SECRETS From the Set

IN 1964, THE CREW AND PASSENGERS OF THE S.S. MINNOW EMBARKED ON THEIR INFAMOUS "THREE-HOUR TOUR"

- Louise A. Barile, reporting by Lindsay Hoffman

In the weeks following the Sept. 26, 1964, premiere of Gilligan's Island, the U.S. Coast Guard began getting letters from concerned citizens. "People were writing saying, 'Why can't you get these good Americans off an island?"" recalls Lloyd Schwartz, the son of series creator Sherwood Schwartz, to Closer.

Sherwood came up with the idea of marooning his characters on a tropical island in a dream. "His thought was that the island is like Earth," his daughter, Hope Schwartz Juber, explains to Closer. "We're all stuck on it together, so we need to figure out how to live together."