Diamonds Are an Ape's Best Friend

Diamonds Are an Ape's Best Friend is the 22nd episode of Gilligan's Island. It aired November 27, 1965.

Synopsis
One morning, Mrs. Howell discovers her diamond brooch missing, unaware it has been taken by a gorilla attracted to her perfume on it. She gets abducted by it as a result and the other Castaways try to rescue her. Eventually, the Professor realizes its attraction to her perfume and decide to use it to lead the gorilla into a trap. When Gilligan runs back to get it, he accidentally turns the open bottle upside down and douses himself with it. When he gets back to the Professor and Skipper, the scent on him is over-powering and the gorilla abducts him in exchange for Mrs. Howell. Now, Gilligan needs to be rescued, and as the Skipper and Professor try to mix a similar perfume, Gilligan escapes back to camp; the gorilla having run off with a female gorilla.

Message

 * "Birds of a feather flock together."

Highlights

 * First appearance of Janos Prohaska

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
 * Janos Prohaska as the Gorilla
 * Unknown actress as the female gorilla

Trivia

 * The title of this episode is from the Marilyn Monroe movie, "Diamonds Are a Girl's best Friend."
 * When the Ape throws the Skipper to the ground; this is actually a dummy dressed to look like the Skipper.
 * Janos Prohaska also reappeared Gilligan's Island as an ape in "Forward March" and "Our Vines Have Tender Apes." He later guest starred with Bob Denver on "Dusty's Trail" playing a gorilla and a bear.
 * Janos Prohaska also appeared in the Star Trek episode "The Devil in the Dark" as the Horta.
 * The identity of the actor/actress playing the female ape is unknown, but it might be Janos's wife. The costume later turns up as Gladys in Beauty Is as Beauty Does.
 * On an episode of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," the TV announcer mentions this episode in passing as "the one where a female gorilla falls in love in Gilligan" - apparently an in-joke reference to this episode.

Quotes

 * Mr. Howell - "It is insured, isn't it?" Mr. Howell - "That won't do us any good financially." Mr. Howell - "Why not?" Mr. Howell - "We own the insurance company."


 * Ginger - "If he comes through the ceiling, I'm going out through the wall!"


 * Professor - "He's not only strong, but he's smart too. We'll have to camouflage this pretty well to fool him." Gilligan - "If you put a punch of bananas in here, I'd go get them." Skipper - "That's right, Gilligan, but as the Professor just pointed out, the ape is smart."


 * Professor - "Ginger, you know what you're supposed to do. " Ginger - "Yeah, attract a gorilla. I hope my agent doesn't hear about this."


 * Gilligan - "Sorry, it's empty." Professor - "Uh, you don't have to tell us what happened."