Hey Gilligan! 5 Fun Facts About The Mosquitoes!

Can fake bands be influential?

Perhaps we should ask the viewers of the December 9, 1965 episode of the popular NBC show Gilligan's Island aired called "Don't Bug The Mosquitoes" or the millions who have viewed the episode in the 50+ years the show's episodes have aired in syndication all over the world.

In this episode, a famous rock band in need of some much-needed down-time after being chased by screaming girls retreats to the very same island as our lovable castaways who, in their infinite wisdom, hatch a plan to annoy the band so that they'll leave the island and take them with them.

Sadly, their plan succeeds and the band returns to the mainland without the castaways and, presumably, not sending anyone to rescue them, but not before giving Gilligan, the Skipper, and the rest of the gang their own private performance.

We won't ask how they managed to power those electric guitars on an island without electricity.

5 Fun Facts about The Mosquitoes!

1. The members of the fictional TV band were Les Brown Jr., son of legendary big band leader Les Brown and the Band of Renown, and Ed Wade, Kirby Johnson and George Patterson - members of the folk group The Wellingtons.

2. The Wellingtons hailed from Urbana, IL and had performed the Gilligan's Island theme for Season One, but had been replaced by another band for the theme for the show's second season.

3. The Wellington's wrote all of the Mosquitos' material; the three songs used in the episode, as well as other songs that were used in later episodes whenever the band's music could be heard from Gilligan's radio.

4. The characters names, Bingo, Bango, Bongo and Irving, would later inspired the makers of Pac Man to name their ghost characters in a similar fashion: Inky, Blinky, Pinky and Clyde

5. The copy of "The Mosquitoes Live From Carnegie Hall" was only a set prop created by doctoring a copy of Jerry Vale's greatest hits album,