Area Resident’s Stylus Counsel | Smiles Everyone, Smiles

Track 275 | The plane! The plane! The guest stars! The guest stars!

In the previous Stylus Counsel I examined the famous musicians who somehow found themselves among the “special guest stars” on a standalone episode of The Love Boat.

There were dozens and dozens of them over the course of the show’s nine-season run from 1977 to 1986. The Love Boat was a show uniquely formatted to accommodate this, almost like a variety show. The hour-long drama/rom-com featured three storylines involving the regular cast of ship crew, and anywhere from three to five guest stars. It’s a cruise ship, so it made sense that each episode would have different guests. As such, the show became a stage for faded teen idols looking to remain relevant or re-invent themselves, one-hit wonders, has-beens from the golden age of Hollywood, and secondary cast members from other popular shows.

The Love Boat also offered a prime-time network paycheque for the industry’s journeyman character actors. You know — the same ones you’d see on CHiPs, Simon & Simon, The Incredible Hulk, Columbo, Hawaii 5-0, Kojak, Streets Of San Francisco, Maude, Alice and all the then-current game shows. But it wasn’t the only show set up for guest stars. There were three more key ones: Supertrain, Love, American Style and Fantasy Island — the latter being the biggest deal of them all.

Like The Love Boat, the original Fantasy Island also debuted on ABC in 1977, running seven seasons. Instead of a cruise ship, the holiday destination was a tropical island, reachable via float plane, where a handful of special guests came to live out their fantasy — whether it be exciting, alluring or dark and dangerous. It was like Make-A-Wish for not-sick, American adults. You ended up with two separate storylines compared to The Love Boat’s three. One was usually light and the other, often quite dark — sometimes downright scary. Both always had some sort of moral or epiphany. Instead of a ship’s crew, the regular cast of Fantasy Island was the mysterious Mr. Roarke (Ricardo Montalban) and his sidekick Tattoo (Herve Villechaize), who provided comic relief.

Just like The Love Boat, Fantasy Island’s visiting guests featured a lot of famous musicians… just maybe not as famous as they wish they were. The most frequent, returning musical guest? Michelle Phillips. The Mamas & the Papas’ singer made seven appearances between 1979 and 1984.

Anyway, let’s go through all the times where one of Fantasy Island’s “special guests” was best known for music…

Ray Bolger

Most famous for portraying The Scarecrow in the legendary 1939 film The Wizard Of Oz. The song-and-dance man is up there with the likes of Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire and Danny Kaye. He made several appearances on The Love Boat, but showed up in Season 1 of Fantasy Island — on April 15, 1978 — as an old mobster, looking to put the gang back together. He appears again as Gaylord Nelson in a woman’s fantasy to become a famous dancer in Season 6 (Oct. 23, 1982).

Sonny Bono

The future mayor of Palm Springs made five appearances on The Love Boat, and this was his first on Fantasy Island, in Episode 2 of the second season (Sept. 23, 1978). Bono plays a man whose fantasy is to be a pirate so that he can get his ex-wife back. In unrelated news, this was around the time Bono’s real ex-wife — Cher — was dating Gene Simmons of KISS. Bono’s second appearance on the show happened on Season 3 in November, 1979. Bono plays a bookmaker hiding out from a gangster looking to knock him off. He shows up yet again in Season 4 as a man who tries to impress a woman by joining her father’s basketball team.

Danny Bonaduce

The troubled child star, who “played bass” in The Partridge Family, actually did make a solo album in 1973. He also worked as a pro wrestler, is an ordained minister, and has been a popular radio personality. He has a black belt in karate, was a boxer for a while, and released a memoir. He got busted for cocaine while hosting an anti-drug event and beat up a transgender sex worker. But, before all that he appeared in Fantasy Island on Nov. 4, 1978 in a bit part as a hot rodder — creatively named “Hot Rod” — in another pair’s fantasy about reliving their glory days… racing hot rods.

Toni Tennille

Like Bono, the voice of The Captain & Tennille made several appearances on The Love Boat. Her Fantasy Island debut came on May 5, 1979, when she portrayed a paraplegic guest whose fantasy was to meet her pen pal. Uhhh… you spent money on this? Tennille’s second appearance on Fantasy Island has her playing yet another character who could have made their fantasy happen without the expensive tropical junket. She plays a bumbling woman who dreams of being a private investigator. And, she appeared again in Season 4, this time as a — get this — MUSICIAN whose fantasy is to meet the man who wrote the songs that made her famous. But, well, you’ve seen Beauty & The Beast, right?

Scott Baio

Most famous as Chachi from Happy Days and Joanie Loves Chachi, and — to a lesser degree — Charles In Charge, the former teen heartthrob put out an album. Two, actually. Their supreme awfulness isn’t up for debate. When Baio appeared on Fantasy Island on May 13, 1979, it was three years before those albums would be recorded. As coincidence would have it, his character’s fantasy was to be a rock star. Baio and his two brothers (one, his actual brother Jimmy Baio) and sister are orphaned kids who want to become rock stars so they don’t get split up into foster homes.

Don Ho

Arguably Hawaii’s most famous entertainer, Ho appears in this special episode singing Hawaiian Wedding Song at the wedding of Mr. Roarke — the only episode of the show where no fantasy request is granted (Season 3, Episode 7). Incidentally, the show was filmed in Burbank, but the opening credits sequence features shots of the Pa Nali coastline and Wailua Falls on the Hawaiian island of Kauai.

Michelle Phillips

This multi-episode veteran of The Love Boat made her first appearance in the Dec. 1, 1979 episode, playing a mermaid who tempts a guest to leave his land-loving wife. Phillips repeated her mermaid role again in Season 4, as she arranged to learn more about how human love works. She appears a third time on the show — again in Season 4 — as a woman who becomes Lady Godiva. I guess they figured we weren’t paying attention. If that wasn’t enough, she makes a further appearance in Season 5 as a woman who mysteriously vanished, whom a lovelorn guest comes looking for as his fantasy. For her fifth appearance (this time in Season 6), Phillips plays the part of a singer who needs to overcome stage fright. She made her penultimate appearance on the show’s final (seventh) season in Nov. 1983 as a mistress who follows her boyfriend to the island and battles his wife to be the sole lover of the adulterer. Finally, she returned in the spring of 1984 to reprise her role as a mermaid. This time, however, she is tired of being immortal and wants Mr. Roarke to end her life.

David Cassidy

The second cast member of The Partridge Family to appear on Fantasy Island, former teen idol David Cassidy also haunted the set of The Love Boat. He debuted on the island in Season 3, playing a married man planning a wedding. Cassidy made a triumphant return in January 1983. In the episode, Anson “Potsie Weber” Williams plays a pianist whose fantasy it is to go back in time to Tin Pan Alley and his grandfather’s unpublished songs. Cassidy plays the grandfather, Jeremy Todd.

Robert Goulet

The singer-actor moved with his family to Canada when he was a teenager, seeing as he is of French-Canadian descent. He’s won a Grammy, Tonys and Emmys. Another Love Boat veteran, Goulet first strutted his stuff on Fantasy Island in January 1980 playing a man who wants to lose himself in the 18th century, but is chased down by his lawyer partner who tries to entice him back with the promise of a lucrative business deal. He appears on the show again a year later playing a double role — two versions of the same man. The first is a Wall Street analyst who wants to be rich, while the other just wants to be left alone. And hey — he comes back for Season 5 as well. This time, Goulet plays the part of French painter and sculptor Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin. This is because a woman’s fantasy is to meet him and ask about the identity of a woman he painted — because it looks just like her! Goulet returns during Season 7 to play one of the men in a divorced woman’s fantasy of being a swinger.

Fabian

Do you sense a pattern here? Of the ten people on this list so far, eight of them also appeared on The Love Boat — six of them multiple times. Fabian, billed as Fabian Forte, played the role of stripper Walter Wilde.

Frankie Avalon

Yep, they’re ALL here. Avalon appeared in February 1980 as a man who is saved from getting hit by a car by a woman whose fantasy was to be able to see into the future.

Tom Bailey

The Thompson Twins vocalist was just 26 years old at the time of his 1980 appearance on the island in the second episode of season 4. The band he’d become famous for were formed three years earlier, but their debut album wouldn’t be released for another year yet. Bailey plays a barman in the same episode where mermaid Michelle Phillips learns about love. He scored another bit part in Season 6 as Henderson — one of the soldiers in a guest’s Second World War fantasy.

Paul Williams

There he is! I knew he’d be on here sooner or later. Williams seemed to go from set to set of every active TV series in L.A. for a decade. He was on The Muppet Show (and even wrote The Rainbow Connection). He was on The Love Boat multiple times, and wrote the lyrics to the show’s theme song. In Episode 4 of Season 4, he plays a millionaire whose fantasy is to be Don Quixote. I remember this episode from when I was a kid, because I knew Williams, but had no clue who the hell Quixote was. Better than this, however, was Williams’ appearance on Fantasy Island two years later, when he played rock star Jimmy Jordan. Clad in an Elvis-like jumpsuit, Jordan hoped to be hidden from pursuers after he’d witnessed a murder. Roarke makes him a butler. Williams also shows up in Season 5 as a shy man who wants one night in a harem. 1981, baby!

Bobby Sherman

The singer in the sunset of his career (with at least a pair of Love Boat appearances to his credit as well) appeared in Episode 9 of Season 4 as a man who has been fatally poisoned, but wants Mr. Roarke shows him the culprit before it kills him.

Jimmy Dean

The beloved country singer appears as Charlie Rowlands, who wants his daughter to be a country singer. There’s drama, because she’d rather be a photographer. Jimmy returns in Season 5 as a standup comic who has been lying about having a family. His fantasy is to have the imaginary family brought to life, so he can introduce them to his bride-to-be and impress her.

Helen Reddy

A veteran of The Love Boat, the I Am Woman singer guest stars in Season 5 as Suzi Swann — a woman who is fed up with her fashion designer husband who takes her for granted. Her fantasy is to fall out of love with him.

Mickey Gilley

This is weird. Gilley plays himself — a country singer whose fantasy it is to get the fame and fortune which has so far eluded him. Gilley returns during Season 7 to play the part of a (wait for it…) singer, who this time IS successful. However, he’s not playing the role of himself this time. Instead, Billy Jo Prine has planned a family reunion as his fantasy, with mixed results.

Loretta Lynn

Country icon Lynn made her sole appearance on Fantasy Island in Season 6 (Dec. 11, 1982). She played a — wait for it — singer, who was reuniting with her daughter who is also a singer, but played by a 20-year-old Heather Locklear. Incidentally, Lynn’s character was named Loretta Wentworth (shades of Dallas). She also appeared on Dukes Of Hazzard, which seems more her speed.

Lou Rawls

Deep-voiced soul singer Rawls was no stranger to TV, film and cartoon voiceover work. I remember him having a coughing fit singing You’ll Never Find Another Love Like Mine on the Grammys, but also appearing on Sesame Street and The Muppet Show. In this 1983 episode of Fantasy Island he plays — OMG — a singer, whose fantasy is to perform at The Cotton Club. The venue was popular during prohibition. Black patrons were not allowed, but allowed to perform.

Sammy Davis Jr.

Mr. Show Business made two Fantasy Island appearances. His first in April 1983 as a rich man who is trying to regain his son’s affection. That son? LaVar Burton — post-Roots, but pre-Geordi from Star Trek: The Next Generation. Sammy came back late in Season 7 as a (believe it or not) song-and-dance man who wants to dance with Mr. Bojangles, even though his wife is against it.

Leif Erickson

The veteran actor made his final screen appearance on Fantasy Island in Season 7. I include him because, before he was an actor he was a vocalist and trombone player. He plays the role of Mickey Gilley’s character’s father at a family reunion.

Cindy Wilson

This one has a big asterix next to it, from me. One episode of Season 7 claims Cindy Wilson was in the cast, in a small role. Rotten Tomatoes claims it’s the vocalist from The B-52’s, but I can’t find any photographic or video evidence of that. I simply choose to believe it happened.

Engelbert Humperdinck

A familiar face and voice on The Love Boat, Dinky waited until Fantasy Island‘s final season to finally be one of its guest stars. He plays the role of — yes — a singer who needs confidence to overcome his shyness. The funniest part is that his character’s name is Robert Smith. I wonder if Fantasy Island was just like heaven.

Tanya Tucker

Another Love Boat veteran, Tucker was a year removed from her last hit and her breakup with Glen Campbell. She’d moved to L.A. and was drinking heavily. In five years’ time, her family would convince her to enter the Betty Ford Clinic, which led to a successful comeback. But, when she appeared on Fantasy Island in March of ’84, things were pretty bleak. She plays a singer (wait… what?!) whose fantasy is to become a mother, which she believes will solve her problems.

Tom Jones

Never to be outdone by Humperdinck, the Welsh crooner appeared on the show’s fourth-to-last episode as a shy accountant Jack Palmer, whose fantasy is to have some adventure in his life and becomes legendary British highwayman Dick Turpin.

Other musicians who appeared on the show: Lucie Arnaz, Michele Lee, Desi Arnaz Jr., Connie Stevens, Florence Henderson, Annette Funicello, Donny Most, Jim Stafford, Charo, and The Smothers Brothers.

•         •         •

Area Resident is an Ottawa-based journalist, recording artist, music collector and re-seller. Hear (and buy) his music on Bandcamp, email him HERE, follow him on Instagram and check him out on Discogs.