Thursday, September 08, 2005
Long Live the Little Buddy!
Around my house we like to laugh a lot. Sometimes--when I've said or done something dopey--Miranda puts on a blue polo, take a little cap with a ship's wheel on it, and hits me over the head. This amuses the boys to no end.
Right now Meshach and Abednego are into Baby Einstein (particularly Noah) and Shadrach is a big fan of the Disney heroines ("Daddy, talk in Ariel's voice.") But in a few years--and if we ever get cable--I'm sure they would love the magnum opus of Mr. Bob Denver. Could there be more innocent fun than The Three Hour Tour Gone Bad?
Sample dialogue (paraphrased from an NPR piece I heard):
The Skipper (incredulously): Gilligan, what could you know about space?
Gilligan: I don't know much, but I do know one thing.
The Skipper: What's that?
Gilligan: You take up more of it than I do.
Sure we all know B.D. in his solid red rugby and bucket hat. But do we remember his star turn as TV's first Beatnik: "Maynard G. Krebs" in The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis?
Or as "Junior" in Far Out Space Nuts, another Syd and Marty Krofft classic?
To say that this man was a comedic visionary might be going too far; he was no Peter Sellers or Steve Martin (was there EVER a funnier role than "Ruprecht"?), but he created an icon in American entertainment and that's no small feat. Evidently he earned no residuals from the syndication of Gilligan's Island. None. But when asked if this angered him, he said, "Whenever people come up to me they have a smile on their faces. They talk about all the wonderful childhood memories they have of the show. They thank me. How could you ever be bitter about that?"
Rest in peace, Bob. Thanks for making us laugh.
