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.

Character summary[edit]
Mary Ann was portrayed by actress Dawn Wells. She was an ingnue, a foil, the typical girlnext-door, 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 twentiesan 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[edit]

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 0446-38668-5.

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.