50 years ago today

Manages to combine "Ten Little Indians," "The Trials of Oscar Wilde," "Mary Poppins," "My Fair Lady" and "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" all into one episode. What more could you ask for?

Favorite Lines:
"Where is the filthy killer?" "The filthy killer is right here, your honor!"
"Take that, you swine!" "I say - I'm glad he's fair."
"Lies! Lies! Lies! I have never seen that woman before!" "Then you've missed plenty, buster!"


[ I feel like there's a missing scene in this. I don't know if it was ever there, or if it was cut. When Gilligan is realizing that he was with the "victims" just before they disappeared, he says something like, "That's right. I wasn't alone with Mrs. Howell... except when I was with her and she picked out the dress... I was alone with her then!"

We see Gilligan with Mary Ann and Ginger before they go missing, but this fairly specific incident with Mrs. Howell isn't in the episode.]

Tina's performance in this episode is really quite good. Eva reads as a totally different character from Ginger, which is often not the case when one person plays two roles. There's considerably more to it than, say, Bob Denver putting on a Russian accent in "Gilligan Vs. Gilligan."

The problem with the episode is that it's just not that funny. Eva's story may be tragic, but she's not sympathetic; there's nothing there to like. Those aren't the ingredients for a good comedy. Even Jonathan Kincaid had a dark sense of humor.

In trying to remember the funny lines from the show, all I could come up with were: "Dear soakers? Dear suckers!" and "I'll tell them you're all tied up!" (which seemed more clever when I was 10).

It's actually anti-funny in places. Something about Ginger's crying is off putting in other episodes, even when she's just faking it ("V is for Vitamins"). Here, Eva's crying is like fingernails on a chalkboard.

One little oddity in the episode is the moment when Tina's double (with her back turned) speaks as Ginger just before being knocked out. For some reason they used the double's voice instead of dubbing in Tina.

Watching this, it occurred to me that the Castaways themselves should disable any boat that shows up in the lagoon. At least that way, visitors wouldn't be free to leave them high and dry even if they also disabled the boat.

Ha! On Sinatra's 51st birthday..and Tina Louise as Eva acted a LOT like Sinatra in his stage struck wanna-be star in her new pseudo-"Ginger" mode..

That was one of more sad episodes. A swan song for veteran Joanna Lee, then still doing at least part time comedies but doing more serious fare in the esarly 70s (even when the "fluff" pre-70s style fare that she'd contributed was sitll being shown, like Brady--which had some stories by her, and Partridge family, which did not. )

And it was the final "lookalike" episode, and the only one besides the same seasons
The Producer special guest starring Phil Silvers to give an open special guest credit, and it's got that neat, rare running music cue used when Silver's memorable Harold Hecuba,goes in an out of the stage curtain to do all roles in Hamlet. Just like how Tina Louise as Eva Grubb kept changing identities coming and going-Eva/Ginger-Ginger/Eva. The same ":ding" then fast tropical cue is played. The first one "The Producer" credits Mort Stevens with music but the even more regular composer for the color Gilligan episodes, Gerald Fried, took credit for it for "All About Eva".In fact, the same group of cues written for the show were rotated regardless of which of the two guys (who alternated credits) got specifically credited ("The Producer" was the only time that designated CBS main music supervisor Mr.Stevens was explicty listed as the music composer). (Of course the Producer also had its own custom Bizet "Hamlet" adapations, but that's another epiusode>) Previous lookalike episodes were Brad Radnitz's Season 2 "Will the Real Mr.Howell Please Stand Up?" episode and Miss Lee's (see above) own Season 3 "Gilligan vs Gilligan".

"And that's SHOWBIZ--kid."-Roxie Hart.
PROFILE PIC:Courtney Thorne-Smith.
MAGIC=Sarah Silverman.

I can't wait to find out whether or not if they ever get rescued!


Yes, this was the day when they pre-empted "Gilligan's Island" and "Run Buddy Run" with an hour long presentation of "Jack and the Beanstalk" as performed by the Prince Street Players. From what I've read, the guy playing the giant was shorter than the guy playing Jack.

I suspect that my brother and I bailed on this offering pretty quickly. Flipping through the emergency procedures manual, we found that we could choose to watch either the TV series "Iron Horse" on ABC (episode "A Dozen Ways to Kill a Man"), or "The Monkees" followed by "I Dream if Jeannie" on NBC (episodes "Too Many Girls" and "Jeannie Breaks the Bank"). Guess which we chose.

It seems kind of foolish for CBS to have given their viewers a chance to sample the new hit "The Monkees" (not that we hadn't already) in exchange for the dubious Nielsen ratings of "Jack and the Beanstalk," but someone there clearly felt that The Prince Street Players were just the thing to bring life to the cultural wasteland that was television.

The PSP had already done "Pinocchio," and they would later perform "The Emperor's New Clothes" and "Alladin."

The Professor is really funny in this. Once again he's out of character playing the part of a psycho prisoner. "All right, Big Boy! But first you've got to beat the 'King of the Hill,' and that's me!"

Even funnier is him imploring, "He saw it! He saw it!" as the Skipper is strangling him.

I mentioned this in the trivia game a long time ago, but Jim Backus' line of "Yadda, yadda Warden!" is a reference to an "adult" prison picture parody done by Lenny Bruce. Backus was living dangerously by ad-libbing that line, but he may have figured that anyone who complained would also be exposing themselves as having listened to the record.


This is one of a handful of episodes in which Bob Denver's voice seems to be effected by "congestion" or something. It's not consistent, but at times it definitely sounds like he's trying to sound normal while being "stuffed up." This is also very noticeable in "V is for Vitamins" during the scene in which he explains to Ginger and Mary Ann "...the bigger you are, the faster you go."

There is something odd about this episode. Even in the scenes without George Barkley, a lot of the jokes don't seem to "land" properly. Both the writer and the director had done early, better episodes, so it's hard to say what went wrong.

Although some say "Gilligan's Island" was the original "Survivor," this episode actually seems to predict the later "reality show" specifically with its "Take A Dare" program. I wonder if there was some earlier, real "Take a Dare"-like program that this episode was referencing. It seems odd to think of such a show on radio.

Strother Martin is pretty sleazy in this, but I always found him an enjoyable actor. He was great in "True Grit" and "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" (in which John Wayne kicks him in the face while hardly averting his gaze from Lee Marvin). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nI_BKLpSFQg


One oddity in the show is they way they freeze frame at the end of Barkley's rendezvous with Ginger. I'm sure it was just to extend the scene so they could dissolve to the next one. You see this happen on other shows as well. It's just a mistake.

Also, did the Castaway's radio always have a ear plug? It's certainly prominent in this episode - even becoming the source of a sight gag.

Barkley disables his radio by removing the largest, most oddly placed "fuse" in the history of radios. The Professor then somehow finds that a part is missing inside the radio. If Barkley had just removed a fuse, the Professor could easily have "fixed" the radio by "jumping" the fuse with short piece of wire.

It is pretty hard to believe that the Castaways couldn't convince Barkley that they were the missing passengers and crew of the Minnow. I suppose the explanation is that he had never heard of them, particularly Mr. Howell, who could have made him a very rich man for rescuing them.

I always like the episodes in which the Professor creates some elaborate device, such as the "Minnow Simulator" here. It's clear that the "control lines" are not moving the platform, so I wondered if there were people under the deck. I think my question is answered in the final scene when the platform rights itself after Gilligan is thrown from the deck. You can hear some kind of hydraulic piston blowing off air as the Skipper walks over to him.

The shot of the Skipper and Gilligan walking away with knapsacks over their shoulders always choked me up as a kid. It seems like a very deliberate homage to Laurel & Hardy. It also uses the tear-jerking, "Elizabethan" music that open "Where There's a Will."

The funniest moment for me is when Lord Admiral Gilligan pauses to tickle Ginger's chin while he's fighting the three pirates.

I'm pretty sure that the several times that Lord Admiral Gilligan puts a finger to the side of his nose (as a sort of salute) is an homage to Douglas Fairbanks, Sr., but I haven't been able to find a photo to confirm it. You can see how Fairbank's "The Black Pirate" (1926) inspired this Gilligan dream sequence here:
http://blog.ctnews.com/culturecache/files/2015/07/st072415sttodo.jpg

In addition to the obviously fake "vine" that both Gilligan and the Skipper try to use to hang themselves, some of the other foliage looks more fake in this episode for some reason.

Funniest Line:
Announcer: "Fortunately, there are few captains of charter vessels who are as completely incompetent as..."

"The Hunter" does have some funny lines:

Mrs. Howell: "Why, for something important, I can get up as early as anyone else!"

Kincaid: (to Mary Ann): "Shooting you would be like shooting the Easter Bunny!"

Kincaid: "Skipper, you're too fat!"

Mr. Howell referring to Ramu as "You're friend with the bad headache" (because his turban looks like a bandage, I assume).

This would have been a good time for the Castaways to haul out some of those weapons that they've acquired during their stay. They had several side arms, some rifles and even a couple of machine guns (at least one from the Japanese sailor). Doesn't really matter if they work or have bullets. What's Kincaid going to do when confronted with seven armed castaways?

Apparently, Rory Calhoun was possessed of great animal magnetism. He was a notorious Lothario in Hollywood and Dawn and Tina apparently swooned over him during this episode.

Frankly, I don't see it. Cary Grant, yes... but Rory Calhoun? On the other hand, I guess he was the apotheosis of the "bad boy."

He was oddly immortalized in this Simpson's clip:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PaxLSxQblM