First of all, Mary Ann was never “and the rest.” She was much more than that.

That dismissive “Gilligan’s Island” theme-song lyric popped into my head when I heard the sad news that Dawn Wells, who played Mary Ann Summers on the silly, schlocky yet beloved sitcom, died Wednesday at age 82 from COVID-19 complications.

Wells‘ death is another reminder of the slow passage of baby-boomer TV iconography from an era when there were three broadcast networks and tens of millions of viewers watched the same shows at the same time. Even if the shows weren’t good, and many weren’t, everybody knew them.

Wells was known to millions of boomer kids – followed by millions more who watched the reruns over the decades – as one of seven castaways stranded on a desert island for the show’s three-season run (1964-67) and eventually celluloid eternity. (They were rescued in some later, forgettable TV films that didn’t even feature the real Ginger.)

In the first-season opening credits, Mary Ann and Wells were afterthoughts. The theme song, one of many from the era that spelled out the entire concept in less than a minute, mentioned and showed pictures of the other five cast(away) members: Gilligan, The Skipper, millionaires Mr. and Mrs. Howell and movie star Ginger Grant. However, the two other castaways, Mary Ann and The Professor (Russell Johnson), were relegated to “and the rest” – no names, no photos.