Gilligan is a fictional character played by Bob Denver on the 1960s TV show Gilligan's Island and its many sequels. Gilligan, affectionately called "little buddy" by the "Skipper", is the bumbling, dimwitted, accident-prone first mate of the SSMinnow. His full name is never given. He wears a trademark red shirt, pale trousers, white sneakers, and white navy cap.
During a storm, he throws an anchor overboard without a rope attached, which leaves the Minnow shipwrecked on an "uncharted desert isle" with its seven passengers and crew, establishing the underlying premise of the franchise. The enduring popularity of the series has made him a cultural icon.
Background
Gilligan served in the United States Navy with Jonas Grumby (the Skipper) during an unspecified war (probably Korean War) and saved him from being killed by a runaway depth charge. Upon retirement, Grumby, described as "an old salt in these waters", used his savings to buy the Minnow, and as the captain (or "Skipper" as he was nearly invariably addressed), Grumby hired his "little buddy", Gilligan, as his first mate.[citation needed]
Gilligan's past and family are fleetingly mentioned during the series. Such characters include: an older brother from whom he swiped his ever-present red rugby shirt, his Uncle Ramsey (who was the guide for "The Lost Battalion" in World War One), possibly a sister,[clarification needed][1] his cousin Rudolph, his father (who wore glasses and a mustache and was short), his grandmother, whose advice he imparts to Ginger during the episode "Don't Bug The Mosquitoes", Aunt Sarah, who had a "sneaky disease", and an Uncle John who was apparently illiterate. He once mentions he was born in Pennsylvania, but no city is specified.[2]
Personality
The character of Gilligan is noted for physical comedy, often with his friend the Skipper in the role of a comic foil. Recurring gags of the show include Gilligan's seduction by Ginger, eating Mary Ann's coconut cream pies, joking about the Skipper's weight, and inadvertently undermining any attempts and efforts of the castaways to get off the island. He often interjects discussions with pointless anecdotes about his childhood or with seemingly useless advice. Though he is often chided by the Skipper for interrupting, on more than one occasion, Gilligan's seemingly random nonsense actually triggers the Professor to remember a useful fact or suggest a course of action. In some episodes, he attempts to make an important suggestion, but is interrupted by the Skipper or another castaway, who tells him to be quiet until the discussion is practically over, when he is able to tell them. Examples of this include the episode where he discovers waterproof glue that turns out to be temporary and that the boat will sink. His warning is ignored until the point when the boat's boards come undone. When a butterfly collector comes to the island and refused to signal until he got what he came for, the castaways argue among themselves about the collector's recalcitrance and ignore Gilligan, until he gets in the last word by saying he stole the man's flare gun.
Despite his bumbling nature, Gilligan has an innate innocence of character that causes the others to forgive his mistakes. He occasionally saves the others when an escape plan goes awry. He performs virtually all manual labor on the island, mostly without complaint; the Skipper notes that Gilligan can "run as fast as a rabbit [and] climb a tree like a monkey". Gilligan often acts as the Howells' servant; duties include golf caddy, chauffeur for the castaways' pedal-powered car, and waiter at the "Howell Private Country Club".
Gilligan also makes several discoveries, but they often have disastrous results, and he is usually faced with big decisions. Often, Thurston Howell III attempts to bribe him with money, or Ginger with seduction or fake crying. Examples include whom to give the last orange on the island, or whom to give hot water from a hole in the ground (which the Professor later discovers to be an active volcano). On one occasion, Gilligan finds seeds that give people the ability to read minds, but when the seeds prove to have disastrous results, he gathers up the bush and all the seeds on the island and burns them.
Despite frequently ruining plans to get off the island, his fellow castaways (the Skipper included) ultimately harbor affection for him. When Gilligan is bitten by a potentially fatal insect, everyone tries to find a cure, only to get bitten themselves (the insect is later found to be harmless). Upon hearing this, Ginger and Mary Ann burst into tears and the Skipper attempts to cheer them up by having them envision everyone getting off the island. This temporarily works until Mary Ann says, "Except for Gilligan", before Ginger and she start crying again.
Gilligan is occasionally the exception to the rescue ruination, though. In the episode "The Big Gold Strike", which involves both the finding of the S.S. Minnow's life raft and repairing of it, along with the discovery of gold on the island, the Professor warns the castaways to not bring gold on the raft due to weight concerns, but every castaway brings a personal item with them to smuggle gold, with an alternate excuse as to why (including the Professor and the Skipper), causing the raft to sink in the lagoon and for them to lose both the raft and gold. After they all confess to bringing a bag of gold on the raft, they all turn and look at Gilligan, who realizes he is the only one who actually obeyed the Professor's warning, causing him to laugh and say, "That's a switch. Usually, I'm the one left holding the bag."
Ultimately, Gilligan's ineptitude ends up rescuing the castaways. In the 1978 film Rescue from Gilligan's Island the group escapes certain death when a tsunami hits the island by merging their huts into a makeshift boat. They are now off the island, but still adrift on the high seas. Gilligan lights a fire which is immediately extinguished and he is scolded by the other castaways for such a harebrained activity. A US Coast Guard helicopter notices the smoke plume and investigates, positively identifying the lost castaways from the SS Minnow and remarks that the using a fire to signal was smart thinking, else they would have remained lost at sea and unnoticed.
In the Season 2 episode "Nyet, Nyet -- Not Yet" a pair of Soviet cosmonauts encounter the castaways, and make the following observation of Gilligan's intelligence:
Cosmonaut Igor: These Americans. They think they can fool us.
Cosmonaut Ivan: Especially Gilligan. He acts too stupid to be stupid.
Today, Gilligan is widely recognized as an American popular culture icon; he ranked at 122nd place in the July 2003 list of 200 Greatest Pop Culture Icons compiled by VH-1 and People magazine.[3]
Name
Gilligan's full name has been a subject of debate among fans of the series for decades.[4] On the 2004 DVD release of season one, Gilligan's Island– The Complete First Season, a documentary called Before the Three Hour Tour shows that Sherwood Schwartz's original treatment for the series indicated that Gilligan's full name in the failed pilot was to be "Willy Gilligan", but that rendition, with other unfamiliar castaways, was canned and did not air. The documentary also reveals that Schwartz found the name "Gilligan" by flipping through a Los Angeles telephone directory. Another story was that the term "Gilligan" was once mariner's slang for an unlucky or jinxed member of a ship's crew.[5]
Bob Denver, on various television/radio interviews (The Pat Sajak Show, KDKA radio), said that "Gil Egan" was his choice. The actor reasoned that because everyone yelled at the first mate, it ran together as "Gilligan". On the May 18, 1988, episode of the Late Show on Fox, Denver said that Sherwood Schwartz told him Gilligan's first name was "Willy".[6]
Controversies
In 2015, the Canadian university Université de Montréal launched a defamation lawsuit against its student union for having portrayed an "insulting" comparison of the Gilligan character with the members of the board of directors.[7]
Gilligan's Island is an American sitcom created and produced by Sherwood Schwartz. The show's ensemble cast features Bob Denver, Alan Hale Jr., Jim Backus, Natalie Schafer, Tina Louise, Russell Johnson, and Dawn Wells. It aired for three seasons on the CBS network from September 26, 1964, to April 17, 1967. The series follows the comic adventures of seven castaways as they try to survive on an island where they are shipwrecked. Most episodes revolve around the dissimilar castaways' conflicts and their unsuccessful attempts to escape their plight, with the ship's first mate, Gilligan, usually being responsible for the failures.
Dawn Elberta Wells was an American actress. She is best known for her role as Mary Ann Summers in the sitcom Gilligan's Island.
Ginger Grant is a fictional character portrayed by actress Tina Louise in the 1964 to 1967 television sitcom Gilligan's Island.
Thurston Howell III is a character on the CBS television sitcom Gilligan's Island, which ran from 1964 to 1967, and later in syndication.
Lovey Howell, is a fictional character from the 1964 television show Gilligan's Island played by Natalie Schafer. The character is a rich socialite married to millionaire businessman Thurston Howell III.
Dusty's Trail is an American Western/comedy series starring Bob Denver and Forrest Tucker that aired in syndication from September 1973 to March 1974. The series is a western-themed reworking of Denver's previous series Gilligan's Island.
The S. S. Minnow is a fictional charter boat on the hit 1960s television sitcom Gilligan's Island. The ship ran aground on the shore of "an uncharted desert isle" in the south Pacific Ocean, setting the stage for this popular situation comedy. The crew of two were the skipper Jonas Grumby and his first mate Gilligan, and the five passengers were millionaire Thurston Howell III, his wife Lovey Howell, movie star Ginger Grant, professor Roy Hinkley, and farm girl Mary Ann Summers.
Gilligan's Planet is an American Saturday morning animated series produced by Filmation and MGM/UA Television which aired during the 1982–1983 season on CBS. It was the second animated spin-off of the sitcom Gilligan's Island.
The Skipper is the title and nickname of Jonas Grumby, a fictional character from the 1960s situation comedy Gilligan's Island. Played by Alan Hale Jr., the Skipper was the owner and captain of the S. S. Minnow on its "three-hour tour" from Hawaii when he, first mate Gilligan, and their tourist passengers were caught in a violent storm and stranded on a deserted island. He acts often in his legal role as the group's leader, albeit with a decidedly collegial and democratic bent; the only individual whom he routinely orders about is Gilligan. In times of crisis, the Skipper tends to defer to the more level-headed and educated passenger, Professor Roy Hinkley. He does most of the physical work on the island or makes Gilligan do it. He is also the most superstitious castaway, sometimes putting him in conflict with the Professor's rationalism. The Skipper is usually depicted wearing a blue polo shirt and captain's hat.
Gilligan's Wake (ISBN 0-312-29123-X) is a 2003 novel, loosely based on the 1960s CBS sitcom Gilligan's Island, written by Esquire film and television critic Tom Carson. The title is derived from the title of the TV show and Finnegans Wake, the final work of Irish novelist James Joyce. The novel was published subsequently as a paperback in 2004 (ISBN 0-312-31114-1).
The New Adventures of Gilligan is an American Saturday morning animated series produced by Filmation, which aired on ABC during the 1974–75 seasons. The show was based on the 1964–67 sitcom Gilligan's Island. A few years later, Filmation produced a sequel, Gilligan's Planet.
Rescue from Gilligan's Island is a 1978 made-for-television comedy film that continues the adventures of the shipwrecked castaways from the 1964–67 sitcom Gilligan's Island, starring Bob Denver and Alan Hale Jr., and featuring all the original cast except Tina Louise. The film first aired on NBC as a two-part special on October 14 and October 21, 1978. The film has the characters finally being rescued after 15 years on the island. The film was directed by Leslie H. Martinson.
Roy Hinkley, referred to as the Professor, is one of the seven castaways from the television series Gilligan's Island (1964–1967); he was played by Russell Johnson. The character was originally played by John Gabriel in the pilot episode, but the network thought he looked too young to have all the degrees attributed to the Professor.
"The Producer" is the fourth episode of the third season of Gilligan's Island, in which the castaways stage a musical version of Hamlet. It first aired in on October 3, 1966.
The Castaways on Gilligan's Island is a 1979 made-for-television comedy film that continues the adventures of the shipwrecked castaways from the 1964–1967 sitcom Gilligan's Island and the first reunion movie, Rescue from Gilligan's Island, featuring the original cast from the television series with the exception of Tina Louise, who was replaced in the role of Ginger Grant by Judith Baldwin. Written by Al Schwartz, Elroy Schwartz and series creator Sherwood Schwartz and directed by Earl Bellamy, it was first broadcast on NBC May 3, 1979. Unlike the independently-produced Rescue from Gilligan's Island, this and the subsequent The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan's Island were produced by MCA/Universal Television.
The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan's Island is a 1981 made-for-television comedy film. It is the third of three movies that reunited the cast of the 1964–1967 sitcom Gilligan's Island. The film aired on NBC on May 15, 1981.
The first season of the American comedy television series Gilligan's Island was shown in the United States on September 26, 1964 and concluded on June 12, 1965 on CBS. The season introduced the comic adventures of seven castaways as they attempted to survive and escape from an island on which they had been shipwrecked. Most episodes revolved around the dissimilar castaways' conflicts and their failed attempts—invariably Gilligan's fault—to escape their plight. The season originally aired on Saturdays at 8:30-9:00 pm (EST).
The second season of the American comedy television series Gilligan's Island commenced airing in the United States on September 16, 1965, and concluded on April 28, 1966, on CBS. The second season continues the comic adventures of seven castaways as they attempt to survive and escape from an island on which they had been shipwrecked. Most episodes revolve around the dissimilar castaways' conflicts and their failed attempts—invariably Gilligan's fault—to escape their plight. The season originally aired on Thursdays at 8:00-8:30 pm (EST). Unlike the first season, this season was shot in color.
The third and final season of the American comedy television series Gilligan's Island commenced airing in the United States on September 12, 1966, and concluded on April 17, 1967, on CBS. The third season continues the comic adventures of seven castaways as they attempted to survive and escape from an island on which they had been shipwrecked. Most episodes revolve around the dissimilar castaways' conflicts and their failed attempts—invariably Gilligan's fault—to escape their plight. The season originally aired on Mondays at 7:30-8:00 pm (EST).
References
↑ This is a reference to lines from the season two episode "The Postman Cometh". It is unclear there that Gilligan has a sister. In one version of the scene, he refers to "a friend of my sister's" being heartbroken, but in another version of the same scene, he says "a friend of mine's sister".
↑ See also Robert M. Jarvis, "Legal Tales from Gilligan's Island", Santa Clara Law Review 39(1): 185–205 (1998), especially footnote 7 (the name "was amusing enough to indicate a comedy series and acceptable enough to avoid burlesque").
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