Saturday 9

Welcome to Saturday 9. What we've committed to our readers is that we will post 9 questions every Saturday. Sometimes the post will have a theme, and at other times the questions will be totally unrelated. Those weeks we do "random questions," so-to-speak. We encourage you to visit other participants posts and leave a comment. Because we don't have any rules, it is your choice. We hate rules. We love memes, however, and here is today's meme! 

Saturday 9: Ballad of Gilligan's Island (1964)

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

1) This is about the fateful cruise of the S.S. Minnow. If you had a boat, what would christen it?
Fat Chance

2)  "No phone! No lights! No motorcar! Not a single luxury!" To Sam, those sound more like everyday essentials than luxuries. If you were shipwrecked with the gang, what standard amenity would you miss the most?
A flush toilet
 
3) The uncharted isle was in the Pacific, near Hawaii. Have you ever been to our 50th state?
Yes.  Several times.  I went with my mother and grandmother after I graduated from high school.  I had inherited a little money and was planning to go into the convent, so we decided to spend it all on a wonderful trip.  It was apparently so wonderful, I never went into the convent.
Walt and I have gone back twice.  Once to visit my daughter-in-law's parents on the Big Island, and once to visit Char's husband on Oahu.  We also went with some Brasilian friends to their time share on Maui.

4) Natalie Schafer, who played Mrs. Howell, refused to divulge her age. Are you honest about how old you are? Or do you fudge it?
I am 73-1/2 half years old and proud of every one of those years.
 
5) Gilligan's Island featured many dream sequences. (Like the one where Gilligan dozes off and dreams that he's Jack from Jack and the Beanstalk.) Have you had any vivid dreams lately?
I don't remember a lot of dreams, but I have dreamed about an actress from the Lamplighters (Lindi Bauman) twice this week and I don't understand why.  She was not particularly a good friend, she's been dead for many years and it's very odd that she is showing up in my dreams!

6) The pilot was filmed in November, 1963, in Honolulu. The cast and crew were actually onset when they learned of President Kennedy's assassination.* Because on location filming was so expensive, they couldn't afford to take any time off.  Tell us about a time when you had to work, even though your heart and head weren't in it.
I had just started a new job and didn't really know anybody when my friend Gilbert died.  It was the first death in my life that hit me hard, but this was a new job and I had to soldier on.  The others in the office (there were 4 of us) knew of the death, but didn't knew how it was affecting me.  One women went out to lunch one day and brought back a book called "How to Survive the Loss of a Love" which helps you get through any big loss, from something as simple as losing a tooth to a romantic breakup, to deaths of friends and family.  It's a little book -- only 208 pages -- but it became my bible for about a month and I could plot my grief by how far I could get into the book before I started crying.  I have been forever grateful for that act of kindness.

7) During the show's run, Mary Ann (Dawn Wells) was the clear fan favorite, receiving twice as many love letters as Ginger (Tina Louise). Have you ever written a fan letter (or posted a fan tweet or Facebook post)?
As a kid I wrote to few movie stars and I think I got a letter back once (though I could not tell you from whom).  I was thrilled.

8) Sam chose this week's song because it was going through her head, over and over again! Tell us a song that burrows into your head and stays there.
Songs that burrow into my head usually come from a  show I have seen.  I am a theater critic, so I see a lot of shows.  Tonight, for example, we saw Chess and the song "Anthem" has been running through my brain ever since.

9)  Random question: You went to a discount store and got an amazing bargain -- a pair of dress shoes for just $4.99. You go to a formal event and someone compliments you on those great shoes and asks where you got them. Do you tell the truth?
Of course...and brag about what a good deal I got!
_______________

*That's why, in the credits for the black and white seasons, the flags are at half-staff when The Minnow leaves the harbor.