Mary Ann Summers
| Mary Ann Summers | |
|---|---|
| Gilligan's Island character | |
 | |
| First appearance | "Two on a Raft" |
| Last appearance | Gilligan's Planet |
| Created by | Sherwood Schwartz |
| Portrayed by | Dawn Elberta Wells |
| Information | |
| Gender | Female |
| Occupation | Farm girl |
| Relatives |
Aunt Martha Uncle George |
Mary Ann Summers is a fictional character in the television sitcom Gilligan's Island which ran on the CBS network from 1964 to 1967, and has run more or less continuously since in reruns. She was played by actress Dawn Elberta Wells.
Character summary
Mary Ann was portrayed by actress Dawn Wells. She was an ingénue, the typical girl-next-door, and a foil as well as a friend to glamorous Hollywood star Ginger Grant, played by Tina Louise. In addition, her practical domestic skills and plain, good common sense make her an indispensable member of the group. She is a Winfield, Kansas farm girl, a reference to Dorothy Gale as played by Judy Garland in the 1939 classic movie The Wizard of Oz (occasionally wearing Dorothy's ubiquitous pigtails and a gingham dress).
She was traveling alone on the "three-hour tour" that was lost at sea, and was in her late teens to early twenties — an age which she pinpoints in the Season 2, Episode 30 "V for Vitamins" when she says, "Women and children first, so I get two votes." She tells the others in Season 2, Episode 18, "The Postman Cometh," that she has a boyfriend named Horace Higgenbotham from Horners Corners, Kansas, so they will think she has someone special waiting for her, but confesses later that he's "a real creep" and not her boyfriend at all. In Rescue from Gilligan's Island it is revealed that she is actually engaged and that her fiance waited fifteen years for her but it turns out that when she was finally rescued they no longer loved each other and he married her best friend instead.
Mary Ann mentions her mother and father in passing only very briefly such as her father going bankrupt before the shipwreck due to a dishonest business partner, but references her Aunt Martha and Uncle George multiple times, leading some to believe that she lived with them and that her parents may be deceased, another connection to The Wizard of Oz. Although, her parents seem to be alive in Rescue from Gilligan's Island.
In the series' broadcast pilot, "Two on a Raft," the Honolulu-based AM radio news reader only states that "the attractive brunette" is "employed at the Winfield General Store."
References
- Denver, Bob (November 1993). Gilligan, Maynard & Me. Carol Publishing Corporation. ISBN 0-8065-1413-2.
- Green, Joey (April 1988). Unofficial Gilligan's Island Handbook. Warner Books. ISBN 0-446-38668-5.
- Johnson, Russell; Steve Cox (July 1993). Here on Gilligan's Isle (1st ed.). Perennial. ISBN 0-06-096993-8.
- Schwartz, Sherwood (April 15, 1994). Inside Gilligan's Island: A Three-Hour Tour Through The Making of a Television Classic. St. Martin's Griffin. ISBN 0-312-10482-0.
- Stoddard, Sylvia (May 1996). TV Treasures – A Companion Guide to Gilligan's Island. New York: St. Martin's Paperbacks. ISBN 0-312-95797-1.
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