50 years ago today

Another classic, darryl. Only Don't Bug the Mosquitoes and PTVP are rated higher here on IMDb

Here's a clip to celebrate its 50th birthday, darryl. I kinda like Ginger as a brunette...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3R2djy6RnaU

As a tribute to Russell Johnson's convincing portrayal of a zombie in this episode, this evening I watched Russell's earlier portrayal of a zombie in 1953's "It Came From Outer Space." Russell is not so much a zombie in that film as he is an emotionless alien who has kidnapped Russell and taken his form, but it amounts to the same thing.

The 3D blu-ray of ICFOS was just released exclusively at Best Buy last week. It contains both the 2D and 3D version (a steal for $7.99!)

One thing I never knew was that this short, 86 minute long film has an Intermission about 55 minutes in. This must have been to allow projectionists to reload both projectors, since both would be needed for the stereoscopic effect (polarity separation). Normally, only one projector is used at a time, and they hand off to each other to seamlessly present films of any length. I remember seeing a re-release of "House of Wax" in 3D around 1980. It also had an oddly placed intermission for a relatively short film.

Anyway, Russell is good, and it's kind of a hoot to see the gum-chewing hussy that he is supposedly dating. I guess rural telephone line men attract nothing but gold diggers. :)

Considering that it's a comedy, there is something a bit creepy about the moment at 2:25 in that clip when Mrs. Howell is wracked with hysterical grief. I guess they wanted a crescendo of emotion just before the branch breaks revealing Mr. Howell.

I guess we can assume, however, that in the Gilligan Universe, the Castaways did ultimately get their inheritance when the Mr. Howell passed away (sometime after the final TV movie). The individual bequests they tear up have no legal weight. It's Mr. Howell's will that counts. It also would be impossible for Mr. Howell to complete his will on the island, since there's no disinterested party to witness it; so, it's lucky he survived until they were rescued.

Although the railroad given to the Professor loses "a million dollars a year," it still could be very valuable. I think it was Gilligan who got the short end of the stick by receiving an oil well (Mr. Howell only owns ONE oil well?). In 1967, the price of a barrel of oil was only $3.00 ($22 - adjusted for inflation). Their production varies greatly, and they generally do run dry after a while. Would that well be worth anything some 25 years later? And was it part of the Tehachapuku Oil and Mining Corporation? 

[And how did they construct that giant cake at the end? Did a giant, hollow cake model wash ashore?]

Not only is this the 50th anniversary of Gilligan's Island's third season, it is also the 50th anniversary of the 1966-1967 television season, as well.

The 1966-1967 season is regarded (by some) as the apex of "imaginative" programming on network TV, and can be seen as a part of the social upheaval of the 1960's. Not that most of the shows were all that socially relevant, but, as a group, they did seem to represent some kind of watershed of escapism.

If nothing else, it was a sort of TV Nirvana for kids.

All these shows were on in 1966-1967 season (I left lesser known ones off the list).

Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea
It's About Time
The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
Bonanza
Gilligan's Island
The Monkees
Mr. Terrific
I Dream of Jeannie
The Rat Patrol
The Lucy Show
Captain Nice
The Andy Griffith Show
Family Affair
Combat
Daktari
The Girl from U.N.C.L.E.
The Invaders
The Fugitive
Batman
Lost in Space
The Beverly Hillbillies
Green Acres
Gomer Pyle USMC
The Virginian
F Troop
Daniel Boone
Bewitched
That Girl
My Three Sons
Star Trek
Dragnet
The Dean Martin Show
The Green Hornet
The Time Tunnel
The Wild Wild West
Tarzan
Hogan's Heroes
The Man From U.N.C.L.E.
The Jackie Gleason Show (which was doing musical versions of Honeymooners episodes)
Flipper
Please Don't Eat the Daisies
Get Smart
Mission Impossible
Gunsmoke

It was also the year of the premiere of "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown!", which first aired on October 27th 1966.

I'm not a big fan of "Man with a Net," either.

It does have one somewhat out of character moment of sarcasm from the Professor that I enjoy. The Skipper is skeptical about the Professors plan to get Lord Beasley drunk. Exasperated, the Professor replies, "Listen, Skipper, for a fella who recently tried to paint a butterfly...!"

It has some good moments, especially when Gilligan is bequeathing his possessions to the Castaways.

I used to wonder why they showed "Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow" on Halloween instead of "Up At Bat." UAB was the premier episode of season 2, but it seemed tailor made for Halloween, what with Gilligan thinking he was a vampire. It later occurred to me that "Up At Bat" was most likely designed to take advantage of the white hot "Batman" craze at the start of the 1966 season. It features at least one "Batman" joke ("Oh, Professor - what college did you go to? Batman U.?")as well as a parody of a "Batman" style fight scene (with "POW!" "BIFF!" "BANG!" layered over the live action*).

[In an ironic bit of trivia, by fall 1966 "Batman" was no longer placing the fight scene titles - like "POW!" - over the action. They went the cheaper route of just cutting title cards into the action. So "Up at Bat" actually wound up emulating an expensive effect that "Batman" no longer used (titles over live action).]

I had some Keptabora berries before watching this episode. It was 5 times as funny!


As far as last week's "Ring Around Gilligan" goes, I think this is the first time that I noticed that Igor, the monkey, is actually dressed like Igor in "The Friendly Physician. I think it's actually supposed to be the same character. I guess back at the castle, Mike Mazurki is eating bananas.

Great episode! Jim Backus' bald-headed "Mr. Evil" actually seems to have predicted the first onscreen appearance of the bald 007 villain, Ernst Stavro Blofeld (Donald Pleasance), 7 months later in "You Only Live Twice." Blofeld was also bald in the subsequent Bond film, "On Her Majesty's Secret Service," as played by Telly Savalas.

Perhaps this means that Backus' "Mr. Evil" is actually the original "Dr. Evil" of the Mike Myers' "Austin Powers" films. Also, look at the Carnaby Street outfit that Mary Ann wears in the dream sequence. That's much more "Austin Powers" than "James Bond."

What's really weird is that Natalie Schafer's bizarre military/bellhop costume (worn as Mr. Evil's "moll") seems to foreshadow the cover of the Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper" album, which would also come out 7 months later.

I believe this is the second episode in which Ginger dresses up in a medical smock and glasses. Her hair is worn "up," pulled back in a bun. For my money, this is Tina Louise's most attractive look on the show. Pulling back her hair reveals how beautifully structured her face is and makes me reconsider the whole Ginger vs. Mary Ann question.

Coincidentally, when Ginger is dancing with Wiley, he remarks on how "gorgeous" she looked in "Mohawk Over the Moon," in which, he says, she wore her hair "up."

One oddity of the episode is Wiley's escape in the boat. He makes his exit from the table at night, but, when the Castaways chase him to lagoon, he's sailing off in full daylight. But... the reverse shot of Castaways on the shore is at night. In fact, it is supposedly too dark to read Wiley's farewell note, so Gilligan has to light a match to illuminate it.

Don Rickles is so famous now, that it's hard not to think of his appearance as stunt-casting on a par with Zsa Zsa Gabor's Erica Tiffany Smith. At the time, however, Rickles may have been somewhat less well known, though he had already guest starred on many other shows. He first appeared on Johnny Carson's tonight show only about a year before this episode. Oddly enough, he had worked as a dramatic actor in many of his earlier roles.