Gilligan’s Island was back in the news recently with an animated remake scheduled to be released by Netflix this month. That hasn’t happened yet and comes on the heels of an aborted Fox remake of the series back in 2019. Since the pilot and first episode were both filmed on Kauai back in the 1960s at Moloaa Beach, it remains a part of our island history.
The new Gilligan’s Island will be a computer-animated comedy-adventure film based on the original TV series. The new film was written and directed by Jon Favreau. Stars are said to include Seth Rogen, James Franco, Ben Kingsley, Meghan Trainor, Emily Blunt, Jonah Hill, Amy Adams, and Andy Samberg. The film’s plot follows the castaways following their island shipwreck.
For those of you old enough to remember, the iconic comedy TV show starring Bob Denver, comprised of nearly 100 episodes, and which has amassed an enormous fan club, ran from 1964 to 1967 and is widely associated with Hawaii.
Be sure to watch the opening of the vintage Gilligan’s Island pilot episode we have featured at the end of this post. If you were a fan of the show, it’s really weird to see!
The theme song with which we became familiar, the plot, and the words, “The ship set ground on the shore of this uncharted desert isle, With Gilligan, The Skipper too, the millionaire and his wife, the movie star, the professor, and Mary Ann, here on Gilligan’s Isle, is for many of us, indelible.
And now I have a trivia question – is Tina Louise the oldest cast member living?
Remember that Gilligan’s Island actress Dawn Wells died of COVID in 2020. A former Miss America contestant, Wells played Mary Ann Summers, the youngest in the cast of four men and three women. That leaves only one cast member remaining, Tina Louise, who played Ginger and is now 87 years old, or does it?
Actually, the actor who played a dictator for one episode in the second season, Nehemiah Persoff, is still alive at 102 years of age. Persoff appeared in more than 200 television series, plays, and films in his 50-year career.
What was to have been Jane Mansfield’s role?
Tina played Ginger on the show, and is the only surviving regular actor of the original cast, following Dawn Wells’ death. It has been more than 50 years since she starred in the role that had been offered to Jane Mansfield who turned it down for fear it would end her career.
Since then, Tina Lousie has, in addition to her family, remained an actress, and an author. Even before the popularity and fame associated with this show, Tina was an accomplished stage and screen actress. That has continued. She performed in shows including The Stepford Wives, Dallas, and The Wrecking Crew. She co-starred with Stephen Baldwin in the 2019 film Tapestry.
Gilligan’s Island | On Oahu and Kauai.
The opening scene of the series was filmed at Coconut Isle in Kaneohe Bay. Also known as Mokuoloe, and pictured below, the small island serves as a research facility for marine biology and is a short swim off of Oahu.
The island, now about 28 acres in size, was previously just 12 acres. In the 1930’s owner and Fleishmann yeast heir, Chris Holmes II, created more islands using sand, coral rubble, and other landfills. He housed many pets. Later, during WW2, the island was a rest station for US Navy flyers. In the 1940s, it was purchased by a group wishing to create an exclusive and private resort for visitors, Coconut Island Club International. The concept failed, and in 1950, the 32-room Coconut Island Hotel opened. Part of the island had already been donated to the University of Hawaii for marine research.
Series pilot and the first episode of Gilligan’s Isle filmed on Kauai.
Many think of the show being filmed here on Kauai, but that is not the case. Only the pilot was filmed on Kauai, at Moloaa Beach. The remaining episodes were at CBS in Studio City, California. Before settling on the Kauai location, Catalina Island was under consideration, but ultimately they chose Kauai for its tropical splendor and palm trees.
A rumor has existed that star Natalie Schafer, who played Lovey Howell, said she would only play millionaire Thurston Howell’s (played by Jim Backus) wife if she could have a free trip to Hawaii. In her later years, Dawn Wells was Natalie’s caretaker.
The crew arrived here on the tropic island Kauai in November 1963, when the crew stayed at the iconic Coco Palms Hotel one of the best places to stay at that time. They later also stayed at the Hanalei Plantation Resort, which was the location of Club Med Kauai.
The boat used for the SS Minnow and its 3-hour tour was towed to Kauai from Honolulu for the filming.
Alan Hale. The skipper.
The tough and curmudgeonly boat captain who was host to the passengers, later became a restauranteur, owning the LA based The Lobster barrel. He died in 1990 at age 68.
If you ever watched the pilot episode, see below. There is a different theme song with a Calypso melody, and the roles of Ginger, Mary Ann, and the Professor did not exist. Instead, two secretaries and a high school teacher were played by different actors than in the series.
And so it went. From 1964 to 1967.
A tale of a fateful trip, that started from this tropic port, aboard this tiny ship. The mate was a mighty sailing man, the skipper brave and sure. five passengers set sail that day, for a three-hour tour, a three-hour tour. The weather started getting rough, the tiny ship was tossed, if not for the courage of the fearless crew, the Minnow would be lost, the minnow would be lost. The ship set ground on the shore of this uncharted desert isle, with Gilligan, the Skipper too, the millionaire and his wife, the movie star, the professor, and Mary Ann, here on Gilligan’s Isle
If you have any Gilligan’s Island trivia, be sure to comment.
Updated 2/23/22.
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Don C says
The only way remakes/reboots work is to keep it to the original. There is the main people who want positive TV and remakes like they were. Fuller House lost ratings by changing they way they did things by adding a 2016 era into it. Gilligan does not need that. Keep it as it was and don’t change the sex/race and it will have high ratings.
Chris m says
Gilligan’s first name was willie as called by the skipper in the pilot episode.
Paul H says
Opening scene was filmed in front of the Ilikai Hotel on the day JFK was assassinated. Check the American flag on the left at half staff/mast.
Ken F. says
Gilligan’s Island Trivia: Bob Denver”Gillagan” was also in the TV series Doby Gillis his name in that series was Maynard G. Crebs and he was a member of the GBA “Good Buddies Association”.
Stanley Z says
The original Pilot Episode song was composed by Johnny Williams. Now known as John Williams -Better known for Star Wars , Indiana Jones, and many other films.
Steve R says
I am a Gilligan’s Island nut, since the first shows. A little trivia, when they show the boat leaving the harbor (actually Alamitos Bay in Long Beach CA), the flag on the Coast Guard station , due to the recent assassination of President Kennedy. Also the water was always cold in the lagoon in Studio City and the actors wore a wetsuits beneath their clothes!
Thanks for the Coconut Island information, I always wondered where that island was!!
Beat of Hawaii says
Hi Steve.
Thanks for your help with that additional trivia.
Aloha.
Rod says
The marina you refer to was used for the season 2 & 3 theme song, not season 1.
Kevin says
The pilot episode was filmed on the same day Kennedy was assassinated. If you google it you will see a flag flying half mast.
Chris M says
I’m disappointed that the new Gilligan’s will be computer generated, animated. I wish this would be with live actors. I know I won’t watch basically cartoons of a show that was so great.
GARY H says
no one wants to
john s says
Thanks for linking the intro to the Gilligan’s Island. Everybody should watch it! Their departure point is the Ala Wai Yacht Harbor. You can see the crane next to the Ilikai which was Chin Ho’s hotel development on Waikiki. The construction was completed in 1963 and the hotel looks complete from the exterior. It’s funny to see the Ilikai without the Hilton Hawaiian Village next to it!!!
Beat of Hawaii says
Hi John.
Thanks. Glad that you enjoyed.
Aloha.
DONNA K says
We lived on Lilipuna Road in Kaneohe then and Coconut Island was right around the corner across the bay. We lived for Gilligan’s Island. I’m watching the marathon now on the Sundance network.
Cody H says
I just watched ep.13 “Birds Gotta Fly” and there are a lot of “beach” scenes showing the wrecked ‘Minnow’and long shot and was wondering if this was Hawaii or the L.A. coast, maybe Malibu? Does anyone know? When I was a kid in the early 70s, (I was 10 or 11) I would watch this show every day after school. Was my favorite.
Becky says
The scene of the small beach with the wrecked Minnow was on a set in Los Angeles.
Rod says
Incorrect. The pilot was shot on Molaa Bay in Kauai. Once the series was picked up, beach scenes were either recycled from the pilot, or new ones were shot on Zuma Beach in Malibu. After episode 12, there were no more beach scenes. It was all on the CBS Radford set, including the lagoon.
Brad S. says
Mine too
Brian K says
Thank you, watched Gillian every day that I could.
We had a trip to Hawaii planned since 2020 with 12 of my siblings and their spouses but it kept getting pushed back until we weren’t able to go; didn’t get a refund for the air B and B so a handful of our group went, by this time the governor of Hawaii asked people not to come there because of the high numbers of COVID-19, the hospitals were reported as full and I am a former stroke victim and have had a quad bypass so we thought it best not
Robert P says
Hello. Looking at the intro for Season 1 (B&W) the island appears to be a different one. Smaller with a visible beach and tall palm trees. From season 2 on it was Mokuoloe but did you come across in your research what island is the original?
David W says
It is Sandy Cay, in the Bahamas
Lisa G says
Bummer! I am just now getting to view the video and the channel has been “terminated”. So sad! I am probably one of the biggest fans of the show (in reruns). I guess it’s true “you snooze you lose”! Aloha
David H. says
Seasons 1 thru 3 are available on Amazon’s Prime Video. $24.99 per season.
DONNA K says
Watching free on Sundance
Gary R says
Loved this show. Zany but upbeat.
Ron C says
Mahalo for this and taking me back to my childhood. So the age old question, Ginger or MaryAnn?
Dawn Wells said between her bellybutton and Ginger’s low cut dresses that’s had to stay one step ahead of the censors 3 second rule barring both!
Rod says
Both! I Love Them Both!