Table of Contents
Acknowledgments vii
Preface xi
Forewords xiii
Introduction xv
1 The Importance of Being Illiterate 1
2 The Home Front 7
3 The Longest Journey Starts with the Dreaded Blank Page 11
4 One Ten-Cent Phone Call 21
5 In the Beginning Was the Word 26
6 The Songbird from Passaic 31
7 Sometimes Smoke Gets in your Eyes 42
8 Where, When, How and with Whom 44
9 Gilligan, the Skipper Too, the Millionaire and his Wife, the Movie Star, the Professor and Mary Ann 49
10 The Hills are Alive with the Sound of Crickets 69
11 Everybody Remembers that Day 76
12 Left at the Post 82
13 You can't Win 'Em All 84
14 Left at the Post Again ... and Again 89
15 Setting Gilligan's Island Free 91
16 A Meeting at Mount Olympus 106
17 Another Meeting at Mount Olympus 121
18 Yet Another Meeting at Mount Olympus 127
19 One More Meeting at Mount Olympus 132
20 Always be Nice to your Script Editor 136
21 Life on the Stage 140
22 Gilligan's Island Hits the Airwaves, and Vice Versa 161
23 A Captain should go Down with his Own Ship 173
24 Send Help before it's Too Late 184
25 Pratfalls and Philosophy 190
26 "Whatever Happened to Gunsmoke?" 196
27 Big Julie Rolls the Dice 204
28 Gilligan Gets Animated 207
29 A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Men's Room 211
30 Rescued After Fifteen Years 217
31 The "Castaways" Hotel and the Globetrotters 234
32 Priceless Rewards 244
33 Present Mirth Hath Present Laughter 256
34 The Three Musketeers 264
Epilogue 271
Appendix 1 Episode Synopses 272
Appendix 2 Synopses of Gilligan's Island Movies and Specials 308
Index 315
