# Mr. and Mrs. Howell on "Gilligan's Island" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 2, 2012, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-and-mrs-howell-on-gilligans-island/636440 "2012-10-02T00:45:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hottius\_Maximus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3ab097/32.png) [@Hottius\_Maximus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hottius_Maximus)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2012, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-and-mrs-howell-on-gilligans-island/636440/1 "2012-10-02T00:45:32Z")
Okay so maybe this isn’t a “great debate” but I would like to hear anybody’s comments here. In your opinion, did Mrs. Howell marry Thurston Howell III for his money? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2012, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-and-mrs-howell-on-gilligans-island/636440/2 "2012-10-02T00:47:17Z")
> [@Hottius\_Maximus](#): > > Okay so maybe this isn’t a “great debate” but I would like to hear anybody’s comments here. In your opinion, did Mrs. Howell marry Thurston Howell III for his money? Why did you post it in Great Debates if you didn’t think it belonged there? ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2012, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-and-mrs-howell-on-gilligans-island/636440/3 "2012-10-02T00:49:35Z")
Oh heck no. The former Eunice Wentworth came from money herself, clearly of the same social class as Thurston. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2012, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-and-mrs-howell-on-gilligans-island/636440/4 "2012-10-02T01:00:14Z")
I think this thread will do a it better in Cafe Society. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2012, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-and-mrs-howell-on-gilligans-island/636440/5 "2012-10-02T01:10:50Z")
She married him because he was the voice of Mr Magoo, and she’s a sucker for cartoons. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2012, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-and-mrs-howell-on-gilligans-island/636440/6 "2012-10-02T01:17:59Z")
That and she was looking for a fine studly, much younger thing, being Lovey was a cougar. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2012, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-and-mrs-howell-on-gilligans-island/636440/7 "2012-10-02T01:32:20Z")
I’m thinking if Mr Howell had been into trophy wives, he’d have been shacked up with Ginger and Lovey would have been sharing a hut with Mary Ann. ---
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2012, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-and-mrs-howell-on-gilligans-island/636440/8 "2012-10-02T02:01:33Z")
Ginger would have found Thurston 30 years too young. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2012, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-and-mrs-howell-on-gilligans-island/636440/9 "2012-10-02T02:03:51Z")
The Howells were madly in love. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2012, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-and-mrs-howell-on-gilligans-island/636440/10 "2012-10-02T02:28:10Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > Oh heck no. The former Eunice Wentworth came from money herself, clearly of the same social class as Thurston. This. Thurston indicated that Lovey’s family was “loaded.” She also spoke fluent French and Italian, indicating a classical education. ---
**Author:** ![fumster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9c0ed/32.png) [@fumster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fumster)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2012, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-and-mrs-howell-on-gilligans-island/636440/11 "2012-10-02T02:46:17Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > She married him because he was the voice of Mr Magoo, and she’s a sucker for cartoons. Love is blind, in other words. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2012, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-and-mrs-howell-on-gilligans-island/636440/12 "2012-10-02T03:19:10Z")
Lovey was originally the madam of a high-class call-girl outfit on the Upper East Side. Her personal talents gained the affections of Thurston. Missed by the camera on the TV show were her sessions where she tried to pass on her skills to Ginger and Mary Ann, who never could quite rise to her level. ---
**Author:** ![Hottius\_Maximus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3ab097/32.png) [@Hottius\_Maximus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hottius_Maximus)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2012, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-and-mrs-howell-on-gilligans-island/636440/13 "2012-10-02T03:25:09Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Why did you post it in Great Debates if you didn’t think it belonged there? Because it’s STILL a debate. If people wish to debate this question in Cafe Society, well I have no problem with that. I see some entertaining answers here. ---
**Author:** ![Hottius\_Maximus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3ab097/32.png) [@Hottius\_Maximus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hottius_Maximus)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2012, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-and-mrs-howell-on-gilligans-island/636440/14 "2012-10-02T03:26:38Z")
> [@fumster](#): > > Love is blind, in other words. LOL! I guess he preferred Eunice Wentworth over “Charlie.” ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2012, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-and-mrs-howell-on-gilligans-island/636440/15 "2012-10-02T11:26:53Z")
After thinking about this a little more, it would not surprise me to learn that the Wentworth fortune was what first captured \*Thurston’s \*fiduciary interest, and was a major reason for him to propose the merger, um er, marriage. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2012, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-and-mrs-howell-on-gilligans-island/636440/16 "2012-10-02T16:03:07Z")
It certainly appeared to me that Mrs. Howell very much loved Mr. Howell, and as others have said, she had her own money. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2012, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-and-mrs-howell-on-gilligans-island/636440/17 "2012-10-02T16:13:58Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > After thinking about this a little more, it would not surprise me to learn that the Wentworth fortune was what first captured \*Thurston’s \*fiduciary interest, and was a major reason for him to propose the merger, um er, marriage. I was always under the impression that Thurston Howell III married ‘up’. Not that he was _nouveau riche_, but he lacked the refinement that Eunice Wentworth did. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2012, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-and-mrs-howell-on-gilligans-island/636440/18 "2012-10-02T16:26:28Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > After thinking about this a little more, it would not surprise me to learn that the Wentworth fortune was what first captured \*Thurston’s \*fiduciary interest, and was a major reason for him to propose the merger, um er, marriage. According to Wikipedia, Howell was a multibillionaire until the depression. He emerged from it a mere multimillionaire. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2012, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-and-mrs-howell-on-gilligans-island/636440/19 "2012-10-02T17:37:38Z")
Howell made it big in “structured settlements”-he founded JG Wentworth. ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2012, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-and-mrs-howell-on-gilligans-island/636440/20 "2012-10-02T19:19:52Z")
I think the real questions are: How many changes of clothing did they bring on a “three-hour tour” – and why in the world were they also carrying several suitcases full of \*cash \*with them? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-and-mrs-howell-on-gilligans-island/636440.md?page=2)