Before Gilligan's Island, Alan Hale Jr. Guest-Starred On A TV Show That John F. Kennedy Advised For

It's always interesting to discover hidden Hollywood connections. There is, for instance, a small but significant link between "Gilligan's Island" star Alan Hale Jr. and former United States President John F. Kennedy. Not only was "Gilligan's Island" almost derailed by the Kennedy assassination, the show retained an inadvertent tribute to the slain president in its opening credit sequence. For the entire first season, the "Gilligan's Island" titles featured a flag being flown at half-mast simply due to the fact it was shot in the aftermath of Kennedy's killing and captured this solemn tribute. But even before Hale Jr. joined his fellow castaways in Hawaii to shoot the ill-fated "Gilligan's Island" pilot, he had already established a tenuous link to Kennedy.

By the mid-1950s, Hale Jr. had worked alongside Gregory Peck in 1950's "The Gunfighter" and led his own series, the short-lived CBS adventure show "Biff Baker, U.S.A." In 1955, then, he was already well-established in the industry. But he still relied on frequent guest-spots in order to get by — one of which saw him working for his future "Gilligan's Island" network, CBS, on an episode of "Navy Log."

This drama anthology series dramatized real stories from the history of the United States Navy and welcomed Hale Jr. during its first season. And while the episode in question had no direct connection to Kennedy, the future president did advise on a later episode in which he was played by John Baer.

Alan Hale Jr. kicked off the 1950s by playing several characters on the Western series "The Gene Autry Show." After that, however, he mostly appeared in guest spots ("Biff Baker, U.S.A" notwithstanding). In doing so, he showed up in "Man Against Crime," "The Public Defender, "Stage 7," and even had time to collaborate with Audie Murphy on "Destry" before he guest-starred on "Navy Log."

Created by Samuel Gallu, the anthology series began airing on CBS in September 1955. Aided by the direct involvement of the Department of Defense and the United States Navy, the show mined the history of the maritime branch for stories which it could turn into 30-minute episodes. Over three seasons, it retold tales based on — as its opening titles put it — "official U.S. Navy files" and welcomed several notable guest stars along the way. A then up-and-coming Clint Eastwood even appeared in the 1958 episode "The Lonely Watch," which debuted the year before he landed his breakout role in "Rawhide."

Prior to Eastwood's guest spot, though, "Navy Log" welcomed Hale Jr. (who would also show up in Eastwood's "Rawhide") in the 1956 episode "The Pollywog of Yosu." This particular installment follows Navy divers as they're sent behind enemy lines to demolish a tunnel being used as a North Korean transport route. The frogmen are told they are essentially expendable should something go wrong, which it inevitably does when one of the divers is injured in an explosion. But the team refuses to leave anyone behind, and the wounded diver is rescued. As for Hale Jr., he played a character named Beartracks, which was a decent little guest role for the actor. But before long, "Navy Log" welcomed an even more esteemed guest, and it wasn't Eastwood.

In August 1957, The New York Times announced that John F. Kennedy, then a Massachusetts Senator, would be overseeing a "Navy Log" story. The future President served in the Navy from 1941 to 1945 and reached the rank of Lieutenant. During that time, it seems he had an experience that the "Navy Log" producers felt was worthy of being immortalized in their anthology series, which switched homes from CBS to ABC in 1957.

"Senator John F. Kennedy is scheduled to oversee some fierce fighting next week," announced the NYT. "But it will be strictly nonpolitical and a long way from Capitol Hill." Kennedy's episode did indeed feature some intense fighting. "PT 109" aired in October 1957 and saw John Baer play Kennedy, the commander of the titular U.S. Navy patrol torpedo boat. In a retelling of a true story that occurred in the South Pacific in 1943, the episode recounts how Kennedy's vessel was rammed by a Japanese warship before sinking, forcing him and his fellow survivors to gather on a small island in Japanese-controlled territory before being rescued.

Per the NYT, the then-Senator visited San Diego for two days to serve as "technical adviser" for the episode, which was being filmed at the city's naval base. It formed part of the third and final season of "Navy Log," which went off the air in 1958. By that time, Alan Hale Jr. was headlining his own Western series, "Casey Jones," and would soon be cast in "Gilligan's Island," wherein he'd unwittingly become part of am opening credits sequence tribute to Kennedy that lasted for the show's entire first season.