.

Alan Hale, Jr. became a performer as part of his family's legacy. His mother was actress Gretchen Hartman who appeared in dozens of films in the 1910s, while his father, Alan Hale (real name: Rufus Edward MacKahan) racked up hundreds of credits in the silent era, typically as a reliable sidekick to Errol Flynn. Hartman retired from acting in 1929, and Hale, Sr. continued to work until his death in 1950. Alan Hale, Jr. first appeared on the screen as an infant, "starring" opposite his mother. Hale made his Broadway debut in 1931, when he was only 10, appearing in a very, very short-lived show called "Caught Wet" (it opened and closed in the same month). In 1933, Hale played uncredited role in William Wellman's Depression-era drama "Wild Boys of the Road," and it may be the first movie a casual observer would recognize him in. 

Staring in 1941, Hale began his acting career in earnest,...

Fans of Gilligan’s Island love to joke about the earliest version of the show’s theme song, which shouts out most of the cast before resorting to an “And the rest!” lyric to refer to the Professor and Mary Ann. In fact, it didn’t change until star Bob Denver lobbied for it to include everyone.

One cast member, however, would have preferred to keep it the original way — Tina Louise, the “Movie Star” who closed out the original version of the credits. “Part of Louise’s dissatisfaction with the series was that she had expected to be the star of the show,” according to a 1965 issue of TV Guide, as reported by MeTV.

TV Guide wasn’t much of a gossip rag but even the publication responsible for channel listings couldn’t ignore the bad blood between Louise and everyone else in the cast. Denver, who played Gilligan, “will...

Bob Denver was a gifted comedic actor that, thanks to his association with the hit series "Gilligan's Island," found himself unfortunately typecast. Sherwood Schwartz's 1964 sitcom was a massive success, and its seven lead actors, although some of them previously known, became forever linked with their roles on the series. Denver was no longer an actor who played Gilligan, he was Gilligan. Many might have assumed that Denver didn't have any acting range beyond playing a bumbling dimwit like Gilligan, and the actor never had a success quite as large as he did in 1964.

It may surprise one to learn that Denver was, by all accounts, a pretty cool guy. Indeed, he was known prior to "Island" for playing the ultra-cool character Maynard G. Krebs on the sitcom "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis." Maynard was also a broad, comedic character, but he was a devoted beatnik who wrote poetry,...

Alan Hale Jr. was a showbiz veteran before he could speak. The son of Alan Hale, a popular character actor best known for his portrayal of Little John in Michael Curtiz' classic "The Adventures of Robin Hood," Hale Jr. appeared in silent films as a baby and made a few war movies as a young man before serving in the United States Coast Guard during World War II. Once the war was over, Hale Jr. worked steadily in film and television, turning up on episodes of "Gunsmoke," "Mister Ed," and "Lassie" while landing supporting roles in movies starring John Wayne, Gregory Peck, and Randolph Scott.

Hale Jr. would be castigated as a nepobaby today, but while being literally born to the business didn't hurt his cause, he was a natural in front of the camera and a welcome presence in just about everything. So, it's no surprise that, after a difficult casting process,...

In the mid-60s, beach movies were all the rage. The super-specific subgenre was an early iteration of the coming-of-age movie, but in place of any real depth or story, its plots often focused on adolescent fun. They typically featured music, dancing, bright colors, and light romantic and comedic hijinks. At their most complex, the teen beach movies came across as a discordant mix of the sanitized family cinema of the '50s and the youth-in-revolt transgressiveness of '70s film -- slightly wholesome, but slightly countercultural.

The 1963 movie "Beach Party" is often credited with popularizing the mini-genre, and after its success, plenty of imitators were churned out in quick succession. Among them is "For Those Who Think Young," a relatively forgotten movie that's best-known as Nancy Sinatra's film debut. It wasn't just Sinatra who made waves on screen, though; the movie also starred Tina Louise and Bob Denver,...

There is a general aesthetic rule in animation, often stressed in animation schools, called the silhouette principle. The idea is that an animator, when designing a character, should endeavor to create something that can instantly be recognized in silhouette. Think of a character like Bart Simpson. Even if presented completely in shadow, Bart is instantly recognizable. Same with Fred Flintstone, Speed Racer, or Invader Zim. 

When it comes to color, there is a similar principle one might learn in similar classes. If a character is associated with a certain color scheme, it's important to consistently repeat that color scheme. This is certainly a rule that pertains to superheroes; Superman always requires a blue suit, a red cape, red boots, and a yellow belt in the middle. The Hulk, when looked at standing up, is green on top and green on bottom, but always has purple pants in the middle. There...

Before "Gilligan's Island," comedian Alan Hale, Jr. had a prolific, decades-long career on stage and screen. He made his stage debut in 1931 at the age 10, began a very busy film career in 1941, and made multiple films a year throughout the 1950s. He played the title characters in both the 1953 adventure series "Biff Baker, U.S.A." and the 1957 Western "Casey Jones." He was a regular visitor of "The Gene Autry Show," and had guest spots in many of the more popular TV shows of the day. He was in "Maverick," "Bonanza," "The Untouchables," "Gunsmoke," and "Rawhide." There was, it seemed, nothing he couldn't do. 

Hale was reported always friendly and affable, and it was his affability that landed him the role of Jonas Grumby, aka The Skipper, on Sherwood Schwartz's 1964 sitcom "Gilligan's Island." The Skipper had to be the outraged, wrathful friend of the bumbling title character, but also...

Here's a lightly intriguing bit of Hollywood history that involves "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis," "Gilligan's Island" and Arthur Penn's New Hollywood masterpiece "Bonnie and Clyde."

Like most showbiz lore, it begins with Bob Denver's physical condition. If you're reading this, there is a very good chance that you've never seen an episode of "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis," let alone heard of it. Created by humorist Max Shulman, whose other major claim to fame is having written "The Tender Trap", the sitcom aired for four seasons on CBS and quickly became a showcase for Denver, whose Maynard G. Krebs brought beatnik culture into America's living rooms.

Krebs was a hepcat with an affinity for jazz and a hatred of work. He spoke via a too-cool-for-school patois, and, being too young to know much of what he was talking about, often made an ass of himself in doing so.

Children of the 1960s might recognize the late actor James Darren from his role as Moondoggie, aka Jeffrey Matthews, from the hit 1959 beach party movie "Gidget." Darren reprised his role in "Gidget Goes Hawaiian" and "Gidget Goes to Rome." Darren, however, was massively prolific in film, TV, and music, and his decades-long career was only cut short this week when the actor passed away at the age of 88. He left behind a sizable body of work that includes 14 studio albums, dozens of appearances in TV shows, and movies beyond Gidget. He shared the screen with future "Gilligan's Island" stars Bob Denver and Tina Louise in "Those Who Think Young," popped up in Jess Franco's 1969 version of "Venus in Furs," and most recently appeared in the Harry Dean Stanton film "Lucky" (one of the best films of 2017).

To Trekkies, Darren is best known for playing Vic Fontaine, the holographic Rat...

Before Bob Denver was the blundering first mate Gilligan, he was the jazz-loving beatnik Maynard G. Krebs on "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis." Max Shulman's sitcom, which he adapted from his own short stories, centered on, well, Dobie Gillis (Dwayne Hickman), a young man who was hopelessly fixated on the pursuit of wealth and success, convinced they were the keys to getting young women to fall in love with him. It was Denver as Dobie's close buddy Maynard who really caused a stir, though, winning viewers over with his laid-back, quirky personality and relatable aversion to work. (We appreciate a fella who doesn't kowtow to the demands of the capitalist machine.)

As popular as "Dobie Gillis" was for CBS, airing for four seasons from 1959 to 1963, it would soon be eclipsed by another comedy series on the network anchored (no pun intended) by Denver -- "Gilligan's Island," of course.

The culture at large seems to be very ambivalent about Sherwood Schwartz's 1964 sitcom "Gilligan's Island." On the one hand, it was massively popular and, thanks to plum syndication deals, remained in the pop culture consciousness for literally decades, feeding its goofy reruns to multiple generations. The seven stranded castaways are all easily recognizable by millions, and kids grew up chuckling to Gilligan's antics. On the other hand, "Gilligan's Island" is often lambasted, critically, as the nadir of television. The series takes place in a lightweight, cartoonish universe, and it doesn't ever reach deeply into the souls of the characters to analyze how they adapt to being stranded on a tropical island. There is no madness or deterioration, just shenanigans. 

Anything as popular as "Gilligan's Island" at least deserves a robust and healthy regard, however. Its seven stars may have been playing broad, slapstick archetypes, but their performances certainly struck a chord.

Prior to "Gilligan's Island," actor Natalie Schafer had a massive career on stage and screen. She made her Broadway debut in the play "Trigger" in 1927 and would appear regularly on stage throughout the '20s and '30s. She made her feature film debut in 1941 in the invisible man comedy "The Body Disappears" and continued to act in movies throughout the '40s. Schafer added TV acting to her resume starting in 1948. Appearing in most of the hit variety shows of the 1950s, she was a reliable comedienne of the first order, showing up in "77 Sunset Strip," "Mannix," and "The Beverly Hillbillies." Schafer, it seemed, never stopped working.

When Shafer was 64, she was offered the role of Lovey Howell, the millionaire, on Sherwood Schwartz's sitcom "Gilligan's Island." Despite decades of work, "Gilligan's Island" would become the feather in Schafer's cap -- the show she would become best known for.

Deep-cut fans of Sherwood Schwartz's 1964 sitcom "Gilligan's Island" will likely be able to tell you all about the show's original pilot episode, "Marooned." Considered a "dry run" of the series, "Marooned" featured the same premise -- seven whimsically mismatched castaways are trapped together on an uncharted desert isle -- but the characters were reshuffled a little bit. Gilligan (Bob Denver), the Skipper (Alan Hale), and the Howells (Jim Backus and Natalie Schafer) were present, but the Professor (Russell Johnson), Ginger (Tina Louise), and Mary Ann (Dawn Wells) hadn't been invented yet. 

In their places were completely different characters played by different actors. The original Ginger was played by Kit Smythe and was a sardonic secretary. Mary Ann was originally a character named Bunny, Ginger's ditzy best friend, played by Nancy McCarthy. The Professor, meanwhile, was originally a high school teacher played by actor John Gabriel, probably best known for...

Most audiences, I feel, would describe Sherwood Schwartz's 1964 sitcom "Gilligan's Island" as an ensemble piece. All of the seven castaways were important to the overall comedic dynamic, and no single star was any more important than the other. Well, apart from Bob Denver, the title character, who might have been the central figure of the ensemble. When the show first began, actor Jim Backus -- the millionaire Thurston Howell, III -- might have been the most recognizable star on the cast, but he fell in with the ensemble easily. He was a professional.

Despite the ensemble nature of the show, however, there was an issue over its credits. Tina Louise, who played the movie star Ginger Grant, insisted that her name be listed last in the credits, feeling that she was to be one of the show's biggest draws. For the first season, the opening credits of "Gilligan's Island...

Say what you will about "Gilligan's Island," but the critically derided 1960s sitcom knew its audience and pandered to them with buffoonish élan. Though that audience didn't fully materialize until after the series' cancellation in 1967, decades of successful syndication is all the proof you need to acknowledge that creator Sherwood Schwartz (who also brought together "The Brady Bunch") was some kind of low-aiming visionary.

Those of us who blew countless hours of our childhood hanging with the castaways on that uncharted desert isle somewhere in the Pacific Ocean owe Schwartz a debt of gratitude. Watching Bob Denver's Gilligan ineptly ensure that the Skipper (Alan Hale Jr.) and the passengers of the S.S. Minnow remain stranded on that tropical patch of earth made not doing chores and/or homework a brain-numbing joy. Yes, the jokes were awful and the plots shamelessly recycled, but there was something strangely compelling about Schwartz's dramatis personae.

TV trivia fanatics will happily point out that the first-season theme song to Sherwood Schwartz's seminal sitcom "Gilligan's Island" is different from the theme heard in later seasons. The song is the same -- it's the usual, earworm sea shanty that everyone can sing from memory -- but the final listing of the show's dramatis personae is different. In the later seasons, the theme song listed Gilligan (Bob Denver), the Skipper too (Alan Hale), the Millionaire (Jim Backus) and his wife (Natalie Shafer), the movie star (Tina Louise), the professor (Russell Watson) and Mary Ann (Dawn Wells), there on Gilligan's isle.

In the first season, however, the professor and Mary-Ann were introduced merely as "And the rest." Watson and Wells didn't have credits and photos like everyone else. This was a little baffling, as all seven characters were of equal value to the series; no one was a supporting player.

Back when Saturday morning cartoons were actually a thing, animated spinoffs were network executives' golden ticket for extending the lifespan of their biggest hits. 1960s sensations "Star Trek" and "Gilligan's Island" both enjoyed new leases on life when they were revived via cartoon series years after going off the air, bringing back most of the original casts in their beloved roles. In the case of Sherwood Schwartz's silly slapstick sitcom about a group of people stranded on a remote island somewhere in the Pacific, it actually got a second animated spinoff, if you can believe it.

If you're wondering how the hell Schwartz wrung enough juice for two whole other shows out of the "Gilligan's Island" formula, the answer is he didn't — not exactly. Where the showrunner's Western knockoff "Dusty's Trail" swapped out Bob Denver's sailor gear for a cowboy getup, stuck the passengers of the SS Minnow on a wagon train,...

TV audiences everywhere know the premise of Sherwood Schwartz's 1964 sitcom "Gilligan's Island" from its earworm theme song. Five passengers, on vacation in Hawai'i, book a three-hour boat tour on board the S.S. Minnow, along with the ship's captain and first mate. The ship ran into some bad weather, was blown far off course, and crash-landed on an uncharted tropical island. The seven stranded castaways, all from varied class backgrounds, had to comedically survive. The series only lasted three seasons but burned itself deep into the collective unconsciousness. Jung would be proud.

Thanks to the gods of syndication, "Gilligan's Island" remained on the air almost perpetually for decades. Several generations were raised on "Gilligan's" reruns, and audiences can still see it to this very day on streaming services like Tubi.

But, like anything that can be watched hundreds of times, "Gilligan's Island" began to buckle under sheaves of unwarranted scrutiny.

Sherwood Schwartz's "The Brady Bunch" was entering its Cousin Oliver death throes when the bankable television producer unveiled what he hoped would be his next sitcom smash in "Dusty's Trail." He had good reason to be upbeat. The zany Western series was a reunion with his "Gilligan's Island" star Bob Denver, who'd become a household name thanks to the syndication success of that critically derided, yet ridiculously watchable 1960s show. If couch potatoes were content to gorge on reruns of their previous collaboration, surely they'd have an appetite for Denver playing an equally inept coachman bumbling his way west to California.

There were, however, warning signs ahead of the series' September 1973 debut. For starters, Schwartz's efforts to revive "Gilligan's Island" based on the strength of its syndication popularity had proven fruitless. Meanwhile, the networks simply weren't interested in another go-round with Schwartz and Denver, which forced the producer...

Making just about any episode of television can be a fraught experience. There's never enough time or money to perfectly achieve the ideal version of what a showrunner envisions, but the inevitable limitations one encounters -- whether it's a shocking number of frogs piled up outside of a writer's door, or being forced to write through unimaginable pain -- can still result in something special. In the case of "Gilligan's Island," the team behind the show eventually produced a series that stood the test of time and became one of the most beloved sitcoms ever ... but not before one of those limitations had the director of the show's pilot worried for his life.

After creator Sherwood Schwartz pitched the show to a random gas station attendant, then to executives at CBS and got the resources to make a pilot, he and his collaborators prepared to depart for Hawaii to film the episode.

In the "Gilligan's Island" episode "Gilligan Meets Jungle Boy", the title character (Bob Denver) unexpectedly finds a young boy living on the island. The boy (Kurt Russell) has clearly been living on the island his whole life, as he cannot speak English, and only repeats what others say. Gilligan tries to tell the other castaways about his encounter with Jungle Boy, but, comedically, no one believes him.

Eventually, Jungle Boy is exposed, and the castaways are kind and protective. The boy also happens to know of a massive natural gas vent on the island, and it gives the Professor (Russell Watson) an idea. If they can sew together the long rubber raincoats on the S.S. Minnow, and seal the seams with tree sap, he could fill the coats with natural gas, hence constructing a makeshift hot air balloon. Surprisingly, the Professor's idea works, and the balloon seems capable of...