Before “Gilligan’s Island” Ginger Grant actor Tina Louise had already worked with some of the greats of mid-20th Century Hollywood. Louise made her movie debut alongside Western legend Robert Ryan and worked with Robert Taylor on the 1959 Western “The Hangman.” She’d also shared the small screen with some notable up-and-comers, such as when she appeared alongside John Cassavetes and Elizabeth Montgomery in the little-known anthology series “Appointment with Adventure.”
The show aired on CBS, the same network that later hosted “Gilligan’s Island” for all three seasons. Unlike Louise’s cherished sitcom, however, “Appointment with Adventure” lasted only a year, airing from April 1955 to April ’56. In that time, however, it welcomed many esteemed guests, both in front of and behind the camera.
Before “The Twilight Zone,” Rod Serling wrote the Western “Saddle the Wind,” which starred Robert Taylor, Julie London, and Cassavetes. The latter hadn’t worked with Serling before but they did both earn credits on “Appointment with Adventure.” Serling wrote the 1955 episode “The Fateful Pilgrimage,” which like many of the writer’s stories found a former GI struggling to come to terms with his wartime actions. Almost a year later, a young Cassavetes appeared in the episode entitled “All Through the Night,” which not only featured a similarly fresh-faced Elizabeth Montgomery (who later starred in “Bewitched”) but also Tina Louise in her second-ever TV role.
John Cassavetes and Tina Louise starred in a thrilling Appointment with Adventure episode
Tina Louise made her small screen debut in a 1956 episode of the CBS anthology series “Studio One.” Somebody at the network must have liked her (can you blame them?) because she was soon back for another of the Columbia Broadcasting System’s anthology shows, “Appointment with Adventure.”
Due to its format, the series featured a new cast and writer with each episode. It made for a mixed bag that isn’t exactly remembered as one of the great anthology TV shows — as evidenced by the New York Times’ review of the first two installments. The series premiere was, according to critic J.P. Shanley, “a sorry ordeal,” while the second episode registered as “interesting entertainment” with “a fine cast” and “moments of tense excitement.” The same could easily be said for Season 2, Episode 19, “All Through the Night,” in which John Cassavetes joined Louise and Elizabeth Montgomery for a thriller-themed installment.
Montgomery plays model Virginia Loomis whose brother, Danny Loomis (Cassavetes) arrives at her apartment unexpectedly. He’s wanted for attempted robbery but claims to be innocent. The problem is, he can’t go to the authorities as he’s on the run from a mysterious and dangerous individual with plans to take him out. At least, that’s what he tells Virginia and her roommate, Eva Adams (Louise). As the episode goes on, however, the girls start to suspect that rather than abetting Cassavetes’ fugitive, they’re actually his hostages.
Appointment with Adventure didn’t last long, but the guest stars went the distance
“All Through the Night” aired February 5, 1956, and “Appointment with Adventure” only lasted a couple more months, coming to an end in April of that year. Though it was short-lived, the anthology series had an impressive list of guest stars that, aside from John Cassavetes, Tina Louise, and Elizabeth Montgomery, also included Paul Newman, Jack Lord, and Cassavetes’ wife, Gena Rowlands who passed away in 2024 at the age of 94.
While Louise, Montgomery, and Cassavetes were all working their way toward stardom at the time they appeared on the show, the latter had earned attention for his portrayal of killer Robert Batsford in 1955’s “The Night Holds Terror” and gang leader Frankie Dane in the live TV drama “Crime in the Streets” and its film adaptation. Louise, meanwhile, was yet to make her film debut. But she was less than a decade away from her breakthrough role as Ginger Grant in “Gilligan’s Island.”
Interestingly enough, Montgomery also got her breakthrough role on a beloved sitcom, playing Samantha Stephens in “Bewitched.” That show debuted on ABC in September 1964, the same month and year that “Gilligan’s Island” first aired on CBS. Meanwhile, Cassavetes went on to become one of the most influential directors of his era, while also delivering memorable performances in everything from “Rosemary’s Baby” to “The Dirty Dozen.”
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