TV Tuesday: Gilligan's Island - Season 1; Episode 1 (1964)

Gilligan's Island - 1964

Coming up next on this edition of TV Tuesday, we feature the first episode from "Gilligan's Island", an enduringly popular show that saw a bunch of castaways stuck on an island with no way off.

Entitled "Two On A Raft", this episode's cast includes Bob Denver, Alan Hale Jr., Jim Backus, Natalie Schafer, Tina Louise, Russell Johnson, and Dawn Wells.

Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip that started from this tropic port aboard this tiny ship.

The mate was a mighty sailin' lad, the Skipper brave and sure.  (Gilligan, the first mate is kind of klutzy and the Skipper is a no nonsense old sea dog.)

Five passengers set sail that day for a three hour tour.  (Thank goodness they brought a radio!)  A huge storm comes up (the tiny ship was tossed!) and maroons the passengers on a desert island in the South Pacific.

The passengers include millionaire Thurston Howell III and his wife Lovey.  The Howells seem to have packed most of their belongings for this "three hour cruise".  They come ashore with an exorbitant amount of luggage!  These two are my favorites on the show.  They say the most outlandish things.  "A shark bite a Howell?" asks Thurston.  "He wouldn't dare!"

Kansas farm girl Mary Ann Summers (left) and Hollywood actress Ginger Grant (right) are two single ladies who have taken the cruise.

And crafty Professor Roy Hinkley (forever after known simply as "The Professor") makes up the seventh castaway.

This band of shipwrecked passengers come together to help make a raft so Gilligan and the Skipper can try to make it to Hawaii to bring back help.

Once everything is ready, the castaways bid the two guys farewell, and the raft heads out for the open ocean.

Those left behind on the island hope and pray that a rescue won't be long in coming.

Gilligan and Skipper soon run into problems out on the open sea.  Sharks!

They end up shipwrecked again.  Luckily, they are on the same island they left from.

The others sense other people on the island, but they don't know that it is Skipper and Gilligan.  They hide in a cave from what they think are Marubi headhunters.

Gilligan has a laugh when he finds some real Marubi garb and gives his fellow passengers a scare.

Cast rundown:

   Bob Denver....................................Gilligan

   Alan Hale Jr....................................Skipper

   Jim Backus.....................................Thurston Howell III

   Natalie Schafer................................Lovey Howell

   Tina Louise.....................................Ginger Grant

   Russell Johnson...............................The Professor

   Dawn Wells.....................................Mary Ann Summers

And that's it for Gilligan's Island.  Though this is the first episode released, it is not actually the first to be filmed.  A pilot called "Marooned" was shot but could not be used because of cast substitutions.  There were bits and pieces of it used in this episode, however.

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