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Global Telly Talk
Classic US TV
Gilligan's Island
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<blockquote data-quote="ClassyCo" data-source="post: 281378" data-attributes="member: 7"><p style="text-align: justify">As a behind-the-scenes enthusiast, I enjoy hearing about GILLIGAN'S ISLAND and its production history. One of the most interesting aspects about the pre-production phase is that real-life movie star Jayne Mansfield had been approached to play fictional movie star Ginger Grant. (There's also a theory out there suggesting that the name "Ginger Grant" was a combination of Ginger Rogers and Cary Grant, but I cannot find anything to validate it.) </p> <p style="text-align: justify"></p> <p style="text-align: justify">From the information I've been able to gather, it seems as if Sherwood Schwartz always wanted a "beautiful redhead" to play Ginger. He wanted a woman both attractive and witty. He originally cast Kit Smythe in the role, but she lacked the sexiness that CBS wanted to exploit. Tina Louise was eventually hired when the network demanded a recast. </p> <p style="text-align: justify"></p> <p style="text-align: justify">This leads me to the assumption that it was CBS that wanted Jayne Mansfield and not Sherwood himself. Mansfield being a blonde would've went against Sherwood's long-held testament of wanting a redhead as Ginger. I theorize that CBS wanted Mansfield because she was a "name" to promote in advertisements. She was a real-life movie star after all. I've never heard Sherwood mentioned Jayne in any of the interviews I've seen, but I've heard Bob Denver mention a time or two that Jayne had been initially slated to appear as Ginger. </p> <p style="text-align: justify"></p> <p style="text-align: justify">Whatever the circumstances were, Jayne apparently turned the offer to play Ginger down flat. She had very strict guidelines to her career: as a "movie star", she wouldn't commit to a TV series. She felt it was somehow beneath her, despite the endless parade of TV guest spots she was doing and the low-grade exploitation movies she was relegated to making abroad. Jayne's career was definitely on the rocks in late 1963, when the offer was likely presented, and she could've used a would-be popular show like GILLIGAN'S ISLAND on her resume. Had she done the show, who knows what would've become of her career. The show could've kept her off the roads traveling in road-side shows and maybe kept us with us longer. </p> <p style="text-align: justify"></p> <p style="text-align: center">[ATTACH=full]28548[/ATTACH]</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="ClassyCo, post: 281378, member: 7"] [JUSTIFY]As a behind-the-scenes enthusiast, I enjoy hearing about GILLIGAN'S ISLAND and its production history. One of the most interesting aspects about the pre-production phase is that real-life movie star Jayne Mansfield had been approached to play fictional movie star Ginger Grant. (There's also a theory out there suggesting that the name "Ginger Grant" was a combination of Ginger Rogers and Cary Grant, but I cannot find anything to validate it.) From the information I've been able to gather, it seems as if Sherwood Schwartz always wanted a "beautiful redhead" to play Ginger. He wanted a woman both attractive and witty. He originally cast Kit Smythe in the role, but she lacked the sexiness that CBS wanted to exploit. Tina Louise was eventually hired when the network demanded a recast. This leads me to the assumption that it was CBS that wanted Jayne Mansfield and not Sherwood himself. Mansfield being a blonde would've went against Sherwood's long-held testament of wanting a redhead as Ginger. I theorize that CBS wanted Mansfield because she was a "name" to promote in advertisements. She was a real-life movie star after all. I've never heard Sherwood mentioned Jayne in any of the interviews I've seen, but I've heard Bob Denver mention a time or two that Jayne had been initially slated to appear as Ginger. Whatever the circumstances were, Jayne apparently turned the offer to play Ginger down flat. She had very strict guidelines to her career: as a "movie star", she wouldn't commit to a TV series. She felt it was somehow beneath her, despite the endless parade of TV guest spots she was doing and the low-grade exploitation movies she was relegated to making abroad. Jayne's career was definitely on the rocks in late 1963, when the offer was likely presented, and she could've used a would-be popular show like GILLIGAN'S ISLAND on her resume. Had she done the show, who knows what would've become of her career. The show could've kept her off the roads traveling in road-side shows and maybe kept us with us longer. [/JUSTIFY] [CENTER][ATTACH type="full" width="380px"]28548[/ATTACH][/CENTER] [/QUOTE]
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Global Telly Talk
Classic US TV
Gilligan's Island
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