Odd NO ONE Ever swam or spent time at the Beach (?)

[CosmicCharlie]

Just Mary Ann Swimming to get in shape for the beauty contest, where she lost her suit !

I guess they never thought "HEY - Let's have a day at the beach !"

No Beach Chairs ?

No Beach Pic a Nic Table ?

Do the guys even have swim suits ?

[MichaelKeith]

I guess they somehow forgot to pack beach supplies on the Minnow when they sailed. Because they sure seemed to pack everything else they would need!

[cloggedmind]

IF we presume the huts were in a central location where the lagoon and one side of the beach were visible ('twas a small island.. sometimes! LOL), The Howells were certainly spotted numerous times reclining in their ad hoc, bamboo barcalounger/chaise longue set, often being served, presumably, "fermented" fruit punch by Gilligan. I think that counts as a day at the beach.

Also, it is known that the island did, indeed, have a fresh water source in the form of an underground spring from which their drinking/washing water came from. It would be wise, then, not to spend too much time in the salt water which can severely dry skin in a tropical climate, if there is enough fresh water to stay sanitary.

And, staying out of the sun would be a priority to stay hydrated in the hot, humid climate, as Gilligan pointed out once in "Up At Bat", I think, that the temperature in the hut at night was somewhere around 96 degrees (Farenheit). Youch!

Gilligan fished at the beach, which we rarely saw, lobstered in the lagoon, and there was a mention or two of swimming down the beach, but we never saw it. Had there been a fourth season with location shooting in Hawaii as planned, I'm sure we'd have seen more beach and real scenery.

Besides, just seeing the ocean everyday that separated them from civilization probably just got old real quick, if you know what I mean.

[Babalu]

I believe that they had to flood the set to shoot a full lagoon scene so it was time consuming and expensive. Once the first few shows were done and the Minnow fell apart there wasn't much reason to show the entire lagoon, just the shore. They may have even shot lagoon scenes for multiple episodes at a time.

[cloggedmind]

Not so much expensive, as a nuisance. Shooting schedules could lead to cold water situations, lighting and camera placement issues to hide the sound stages and other structures, as well as traffic noise from the nearby freeway (many outdoor scenes had dialogue replaced due to extraneous noise present in the production audio).

The lagoon became a permanent fixture as of 1964, less than a few hundred feet from the main sound stage where the bulk of the show took place. The "S" shaped body of water was sculpted, constructed, dressed, black-topped (tarred) and, soon after, re-worked and re-sealed during the first season, as the original construction leaked too much.

Second season-ish, Bob Denver and Alan Hale insisted the 4-foot-deep lagoon be re-filled with clean water before they would set foot in it, claiming that it was dirty, stagnant and unsafe. Lore has it that Hale and Denver put a live fish in a sample of dirty lagoon water that killed the poor thing, proving that the water quality was really that bad!

Adding to the nuisance factor was that, during downtime for Gilligan, other shows would take advantage of the lagoon, re-dressing the edges to make it less "tropical" which created more work to make it more Gilligan-ish when the show needed it.

Keep in mind that the Gunsmoke production also had semi-permanent, reusable structures like farmhouses and barns just off both ends of the lagoon that had to be covered or shot around (you get a glimpse of one of the farmhouses through the trees during the opening of "Will the Real Mr. Howell Please Stand Up?". That particular farmhouse and barn was featured prominently in Gunsmoke, often painted different colors and sometimes set on fire! There was also part of a production office in one of the structures with usable "facilities" and, somewhere, there is a photo of Hale, Denver and Backus relaxing on the porch of one of those houses (from the first reunion movie, I believe). Gunsmoke's production team also made use of the waterfall and main lagoon entry point as lush, green background scenery at every opportunity during the color episodes-- usually the ones with Festus.

There's one episode of Gunsmoke where two characters fight each other in the farthest end of the lagoon, the one where the mine drifted to and blew up.. and the area where Gilligan was chilling out when Kincaid's helicopter flew down to land. Neat to see that side and the little storage house structure that stood there.

Fun stuff! I think the lagoon's last official appearance was an episode of The Larry Sanders Show, before the "mill house" set (from a movie of which I forget the title!), that stretched into the middle of the lagoon on stilts, got torn down and it was drained for good. Demolished in 1995-96 and is now a multi-story parking garage. Way to go, progress!

[PracTz]

Yeah, I get that going back to Hawii would have been expensive but how tough would it have been for them to have shot a few surf scenes here and there in Malibu or Venice Beach and edited them in every so often?

[cloggedmind]

Originally Posted by PracTz

Yeah, I get that going back to Hawii would have been expensive but how tough would it have been for them to have shot a few surf scenes here and there in Malibu or Venice Beach and edited them in every so often?

Agree. Even The Monkees went down to the beach on occasion for some random silliness!

[TheLittleFaerie]

Originally Posted by CosmicCharlie

Just Mary Ann Swimming to get in shape for the beauty contest, where she lost her suit !

I guess they never thought "HEY - Let's have a day at the beach !"

No Beach Chairs ?

No Beach Pic a Nic Table ?

Do the guys even have swim suits ?

We, THE AUDIENCE, are only seeing a small portion of their lives... I'm sure they probably did do that, just when we the audience weren't there watching

[Will Dockery]

Originally Posted by cloggedmind

Not so much expensive, as a nuisance. Shooting schedules could lead to cold water situations, lighting and camera placement issues to hide the sound stages and other structures, as well as traffic noise from the nearby freeway (many outdoor scenes had dialogue replaced due to extraneous noise present in the production audio).

The lagoon became a permanent fixture as of 1964, less than a few hundred feet from the main sound stage where the bulk of the show took place. The "S" shaped body of water was sculpted, constructed, dressed, black-topped (tarred) and, soon after, re-worked and re-sealed during the first season, as the original construction leaked too much.

Second season-ish, Bob Denver and Alan Hale insisted the 4-foot-deep lagoon be re-filled with clean water before they would set foot in it, claiming that it was dirty, stagnant and unsafe. Lore has it that Hale and Denver put a live fish in a sample of dirty lagoon water that killed the poor thing, proving that the water quality was really that bad!

Adding to the nuisance factor was that, during downtime for Gilligan, other shows would take advantage of the lagoon, re-dressing the edges to make it less "tropical" which created more work to make it more Gilligan-ish when the show needed it.

Keep in mind that the Gunsmoke production also had semi-permanent, reusable structures like farmhouses and barns just off both ends of the lagoon that had to be covered or shot around (you get a glimpse of one of the farmhouses through the trees during the opening of "Will the Real Mr. Howell Please Stand Up?". That particular farmhouse and barn was featured prominently in Gunsmoke, often painted different colors and sometimes set on fire! There was also part of a production office in one of the structures with usable "facilities" and, somewhere, there is a photo of Hale, Denver and Backus relaxing on the porch of one of those houses (from the first reunion movie, I believe). Gunsmoke's production team also made use of the waterfall and main lagoon entry point as lush, green background scenery at every opportunity during the color episodes-- usually the ones with Festus.

There's one episode of Gunsmoke where two characters fight each other in the farthest end of the lagoon, the one where the mine drifted to and blew up.. and the area where Gilligan was chilling out when Kincaid's helicopter flew down to land. Neat to see that side and the little storage house structure that stood there.

Fun stuff! I think the lagoon's last official appearance was an episode of The Larry Sanders Show, before the "mill house" set (from a movie of which I forget the title!), that stretched into the middle of the lagoon on stilts, got torn down and it was drained for good. Demolished in 1995-96 and is now a multi-story parking garage. Way to go, progress!

I'm surprised to see that the lagoon set survived so long.