The Pilot for Gilligans Island "Marooned", was filmed in November 1963 however.It never aired till over 29 years later on TBS
The pilot featured seven characters (as in the series), but only four of the characters—and their associated actors—were carried forward into the series: Gilligan, the Skipper and the Howells.
The three characters who did not carry forward from the pilot were two secretaries and a high school teacher. In the pilot, the scientifically inclined Professor was instead a high school teacher. Ginger the movie star was still red-haired Ginger, but worked as a secretary, and was more sarcastic than the later incarnation. Mary Ann the Kansas farm girl was instead Bunny, Ginger's co-worker,
The show's original pilot episode featured a Calypso theme song. The lyrics were quite different from those of the TV series and the pilot's opening theme.The short scenes during this initial music include Gilligan taking the Howells' luggage to the boat before cast-off and Gilligan attempting to give a cup of coffee to the Skipper during the storm that would ultimately maroon the boat.
After the opening theme song and credits end, the pilot proper begins with the seven castaways waking up on the beached SS Minnow and continues with them performing various tasks, including exploring the island, attempting to fix the transmitter, building huts, and finding food. The original length of the voyage was "a six-hour ride".
The United States Coast Guard occasionally received telegrams from concerned citizens, who apparently did not realize it was a scripted show, pleading for them to rescue the people on the deserted island. The Coast Guard simply forwarded these telegrams to producer Sherwood Schwartz/
The final day of filming the pilot was Friday, November 22, 1963, the day of the assassination of President John F, Kennedy. The cast and crew found out about the assassination late that morning, Hawaii time. Between the filming of scenes, they crowded around a radio, listening to news bulletins. A reminder of the tragedy appears in the opening sequence of the show's first season, when the theme song is played. As the Minnow is leaving the harbor and heading out to sea, an American flag flying at half staff can be seen briefly in the background.
The Minnow was named in reference to Newton Minow chairman of the U.S. FCC, in response to Minow's landmark 1961 speech, Television and Public interest. the speech lambasted television producers for producing, among other things, "formula comedies about totally unbelievable" characters (not unlike Gilligan's Island) and creating a "vast wasteland" of bad television.
Skippers name (Jonas Grumby) and the Professors name (Roy Hinkley) or was it "Brinkley
Congradulations to nfr5013 for First to find, and Quinnpa for Second to find.
The cache is one of six placed at the Southern New Hampshire Arboretum. Should be a quick find. Stay on the trail.