# Brain shakers from watching the Gilligan's Island marathon **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** tv-shows-scripted\ **Created:** [July 10, 2023, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brain-shakers-from-watching-the-gilligans-island-marathon/986847 "2023-07-10T07:57:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 11
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2023, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brain-shakers-from-watching-the-gilligans-island-marathon/986847/201 "2023-07-12T07:17:18Z")
Oh, man that’s sad. He was much more dead pan faced one minute and completely losing his mind the next. Seemed appropriate since he was married to a witch. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2023, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brain-shakers-from-watching-the-gilligans-island-marathon/986847/202 "2023-07-12T07:18:34Z")
He and Elizabeth Montgomery had great chemistry. She and Dick Sargent had absolutely none. I think my favorite episode of the series is the B&W one where he realizes he’s going to grow old and die, and she isn’t. Very poignant. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2023, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brain-shakers-from-watching-the-gilligans-island-marathon/986847/203 "2023-07-12T07:23:44Z")
Ah. I remember that one. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2023, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brain-shakers-from-watching-the-gilligans-island-marathon/986847/204 "2023-07-12T07:33:33Z")
_ **That Girl** _ was another '60s sitcom that was good in the first three seasons but rapidly went downhill afterward. I was head over heels in love with Marlo Thomas when I was in sixth grade. (I actually had a girlfriend who looked a lot like her.) When I saw the episodes stripped on weekdays a couple of years ago, I was wondering why the hell Donald put up with her by the time the fifth season started. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2023, 8:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brain-shakers-from-watching-the-gilligans-island-marathon/986847/205 "2023-07-12T08:12:55Z")
Has _That Girl_ ever been released on DVD? I remember it from when it was broadcast, and I recall liking it. It would be nice to get the DVDs of it. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2023, 9:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brain-shakers-from-watching-the-gilligans-island-marathon/986847/206 "2023-07-12T09:44:26Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > As I recall, his back was damaged while he was pumping the drive of an old-fashioned railroad hand car. He went one way and the pump went another, ripping the muscles and tendons in his back. > While filming the movie _[They Came to Cordura](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/They_Came_to_Cordura)_ (1959) with [Gary Cooper](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Cooper) and [Rita Hayworth](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rita_Hayworth), he suffered a permanent, disabling back injury. In York’s own words, “Gary Cooper and I were propelling a [handcar](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handcar) carrying several ‘wounded’ men down [the] railroad track. I was on the bottom stroke of this sort of teeter-totter mechanism that made the handcar run. I was just lifting the handle up as the director yelled ‘cut!’ and one of the ‘wounded’ cast members reached up and grabbed the handle. Now, instead of lifting the expected weight, I was suddenly, jarringly, lifting his entire weight off the flatbed – 180 pounds or so. The muscles along the right side of my back tore. They just snapped and let loose. And that was the start of it all: the pain, the painkillers, the addiction, the lost career.”[[6]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_York#cite_note-Douglas-6) [Wiki](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_York) ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2023, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brain-shakers-from-watching-the-gilligans-island-marathon/986847/207 "2023-07-12T11:24:06Z")
RE Willy I’ve read in a few places that Gilligan’s first name was Willy. I’ve also read interviews with Bob Denver that Gilligan’s first name was Gilligan. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2023, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brain-shakers-from-watching-the-gilligans-island-marathon/986847/208 "2023-07-12T13:39:31Z")
Yeah, I don’t think there was ever any definitive canon on Gilligan’s full name (though I did know Roy Hinkley, Jonas Grumby, Mary Ann Summers, Ginger Grant, Thurston Howell III, and Lovey Howell). And “Ginger Grant” is probably a stage name, but if so, they never revealed her “real” name. ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2023, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brain-shakers-from-watching-the-gilligans-island-marathon/986847/209 "2023-07-12T15:10:07Z")
I likewise recall Bob Denver saying something like Sherwood Schwartz feeling that if Gilligan had a first name, it would “probably” be Willy, but I don’t think that was ever definitively established. Unlike such names as Roy Hinkley and Jonas Grumby, which were actually mentioned in the first episode. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2023, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brain-shakers-from-watching-the-gilligans-island-marathon/986847/210 "2023-07-12T15:28:44Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > I believe he was confined to a wheelchair after that, and he died in 1992 from lung cancer. I saw him interviewed shortly before his death, and he looked in really bad shape. In retrospect, the main cast of that show was unlucky, health-wise (or cursed, if we’re following the witchcraft theme): - Dick York, as you note, was forced to leave the show (and retire from acting) due to his back injury, and also had emphysema (he was a heavy smoker), dying from it at 63. - Elizabeth Montgomery died from cancer at age 62. - Dick Sargent died from cancer at age 64. - Agnes Moorehead died from cancer at age 74; she had been in the cast of the film _The Conqueror_, which was filmed near the site of atomic bomb testing, and which is believed to have led to many of the cast and crew developing cancer. - Alice Pearce (the first Gladys Kravitz) died of cancer at age 48, during _Bewitched_’s second season. - Paul Lynde (Uncle Arthur) died of a heart attack at age 55. Also, Marion Lorne (Aunt Clara) died of a heart attack before the start of the series’ fifth season, though she was already older (age 84). ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2023, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brain-shakers-from-watching-the-gilligans-island-marathon/986847/211 "2023-07-12T15:37:29Z")
He was never called anything other than “Gilligan” on the show, not even in the radio newscast announcing the disappearance of the _Minnow_. However, in the series typewritten format that was used to sell the series to the network, he’s specifically described as “Willy Gilligan.” (That page is actually shown in one of the _ **GI** _ histories on YouTube. Sorry, I don’t remember which one.) I don’t know if _ **That Girl** _ is available on DVD, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2023, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brain-shakers-from-watching-the-gilligans-island-marathon/986847/212 "2023-07-12T15:52:44Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > - Elizabeth Montgomery died from cancer at age 62. Colon cancer, as I recall, which is particularly nasty. > [@](#): > > - Paul Lynde (Uncle Arthur) died of a heart attack at age 55. Lynde, who was a regular on _ **Hollywood Squares** _ at the time, was chronically obese as a child. When asked in an interview how he wanted to spend his retirement, he replied “I want to lie in bed and eat. I was a fat kid, and I’m going to be a fat old man!” > [@](#): > > Marion Lorne (Aunt Clara) died of a heart attack before the start of the series’ fifth season, though she was already older (age 84). Marion Lorne and her klutzy successor Alice Ghostley (“Esmerelda”) had a scene together in 1967’s _ **The Graduate** _. Lorne would continue to appear for some time in television commercials filmed before her 1968 demise, leading some to conclude the rumors of her death were greatly exaggerated. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2023, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brain-shakers-from-watching-the-gilligans-island-marathon/986847/213 "2023-07-12T16:02:05Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Paul Lynde (Uncle Arthur) died of a heart attack at age 55. Wow. Look at that with the others listed, and (I assume) smoking really did shorten lives! I watch a lot of Universal (Adam-12, Dragnet, Emergency…) and it is amazing how many actors of that generation died so young! (and looked so old! Lynde was only 55?!) I’m 61. I don’t feel old. And to see so many actors died younger than me, it’s shocking. On the other hand, there’s Burt Mustin, a Webb regular. That guy didn’t START acting until he was 68! There’s still time for me to make it! Hollywood, here I come! ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2023, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brain-shakers-from-watching-the-gilligans-island-marathon/986847/214 "2023-07-12T16:06:14Z")
Lynde could often be seen smoking surreptitiously in his box on _ **Hollywood Squares** _. He also had the appearance of a heavy smoker, like Kramer in that episode of _ **Seinfeld** _. Aside from _ **Bewitched** _, I remember Dick York best from the time he played a doomed GI in the Pacific on _ **Twilight Zone** _. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2023, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brain-shakers-from-watching-the-gilligans-island-marathon/986847/215 "2023-07-12T20:36:25Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > In retrospect, the main cast of that show was unlucky, health-wise (or cursed, if we’re following the witchcraft theme) Sort of the TV version of the Scottish play. _Babylon 5_ has been pretty rough on its actors as well. ---
**Author:** ![Ynnad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/4491bb/32.png) [@Ynnad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ynnad)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2023, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brain-shakers-from-watching-the-gilligans-island-marathon/986847/216 "2023-07-12T21:45:42Z")
Does anyone have any idea where the island is located? My best guess is Palmyra Atoll. Palmyra Atoll is a collection of islands and small islets south of Hawaii. It is of volcanic origin. Coconuts grow there. “Natives” live on some of the not so nearby islands in the area. And it has lagoons! I would like to preemptively declare that anyone who says “it’s just a show” and that the location is unknowable is just a curmudgeon who doesn’t know how to have fun. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2023, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brain-shakers-from-watching-the-gilligans-island-marathon/986847/217 "2023-07-12T21:57:55Z")
> [@Ynnad](#): > > I would like to preemptively declare that anyone who says “it’s just a show” and that the location is unknowable is just a curmudgeon who doesn’t know how to have fun. The island is obviously near Springfield. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2023, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brain-shakers-from-watching-the-gilligans-island-marathon/986847/218 "2023-07-12T22:04:28Z")
The coordinates changed from time to time: > **['Gilligan's Island': Where Is the Island Supposed to be Located?](https://outsider.com/entertainment/gilligans-island-where-island-supposed-located/)** > > Fans of “Gilligan’s Island” may have noticed a few times during the series when various characters supposedly give away the island’s location. I read somewhere that it was originally supposed to be in the Caribbean (hence the Calypso theme song), but that would have made it much too easy to find. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2023, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brain-shakers-from-watching-the-gilligans-island-marathon/986847/219 "2023-07-12T22:18:36Z")
3 hours away. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2023, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brain-shakers-from-watching-the-gilligans-island-marathon/986847/220 "2023-07-12T22:28:14Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > As for Mrs Howell: > (a) “Lovey” was apparently a pet name. By what other name was she called in the show? > (b) What was her maiden name? (b) Wentworth. Ninjafied, but I did know the answer. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brain-shakers-from-watching-the-gilligans-island-marathon/986847.md?page=10) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brain-shakers-from-watching-the-gilligans-island-marathon/986847.md?page=12)