# 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:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Satchmo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/satchmo/32/4223_2.png) [@Satchmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satchmo)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2012, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-and-mrs-howell-on-gilligans-island/636440/21 "2012-10-02T19:44:58Z")
> [@Wheelz](#): > > 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? Nevah leave home without it, dear boy. What are you? A Yale man? ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2012, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-and-mrs-howell-on-gilligans-island/636440/22 "2012-10-02T19:45:23Z")
If you have to ask, you’re obviously not in the 1%. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2012, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-and-mrs-howell-on-gilligans-island/636440/23 "2012-10-02T19:47:33Z")
> [@Wheelz](#): > > 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? Clearly, the tour was also a trip – that is, they were going to end up at a different port of call than they started from. And the Howells carried cash for the same reason anyone carries lots of cash: Thurston was going to buy something from someone that would only take cash. It’s rarer now, but in the sixties, plenty of people insisted on cash for deals. I remember Jay Leno relating a story in his autobiography where, as a young man working for a car dealership, he delivered an expensive car to someone who paid cash. He took the cash in a brown paper bag with him to his local comedy club, where he would show up to beg/borrow open mike time. He was lucky enough to get two sets, did them, and headed home… only to realize that he had left a brown paper bag with $30,000 in it sitting on top of the piano in the club. He raced back to the club, visions of some comic finding it and blowing it on hookers and coke, and was relieved to see it sitting exactly where he left it. He related, “I was lucky - if someone had taken it, I could have been arrested; I’d just be getting out of jail now. My whole career would never have happened.” ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2012, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-and-mrs-howell-on-gilligans-island/636440/24 "2012-10-02T19:52:51Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > 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. You’sd be surprised what’s out there on Xhamster. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2012, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-and-mrs-howell-on-gilligans-island/636440/25 "2012-10-02T19:53:41Z")
He was also a sucker for coconut cream pie. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2012, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-and-mrs-howell-on-gilligans-island/636440/26 "2012-10-02T20:42:54Z")
Oh, man. Thanks for that image! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![rsat3acr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@rsat3acr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rsat3acr)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2012, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-and-mrs-howell-on-gilligans-island/636440/27 "2012-10-03T00:40:04Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > According to Wikipedia, Howell was a multibillionaire until the depression. He emerged from it a mere multimillionaire. I recall the episode and think Mrs Howell said that during the depression Mr Howell lost most of his money and became just a millionaire ---
**Author:** ![rsat3acr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@rsat3acr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rsat3acr)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2012, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-and-mrs-howell-on-gilligans-island/636440/28 "2012-10-03T00:41:57Z")
of course I could be remembering wrong ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2012, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-and-mrs-howell-on-gilligans-island/636440/29 "2012-10-03T01:18:29Z")
“Neither a borrower nor a lender be…” ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2012, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-and-mrs-howell-on-gilligans-island/636440/30 "2012-10-03T03:07:05Z")
> [@BMalion](#): > > “Neither a borrower nor a lender be…” Do not forget… Stay out of debt. Think twice, and take this good advice from me. Guard that old solvency! ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2012, 10:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-and-mrs-howell-on-gilligans-island/636440/31 "2012-10-03T10:09:30Z")
Indeed [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/bXId5jOTxdg/hqdefault.jpg "Gilligan's Island Polonius' Advice to Laertes sung to the Toreador Song") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXId5jOTxdg) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mr-and-mrs-howell-on-gilligans-island/636440.md?page=1)