“My friends, I am Mr. Roarke, your host. Welcome to Fantasy Island!”
Thus spoke Ricardo Montalban’s character on “Fantasy Island” as he greeted his guests each week. (Not to mention his trademark, “Smiles, everyone, smiles” to his staff before the guests arrived).
Every episode, characters (portrayed by celebrity guest stars, a la The Love Boat), would fly into Fantasy Island to have their wildest fantasies (well, at least the ones they could show on television) fulfilled.
And, of course, there was Tattoo, Mr. Roarke’s diminutive assistant, who as the plane was landing on Fantasy Island, would climb up to a bell tower, ring the bell, and announce, “Da plane! Da plane!”
According to Wikipedia.com, from 1980 to 1982, Wendy Schaal joined the cast as another assitant. Herve Villechaize, who played Tattoo, quit before the show’s final season, and was replaced by Christopher Hewett (who later went on to star in “Mr. Belvedere.”)
Among the guest stars: Eve Plumb (“Jan” from “The Brady Bunch”), Fred Grandy (“Gopher” from “The Love Boat,” Adam West (from the ‘60s “Batman” series), and many, many more.
Some sites to check out:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077008/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fantasy_Island
You can check out the beginning of “Fantasy Island” on YouTube at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GX-pVhTZg0U
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