In the credits, Russell Johnson (I) and Dawn Wells (I) were relegated to being simply "The Rest". That changed in the second season when Bob Denver demanded that they be given an equal share in the credits, thus changing the lyrics to "The Professor and Mary Ann." Sherwood Schwartz, who composed both themes, has said it didn't occur to him the Professor and Mary Ann would turn into prominent characters.

It didn't occur to him that they would be prominent characters? I mean they were all stranded on an island with no other civilization. Sherwood Schwartz didn't seem to smart on this one...

http://sharetv.org/shows/gilligans_island/trivia


http://www.moviemarket.com/library/photos/256/256719.jpg

I agree. That was a very weak explanation by Sherwood Schwartz as to why the Professor and Mary Anne were not originally credited. I suspect the real reason was money. As long as Russell Johnson and Dawn Wells weren't credited I believe they were payed less money.

It was some sort of contractual thing. There have been various weak explanations of exactly what the contracts stipulated over the years, but I don't know which ones were actually true.

But that is a super lame excuse from Sherwood. I'd have to argue that they were significantly important to the castaways' survival, not to mention extremely popular with viewers. From Season 1, the Professor was a central force in their rescue attempts and figuring out what was going on re natural events, natives, etc.

I think that was just a cop-out answer so Sherwood wouldn't have to attempt to explain the contract shenanigans. No writer would ever say that about two of their characters.

Does anyone know when Russell Johnson and Dawn Wells were hired or when Sherwood Schwartz decided to name the characters "the Professor" and "Mary Ann"? I was just thinking that since these are two of the three characters changed from the first pilot that maybe he wasn't sure what those two characters would be called when he wrote the song.

Nah, the Professor was always the Professor, even in the original pilot. Interestingly, Ginger wasn't "the movie star" in the pilot either. So the song was written some time after he began reimagining the three characters. Whether or not Mary Ann's character had a name or the recasting had been done when he wrote the song, who knows.

It was a billing thing and a money thing.......believe it or not, there are actually small differences in whether "non-star" cast's names follow the word "featuring" or the lower "with." At the bottom are the ones who don't get mentioned until the closing credits just before the guest roles, which is where the Professor and Mary Ann were in season 1... :eek:

On Bewitched, David White (Larry Tate) was in the closing credits for 5 years....he finally got bumped up to the very end of the opening credits when Elizabeth Montgomery jumped from the highest "star billing" to the extra-special-coveted-you-have-not-only-arrived-but-own-a-piece-of-the-show "above the title billing." ;)

I agree it was a big mistake on Sherwood's part. What might have gone unnoticed in a regular show looked like a glaring snub in a group of highly interdependent people stranded on a small island. I think giving them the same mention as Ginger was absolutely necessary. Kudos to Bob Denver for insisting. :cool:

When they did finally get added to the opening credits though, look what happened-- the four characters that get their names mentioned in the song are Gilligan, the Skipper, the Professor and Mary Ann.
And "The Professor and Mary Ann" is the bit that most people remember.

Gilligan and Maryann are the only ones mentioned by name.

"The Skipper" (Jonas)
"The Millionaire" (Thurston)
"His Wife" (Lovey)
"The Moviestar" (Ginger)
"The Professor" (Roy)

Gilligan and Maryann are the only ones mentioned by name.

"The Skipper" (Jonas)
"The Millionaire" (Thurston)
"His Wife" (Lovey)
"The Moviestar" (Ginger)
"The Professor" (Roy)

True, but The Skipper and the Professor are known as the Skipper and the Professor instead of Jonas and Roy, so going by what they are known as in the show, Gilligan, the Skipper, the Professor and Mary Ann all have their names mentioned in the song, The Howells and Ginger don't.