Ready Camera One
11-12-2009
The Television Sitcom Through The Lens of Gilligan’s Island
BY
Nick Taylor
Television today is one of the most popular forms of home entertainment. It’s very rare to find a house without one these days. One of the oldest and most unique forms of entertainment is the classic sitcom. One of most popular classic sitcom’s today is Gilligan’s Island. It has become so popular that it has even surpassed the Lucy Show, in its number of reruns. This small fact would probably astonish many viewers, critics, networks, and most importantly, it would likely surprise anyone who crossed paths with the show during its time on air from 1964-1967. Sylvia Stoddard, author of A Companion Guide to Gilligan’s Island, writes “At the time no one dreamed it would become the most rerun of all televisions shows, ever. It passed “I Love Lucy, several years back.” (Stoddard, Page 2) Clearly, Gilligan’s Island has done something right. In many ways, some of the plot experiments and character development born on Gilligan’s Island, have helped to influence the content and style of sitcoms today.
The fundamentals of a good sitcom are relatively basic. The most important part is the script, which not only provides the who, what, where, when, why, but also dictates the action, story and types of humor used in the show as a whole and from episode to episode. More importantly, the script establishes an ongoing conflict or situation that can serve as the theme of the show. This theme establishes the “rules’ of the show and allows viewers to become engaged. John Vorhaus, author of How to be Funny Even if You’re Not, explains just how important this is
“A show’s rules extend to all aspects of that show. Which Character gets the main story? Who gets the secondary stories? Is someone a straight man? Do the characters tell jokes and make wisecracks, or do all the laughs come from the character’s comic perspectives? What sort of language do they use? What topics are taboo? Do they make reference to the outside world or do they live within a hermetically sealed sitcom bubble? Will given characters act the fool? To write a spec script correctly, you need all of this information and more.”
Today the theme, rules and basic plot of Gilligan’s Island are all easy to grasp. This familiarity is due, in part to the show’s theme song, The Ballad of Gilligan’s Island, but the show struggled to get the networks to green light the project for three reasons which sound rather ridiculous in retrospect. The first was because of the show’s isolated setting. CBS Studio executive, Mr. Aubrey, loved the idea of Gilligan and the Skipper’s boat taking people out for a 3- hour tour, but hated the isolated setting. He wanted the show be renamed and formatted to be called Gilligan’s Travels. He argued this point numerous times with the show’s creator and producer, Sherwood Schwartz, whom recalls this in his book Inside Gilligan’s Island. (Schwartz, Page 5) “In his opinion my concept of the show would need an enormous amount of explanation each week, expository scenes to explain why this group of people was marooned on the island.”
Schwartz counter argument was to create a theme song that would explain the show’s basic scenario and theme in a minute or less. The theme song itself was the second reason why the show struggled to get the green light from the executives. This is difficult to imagine today because so many shows have theme songs. Back in 1963 when Schwartz presented his concepts to the CBS executives, it was almost completely unprecedented Schwartz recalls. “There would be no need for exposition because the opening song would tell the story in an entertaining way. In 1963, however, few TV themes had ever been used for this purpose.” (Schwartz, Page 5) This was simply the first of many challenges Schwartz faced with regard to the theme song. He later explains how difficult it was to get the song recorded and how he had to write it himself.
“Lyric writing is different from script writing. Many thoughts have to be said in very few words. In a song where you’re trying to tell a real story, that problem becomes acute. My battle with a calypso melody was even more bloody. For two hours I tired to get the words to fit the music, and then music to fit the words.” ( Schwartz, Page 33-34)
Even after all of his hard work, Schwartz wasn’t satisfied with the theme song. He turned to his friend George Wyle. Together, they rewrote the song and changed it from a calypso rhythm to a sea chantey, or sailor song. Eventually, it was recorded by a group called the “Wellingtons” and became what is known today as The Ballad of Gilligan’s Island.
While dealing with the first two problems Schwartz also had to face most the common problem for new television programs, finding an audience. Joey Green describes in his book The Unofficial Gilligan’s Island Handbook, Schwartz‘s reflection of his agent’s reaction to his idea for the show. “Who the hell is going to look at the same seven people on the same island week after week? It doesn’t make any sense. Nobody’s ever done a show like that.” (Green, Page 3) The author goes on to answer this question by explaining just how well the show did, describing its ratings during the first season. ”By late February, the shipwrecked septet had navigated into the third position in the Nielsen ratings, emerging as the sleeper series of the year, confounding critics and columnists.” (Green, Page 9) Green then quotes the explanation offered by Schwartz for the series success.
“Kids had a reason for watching it, adults had a reason for watching it, professors had a reason for watching it, sex maniacs had a reason for watching it. That’s why I think the show has lived the way it has. It’s demographics to this day are extraordinary….one-third children, one-third women, one-third men.”
With demographics like that, it begs to question how the show can maintain such a balanced scale for over 40 years, given that the original air date was September 26th 1964. The secret may relate to Schwartz’s vision to use the show to create a “social microcosm,” Schwartz goes on to explain this in more detail. “The episodes would detail their adventures and misadventures in forming a little community. The various characters learning to live together because they had to live together was the core of the series. “(Schwartz, Page 5)
To create the social microcosm he so desired, it was absolutely essential that show’s characters be diverse enough to create a kind of mini-society, but also be broad enough that each would be easy to indentify with, understand and relate to, across numerous demographics. When the idea for the show first came into being Schwartz knew exactly what he wanted for the characters of Gilligan and the Skipper. He then struggled for weeks to create each of the passengers on the S.S Minnow, because they all had to collectively fulfill and complete his vision. “Passengers had to be carefully developed to form the social microcosm I was attempting. After all, this limited cast would have to represent prototypes of many personalities in our society. “(Schwartz, Page 15)
To assemble such a cast successfully would not be easy. This may be in part why many, if not all of the characters of Gilligan’s Island, can be compared to different stereotypes and archetypes. A fact which Schwartz admits too “I also knew they would have to be extreme forums, more caricatures then characters. Caricatures may be one-dimensional or ‘cardboard’ but they are very effective in television in making that role memorable.” (Schwartz, Page 15)
Linda N. Edelstein, author and psychologist, approaches creative characters as if they are real people. In the Writer’s Guide to Character Traits, 2nd edition, she helps to further explain the use of such stereotypes and archetypes. “Stereotypes are popular because they provide us with a language shortcut. They jolt our memories; they give us a quick if imprecise way of knowing entire classes of people.” (Edelstein, Page 32) The characters in “Gilligan’s Island” can all be connected back to one or more of those mentioned in the book, particularly the chapter on group influences. Anyone who knows the show well can describe each character and their particular habits, strengths and tasks they perform on the island.
Gilligan often wants to help the others and provides the manual labor, yet he has the habit of goofing off or screwing things up almost all of the time. It is easy to imagine him as a clown or a scapegoat. Even when something goes wrong that is clearly not his fault, he is nearly always the one blamed. “Scapegoat represents and repents for the weakness of the group; is isolated by the group as the source of conflict or bad feelings and, consciously or unconsciously is kept in that role; usually the group has deposited unwanted feelings (guilt, incompetence or rage) into that individual rather then share responsibility.” (Edelstein, Page 318) A fine of example of this is in episode 29 of the first season “Three to Get Ready.” Gilligan finds a magic wishing stone and is supposed to wish the castaways off the island, but when he tells the stone this, the castaways wind up in the middle of the lagoon, before everyone yells at Gilligan for screwing things up.
Skipper Jonas Grumby is more or less the group’s heroic leader by default. He is always trying to get the castaways to function as a group. He is the first to go out and scout for signs of trouble and tries his best to keep everyone as safe and happy as possible. “The hero wants to lead and be noticed; a champion; high energy; filled with ideas and prepared to take action; ready to go out front.” (Edelstein, Page 317) This is clearly displayed in episode 15 of season one “So Sorry, My Island Now.” When the skipper bravely sets out to rescue the castaway’s who have been taken prisoner by a Japanese sailor.
Being fabulously wealthy, both Mr. and Mrs. Howell see themselves as better than the rest of the castaways and aren’t afraid to show it. Neither has a particular desire to be helpful unless doing so will benefit them. Mr. Howell spends his time reading, his only old news paper, gambling and playing on his makeshift golf course. Meanwhile, Mrs. Howell spends her time decorating their hut, trying to organize social events, tanning, knitting and taking long walks. While both enjoy the splendors of being fabulously wealthy, their approach to authority figures is distinctively different from one another. This is most commonly displayed when they have a disagreement with the Skipper’s leadership and decisions.
Mr. Howell commonly will challenge the Skipper to do things his way using everything he can think of too get what he wants. Thus he becomes a very oppressive figure. “The oppressor likes to dominate; wants his own way; not interested in democratic action; treats high status people with much more respect than low-status individuals.” (Edelstein, Page 317) episode seven of season one “President Gilligan,” is an excellent point of reference when the passengers of the S.S Minnow decide to have an election.
Mrs. Howell is an interesting contrast to her husband in this matter. Most of the time, she complains about things but will not take any dramatic action to change them. In some rare circumstances she, will take control of a situation and provide a wise loving guidance to the other castaways. This is particularly true with the girls, as she in a sense becomes both the matriarch and the loving nurse of the island. “The nurse is usually a woman who tends to everyone’s needs’ concerned about others; often gets resentful that she is not highly valued; hides feelings of anger, jealousy or competitiveness.” (Edelstein, Page 318.) In season three episode 12 “The Kidnapper.” Mrs. Howell always convinces her husband to give the other castaways money to pay ransom. She even starts to try and think the best of the kidnapper once the group catches him and tries to reform him.
Ginger is perhaps the most cliché character on the island. In almost every episode she is either trying to seduce one of the men or she is crying over some missed opportunity in Hollywood. Despite this, her character performs the widest variety of tasks on the island. These include cooking, cleaning, acting, making disguises, assisting the professor and playing the island psychologist (although it could be argued that she doesn’t any of this well expecting acting and assisting the professor.) Perhaps part of the reason why Ginger is so commonly stereotyped can be best summed up in what actress Tina Louise said about her character “’Ginger was the ultimate flirt. I flirted with everything from an astronaut to a robot.’” (Stoddard, Page 223) The character of Ginger Grant exemplifies the mask of the seducer stereotype so well, it almost seems like it was her complete face. “The seducer wants to bewitch others; seduction can be with sex, power or money; she knows which key works and uses it to her own ends.”(Edelstein, Page 317)
Almost all of Ginger’s action’s are intended to be seductive but it’s always most obvious when she’s rehearsing for play, she is always practicing for a love scene.
The most level headed character of the show is Professor Roy Hinkley. In some ways, he is so level-headed that it doesn’t seem possible to imagine how he could be a real person. When everyone else is in a panic, it always becomes his duty to snap them out of it and return the focus to the task at hand. A taskmaster, he is always focused on some type of job and rarely shows any sort of emotion. Because of these traits he will fill the seat of the mediator when a problem arises. “The taskmaster reminds the group to get to work; appreciates the task and wants to reach solutions; not usually distracted by conflicting demands or emotions.” (Edelstein, Page 317) Numerous times the show’s island is used as a test site for military weapons. As consequence missiles, mines and other explosive devices commonly land on the island causing mass panic amongst the castaways. It falls to the professor to get everyone back under control and remind them that they can still neutralize the threat if they work together.
Mary Ann is probably the show’s most likable character in that she portrays the sweet innocent “girl next door.” Mary Ann always thinks the best of others and can always be found doing the domestic chores. She loves to be helpful but has little experience doing much of anything else and so will commonly run to the others for help or advice when she has a problem. She also has the hardest time standing up herself. “The Innocent is usually a young person; can ask questions and be naïve; may not be taken seriously by the others and has a hard time exercising any power.” (Edelstein, Page 318) In season two episode 18 “The Postman Cometh” The castaways hear Mary Ann’s boy friend back home got engaged to another woman. In a misguided attempt to cheer her up all of the islands bachelor’s starting hitting on her and she becomes so confused that she runs to the Howell’s to get advice and hide.
While the castaways of Gilligan’s Island portray a wide range of people they are all stereotypes to an extend. In fact each is so familiar, that anyone who is channel surfing can instantly with identify them. While this has probably helped to lend to the show’s vibrant success, it did however present a few problems. First, viewed through the lens of today’s societal norms, it may be easy to view the show as racist and sexist. Anyone who has watched the show can name all of the principal characters, and the only time a guest star character on the show was not Caucasian is when an Indian or native is being portrayed. As far being sexist, the show commonly portrays the women doing the household chores and being more cowardly and often (although not always) less intelligence then there male counterparts.
The larger problem that is not as commonly examined is the issue of typecasting. Playing such broad stereotypical roles in the show definitely helped the viewer; but it made it very difficult for the cast to get work at the show’s conclusion. Bob Denver was quoted saying “You’re typecast for the rest of your life, you know, but you look at it the other way- that people are still enjoying it, kids are still laughing and still scratching. “ (Green, Page 13) With time, most of the cast eventually got over being typecast and learned to look at it as an advantage rather a disadvantage. The one expectation to this was Tina Louise the actress who played Ginger Grant. She was so furious about being typecast that she refused all offers to be a part of the show’s subsequent movies and spinoff series, not only that, but she also deliberately left the show off of her credits in future auditions. Schwartz vividly recalls this “After Gilligan’s Island Tina had a real identity problem. She loved the fact that character Ginger had made her a famous star, recognized not only the Untied States, but worldwide. However she resented the fact that audience accepted Tina Louise as Ginger, and Ginger as Tina Louise. “(Schwartz, Page 145)
While Tina resented being typecast as her character from the show, Alan Hale who played the Skipper reveled in it. Schwartz vividly recalls a trip to a children’s hospital when he and Alan visited a young boy who was just awaking from surgery.
“In a voice that wasn’t much more then a whisper he said ‘Skipper?’ I wondered briefly at that moment whether that young boy thought he had died and gone to ‘Gilligan’s Island’ But Alan as usual, knew exactly the right thing to say. ‘That’s right son. The Skipper is here with you. Everything is going to be fine now’” (Schwartz, Page 148-149)
Aside from the characters, the isolated setting, the goal to have the series be a social microcosm and the theme song telling the story’s prolog, there were other things that made the show special now and in its own time. Most notably the show’s transfer to color in its second season. “In 1962 there were one million color sets in the U.S. In 1965 there were five million sets and CBS and NBC became all color networks.” (Stoddard, Page 128) The addition of color really helped to give viewers a feel of the island. This seemed very significant; given that the series had been advertised in color. Lynn Spigel author of “TV By Design explains, “In 1964 the Phillip Morris Company hired portrait artist Alfred C. Chadbourn (an instructor at the Famous Artists School, which was known for it’s ‘You Can Draw Binky’ mail-order courses) to paint publicity portraits of CBS headliners as Red Skelton, Raymond Burr (of Perry Mason) and the entire cast of Gilligan’s Island.” (Spigel, Page 109)
The color change did present the show with a few problems. First, because the old introduction was filmed in black in white it had to be re-filmed. “Because this was Gilligan’s Island first season in color, all the black and white footage was useless.” (Stoddard, Page 125) The second problem was with the show’s theme song. Anyone familiar with multiple seasons of the show can distinguish between the two versions of the show’s theme. The first theme ends by lumping the characters of the Professor and Mary Ann together as”the rest.” While the later seasons gave each of them separate billing. Actress Dawn Wells who played Mary Ann speculates on this point. “I think that originally Ginger was signed on before the Professor and Mary Ann and I think her contact stated that she was in fifth place and no one after her. Then in the second year when the show was definitely the seven characters equally there was a contract renegotiation.” (Green, Page 12)
The Editors of Publications International sited the show’s intro as the fourth most memorable TV theme song in there article the “18 Most Memorable TV Theme Songs,” offer a different explanation to the song’s change. “The first version specifically mentions five of the cast members, then lumps two characters together, referring to them as ‘the rest.’ But Bob Denver (aka Gilligan) thought the song should be rewritten to include the ‘Professor and Mary Ann.’”
Various guest stars and dream sequences, also helped to make the show special. Green, lists all of the visitors to appear on the island including, but not limited to, a Broadway producer, a World War two fighter pilot, natives, a rock band and a surfer. “For an uncharted island, an astounding number of visitors, tribal natives and animals drop by.” (Green, Page 60) In fact during the later seasons both guest stars and dream sequences became more common as they were among the most enjoyed by viewers and the cast. When asked what was their favorite episode most of the cast pointed to a guest star episode or a dream sequence. Natalie Schafer who played Miss. Howell said, “I loved doing Cinderella, I think that was thing I enjoyed most because it was so farfetched.” (Green, Page 101) Russell Johnson who played the Professor recalls, “I remember one story that was written for me with Zsa Zsa Gabor, because it was my story,” (Green, Page 102) and both Tina Louise and Schwartz recall the producer episode with Pill Silvers as the guest star.
The last thing that helped to make the show special occurred behind the scenes. Even the most seasoned fans of Gilligan’s Island might not know about it. The portrayal of the role of Mrs. Howell was really that of a typical rich housewife, until Natalie Schafer decided she wanted to completely develop the character herself. Natalie vividly recalls how bored she was with the part at the start of the show. “The part was written as a Pasadena lady who was very, very stodgy… it was just ‘ yes dear, no dear, yes dear’ and I was getting very bored with this when we did the pilot, and finally I said ’I’d like to meet with the writers. I’d like this to be a kind of a Dulcy.’” (Green, Page 42) She was not surprised to find that all of the writers were very young and had no idea what she was talking about, but that certainly wouldn’t stop her. She went to order copies of Dulcy for each of the writer’s before heading to management. “Let me do one week of designing and buying and planning my own wardrobe. If you don’t like it, we’ll talk about it. Well of course, then I came on with the pants and the pearls and the hats and the gloves.” (Green, Page 43) Incidentally because she took her own ideas to the writers and management Natalie Schafer was able to take the role of Mrs. Howell and make it completely her own.
With all of its popularity with the viewer’s, it’s success in the ratings and it’s special features, it brings up the question how the show was cancelled after only 3 seasons and more importantly why? All of the answers can be traced back to a single T.V executive’s stubbornness to prevent his favorite show from leaving the air. In actuality Gilligan’s Island had been renewed for a forth season and most of the cast had already take up residency to be ready for the next shoot, but the 1967-1968 season called for Gunsmoke to be dropped. When word reached Mr. William Paley, chairman of CBS he was furious. Schwartz explains “He told Mike the proposed schedule was absolutely unacceptable without Gunsmoke” (Schwartz, Page 201) Schwartz goes on to describe a meeting in which it was suggested to try a find a younger audience for Gunsmoke.
“Somebody in the meeting then pointed out the fact that the C.B.S affiliates had shown a great resistance to buying a show called ‘Doc’ at 8:00 on Monday. It was a half-hour situation comedy scheduled to follow Gilligan’s Island airing at 7:30. Both the program department and the sales department could please the affiliates by dropping ‘Doc, and could please Mr. and Mrs. Paley by scheduling Gunsmoke on Monday. The only thing that stood in the way was Gilligan’s Island.” (Schwartz, Page 201-202)
Mr. Paley didn’t care about Gilligan’s Island and neither did any of the network executives, thus the show was scarified to save Gunsmoke.
Despite the show’s sudden cancellation it continues to live on today. It inspired a few animated spin off shows The New Gilligan’s Island, Premiered in 1974-1975 and lasted 2 seasons. Gilligan’s Planet in 1982-1983 only lasted one season. Three Television movies were also made. All three were made with the entire original cast save Tina Louise. The first Gilligan’s Island T.V film Rescue from Gilligan’s Island, was broadcast in 1978. In 1980 the second film The Castaway’s on Gilligan’s Island Premiered in hopes of launching a new series. It fell short when the film was rescheduled at the last minute and received a poor rating. Schwartz writes, “The television industry wants to know the ‘bottom line.’ It’s not interested in how, what, when, why or where. And the ‘bottom line’ on the Gilligan scorecard was ‘Rescue 52- Castaways 26.’ All talk about the hotel concept and seven hour long ‘Gilligan shows for the fall stopped. Along with any thought of a series.” (Schwartz, Page 240) The last film to be made was Gilligan and the Harlem Globetrotters, broadcast in 1981. This film also did poorly because Jim Backus who played Mr. Howell was suffering from Parkinson disease and was in extremely poor health during the shoot. It forced Schwartz and his team to make numerous last minute re-writes, to cut down Backus’s part.
In addition to the spin-off animated series and television films, the show counties to survive through books and memoires written by Bob Denver, Russell Johnson, Jim Backus and Sherwood Schwartz who has also launched the Gilligan’s Island Musical off Broadway. The show is also remembered in a cookbook with Gilligan’s Island dishes written by Dawn Wells, a reality show called The Real Gilligan’s Island, A documentary Surviving Gilligan’s Island. The show’s theme song has been featured in numerous commercials, and of course reruns of the show continue to air to this day. Half of the seven castaway’s and the show’s creator are still alive today. Tina Louise who played Ginger, Dawn Wells who played Mary Ann, Russell Johnson who played the Professor and the show’s creator Sherwood Schwartz.
The show’s opening song speaks of a three hour tour, but it’s clear to see that with reruns lasting 45 years and counting Gilligan’s Island has become the most phenomenal three hour tour in television history. Gilligan’s Island continues to make its mark on popular culture. Mad magazine published a Gilligan’s Island parody; a student at UCLA wrote a graduate thesis on Gilligan’s Island a band recorded the Gilligan’s Island theme song to the tune of Led Zeppelin’s ‘Stairway to Heaven.’” Numerous theories on Gilligan’s Island have been written, and published. Including how each of the castaway’s represents one of the seven deadly sins and how Gilligan’s Island may be a metaphorical Garden of Eden. It is more then plain to see that Gilligan’s Island remains a very important part of not only television history but also other pop-culture even today.
