Maximum Cool: 250 Anecdotes

This book contains 250 anecdotes, including this one: Russell Johnson, who played the Professor on Gilligan’s Island, had the hardest lines to learn because so much of what he said was explaining how he was able to use science to do such things as recharge batteries with nothing more than seawater and various metals. Bob Denver, who played Gilligan, once asked Mr. Johnson how he was able to learn his lines. The explanation was simple, although the work involved was not. Mr. Johnson spent hours reading the encyclopedia so he could understand what he was saying. The hours of reading paid off—he seldom blew his lines. (But on the rare occasions he did, his fellow castmembers were ready to tease him by saying such things as “Gee, Russ, can’t you learn the stupid lines!”)