What Mary Ann Learned on the Island

March 6, 2009 10:25 AM

Mary Ann, rescued from the Island, retires to Idaho and shills for the Idaho Potato Board. As no one thought to grab the potato peeler from the Minnow's galley, she learned to do without. [SLYT]. Oh, she still has the hots for the Professor's spud. (0:55)
posted by webhund (32 comments total)

She looks good for her age. (How old is she?)
posted by oddman at 10:29 AM on March 6

Is this post intended as an update on Dawn Wells or to inform about an alternative way to peel a potato? Because it kinda fails at both.
posted by wabashbdw at 10:32 AM on March 6 [1 favorite has favorites]

Do you work for the Idaho Potato Board, webhund? Because I can't think of another reason why anyone would post this clip.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 10:32 AM on March 6

taterflagged
posted by found missing at 10:37 AM on March 6 [2 favorites has favorites]

Well, I'm sure the National Potato Peeler Manufacturing Council is going to have a cow when they see her suggest you throw away the peeler.

Is that really an Idahoan accent?
posted by Thorzdad at 10:38 AM on March 6

That's not all she's learned to do without.
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 10:38 AM on March 6

Sorry, potato. When I think Dawn Wells, I think of another cash crop (one that she shared with Bob Denver, apparently.)
posted by Spatch at 10:38 AM on March 6

HARDCORE TATERS
posted by EarBucket at 10:42 AM on March 6

Perhaps a more important question for Mary Ann might be, "And what's with this '...and the rest' crap?!"
posted by mosk at 10:44 AM on March 6

[this is depressing]
posted by DU at 10:48 AM on March 6

If you use Mary Ann, it won't scan to "House of the Rising Sun" or "Tangled Up In Blue".

Duh!
posted by Kid Charlemagne at 11:24 AM on March 6

Mary Ann is simply apeeling.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 11:29 AM on March 6 [1 favorite has favorites]

[this is depressing]

Nah.

God damn. She is a pro. I worked in film and I've worked on plenty of goofy little industrial and commercial projects with older celebs. And some of them just ooozed pathos and made it plain that they despised how far they had fallen and it showed. That's what makes it depressing.

But look at her. Sure it's a youtube video about Idaho potato peeling tips. But she pulls it off like "Hey I think this is awesome peeling god damn potatoes in Idaho! Yeah!"

I'm mean I want to go home right now and try that shit out.

Being able to sell Idaho potatoes convincingly is the difference between a hack and pro.
posted by tkchrist at 11:38 AM on March 6 [9 favorites has favorites]

Over the years I've felt a nagging sense of shame about how pre-adolescent me came down on the whole "Ginger/Mary Ann" issue. This video tells me I was right to question myself.
posted by mph at 11:39 AM on March 6

in the show, she's from kansas...just btw...

And some of them just ooozed pathos and made it plain that they despised how far they had fallen and it showed.

are you talking smack about the professor? 'cause i'm about to... working at a bookstore in the early 90's, he came in to do a book-signing for his G.I. tell-all book. we'd set up the store with tropical flower arrangements and were playing the show's theme when he arrived. there were a few dozen people waiting for his autograph, mostly middle-aged women giggling like schoolgirls (i guess he was considered quite a hunk back then...proto-geek-chic i guess). he comes in drunk (and you would be shocked, shocked i tell you, at the percentage of authors who show up to book-signings shitfaced...srsly...its 100), screams at us to shut off that goddamn music or hes leaving, refuses to sit down until we do, radiates waves of surly for the next hour or so, then leaves with all the flower arrangements, and minus a few dozen fans. not one word to one member of the staff.
awful.
posted by sexyrobot at 12:00 PM on March 6 [4 favorites has favorites]

Aaaaaand it's gone.
posted by DandyRandy at 12:21 PM on March 6

Notice how she has tell the viewers to use tongs to remove the potato from the boiling water instead of their fingers? Because anyone who thinks that all the steps involved in that rigmarole is easier than using a potato peeler is obviously half-baked.
posted by PareidoliaticBoy at 12:30 PM on March 6

Peel potatoes without a peeler? I blanch at the suggestion!
posted by mazola at 12:36 PM on March 6 [1 favorite has favorites]

Turn on stove, draw water, bring to boil, score potato, boil potato for 15 minutes. Go to refrigerator remove ice cubes, put ice cubes in bowl. Now, get tongs remove potato place in bowl with ice cubes, and now remove peel. Now wash the bowl the tongs the pot.

Or peel potato.

No wonder they never could get off that island
posted by pianomover at 12:46 PM on March 6 [2 favorites has favorites]

*sigh*

I think the assumption is, you were going to boil the potatoes, anyway. I'm going to try this the next time I make mashed potatoes. Skip the whole peeling part. You really wouldn't need (or want) the ice bath or tongs, either, I'm guessing. Just dump and drain them in a collander the way you normally would but then run cold water over them, too, until they're just cool enough to handle without burning yourself. Then squeeze off the skins, and mash according to your normal recipe. Which I'm assuming has something to do with coconuts.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 1:03 PM on March 6 [1 favorite has favorites]

or: peel potato. heat up small saucepan with hot oil. add peels, fry them. eat them.

or: dont peel potato. enjoy vitamins, more flavor.

just sayin'
posted by sexyrobot at 1:09 PM on March 6 [2 favorites has favorites]

Or: Squeeze off the peels in two large neat pieces as above. Heat up small saucepan with hot oil, anyway. Add peels. Fry them. Top with cheeze and bacon bits. Eat them.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 1:18 PM on March 6 [1 favorite has favorites]

*sigh*

I'm 45 years old. Why do I still spell "cheese" with a "z"?
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 1:22 PM on March 6

For being a little shill vid, I enjoyed this.

For one, it's kinda cool to see Dawn Wells looking so good and sounding so upbeat, even though it's been 30+ years since Gilligan's Island was a staple of my after-school TV viewing routine. I was a huge fan of G.I. back in the day. The Professor was an early inspiration to go into science education, and the first time one of my students called me "Professor", I nearly plotzed. And I always thought Mary Ann was more classy, etc., than Ginger, anyway.

Secondly, this is a great cooking tip, really. It works with tomatoes and peaches, too. Probably other fruits. If you want to save yourself a load of trouble peeling, do this boiling water then ice water thing and the peels come right off.

Peeling potatoes is probably one of the rate-limiting steps for people who'd like to prepare them, so it's probably a wise marketing ploy to show people how to do it easier and with less mess.
posted by darkstar at 2:07 PM on March 6

Fry them. Top with cheeze and bacon bits. Eat them.

That sounds like a fantastic idea!
posted by darkstar at 2:08 PM on March 6

I'm 45 years old. Why do I still spell "cheese" with a "z"?

Ours might be the first generation where a disctinction between real food ( cheese, cream ) and artificial food (cheeze, creme ) exists.
posted by mikelieman at 2:21 PM on March 6 [1 favorite has favorites]

LOVE THIS! and wow, the quick peel sure caught me off guard....
posted by bluesky43 at 3:06 PM on March 6

dawn wells is over 70 years old. why does she still have the vocal inflections of a 14 year old?
posted by kitchenrat at 4:11 PM on March 6

Use the doll to show Mary Ann where the Professor touched you.
posted by squalor at 4:24 PM on March 6

He touched me in the coconuts.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 4:42 PM on March 6

Your kind of coconuts IRFH or her kind of coconuts? =)

Mary Ann all the way. Ginger was always too high-maintenance and there were never any doubt as to whether she could (not) carry a conversation, although she, the actor, does seem to be much much more than her role on GI.

Thanks sexyrobot for the anecdote! I once aspired to be as debonair and knowledgeable as the professor, but went into bio instead of... electrical? civil? eccentrical? That's what I loved about SCIENCE! science 'back in the day' - one could actually be a bigshot in a large number of loosely associated fields. Captain Nemo, anyone? Nowadays, much harder unless one's willing to be a dilettante.
posted by porpoise at 7:56 PM on March 6

Wait, wait, wait. She's over 70? Really? Nuh-uh.

. . .

Per Wikipedia. Dawn Elberta Wells (born October 18, 1938, in Reno, Nevada)

. . .

Wow, just wow.
posted by oddman at 12:56 PM on April 3