Gill-Man

What’s In A Gill-Name?

So, what’s the deal on the Creature’s other name? Is the correct nomenclature the “Gill Man,” the “Gill-Man,” the “Gill-man,” the “Gillman,” or some other variation like “gillMan” or “GiL-LmAn?”

While Creature fanatics might argue at length about the proper way to spell their beloved man-fish (or manfish), the simple truth is that there’s no one correct name. From the earliest drafts and treatments to Universal’s publicity release material, every version of the name was used at one time or another, and things only stayed the same for the sequels.

A 4/02/53 draft of Creature From The Black Lagoon’s script refers to him as the “Gill Man,” a 6/08/53 step outline describes him as the “Gill-man,” and the 8/28/53 final screenplay calls him the “Gill-Man.” In Revenge Of The Creature, an examination chart spells his name as “THE GILL MAN,” but this shouldn’t be taken as the last word on the subject because The Creature Walks Among Us misspells a tank of rotenone as “rotonone.”

All these names work perfectly well, and the only thing anyone can agree on is that “Gillman” looks and sounds stupid, and more befits a partner in a law firm, like ‘Sanders, Sanders, and Gillman.’ However, a Mancini cue from Revenge Of The Creature is titled “The Gillman Stomp,” which sounds like an attorney storming away.

The only approach to take is to decide how you’re going to spell the name and then just stick with it. And we at Monstrous Movie Music have decided upon “Gill-Man,” because the creature is often referred to as a man-fish, and there’s certainly a hyphen in there. And since he’s part fish and part man, we liked the “linking” aspect of the hyphen, which makes grammatical sense from an evolutionary standpoint. And we capitalized both words because why should “Gill” be more important than “man?” The Creature’s at least as much like a man as a fish, or at least we’ve never caught a fish looking remotely like him.

So, while we appreciate hearing your comments about how much you enjoy our albums, and we also don’t mind receiving criticism, all letters complaining about our spelling of “Gill-Man” will be referred to our Public Relations officer, Mollie Sue, who will bury them in her backyard.