MovieChat Forums > Gilligan's Island (1964) Discussion > Meeting the Skipper

Meeting the Skipper

posted 8 years ago by markemsu
8 replies | jump to latest

Back in the late 1980s, I worked at the Ilikai Hotel, Honolulu, Hawaii.

One evening, around twilight, I was walking across this large courtyard at the hotel. I was on approach to passing another man. I didn't recognize him until he was about 5 feet in front of me. I let out an audible, "Oh, Wow!". He instantly, turned to me with a big smile, shock my hand and said, "How ya doing little buddy?". He didn't wait for an answer and continued on his way. That man: The Skipper, Alan Hale, Jr. from Gilligan's Island. He was even wearing his skipper hat.

I kind of thought he would've been an abrasive man in real life, but he was quite jolly. I also think he had just left the tiki bar. Even more surreal: the Ilikai Hotel is right next the Ala Wai Harbor which is where you see the boat leaving for the famous 3-hour tour.

[–] benGsboat 8 years ago

Thanks for that great memory. I've read that he always greeted fans with a big smile and was just a big teddy bear of a guy. When interviewed, his speaking voice was quite different from the skipper, but his laugh was unmistakable.

Funny that he pulled that handshake buzzer gag on you.

[–] ElRaisuli 8 years ago

I remember his voice sounding different in an interview he did at his restaurant. He sounded more "sophisticated" than the Skipper, even a bit "posh," like he could be sitting on a veranda with Mr. Howell (well maybe not that affected).

The question is, which voice was an "act?" His "Skipper" seemed so natural, it's hard to believe that it was a calculated departure from his own personality.

On the other hand, in the interview, it seems quite possible that Hale wanted to come off as a sophisticated restaurateur and successful business man. Perhaps he wanted to convey that his restaurant was a class operation and not a road house.

[–] darryl-tahirali 8 years ago

The question is, which voice was an "act?" His "Skipper" seemed so natural, it's hard to believe that it was a calculated departure from his own personality.

Junior's "Skipper" voice sounded to me a lot like his father's. Unless Senior also used an affected voice?

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[–] ElRaisuli 8 years ago

I've seen a couple of episodes of "Biff Baker, USA" on youtube, and Hale, Jr. sounds pretty much like the Skipper in that show. He's usually is a bit more subdued than the Skipper as "Biff," but not more "sophisticated."

Of course, his off-screen persona may have been influenced by his mother as well as his father, not to mention his later wife and even what school he went to.

[–] darryl-tahirali 8 years ago

Just glanced at the Skipper's IMDb resume, at the films (It Happens Every Spring, Up Periscope) and TV series (Mister Ed) I've seen him in, and I don't recall any change in his "Skipper" voice.

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[–] LaerenMisha 8 years ago

Just watched the "Showbiz Is My Life" interview, and I thought AHJr sounded pretty much like himself, just unscripted. I'm sure his Skipper voice was due to emphasis garnered from rehearing his lines for comedic effect (and shouting a lot), so his voice varied a lot, but in the interview he was speaking off the cuff, so his voice inflections were more even. But otherwise, it sounded just like the Skipper would if he was calm, and not shouting every other line like on the show.

[–] deem_bastille 8 years ago

that must have been great! he really was jolly I have heard. Sherwood had heard him boisterously laugh at a restaurant and hired him on the spot to play the skipper. he wanted an avuncular type guy for the skipper, someone big and strong who could look menacing but was in fact a huge teddy bear.

Oh God. Fortune vomits on my eiderdown once more.

[–] NutMustardx 8 years ago

I would have been kinda scared if he said little buddy ..he may have wanted to share the hammock w you. I went to his restaurant in Encino a few times n he was there once. Fat people are generally very jovial, they have more endorphins and are usually giggling n laughing all the time