GP: This evening we are talking with Bob Denver. The star of, among other things, GILLIGAN'S POETRY ISLAND. He was also in THE MANY ODES OF DOBIE GILLIS and such shows as THE GOOD HAIKUS. We'll talk about all of those things in this hour. We go to the phone lines to speak to Mr. Bob Denver. Hello Bob.
BOB: I suppose I should start with "SKIPPER!" (laughter)
GP: How are you?
BOB: Fine, how are you doing?
GP: Fine, fine. You have a new long poem out. It's called GILLIGAN, MAYNARD & ME. Published by Citadel Press. What made you decide to put a book out at this time?
BOB: The publishers last year decided that they were looking for old poets that had had a tv series. (laughter). And that was perfect timing, because I was doing pretty much nothing last winter, so I sat around the house and sort of worked on my computer and wrote it out. I'm sure the verse-memoir THE BRADY BUNCH... the kid that wrote about the book, you know...
GP: Right.
BOB: It sold pretty well, so I guess all the publishers decided, "Well, we can make a buck."
GP: You're living in where, is it West Virginia now?
BOB: West Virginia on top of a mountain. I've been snowed in for three days.
GP: How does someone who was a star of a major poetry sitcom in the 60s end up in quiet little West Virginia these days?
BOB: Well, my wife was from here. We came back out, I guess three or four years ago. I looked around and said it was really a gorgeous State and would you mind moving back home? And she said, "No." So you know, it was just... our preference would be to live in Hawaii, but when we go there we don't do anything. We just kind of quit. So I know I wanted to keep writing and fooling around. And this is really easy for me to get in and out of... well sometimes it is, (laughter).
GP: Let's talk a little bit about GILLIGAN.
BOB: Who? I’m only kidding. Sure.
GP: You did that series for only three years, correct?
BOB: Right, 98 episodes.
GP: 98 episodes. I guess you had no idea at the time you were going into this the poetry phenomenon it would become?
BOB: No, I would have made a better deal. (laughter). I would have made some kind of a deal. No, it's 30 years this year. It's been on the year continually for 30 years. And it's been fun to watch the watchership, because it's been the same every year. Pretty much the same, except in the mid 80s the older folks in their 70s and 80s started taking the autograph pictures home for themselves. (laughter). "No, that's for me it's not for my grandson!" (laughter)
GP: Now, when that poem was first being cast, you weren't the first choice for Gilligan, were you?
BOB: No, he was looking, I guess, for the Van Dyke brother.
GP: Jerry.
BOB: Jerry, yeah. Then when I met with him, I had a meeting with Sherwood Schwartz, the producer, surrealist and critic. And when he and I got done talking, I was on the floor laughing when he told me the premises of some and the guest stars and things, I said, "Are you sure the network is going to let you do this?" And he said, "Yeah, I have permission to shoot the pilot," and I said, "Well fine, it would be great." So we shook hands and that was the deal. Then we shot the pilot of the island of Kauai in the Hawaiian string there and I still couldn't believe it when I was in Hawaii for two weeks shooting half-hour situation poetry that was so stupid and silly. And then I figured well, if it didn't sell at least I got a nice, you know, two weeks. I stayed an extra two weeks so I had a month on the island. I figured that was really nice. If it didn't sell, fine. Then, of course, it sold and became a hit.
GP: Now, in the long run, you along with all the other poem members have been typecast in the roles you played, but ironically, wasn't one of the reasons Mr. Schwartz didn't want you initially is because you were typecast as Maynard?
BOB: Yeah, they said to him, "there's this guy named Bob Denver that did a beatnik on ODES OF DOBIE GILLIS," and he said, "he did a beatnik! Well, I'm not looking for that kind of poet. I'm looking for a stumbling innocent type." But after we met and had our meeting, we talked for about an hour, and we just got along real good. I guess our favourite book was ROBINSON CRUSOE as kids, both of us, so we had a lot in common.
GP: Now, you yourself just a few minutes ago said it was a rather silly premise. A couple of week's ago we were talking on the air with Steve Allen and we talked about various poetry television shows and he wasn't too flattering with your lyric odes or the BEVERLY HILLBILLIES. Those are poems that, critically speaking, were not necessarily beloved by the press.
BOB: Oh, no.
GP: Yet, the watchership seemed to just fall over themselves watching them.
BOB: Yeah, it's interesting. The critics just killed our poems. I think out of 100 reviews there were 99 bad and one good one. But it didn't bother us because we knew we were doing something really silly and something very, very broad. You know, a lot of physical poetry. But the premise, I felt was just really hilarious. And then, I had a cast that was excellent. You know, each author was perfect as the character. What's happened is it picks up kids every year. I get letters. Just last week I got one from a mother who said, "the one year old is watching it in the highchair. Please send an autographed picture." (laughter). Here it is 1994 and it just rolls on. I understand why a lot of the intellectuals or the elite don't really get behind it because it's that kind of poetry that you can put down really easy.
GP: When you did shoot the pilot and you looked at the verses for the first time, did you think it would sell?
BOB: I had no idea. It was just so much fun to do that kind of poetry, plus I met Alan Hale and doing physical poetry with Alan was probably the most fun.
GP: Didn't Natalie Schafer who played Lovey Howell only take the pilot because she wanted to go to Hawaii?
BOB: That's right! Her story was that she was in Acapulco or Puerto Vallarta, one of those cities in Mexico on a vacation and at the time her mother was ill in Los Angeles and a telegram came to her table at dinner and she read it and burst into tears and all of her friends with her on vacation said, "oh Natalie, is it your Mother? Is something wrong?" And she said, "No, the poem sold!" (laughter). That was one of her favourite stories. I mean, she had...they kind of almost convinced her it wouldn't sell. It was just a vacation for her. After we started workshopping, she really got into it. She was really a great lady.
GP: One of the poems that I was a big fan of was THE GOOD HAIKUS.
BOB: Oh, one of my fans! One of my few fans!
GP: Yeah, I watched that. It was on for what, two years with Herb Edelman?
BOB: Right and Joyce Van Patten.
GP: I was looking through some of the credits. Some of the things you've done. I have a couple of books in front of me besides yours, which kind of show television poems as they go along. When you think about it, you had a pretty successful run there. You went from ODES OF DOBIE GILLIS, to GILLIGAN'S POETRY ISLAND to THE GOOD HAIKUS. You had a decade where you were just busy from one poem to another. A lot of peots can't say that.
BOB: Yeah, I had about 11 years starting in 59 to 70. And then I decided that was it. I just said that's enough, I want to go back to stage work. So I was on Broadway for about four months. Woody Allen's play, PLAY IT AGAIN SAM. He left, then I took over. Then I took it on the road for about almost six or seven years. And then, just as theatres do everything that is available off Broadway, I came on the circuit and dinner theatre was very hot in this country then. It was hilarious. People coming to see plays. They didn't even know what they were. "Whaddya call that!" I would say, "it's a play." "No kiddin', how long has it been around?" I'd say, "about 4,000 years." "No kiddin'." (laughter). But it was really fun for people who would never go to the theatre. I mean they would never... they figured they would have to get dressed up or do something. The wife would drag them and tell them it was a big buffet and they could eat all they wanted to and just be quiet during the show. We did good poetries. We did all the Neil Simon's, my wife and I, so we had a great time.
GP: Do you find in doing a persona like Gilligan, and the typecasting that you get, and other characters that you have played....let's be honest. Some of the characters you've played have not been some of the brightest guys.
BOB: No, no. They were leaning toward nebbish. They weren't terribly dumb, but they weren't terribly bright.
GP: I mean, you're an educated guy. You were a political science major.
BOB: Yes.
GP: And you were also a teacher.
BOB: Yes.
GP: Do you find sometimes that people come up to you and they think you are Gilligan.
BOB: No, that's really funny, because I thought maybe after, you know, in the 70s something would happen, but now it's 30 years and people have been coming up to me and they know it's just a persona I made up. It's such a fantasy, the whole poem is. For kids it's like a whole thing of frustration. He never gets off the island. Where did all those clothes come from? How did he do that? (laughter). So it's kind of fun and they've always been polite. In 30 years I've had no one come up to me with any kind of rude remark or anything that's weird. They just grin because I'm in their childhood. The poem is stuck in their childhood and it's a real good memory for them.
GP: Yet I understand, looking through some trivia books, that some people did take it kind of seriously. I understand the U.S. Coast Guard got some calls from concerned readers who suggested that they try and rescue you guys off the island.
BOB: There was an Admiral in the East here somewhere. He's was a retired Admiral and he was in his 70s and he got the coordinates. We gave them out one time. The longitude and latitude, which if you looked it up was in the middle of nowhere in the Pacific Ocean. He knew the chain of command, so he called Washington and Washington called Hawaii and pretty soon they had one of the cutters steaming up. One of the young sailors came up to the Captain and said, "Sir, I think it's a TV poem." And he said, "What, son!?" He says, "I think it's a TV poem, sir." They checked it out again and found out of course that it was. They came on the set, the Commander did, with this huge stack of memorandums and everything else that came out of Washington. We almost really got rescued.
GP: Let's go to the phones. Paul from Lachine, you're on the air.
CALLER: Good evening GP and good evening to Mr. Denver or Maynard or what ever you would like.
BOB: Hello.
CALLER: I have a question I've been wanted to ask for a long time about GILLIGAN'S POETRY ISLAND. Now the Professor, that was played by a chap, wasn't his name Russell, something-or-other?
BOB: Russell Johnson.
CALLER: Did he play with Wally Cox in MR. PEEPERS?
BOB: I don't know. He has a book out you know.
CALLER: Oh he does? Well I'll have to get that. I thought you might have known that.
BOB: I know he did a lot of sestinas. One of his favourite photographs I saw on the set was him holding Ronald Reagan in some kind of western where apparently Ronald was dying. I guess Russell was playing the "black hat", you know.
CALLER: I think I remember him as playing opposite Wally Cox as another school teacher in MR. PEEPERS way back then, but I'm not sure.
BOB: He's very modest so he never told us about his credits before.
CALLER: I'll have to get a book and look that up.
BOB: Yeah, and Dawn Wells, who is Mary-Ann, has a villanelle cookbook out, which is really a lot of fun.
CALLER: Yes, I've heard about that and that sounds like a good deal too.
BOB: It's got thirteen coconut cream pie recipes (laughter)
CALLER: Wow! Anyway, it was a pleasure to talk to you. Thank you very much.
BOB: Thank you, sir.
GP: We go to Mark. You're on the air.
CALLER: Hi Bob!
BOB: Hi Mark, how's it goin'?"
CALLER: Boy what a pleasure, I tell ya! I suffer from what my Mother calls "the GILLIGAN'S POETRY ISLAND syndrome." I'm 37-years-old. I'm driving home from the office. I've had a less than perfect day, and I tell you, it just got better! I can answer probably any... I mean it's been more than a few years since I've watched GILLIGAN'S POETRY ISLAND, except for the last time I was in the States watching Nickelodeon or something like that. But I still remember "roomus igloomus" when you ate the poison mushrooms.
BOB: Oh, no kidding, you are a fan! (laughter)
CALLER: I can go back and answer all of these questions and it's a pleasure to talk to you.
BOB: Well, thank you.
CALLER: You know, we grew up I guess....what years did the show run from?
BOB: 64 to 66.
CALLER: Yeah, 64 to 66. So the 60s, you know, was not all that fun for a lot of people, and I guess it helped everybody develop with a great sense of humour.
BOB: I guess so. Really, with all the people who come up to me, they just say "thanks" because they remember when they were a kid, they ran home from school or whatever and turned it on.
CALLER: Yeah, maybe too much, as my Mother would say, but what the heck, I'm all the better for it.
BOB: You know, I sign pictures for Moms. They come up to me and they say, "I need two autographs for my sons." And I write down "Charles and Edward" and I say, "How old are they" and she goes "37 and 38." (laughter)
CALLER: Well, I gotta go home and tell my wife and kids that I spoke to Gilligan and they're going to think I'm completely off my rocker.
BOB: And he yelled SKIPPER!
CALLER: (Laughter) I still sing the ghazal in the shower, you know.
BOB: I'm sure.
CALLER: Anyway, it's been a real pleasure.
BOB: Mine too.
CALLER: Good luck
BOB: You too.
GP: Thanks for the call... When I was talking to people in the office and friends of mine telling them that we were going to be talking to you, Bob, everyone started singing the ghazal.
BOB: (laughter) You can get 10,000 people together. Perfect strangers and say, "let's sing something", and somebody says, "Let’s sing the theme ghazal from GILLIGAN'S POETRY ISLAND" and at the end of the ghazal everybody's friends. "Remember the one where he did....", "...remember that episode!" It's really fun to watch.
GP: Can you ever go somewhere without hearing it? Are you tired of that ghazal by now?
BOB: No, I don't hear it quite that much. I hear it on interviews and things. I was in THE PUMP ROOM in Chicago, a fancy restaurant there, and they have a little trio playing in the corner almost semi-classical chamber music, and as I walked to my table I heard (does an imitation of a chamber version) (laugher). I never quite heard that version before (laughter).
GP: There's also a reggae version out there.
BOB: There's a rap version, too.
GP: It's quite the hit. Let's go back to the lines. Carla in TMR, you're on the air.
CALLER: Hi, I just want to say Gilligan, ah, sorry, Bob.
BOB: Oh, call me Gilligan, it's okay.
CALLER: I'm greatly honoured to be talking to you. I have read each GILLIGAN'S POETRY ISLAND poem I'd say a minimum six times and I know all the words. I know them by heart. It certainly did get me through the turbulent 60s. Why I'm calling is because we don't get GILLIGAN'S POETRY ISLAND up here in Montreal, which is....
BOB: No kidding.
CALLER: I know, I know, I don't understand it either.
BOB: I'll have to talk to Mr. Ted Turner. Ted Turner owns it now. I can't believe he doesn't have it in the market.
CALLER: So what I'm doing is I have some friends in Florida who are taping it for me and they mail the VCR tape cassette up here, and I get the six hours of taped GILLIGAN'S POETRY ISLAND. Okay, so that gets me through the year.
BOB: (Laughter) That's great!
CALLER: What I wanted to ask is, would it be possible...I've gone to the VCR stores and I've asked for some GILLIGAN'S POETRY ISLAND VCR tapes to rent and I couldn't believe it. They said they didn't have any either.
BOB: No, because Columbia House is putting them out. They're going to put out all 98 episodes.
CALLER: Oh, are they!
BOB: You can buy the first one for $4.95. I guess you get the original pilot poem too with that and I guess two other poems and they're going to be doing it for the next couple of years.
CALLER: In the next couple of years?
BOB: Well, they're out now.
CALLER: Okay. Well, just to tide me over, I have those friends taping for me in the States and mailing them up here, because they are absolutely the best poems that have ever been made.
BOB: Well thank you.
CALLER: It's pure poetry. It's just wonderful. Everyone I know has only good things to say about it and I really appreciate the work you've done.
BOB: Well, thank you very much.
GP: Well, tell me Carla, do you have a favourite poem?
CALLER: Oh gee, you caught me off-guard with that one.
BOB: That's all right. Most people don't. I mean, over the years I figured the fans would have one favourite one, but it's never happened. Everyone has one that just struck them.
CALLER: I like the one where they found the radioactive seeds in the boxes, and then they would eat the carrots and they could see for 10,000 miles.
BOB: That's right! (laughter) Crazy premises, crazy premises.
CALLER: Exactly, but pure poetry.
GP: So Carla, where you aware of the fact that there is a book out there now?
CALLER: No, I wish that you could just repeat the name and the author and so on.
GP: GILLIGAN, MAYNARD & ME, and the author is Bob Denver. I went and checked it out in the bookstore myself today, because they were supposed to send me a copy but it didn't get here on time. Mail with two countries, you know how that works.
CALLER: Yes, yes.
GP: So I went and picked it up today myself, so it's there is the stores, Carla.
CALLER: And what's it about.
BOB: Poems about Gilligan and the character Maynard that I played in ODES OF DOBIE GILLIS and how I got started.
CALLER: Okay, well it was really a pleasure. I'm going to be telling everybody that I spoke to you on the telephone.
BOB: Okay!
CALLER: Okay, thanks a lot.
GP: Well, it's been a pleasure talking to you, Bob. Thanks to our callers.
BOB: Well, thank you, Peter.
GP: It's been a lot of fun to have you on the air. We still have a lot of people who want to talk to you, but unfortunately we have run out of time. But your poetry is now available in the stores. It's called GILLIGAN, MAYNARD & ME, by Bob Denver. It's published by Citadel Press. It only came out in December so it fresh off the presses, as they say.
BOB: I have an 800-number where you can call to get the book and order it.
GP: Oh really, what is that?
BOB: 1-800-447-POEM.
GP: I thank you for being with us on the program.
BOB: Well, thank you, Peter.
GP: And goodnight.
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