Lovey's Secret Admirer

Lovey's Secret Admirer is the 87th episode of Gilligan's Island and the 19th episode of the third season. It first aired on January 23, 1967.

Synopsis
Mrs. Howell has been receiving strange love letters from someone on the Island. Mr. Howell wants to know who the notes are coming from. The Professor creates a lie detector to guess the secret admirer. After eliminating himself, Gilligan and the Skipper, he and the others try to discover the identity of the secret admirer. They catch Mr. Howell in the middle of the night leaving another letter. In the morning, Mrs. Howell is stunned that he was keeping it a secret, but is insulted when he reveals he wanted her to feel more special than the girls. Lovey sends him away, but that night she dreams she is Cinderella, Ginger and Mary Ann are evil step-sisters, Skipper is the step-mother as well as a courier along with the Professor, Mr. Howell is the prince, and Gilligan is a bumbling fairy godfather. At the end of the dream, Lovey realizes Thurston has always been her prince and they reconcile.

Afterwards, Mary Ann finds Gilligan playing with the lie detector and questions him about a missing pie, but when she catches him in a lie, it burns out the Professor's lie detector.

Message

 * "It's wonderful to appreciate others, and it's just as wonderful to be appreciated."

Highlights

 * Mary-Ann and Ginger fake-fighting to get Skipper's attention.
 * Mrs. Howell's "Cinderella" dream.
 * Gilligan in the lie detector.

Credits
Main Cast
 * Bob Denver as Gilligan
 * Alan Hale, Jr. as The Skipper
 * Jim Backus as Mr. Howell
 * Natalie Schafer as Mrs. Howell
 * Tina Louise as Ginger
 * Dawn Wells as Mary Ann
 * Russell Johnson as The Professor

Guest Cast
 * William Curtis as the Royal Messenger
 * Charles Maxwell as the Royal Messenger (voice only - unconfirmed)

Trivia

 * Alan Hale, Jr. appears in drag for the second time; he also appears as Gilligan's mother in The Invasion and as a fake bride in Gilligan the Goddess.
 * Cinderella's mansion is actually a redressed version of Dr. Boris Balinkoff's torture chamber from The Friendly Physician.
 * In Mrs. Howell's dream, Cinderella has to make the beds, do the wash, chop the wood, milk the cow, do the dishes, iron the clothes, sweep the chimney and then go to work.
 * In Mrs. Howell's dream sequence, he mop has a metal base with just a few cloth strands on it. This type of mop wasn't prevalent in the Middle Ages. However, given its a dream, Mrs. Howell couldn't have known this.
 * When Gilligan plays with the Professor's lie detector, he says he loves spinach and gets a negative response. This is contrary to Pass the Vegetables, Please when he says loves spinach, although the consequences of that episode might have led to him hating it.
 * Syndicated versions omit the ending with Gilligan playing with the Professor's lie detector.

Quotes

 * Mr. Howell - "He may be a volcano, but I'm about to erupt!"

Mary Ann - "If I had, he certainly kept it a secret. Have you ever had a secret admirer, Ginger?" Ginger - "I once had an admirer who had a secret: a wife and eight kids."
 * Mrs. Howell - "Have you ever had a secret admirer, Mary Ann?"

Professor - "Well, I have a B.S. from UCLA, an M.A. from SMU and a Ph.D. from TCU." Mr. Howell - "Well, I don't know anything about your education, but it sounds like a great recipe for alphabet soup!"
 * Mr. Howell - "Professor, what are your degrees?"

Fairy Godfather - "I'm your fairy godfather." Cinderella - "I didn't know I had a fairy godfather." Fairy Godfather - "Well, your fairy godmother was busy so for tonight they let me in the union."
 * Cinderella - "Who are you?"

Cinderella - "Yes, and it was just my hand." Prince Charming - "I'm not sure, but I think it kissed back!"
 * Prince Charming - "That was some kiss."