GINGER SPICE 'Island' girl Tina Louise a jazz singer? Here's the best perk of being a journalist, kids. You get to talk to the famous women who first made your thing sing. Actress Tina Louise has been many years off "Gilligan's Island," so many I was told I wouldn't get this chance-of-a-lifetime interview if I mentioned her age. But her character retains a timeless beauty that lives on through reruns on TBS and TNT. Ginger Grant was "the movie star" on the TV series, which ran from '64-'67 on CBS. And Louise hasn't done too poorly as a working film actress in real life. Louise has had roles in "God's Little Acre" (1958) and "The Stepford Wives" (1975). More recently she acted alongside Brad Pitt in 1992's "Johnny Suede" and in "Welcome to Woop Woop," this year's comedic followup to director Stephan Elliott's outrageous "The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert." But Tina Louise has another side to her few know about. The fiery redhead was quite the crooner in her early days, singing in Broadway musicals such as "Lil' Abner" and "Fade Out, Fade In." She even recorded an album of Cole Porter, George Gershwin and other lounge music standards in 1957, "It's Time For Tina." Thanks to the resurgence of interest in jazz singing -- and the continued popularity of "Gilligan's Island" -- that album was re-released this month on Tainted Records, a label started by Louise's daughter/manager, Caprice. Louise spoke to me from her New York home, following an interview she granted "Entertainment Tonight." Q: Thanks for speaking to me. You were my very first crush, you know. A: Thank you. I'm flattered. Q: I bet you get that a lot. Does that mean anything to you? A: Of course it means something to me. But it would have given me more pleasure to have known about it a long time ago. Q: Was singing a side career or something you were pursuing as your first love? A: Acting was always the main thing I wanted to do. I started out in musical comedy. And to get out of the chorus, I put together this little nightclub act. So singing was a way to sort of get attention. And I was just approached to do this album when I was still in my teens. The whole thing was pretty much a lark in the beginning. I loved singing, I was totally fearless. But I very quickly realized that I didn't want to spend my life on the road. So I got back to Broadway and then I got my first film. Q: How does it feel to hear these songs years later? A: It kind of got my motor going, and I'm thinking I'd like to try it again. Now that I'm grown up and have a little bit more personal experience. I might bring some different feelings to the music, and I would like to. Q: So you still sing? A: Do I work on my voice? No. But I guess I would if I knew if I was going to do another album. Q: Why didn't they let you sing on "Gilligan's Island"? A: Oh, they did. How could anybody forget the Honeybees? And once I sang to Bob (Denver, who played Gilligan). I was a nurse in a hospital during a dream sequence. Q: I stand corrected... Oh, wait a minute. I suddenly just remembered a Marilyn Monroe thing you did, also. A: Oh, that's right. We had a show and I sang "I Wanna Be Loved By You." That was great, the way that was shot. Q: In addition to your acting, I read in a TV Guide article that you've been doing charity work lately. A: I've been working with children in Manhattan public schools since 1995. I take two students, spend about two hours with them, twice a week. Both of my students this semester didn't speak English in the beginning of the year. One came from the Congo and only spoke French. The other was Hungarian. And they did really great. They're in the first grade and they tested in the 88th percentile at the end of the year. Q: That's great. Do the kids recognize you? A: The first year, when I was working with second graders. But not these children, since they come from other countries. Q: They're also probably too young. But I'd bet a lot of older children have gotten into the "Gilligan's Island" episodes since they're on cable every day. A: I do get a lot of mail. It's just incredible. I think the whole world just loves to fantasize. They always think there's something better than what they've got -- including my ex-boyfriend. He was looking at me on the reruns late at night, I found out. Q: Did you receive any offers to replace Ginger Spice? A: Quite a few. All the newspapers called. Even my mother wanted me to have that job. But after discussing it with my daughter, we thought better of it. Q: Have you made peace with your TV alter ego? A: Absolutely. Q: I remember they replaced you in those awful TV reunion movies in the '70s. A: That's because I never wanted to do those. For what it was -- a half-hour show -- it worked. But it wasn't a two-hour movie. Q: So it wasn't your association with the character you objected to. It was the movies themselves? A: At the time they asked me, I had just given birth to my child. And I just wanted to get back to my dramatic acting, which I did. And it wasn't a priority for me, unless they would have paid me. I was a single parent, and they were kind of skimping on things. It was a low-budget enterprise. And I'm a high- budget girl. Q: I need to ask you some goofy "Gilligan's Island" questions. Feel free to hang up at any time. A: Go ahead. Q: Did any of the actors ever hook up with each other on the set? A: No, not to my knowlege. Q: Who would have been the two most likely to? A: I'd say Bob and Mary Ann, and it looks like they did. (Laughs) That's an inside joke. Q: You're talking about the arrest? (Denver, 63, was arrested on June 5, after he allegedly received a package containing marijuana at his West Virginia home. Shortly after Denver's arrest, a West Virginia TV station quoted an anonymous source naming the sender as Dawn Wells, the actress who played Mary Ann.) A: I said, that's an inside joke. We don't want to get into that. Q: Which castaway was the most difficult to work with? A: Nobody, really. You had to be in a good mood and have a lot of fun to do that. I think that radiated in the show. Q: How come the Professor could figure out how to build an electrical generator from coconuts, but he couldn't build a boat? A: Ask Sherwood Schwartz (creator of the show). Do we have to have so many "Gilligan's Island" questions? Q: That was the last one. I have to ask you about something else you don't want to talk about, though -- your age. I'm not going to print it. But I need to ask why you don't want it revealed. A: Oh, because it's just a state of mind. Twenty-nine and staying there is a state of mind. I work out six times a week. It just makes me feel better, I guess. Q: Thanks for your time, Tina. A: Thank you.