Just Sit Right Back and You'll Hear a Tale

Time for a little Saturday 9 with Sam and the gang.

Saturday 9: Ballad of Gilligan's Island (1964)

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here. 

1) This is about the fateful cruise of the S.S. Minnow. If you had a boat, what would christen it?

Are you asking what I'd name it or what kind of hooch I'd break over the bow? I don't know much about champagne so a bottle of any kind would do to christen the Carpe Diem.

2)  "No phone! No lights! No motorcar! Not a single luxury!" To Sam, those sound more like everyday essentials than luxuries. If you were shipwrecked with the gang, what standard amenity would you miss the most?

Books and to a slightly lesser degree, my laptop.

3) The uncharted isle was in the Pacific, near Hawaii. Have you ever been to our 50th state?

Nope.  I've never had much of a desire to go and since I've heard from many people that it's a lot more built up and commercialized than the Hawaii of the 60s and 70s I know from TV, I have even less desire to go.

4) Natalie Schafer, who played Mrs. Howell, refused to divulge her age. Are you honest about how old you are? Or do you fudge it?

I own every one of my 52 years.  I arrived on the scene with the Beatles, the Ford Mustang, a Charlie Brown Christmas and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.
  
5) Gilligan's Island featured many dream sequences. (Like the one where Gilligan dozes off and dreams that he's Jack from Jack and the Beanstalk.) Have you had any vivid dreams lately?

No.  I don't remember my dreams very often.

6) The pilot was filmed in November, 1963, in Honolulu. The cast and crew were actually onset when they learned of President Kennedy's assassination.* Because on location filming was so expensive, they couldn't afford to take any time off.  Tell us about a time when you had to work, even though your heart and head weren't in it. 

I can't think of any.

7) During the show's run, Mary Ann (Dawn Wells) was the clear fan favorite, receiving twice as many love letters as Ginger (Tina Louise). Have you ever written a fan letter (or posted a fan tweet or Facebook post)?

I wrote a couple of letters to Donny Osmond when I was a kid, but I've never written to anyone else.

8) Sam chose this week's song because it was going through her head, over and over again! Tell us a song that burrows into your head and stays there.

I've never been prone to ear worms.

9)  Random question: You went to a discount store and got an amazing bargain -- a pair of dress shoes for just $4.99. You go to a formal event and someone compliments you on those great shoes and asks where you got them. Do you tell the truth?

I do.  I'm pretty proud of my bargain hunting skills.

*That's why, in the credits for the black and white seasons, the flags are at half-staff when The Minnow leaves the harbor.