From the very beginning, Ginger had her heart set on Audrey becoming an actress like herself. By the time the little girl was three years old, her mother had her learning to walk straight by walking with a stack of books on her head.

"Don't you think she's a little young for that?" asked Mary Ann.

"Not at all," Ginger replied. "If she's going to be successful at competing in Hollywood, she has to start young."

"But what if she doesn't want to be an actress?" Mary Ann asked.

"But of course she will," Ginger said. "When she sees how glamorous the life of a movie star is, she'll know it's the only life for her."

Mary Ann wasn't sure about that at all, but she didn't want to start an argument about it, so she said nothing.

From a very early age, Audrey showed a definite interest in science and nature. She spent hours tagging along behind the Professor, asking him endless questions such as why the sky was blue and why it was dark at night. She loved to collect hermit crabs and watch them crawl around, and when she caught a caterpillar, she proudly showed it to the Professor. Her eyes grew round with wonder as he explained to her how it would spin a cocoon and then emerge from it as a butterfly.

The Professor put the caterpillar in a clear glass jar with some sticks and leaves, and Audrey came back every day to watch its progress. She was excited when the caterpillar spun a cocoon, thrilled when the butterfly emerged from the cocoon, and distraught when the Professor opened the jar and set the butterfly free.

"It wouldn't be happy just living in a jar," the Professor explained. "It would want to be free to go wherever it wanted. You wouldn't like it if you had to just stay in the hut all the time and never come out, would you?"

Audrey shook her head. "But it was so pretty!"

"That's why it needs to be free," the Professor told her. "So that the whole world can enjoy its beauty."

Ginger and Mary Ann showed Audrey books with pictures of families - mothers, fathers, and children.

"Is Gilligan my daddy?" asked Audrey. "He has dark hair and eyes like I do."

"No," said Ginger. "Your daddy was a man named Igor. He had to go away, but if he knew about you, I'm sure he'd love you just like I do."

"Will I ever meet him?"

"I don't know. He had to go back to his own country."

"What does he look like? Do you have a picture of him?"

"I don't have a picture of him, but he was very tall and had hair and eyes just like yours."

"I wish I could visit him."

"So do I, sweetheart. Perhaps we can someday, if we ever get off this island."

"I wish I had a brother or sister. I'm tired of being the only little kid on the island."

"I know, sweetie. Maybe you will some day."

Audrey was very intelligent and was able to read before her fourth birthday. She picked up counting and simple addition and subtraction very quickly as well. Gilligan and Mary Ann spent hours using seashells or small pebbles to illustrate adding and taking away.

Ginger, who still wanted a show business career for her daughter, taught her many Broadway songs, and by the age of five, Audrey was putting on short skits for the entertainment of the castaways.

"You've got yourself a great little actress there, Ginger," the Skipper said after one such performance.

"She's very talented," the Professor agreed. "Given the appropriate circumstances, I'm sure she'd achieve stellar success."

"And not only that, but if we ever got rescued, she could go to Hollywood and become famous just like her mom," added Gilligan.

"I want that for her so badly," Ginger sighed.