The Skipper is the title and nickname of Jonas Grumby, a fictional character from the 1960s situation comedy '' Gilligan's Island''. Played by

Alan Hale Jr. Alan Hale Jr. (born Alan Hale MacKahan; (March 8, 1921 - January 2, 1990) was an American actor and restaurateur. He was the son of actor Alan Hale Sr. His television career spanned four decades, but he was best known for his secondary lead role ...

, the Skipper (the character's actual name was rarely mentioned after the show's pilot episode) was the owner and captain of the S. S. ''Minnow'' on its "three-hour tour" from

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state ...

when he, first mate

Gilligan Gilligan is a fictional character played by Bob Denver on the 1960s TV show '' Gilligan's Island'' and its many sequels. Gilligan, affectionately called "little buddy" by the "Skipper", is the bumbling, dimwitted, accident-prone first mate of t ...

(portrayed by

Bob Denver Robert Osbourne Denver (January 9, 1935 – September 2, 2005) was an American comedic actor who portrayed Gilligan on the 1964–1967 television series ''Gilligan's Island'', and beatnik Maynard G. Krebs on the 1959–1963 series ''The Ma ...

), and their tourist passengers were caught in a violent storm and stranded on a deserted island. He acts often in his legal role as the group's leader, albeit with a decidedly collegial and democratic bent; the only individual whom he routinely orders about is Gilligan. In times of crisis, the Skipper tends to defer to the more level-headed and educated passenger, Professor Roy Hinkley (portrayed by

Russell Johnson Russell David Johnson (November 10, 1924 – January 16, 2014) was an American actor. He played Professor Roy Hinkley in ''Gilligan's Island'' and Marshal Gib Scott in '' Black Saddle''. Early life Johnson was born in Ashley, Pennsylvania, o ...

). He does most of the physical work on the island or makes Gilligan do it. He is also the most superstitious castaway, sometimes putting him in conflict with the Professor's rationalism. The Skipper is usually depicted wearing a blue polo shirt and captain's hat. The Skipper is irritated continually by the clumsiness and ineptitude of his "little buddy" Gilligan; despite that, they are good friends. A

running gag A running gag, or running joke, is a literary device that takes the form of an amusing joke or a comical reference and appears repeatedly throughout a work of literature or other form of storytelling. Though they are similar, catchphrases are no ...

is that the skipper conks Gilligan on the head with his hat whenever Gillian exhibits incompetence. A variation of this gag is that whenever Gilligan is in a tree as a lookout and falls down, he usually lands on the Skipper, or if Gilligan (on rare occasion) does something right or correctly predicts an outcome, the Skipper is about to conk Gilligan, then restrains himself due to the fact Gilligan was right.

In other media

In the 2003 book '' Gilligan's Wake'' (), '' Esquire'' film and television critic Tom Carson wrote a

backstory A backstory, background story, back-story, or background is a set of events invented for a plot, presented as preceding and leading up to that plot. It is a literary device of a narrative history all chronologically earlier than the narrative o ...

that the Skipper served with

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...

of the

PT-109 PT1 may refer to: * 486958 Arrokoth (New Horizons PT1), a Kuiper belt object and selected target for a flyby of the New Horizons probe * Pratt & Whitney PT1, a free-piston gas-turbine engine * Consolidated PT-1 Trusty, a 1930s USAAS primary trainer ...

and McHale of ''

McHale's Navy ''McHale's Navy'' is an American sitcom starring Ernest Borgnine that aired 138 half-hour episodes over four seasons, from October 11, 1962, to April 12, 1966, on the ABC television network. The series was filmed in black and white and originate ...

''. John F. Kennedy was also skipper of his boat, and the 1964 ''Gilligan's Island'' would follow the 1961 pilot episode of ''McHale's Navy'', the 1962 series, and the 1963 movie '' PT 109'' as films about PT-sized boats that were shipwrecked with Navy sailors on board. Little was ever learned about his past, but in several episodes he mentions variously having several ships blown out from under him, and his veteran's status, implying that he had served in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. Two episodes indicate the Skipper was a veteran of the

Battle of Guadalcanal The Guadalcanal campaign, also known as the Battle of Guadalcanal and codenamed Operation Watchtower by American forces, was a military campaign fought between 7 August 1942 and 9 February 1943 on and around the island of Guadalcanal in the ...

as he relived an experience from the battle where he turned the radio into a transmitter, reliving the scenario in his sleep. In one episode he gets amnesia, and thinks he is on a covert mission behind enemy lines, mistaking the others for Japanese soldiers, including Ginger, whom he mistakenly believes to be a ventriloquist. He claims to be the CO of the 177th Infantry Regiment, which is a

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...

regiment, but whether that actually happened or was just a wish-fulfilling fantasy is open to debate, for later on in the series he says that he was simply a cook. In one episode he claimed to have been a Navy Bandmaster and in another he claims to have been the best poker player in the US Navy.

References

* ''Gilligan's Wake'', Tom Carson,

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Skipper, The Gilligan's Island characters Fictional sailors Fictional sea captains Fictional military captains Fictional characters from Hawaii Television characters introduced in 1964