Just Sit Right Back and You'll Hear A Tale...
I spent every weekday afternoon of my childhood sitting on the forest green shag carpet, a foot from our tiny T.V., sure as sure could be that today, yes, today, was the day that Gilligan et al. would finally make it off the island. My brother and I would race home from school, turn the dial to Channel ‘U’, then sub-channel 29, and the spirited negotiations regarding who would jockey the rabbit ears would commence. The only piece of television that would rival my time with Little Buddy, of course, was my time with Marcia, Jan, Cindy, Greg, Peter, Bobby, Mike, Carol and Alice. Incredibly, both Gilligan’s Island and The Brady Bunch were created and produced by veteran comedy writer Sherwood Schwartz, who died earlier this week at the age of 94.
Gilligan’s Island Fast Facts:
• Gilligan’s Island aired 98 episodes over three seasons on the CBS network, from September 1964 to September 1967.
• The first season (36 episodes) was filmed in black and white and was later colorized for syndication. Seasons two and three were filmed in colour.
• The theme song for Gilligan’s Island was composed by Schwartz himself.
• Bob Denver was not first choice to play Gilligan; Jerry Van Dyke (younger brother of Dick) was offered first dibs, but turned down the role for the lead in My Mother the Car.
• Creative geography translated into caves, a volcano, a gold mine and even a snow-capped mountain on the uncharted island, which was somewhere in the Pacific, close enough to Hawaii to allow the castaways to pick up Hawaiian a.m. radio transmissions. Just as bizarre were the appearances of a chimpanzee and a gorilla (both are native to Africa).
• Rumour has it that the United States Coast Guard occasionally received telegrams from concerned citizens who did not realize it was a scripted show, pleading for someone to go rescue Gilligan and the other survivors. No, it wasn't me.
Schwartz, who was also ninth owner in the history of the Toronto Argonauts, is survived by his wife Mildred, his three sons, a daughter, eight grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
Jennifer Hartman, guest blogger
