Let me start
off by saying that I'm a Mary Ann guy*. And yes I prefer Betty to
Veronica too. I never thought Ginger was prettier than Mary Ann. Dawn
Welles who played Mary Ann Summers, the sweet Winfield Kansas farm girl
had been a Miss Nevada winner and a contestant in the 1960 Miss America
contest for gosh sakes. Ginger was just more glamorous. But then she was a
movie star.
I always imagined Ginger Grant as a B-Movie actress. A
drive-in movie queen. Someone who was the damsel in distress in sci-fi
flicks, jungle adventures and horror movies. She was the sultry saloon
singer in westerns. The captive slave-girl in peplum movies. And the other
woman in potboilers. A graduate of Hollywood High, Ginger got her first
job in show business upon graduation working as a magician's
assistant.
From there she began to get modelling work appearing on the
covers of "true romance" magazines. Discovered by a movie producer while
working as a nightclub singer she was soon seen in a number of
low-budget crime dramas as eye candy in bit parts.
From 1960 to 1964 she was co-starring opposite stars like Vince
Everett,Troy McClure,Dash Riprock and Deke Rivers in THE HULA GIRL AND
THE FULLBACK, BELLY DANCERS FROM BALI BALI, THE RAIN DANCERS FROM RANGO
RANGO and THE BIRD PEOPLE MEET THE CHICKEN-PLUCKERS.
After her mysterious
disappearance in 1964 along 5 other passengers and the crew of the S.S.
Minnow tour ship her movies became cult classics. There was a biography
written by Richard Welle that became an instant best-seller.
Three years
after the book's publication there would be a documentary made about her
life, rise to stardom and mysterious disappearance. Her disappearance and
those of the other people, who were on the Minnow when it set sail on a three hour tour in fall 1964, remains a mystery to this very day to
anyone who doesn't own a television set.*
*Editor's notes
- I'm a "Tina Louise - Ginger" guy.
- In 1978, Rescue from Gilligan's Island, the castaways made it home...only to be lost once again on Gilligan's Island. (Judith Baldwin as Ginger)
- In 1979, The Castaways on Gilligan's Island, the castaways are found. Mr. Howell turns the island into a resort. A sequel was made in 1981, The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan's Island. (Constance Forslund as Ginger)
- The show was revived in animated form in The New Adventures of Gilligan in the '74-'75 tv season with Jane Webb as Mary Ann and Ginger. In the '82-'83 tv season, Gilligan's Planet launched the castaways into outer space with Dawn Wells as both Mary Ann and Ginger.
Retro book covers (and Ginger fan) Vance Capley
My favorite Ginger Grant movie is Mohawk over the Moon. The story of the first Indian astronaut. Also her singing voice is clearly featured in the all girl group the Honeybees. She is such a lady and team player Ginger stepped back and let Mrs. Howell take center stage.
ReplyDeleteMohawk over the Moon.You got to love it.I was watching the peplum flick Siege of Syracuse the other day and imagined it as a Troy McClure/Ginger Grant flick.
ReplyDeleteGilligan's Island season 1 episode 31, Diogenes, Won't You Please Go Home?, has a great sequence with Ginger claiming to be a secret agent then performing judo!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIhcM2rB36g
ReplyDeleteWith Viti Scotti as a cliched Japanese soldier who had no idea WW II was over.Scotti also played a Japanese on an episode of THE RIFLEMAN where he used ju jitsu.
ReplyDeleteIn "Diogenes Won't You Please Go Home," Ginger told her version of how she rescued Gilligan from the Japanese Sailor and WOW, she was sensational. Super sexy Ginger showing off her black belt judo and karate skills to defeat the sailor in her sexy SS Minnow skirt. Awesome! To bad it wasn't a longer scene whereupon she could have shown off a karate kick or two and showed off a victory pose pumping / flexing her rock hard biceps. What a Woman!
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