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Fans of the classic sitcom “Gilligan’s Island” will recall that there were two versions of the main theme song “The Ballad of Gilligan’s Isle,” which was penned by series creator Sherwood Schwartz and composer George Wyle. The first season’s version concludes with a somewhat dismissive “…and the rest,” which fails to acknowledge or give onscreen billing to Russell Johnson (who played Professor Roy Hinkley) and Dawn Wells (who portrayed farmgirl Mary Ann Summers). This was the result of a contract stipulation insisted upon by Tina Louise, who played Hollywood actress Ginger Grant: Louise (the only main actor from “Gilligan’s Island” who is still alive) had it written into her contract that she had to be billed last.

When it was conceived, the show was set to center on Bob Denver as the S.S. Minnow’s first mate Gilligan and a close-knit group of regulars. Along with Tina Louise’s film star character, there was ship skipper Jonas Grumby (Alan Hale Jr.), millionaire Thurston Howell III (Jim Backus), and Thurston’s society wife Lovey (Natalie Schafer), with Mary Ann and Roy only occasionally appearing as secondary figures. Since everyone but Wells and Johnson had major movie experience before being cast, this made sense to CBS, which was already paying a pretty penny to get Backus and Louise into the sitcom. That’s not to mention the cost of shooting on location — while most of the series was shot on a CBS lot, the pilot episode of “Gilligan’s Island” was filmed in Hawaii.

When “Gilligan’s Island” exploded in popularity, so did the status of Dawn Wells and Russell Johnson. By the time the second season was on the horizon, many felt they were deserving of more recognition, including the show’s lead, Bob Denver. He told CBS network brass that if his co-stars didn’t all receive onscreen billing, then he would use a contractual stipulation that allowed him to move his name anywhere in the credits and park it right after Tina Louise’s. “Why not, y’know, it was silly,” Denver explained during a joint interview with Wells on “The Today Show,” adding, “It was so embarrassing to have them as ‘the rest.'” Faced with the prospect of their star waving his right to first billing, which would have been confusing for viewers, the powers that be relented and changed the intro to include The Professor and Mary Ann… putting them after Louise.

It appears as though, despite her contract guaranteeing her “and also starring” billing, Louise agreed to having Wells and Johnson’s names come after hers. This was only fair, for Dawn Wells in particular: A little-known fact about the “Gilligan’s Island” cast is that Wells was making way less than her co-stars. “I think my salary — of course, I was low on the totem pole, Ginger [Louise] and Thurston [Jim Backus] got more — was $750 a week,” she once revealed to Forbes, insisting that the show never made her very wealthy. That makes Denver’s gesture with the credits all the more meaningful in hindsight. She may not have been rich, but being recognized for her work on “Gilligan’s Island” paid off in major pop cultural dividends for Wells, who would appear in reunion movies, attend conventions, and even write a “Gilligan’s Island” themed cookbook.