Ahoy Maties! Welcome to Newsletter #64. Over 3,800 members world wide and growing every day! WOW! We use to send out a newsletter every month, but let's face it. Gilligan's Island news has really slowed down, so instead of sending you a newsletter every month, we'll send one every time we have something to write about. It shouldn't go past 2 months tho'. Since I've added a note next to our e-mail addresses on the main page stating that we aren't the REAL cast, I hardly get any e-mail at all. Gilligan's Island is still as popular as ever with shows running EVERY DAY on TV Land. This newsletter is dedicated to the person who made the Gilligan's Island theme song the most famous theme song in the world today, George Wyle. George Wyle, who wrote the theme song to "Gilligan's Island" and directed music for singers including Andy Williams, has died at the age of 87. Wyle also wrote the Christmas classic "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year" and more than 400 other songs. He died Friday of leukemia at the Encino-Tarzana Regional Medical Center in Tarzana, his son Jerry Weissman said. "The Ballad of Gilligan's Island," which Wyle wrote with the show's creator and producer Sherwood Schwartz, became one of the most popular television theme songs. The show debuted on CBS in 1964 and ran until 1967, but its reruns remained popular for years. "America doesn't want great music themes," Wyle once said of the song. "Just something it can remember." In recent years, Wyle wrote music and lyrics and directed choirs for community groups and schools in Thousand Oaks, just north of Los Angeles. "Music is a learning process. It's a reading process. Everybody gets a book of words, and we learn. It teaches them to work with other people. It teaches kids to get out and sing," he told the Daily News of Los Angeles in 1998. Wyle was born Bernard Weissman in New York City and began playing piano professionally at clubs in New York's Catskill Mountains. He moved to Los Angeles in 1946 to write and conduct music for the "Alan Young Radio Show." In Los Angeles, he worked as choral director for television shows such as "The Dinah Shore Show," "The Jerry Lewis Show" and "The Andy Williams Show." He also handled music for specials by magician David Copperfield, Carol Channing, and for the People's Choice Awards presentations. Besides his son, Wyle is survived by a daughter, sister and brother. __________________________________________________________________________________________ Gilligan and Skipper Bobbin Heads are out! Get yours while supplies last! I haven't seen them in stores yet, but I did find some on a site. Great present to a Gilligan's Island fanatic. Would make a great Christmas present too! And it won't hurt your pocketbook. http://shop.store.yahoo.com/dragonballzcentral/necheadknoc.html CHAT this Saturday (May 17). Go here to log in. No password required. http://www.gilligansisle.com/chat.html A lot of folks are using our Message Area. As I read though these entries, I realize that there are a bunch a people who really know their stuff. (I think I have competition) Try to post a message and see if you can stump any of these folks. I bet you can't. It's really quite fun. http://www.gilligansisle.com/bbs.html Get your VCR's ready again. Truth Behind the Sitcoms 2 60 minutes- (CC), In Stereo The cast members of ``Diff'rent Strokes'' and ``Gilligan's Island'' tell revealing stories about their popular television series. With Todd Bridges, Gary Coleman, Bob Denver, Russell Johnson, Tina Louise, Dawn Wells and Sherwood Schwartz. Thu May 1 03:00P VH1- Video Hits 1 Mon May 12 01:00P VH1- Video Hits 1 Take Her, She's Mine 115 minutes- USA, 1963 Directed by Henry Koster and starring James Stewart, Sandra Dee, Audrey Meadows Robert Morley, John McGiver, Bob Denver Irene Tsu An overprotective father has many problems coping with his free-spirited teenage daughter. Mon May 12 10:00A AMC- American Movie Classics Tue May 13 01:55A AMC- American Movie Classics Sun May 18 12:00P AMC- American Movie Classics The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan's Island 96 minutes- USA, 1981, (CC) Directed by Peter Baldwin and starring Bob Denver, Alan Hale Jr., Russell Johnson Dawn Wells, Connie Forslund, Jim Backus Natalie Schafer, Scatman Crothers, Martin Landau, Barbara Bain A plane crash strands the famous basketball team and a mad scientist on the castaways' island. Sun May 25 07:00P PLEX- Encore's Movie Plex Mon May 26 12:00A PLEX- Encore's Movie Plex Still trying to get Columbiahouse to release a DVD of the Gilligan's Island series but we can't do it without your help. Please e-mail Columbiahouse at video@columbiahouse.com and bug the heck out of them. Please have your friends and relatives do the same. It doesn't have to be a long message, just something to tell them that they should release the series on DVD. Until next time, "Smooth Sailing." Willy Gilligan President/Webmaster Official Gilligan's Island Fan Club http://www.gilligansisle.com