When legends collide: Bat Masterson vs. the Skipper (from "Gilligan's Island")

Alan Hale Jr., left, as the Skipper, and Gene Barry as Bat Masterson

A confrontation took place in the late 1950s between the man who would go on to become a TV legend as the Skipper on "Gilligan's Island" and the noted actor Gene Barry, who was midway through his first season playing Wild West legend Bat Masterson on the NBC series of the same name.

The incident took place about six years before the premiere of "Gilligan's Island," in an episode of the TV show "Bat Masterson." Here's a clip, filmed entirely on the Upper Iverson Movie Ranch — you can pop it out to full screen by clicking on the frame icon in the lower right corner, next to the YouTube logo:



The clip comes from the episode of "Bat Masterson" titled "A Personal Matter," which was filmed in 1958 and premiered on NBC on Jan. 28, 1959. The action takes place in the Oak Flats area of the Upper Iverson, and along with a number of the location's distinctive oak trees, the clip offers a good look at the famous movie rock known as the Molar.

Here are a few of the highlights, from a location standpoint ...

Around the 8-second mark we get our first look at the Molar, which is identified above.

About 14 seconds in, the above shot shows the close proximity of the Molar to Prominent Rock.

The Line of Trees: This feature marked the western boundary of the Upper Iverson Movie Ranch. On the other side of the Line of Trees was the neighboring Brandeis Ranch, which was also a filming location in the 1930s and 1940s.

Later in the clip we get a shot of the Skipper — er, Alan Hale Jr. — with a number of the famous movie trees of Oak Flats in the background.

A few moments later the clip provides a glimpse of Bear Tree, named after an episode of Disney's 1955 TV serial "The Adventures of Spin and Marty." Please click here to read an earlier blog post about the discovery of Bear Tree.

Finally, a shot near the end of the clip briefly reveals both Round Rock and a tree that was located near Bear Tree that has been referred to in research as Tree D. While Bear Tree, also known as Tree A, survived development and remains in place today on the former Upper Iverson — as does Round Rock — Tree D appears to have been removed sometime in the 1950s.