<P> The United States Coast Guard occasionally received telegrams from concerned citizens, who apparently did not realize it was a scripted show, pleading for them to rescue the people on the deserted island . The Coast Guard simply forwarded these telegrams to producer Sherwood Schwartz . In homage to those telegrams, the film Rescue from Gilligan's Island showed the successful rescue where Gilligan lights a fire aboard the castaways' makeshift raft and is chastised for a thoughtless, dangerous action by the others . However, the resultant smoke attracts the attention of a US Coast Guard helicopter, whose pilot commends Gilligan's fire; otherwise the castaways would have been adrift and unnoticed . </P> <P> The music and lyrics for the theme song, "The Ballad of Gilligan's Isle", were written by Sherwood Schwartz and George Wyle . One version was used for the first season and another for the second and third seasons . In the original song, the Professor and Mary Ann, originally considered "second - billed co-stars", were referred to as "the rest", but with the growing popularity of those characters, their names were inserted into the lyrics . The Gilligan theme song underwent this one major change due to star Bob Denver, who personally went to the studio executives and asked that Johnson and Wells be added to the theme song's opening credits . When the studio at first refused, saying it would be too expensive to reshoot, Denver insisted, even going so far as to state that if Johnson and Wells were not included, he wanted his name out of the song, as well . The studio caved in, and "the Professor and Mary Ann" were added . </P> <P> The first - season version was recorded by the folk group The Wellingtons . The second - season version, which incorporated more of a sea shanty sound, was uncredited, but according to Russell Johnson in his book Here on Gilligan's Isle, it was performed by a group called the Eligibles . </P> <P> The show's original pilot episode featured a Calypso theme song by future film composer John Williams, and different lyrics . The original length of the voyage was "a six - hour ride", not "a three - hour tour". John Williams (or Johnny Williams as he was often listed in the show credits) also started out as the composer of the incidental music for the show (from 1964 to 1965), but was replaced by Gerald Fried for the remaining seasons (1965--1967). </P>

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