Little Buddy

Whether as Maynard G. Krebs or as Gilligan, Bob Denver was a huge icon. Just in those two shows alone, his image is so huge that I can't really think of any other television shows or movies in which he starred. Maybe there were none? I watched Gilligan's Island every afternoon when I got home from school. You would think the magic would have worn off, but until a couple of years ago, when TVLAND decided to go West at noontime, I spent my lunches in the tropics with the crew and passengers of the SS Minnow. Now at lunch, it's peanut butter & jelly(coincidentally the same after school snack I had when I sat down to watch Gilligan re-runs in the afternoons years ago,....when we only had three channels!) and back to back Gunsmoke and Bonanza. No comparison. I guess all that remains of the cast now is the professor(who never had a real name?), Mary Ann and Ginger. The Skipper, Mr. and Mrs. Howell and now Gilligan have taken that final three hour tour to that big tropical island in the sky. Bob Denver was his real name, but he will always be Gilligan to us(more so than the "black and white" era Maynard). And he was only 70. I wonder if eating those radioactive vegetables in that one episode might have had an adverse effect on his health?