Another hypothetical question here. I was wondering--you all remember the story of how Bob Denver refused to pose for the TV Guide cover with Tina Louise if Dawn Wells were not included. Let's suppose the TV Guide people, instead, had been going for a cute "Gilligan and Maryann" cover, without Tina Louise, do you think Bob Denver would have refused to do the cover in that case? What do you think?

But I searched "Gilligan Guide" on ebay and there IS one with Gilligan, the Skipper, and Ginger - without MaryAnn.

Is there a link regarding the story that Bob did NOT want to do a cover without Dawn?

In the movie Surviving Gilligan's island,Bob wanted to take the pic with the 2 girls to be fair to both of them.After all there were 2 pretty single girls on the show.But,TV Guide's people took the photo with Tina,Bob and Dawn but,they tricked them by taking Dawn off the pic and kept only Tina & Bob for the cover.That made Bob furious.

But,your question is the reverse situation.Franckly,Tina Louise was a better known actress than Dawn Wells that why this happened.I think that Mr.Denver would have been fair to Miss Louise also.He said that he wanted both of the girls with him on the cover in the movie.So,I will take his word for it.

Strange that they dropped Mary Ann but kept the Skipper. I wonder where Mary Ann was situated.

http://cgi.ebay.com/FRAMED-AUTOGRAPH-copy-TV-GUIDE-GILLIGANS-ISLAND_W0QQitemZ260090725120QQihZ016QQcategoryZ104421QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1638Q2em118Q2el1247

http://timstvshowcase.com/gilligan.html

Scroll down this page, you'll see the 2 TV Guide covers of Gilligan's Island. The one that's just Tina/Bob is the one in question.

For those of you who never heard this story before, I have Russell Johnson's book, "Here on Gilligan's Isle" -- which is where I heard of it. Here's the story (from Russell's mouth):

There have been rumors over the years that have described Bob Denver as a monster for refusing to pose for publicity pictures with a temperamental Tina Louise. It's true that Tina got quite a bit of press because of her natural beauty, which unquestionably sells in print media. But that rumor has been stretched a bit over time. Here is what actually happened:

TV Guide wanted to photograph Bob and Tina, possibly attempting to add some romantic undertone to the show--which was the furthest idea from the show's premise. Bob refused to model for the photographer unless Dawn Wells was included in the shot. "After all, I was working with both girls every day and I wanted it to be fair," Bob explains.

The editors at TV Guide agreed to Bob's request, except when they shot the photos, they mysteriously instructed Dawn to remove all of her makeup, she says. Dawn did it because that's what the photographer wanted, but she thought it was strange at the time. When the cover appeared on the stands a few weeks later, Dawn had been completely cropped out of the photo--except for a small portion of one pigtail that you can see at the edge of the magazine's stapled spine.

"Needless to say, TV Guide is not my favorite magazine," Bob says. (pgs. 102-103)

Interesting. In the pic, Gilligan seems to be looking past Ginger, not at her. So maybe Mary Ann was to the right of Ginger, and Gilligan was looking at Mary Ann. But this would not put Mary Ann near the "stapled spine" - which is to the left. I do not see a bit of pigtail, either.

No,if I'm not mistaking Mary Ann was standing indeed on the left side where the stapled spine is actually.It depends of the pic probably on the larger one,we can see a black dot,that's a piece of MA's pig tail.

"they mysteriously instructed Dawn to remove all of her makeup, she says."

That's one thing I have never understood. Why would it matter if Dawn had her makeup on if they were going to remove her photo anyway? That was never really explained in either Russell's or Bob's books.

Any fledgling or professional photographers have an answer for that one?

If Mary Ann was on the left, then the pic would have been a strange one, with Gilligan looking towards Ginger, and ignoring Mary Ann.

I think that asking Dawn to take off her make up was just a distraction so nobody would notice that the photographer was changing the camera's angle.

They take alot of photos to have more choises to put on the magazine,I bet they choose this one because it was probably the only pic where Bob seem to look at Tina.So,it would look like it was only the 2 of them on the photo like they wanted on the first place.

That sounds like a good answer here re: the pose. I have trouble, though, picturing him refusing to do the pose with just Maryann and Ginger out of it instead.

Im: I am inclined to agree with you... I think just because it is well documented that Bob didn't like Tina. It makes it hard to imagine that if he and Dawn were asked to do the cover alone, that he would have "fought" to have Tina do the cover with them. Of course we will never really know...

Regarding them asking Dawn to remove her makeup, here's my idea: I think it was the photographer's idea to just have Bob/Tina, and to cast some sort of "romantic" innuendo over the show. However I am sure the photographer was just responsible for capturing the images and someone else might have been responsible for choosing the cover shot and doing the cropping, etc. Since the photographer wanted a Bob/Tina cover, he might have asked Dawn to remove her makeup so she'd appear washed out or not looking her best, and they'd HAVE to crop her out... maybe this was a TACTIC to FORCE them into a Bob/Tina cover!!

Im: I am inclined to agree with you... I think just because it is well documented that Bob didn't like Tina. It makes it hard to imagine that if he and Dawn were asked to do the cover alone, that he would have "fought" to have Tina do the cover with them. Of course we will never really know...
Yeah, somehow I have trouble believing that Bob would take drastic measures to include Tina. But it's nice to believe that he would be honest to his word. However, nothing against Ginger, but being a Mager I'd prefer a Gilligan and MaryAnn cover to Gilligan and Ginger. Especially if they were trying to promote some love interest!

Since the photographer wanted a Bob/Tina cover, he might have asked Dawn to remove her makeup so she'd appear washed out or not looking her best, and they'd HAVE to crop her out... maybe this was a TACTIC to FORCE them into a Bob/Tina cover!!
:lol: That's a pretty interesting idea. But so mean... I always questioned that too, what would the makeup have to do with anything? Alas, another unanswered question of Gilligan's Island... ;)

I found this picture awhile back somewhere, and I've always wondered if it was any relation to the situation in question. I think it's kind of funny and cute. :)

Yes, this is the first time anything about the makeup removal made any sense! Good idea.

Yes, again--was that picture posted with the 3 of them here part of the TV Guide thing? Ginger's wearing the same fur--it probably was!

More on this. I never saw the big deal if the cover had just had Gilligan and Ginger. Gilligan, of course, was the star. Ginger was the signature female of Gilligan's island. Especially back then, I would think that if one said "Gilligan's Island" Ginger would more easily come to mind as a GI character. She certainly has a bigger part in the show than Maryann (even though, I know, so many people love Maryann now) and, I believe, she probably has more scenes with Gilligan than does Maryann. Her appearance/outfits are easily recognizable as signature rather than ordinary clothes and their contrast with Gilligan's appearance give a little sampling of the "different characters" of GI. Gilligan and Ginger together also reference one of the staple, comic gags of the show, Ginger's seductive manipulations of Gilligan. And Gilligan does have a little reaction to her, at times. Anyone who knew the show knew the extent of this aspect of love/sex as it related to Gilligan and Ginger--it was more funny than "romantic." Also, re: the quote from the book about the romantic undertones--the triad of Gilligan, Ginger and Maryann could also have some "romantic" connotations (although more risquè), if people were going to get that idea. Nope, I still see no big reason for the nixing of a Gilligan/Ginger cover (and I'm an MAG person!). Even Thirston yelling at Gilligan could've worked (Jim Backus was another major star on the show) or the Skipper hitting Gilligan with his hat. So what?? G, M and GN is OK too (Gilligan and the 2 pretty girls) if they were going for 3, but when you think about it, this is more "romantically" tinged (not talking relationships here) than just G and GN. This is a great discussion!

Another point--okay, then I'll shut up. When I was talking about Bob Denver's hypothetical refusal to do the cover without Tina Louise as being hard to imagine--do you think that's so much an anti-Tina thing or a pro-Dawn thing (possibly agreeing to do it with just Dawn Wells--I can't see him saying no).

^nooooo!!! Don't shut up Im, this is great!! lol.

I'm going to say it's anti-Tina just because once again, the Tina-Bob fueding was well covered in all the books (especially Bob's) and such. Also, from what I've heard/read, the cast was very adament that there was no romance between any of the actors.

I don't know anything about that picture I posted, can't even remember where I found it. Sorry.

I like your ideas, Im, for other cover ideas. Personally, I would have put Gilligan with the Skipper because they were the Larell and Hardy of the gang; the true comedy of the show.

I just thought of something amusing. The second cover (Gilligan, Ginger, and Skipper in the Lagoon) is very ironic, since Ginger can't swim! lol.

Yes,they said that there were no romance between the actors of the show but,they never said anything about crushes.I read Bob's book and the way he describes Dawn,her qualities,her actors's performance,her beauty and he keeps going on and on.Sorry but,those are the comments of a guy with a big crush.

So,we defenetly bet that if the reverse situation have hapenned,Bob wouldn't even say anything at all.

Yes. At the least, they were purported to have been very close. Even "Surviving Gilligan's Island" brings this across. Of course, I wasn't there, I don't know them and it's not for me to say at all. They seemed to have a very close relationship (a la Gilligan and Maryann) from what we're told/shown even. I have heard people report comments of their being more but I never was able to read/hear the sources myself. Celine brings up a great point regarding "interest," I was just adding that they were actually, supposedly "close friends."
So, in this case (Celine's suggestion), it would be a case of a "crush" (too young a word for people at least near thirty at the time) with a close friend, not a stranger from afar. There is a comment on the board (years ago) from "Ficlopri" about them and I also heard a comment years ago from someone close to me who had heard about them receiving an award on the radio news and he had said he heard that they were "romantically involved."
I know the fans tend to take the cast's words as gospel but, again, as I've said, I do not know these actors and cannot say what they did/felt for sure.
But I don't think Bob Denver would have protested any cover with Dawn Wells in it, regardless of whoever else was left out of it. But I can't speak for him; this is only my guess.

I said that comment by the way that I understood it from Bob's book.I really think that Bob had feelings for Dawn but,she probably wanted to be only friend.Sometimes,women are effraid to start a romance because they don't want to loose the specially bound that they are sharing with a great guy.I'm pretty sure that they thought about it carefully and they decided to stay in a platonic relationship=friendship.Who knows may be it wouldn't work and they would get divorced...Their relationship would never been the same after that.Neither of them would want to risk it.