“Gilligan’s Island” radio restoration/prop

[BiffPow]

Planning a “Gilligan’s Island” themed Halloween party this year. Have been looking to pick up one of these radios (like the one used on the show) for several years. It’s a Packard Bell. Unfortunately, because there are so many fans of the show, when you can find one in nice condition they sell for a LOT of !

I found a non-working one that was beat up, had a piece broken off the front speaker grill, punched in/broken rear grill, and someone had used a woodburning tool to carve in words and make holes in the back of the case in order to power the radio externally.

I worked on it in my spare time over a couple of weeks.

Originally, the radio did not have a handle or an antenna. The prop department on “Gilligan’s Island” added those.

I found the matching handle and as close of an approximation to the antenna as I could find. Found matching weave speaker grill cloth, and fabricated my own inserts for the knobs.

I finally finished restoring it. Last night. (Randy, thanks for your opinion on making this into a full prop instead of just restoring.)

Posting before and after pics (apparently in reverse order):

[A. Pennyworth]

Very nice! I always wanted to make one and in the year 2000 I was searching for something about radios and found on ebay that this PB was going for a lot of money, research then showed me that is was the base radio for Gilligans Island and this saved link from 2000 still works, and it looks like it was updated because there is now a page for a 3-D version of the radio! http://www.gilligansisle.com/radio.html

[BiffPow]

Thanks, AP!

I thought the 3-D printout one was pretty spectacular. I had contacted the fellow who made it, who was quite congenial. He said it was a one off and he wasn’t making any others. But it is a beauty, in my opinion.

So I turned to eBay, again. They always brought way more money than I was willing to spend. This one pushed the envelope, for me. But, I bit the bullet because I really wanted one for my son.

[AndyFish]

I don't dress up- not even for Halloween, but a couple of years ago we went to a Halloween party and I dressed up as Thurston Howell III-- coincidently I was bidding on a piece of wardrobe (blazer) from the show-screen worn-- he and I are the same size. I ended up losing, but made up for it with a teddy bear, a cashmere cardigan and a yachting cap. Mrs Fish went as Ginger because there's no way she's passing for Lovey.

[BiffPow]

I don't dress up- not even for Halloween, but a couple of years ago we went to a Halloween party and I dressed up as Thurston Howell III-- coincidently I was bidding on a piece of wardrobe (blazer) from the show-screen worn-- he and I are the same size. I ended up losing, but made up for it with a teddy bear, a cashier cardigan and a yachting cap. Mrs Fish went as Ginger because there's now way she's passing for Lovey.

WOW!

[A. Pennyworth]

Funny you mentioned a Halloween party, as that was the reason for the search for the radio back then. We had enough people to make the whole cast and I played Gilligan, found this hat on ebay, stapled some hair on the front for his look and we walked into the party with a recording of the theme song playing. Dont remember what we did for the radio, I think just a generic one added a handle. No photographs that I know of!

[BiffPow]

THAT’S how you party, Gilligan’s Island style! If you have photos, I’d sure like to see them!

[dell]

Impressive!

Hey, I have this small cabin cruiser with a big hole in the hull, are you available to repair it?

[A. Pennyworth]

Impressive!

Hey, I have this small cabin cruiser with a big hole in the hull, are you available to repair it?

Of course, with the pancake syrup glue made from tree sap, but "THE GLUE WON'T HOLD!"...

[SprangFan]

Cool radio, but here's the real test: Can you power it with coconuts?

[BiffPow]

Impressive!

Hey, I have this small cabin cruiser with a big hole in the hull, are you available to repair it?

[BiffPow]

Cool radio, but here's the real test: Can you power it with coconuts?

If you look at the “before“ photo of the back closely, it looks like somebody tried it. They burned two holes through the back of the case to run wires through in order to power the radio externally. I wondered if the wires were running from coconut batteries or a stationary bicycle dynamo.

[BiffPow]

Finished a couple of more “Gilligan’s Island” props:

Mr. Howell’s golf club and the “golden” Rapanui statue used in the episode “Voodoo.”

[Jim Akin]

... stapled some hair on the front for his look...

No doubt it looked great, but before reading this description, the photos looked to me like Gilligan's hat might have been inhabited by a Black Widow-style tarantula. It's been many years since I watched Gilligan's Island, but Little Buddy's hat crawling away on hairy legs seems like something that at least could have happened in an episode.

P.S. That link to the 3d-printed radio is awesome, and that guy's other prop replicas are incredible, too.

[BiffPow]

New prop.

My attempt to re-create the “communicator” compact used by double agent Mary Ann in the episode “Invasion,” where Mr. Howell portrayed “Mr. Evil” to Gilligan’s “Agent 014” (twice as smart as 007).

Been trying to track down the exact compact, without much luck. But this one is as close as I could find. Very similar vintage 1960s “she shell” compact.

Had never been used!