Farewell, Bob
Bob Denver has passed away at the age of 70. An AP account of his life and career can be found here.
Bob will forever be known as Gilligan, and along with Monty Python and the classic Warner Brothers cartoons, Gilligan's Island formed a significant chunk of the foundation of my sense of humor.
I became a fan of the Dobie Gillis show as well, and I'll always remember Bob's "You rang?" and "Work?!". But, I'll always remember Gilligan's orange shirt and floppy hat the most.
Though the show was panned by critics, and even some of the actors were initially chagrined to be a part of the show, Gilligan's Island is and will always be a classic.
There is a sweetness to the show, a belief in goodness at its heart. There were never any real villains on the show, with the exception of Jonathan Kincaid. There weren't mouthy, sullen teenagers. None of the swill of today's society. Skipper and Gilligan were each other's buddy, not each other's boyfriend. As appealing as Ginger and Mary Ann were, romance was never any more torrid than Gilligan and Mary Ann naively playing victims to Mrs. Howell's matchmaking plans.
There were great moments. Who can forget these classics? The voodoo dolls, Wrongway Feldman, the pancake syrup/super glue, Gilligan as witch doctor Watubi, the Japanese soldier, the air force missile, Gilligan's war drums, Gilligan as the Howell's adopted son, G-I-Double L-I-G-A-N spells Gilligan and I promise you dis, dat, and de udder ting, the camera NASA thinks landed on Mars (with bird people?!), Gilligan as human radio receiver, Bingo Bango Bongo and Irving, the Mantis Carni bug, the WWII mine, roomus degloomus, the silver robot that walks to Hawaii, everyone being allergic to Gilligan, the lack of citrus fruit and Jack in the Beanstalk, the glowing meteor, Gilligan as Dracula, A Russian spy who looks like Gilligan, radioactive vegetables, the incomparable Phil Silvers as Harold Hecuba (do not forget, stay out of debt!), Boris Balinkoff, Secret Agent 014, the Jekyll and Hyde episode (Fresh fish!), Lord Admiral Gilligan fighting off pirates and tossing swords (Ho! Ho! Ohhhh.), the bowling ball, Scorpio 6 and SOL instead of SOS, the Kupaki (the foundation of my nickname to some at Carleton), Mary Ann believing she was Ginger (boop-boop-bee-doo!), Meanwhile on another island, and Gilligan as the White Goddess in high heels.
Memories that will last forever. Thank you, Bob. I hope you are home at last on that eternal tropical island.
Bob will forever be known as Gilligan, and along with Monty Python and the classic Warner Brothers cartoons, Gilligan's Island formed a significant chunk of the foundation of my sense of humor.
I became a fan of the Dobie Gillis show as well, and I'll always remember Bob's "You rang?" and "Work?!". But, I'll always remember Gilligan's orange shirt and floppy hat the most.
Though the show was panned by critics, and even some of the actors were initially chagrined to be a part of the show, Gilligan's Island is and will always be a classic.
There is a sweetness to the show, a belief in goodness at its heart. There were never any real villains on the show, with the exception of Jonathan Kincaid. There weren't mouthy, sullen teenagers. None of the swill of today's society. Skipper and Gilligan were each other's buddy, not each other's boyfriend. As appealing as Ginger and Mary Ann were, romance was never any more torrid than Gilligan and Mary Ann naively playing victims to Mrs. Howell's matchmaking plans.
There were great moments. Who can forget these classics? The voodoo dolls, Wrongway Feldman, the pancake syrup/super glue, Gilligan as witch doctor Watubi, the Japanese soldier, the air force missile, Gilligan's war drums, Gilligan as the Howell's adopted son, G-I-Double L-I-G-A-N spells Gilligan and I promise you dis, dat, and de udder ting, the camera NASA thinks landed on Mars (with bird people?!), Gilligan as human radio receiver, Bingo Bango Bongo and Irving, the Mantis Carni bug, the WWII mine, roomus degloomus, the silver robot that walks to Hawaii, everyone being allergic to Gilligan, the lack of citrus fruit and Jack in the Beanstalk, the glowing meteor, Gilligan as Dracula, A Russian spy who looks like Gilligan, radioactive vegetables, the incomparable Phil Silvers as Harold Hecuba (do not forget, stay out of debt!), Boris Balinkoff, Secret Agent 014, the Jekyll and Hyde episode (Fresh fish!), Lord Admiral Gilligan fighting off pirates and tossing swords (Ho! Ho! Ohhhh.), the bowling ball, Scorpio 6 and SOL instead of SOS, the Kupaki (the foundation of my nickname to some at Carleton), Mary Ann believing she was Ginger (boop-boop-bee-doo!), Meanwhile on another island, and Gilligan as the White Goddess in high heels.
Memories that will last forever. Thank you, Bob. I hope you are home at last on that eternal tropical island.
1 Comments:
At Sat Oct 08, 05:09:00 AM, joe said…
the real man
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