| "A Nose by Any Other Name" | |
|---|---|
| Season 1, Episode 36 | |
| |
| Gilligan injures his nose and becomes self conscious about his appearance. | |
| Basic Info | |
| Air Date: | 6/12/65 |
| Written By: | Elroy Schwartz |
| Directed By: | Hal Cooper |
| Guest Cast: | None |
| Episode guide | |
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| My Fair Gilligan | Gilligan's Mother-in-Law |
A Nose by Any Other Name is the thirty-sixth and final episode of the first season of Gilligan's Island. It first aired June 12, 1965 on CBS.
Synopsis[]
While collecting coconuts, the Skipper sends Gilligan up another tree against his will to get more, but Gilligan distractedly reaches out too far and falls to the ground. Hearing his scream, both the Skipper and Professor come running and find Gilligan unconscious on the ground and his nose swelling up. As the first real accident on the Island, it makes the Professor realize that everyone needs to learn how to do first aid. Unfortunately, in trying to teach Mrs. Howell and the girls how to treat each other, Mr. Howell and the Skipper sprain their arms in falls from tables. However, the Professor sprains his arm and his leg. Meanwhile, Gilligan becomes self-conscious about his nose and starts to believe it's broken and will never heal. Both Ginger and Mary Ann pretend to flirt with him to get his mind off his nose, but he overhears them talking with Mrs. Howell, and his insecurity returns worse than before. He pleads with the Professor to operate on his nose, and the Professor finally relents. A mold is made of his head, briefly turning him into a monster which actually terrifies the women on the island and even himself at one point. The girls then make celebrity noses for Gilligan to choose from for his operation, and after the Castaways aid the Professor in the surgery, Gilligan goes five days with a with a bandage on his nose. When it finally comes off, he looks in the mirror disappointingly because he has his own nose back. The Professor confesses he only faked the surgery for Gilligan's benefit, putting the bandage on his nose to distract him from it. Although disjointed from the fact, Gilligan is content to be back to normal, but later that week as Gilligan is caddying for Mr. Howell, the Skipper joins them. Mr. Howell tries teaching the Skipper how to golf, who rears his club back and hears a familiar scream. Terrified he hit Gilligan again, he and Mr. Howell look back to the Professor, who in trying to join in now has his nose as swollen as Gilligan's nose was. Gilligan panics and yells "Dr. Gilligan to surgery."
Message[]
- "Further proof that time heals all wounds."
Highlights[]
- Ginger and Mary-Ann pretending to flirt with Gilligan to get his mind off his nose.
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
- None
Quotes[]
- Gilligan - [carrying a large sum of coconuts] "Maybe one coconut weighs nothing, maybe two coconuts weigh nothing, but fifty nothings weigh something!"
- Gilligan - "I could just rest all day and take it easy if my name wasn't Gilligan."
- Gilligan - "Professor, it's broken; it's broken!"
Professor - "Gilligan, I'm sure it's just bruised; it's only slightly swollen."
Ginger - "Slightly swollen?! Gilligan, you'd better look out for the pelicans during mating season!"
- Professor - "Now, Ginger, suppose a man is lying unconscious. He's just suffered a severe concussion. What would you do?"
Ginger - "I'd give him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation."
Professor - "That wouldn't help."
Ginger - "Wouldn't hurt."
Professor - "You're supposed to cover him with a blanket to make sure he doesn't suffer from shock."
Ginger - "And then I give him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation."
- Gilligan - "That's a beautiful name. "
Ginger - "I know. Roxanne."
Gilligan - "No, Cyrano de Bergerac..."
- Mrs. Howell - "Ah, Your poor, poor nose! It really is an awful mess. It's actually swollen to the size of a 55 carat diamond!"
- Gilligan - "If I thought a nose like this would make girls throw themselves at my feet I would've busted it years ago."
- Mrs. Howell - "After all a nose isn't everything."
Mr. Howell - "It is if you're an anteater."
- Professor - "I just finished cooking up an anesthetic for you. Anesthetic. To put you asleep during the operation."
Gilligan - "If I go to sleep, I'll miss everything!"
Professor - "Would you rather stay up?"
Gilligan - "Keep cooking..."
- Mr. Howell - "I wonder is this anything like making mud pies?"
Skipper - "You never made mud pies when you were a kid?"
Mr. Howell - "No. Mother had the butler do it for me."
Skipper - "Gosh, you sure missed a lot when you were young."
Mr. Howell - "It had its advantages. He took my spankings too."
Trivia[]
- The name of the episode is an homage to a line from Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet," specifically, "What's in a name? A rose by any other name would smell as sweet."
- Much of the episode's plot revolves around Gilligan's injured nose. Possibly getting more injuries through the series than any of the Castaways, he also receives injuries in Love Me, Love My Skipper and Forward March.
- When the "operation" is about to begin, Gilligan says he might feel better if the Professor looks like Dr. Casey. Mr. Howell then says that he wants to look like Dr. Zorba. In the episode The Postman Cometh, he again claims he's Dr. Zorba in Mary Ann's dream sequence. Dr. Zorba was a character played by actor Sam Jaffee on the "Ben Casey" TV-series.
- This is the first time Gilligan terrifies the women on the island, this time dressed as a jungle creature. He also terrifies the girls as a mummy in Gilligan's Personal Magnetism. In dream sequences, he also plays Dracula in Up at Bat and Mr. Hyde in And Then There Were None.
- When the girls try to make Gilligan feel better, they tell him about Edmond Rostand's Cyrano de Bergerac, claiming that Cyrano and Roxane ended up together. However, in Rostand's play, Cyrano actually dies just as Roxane discovers he loved her.
- Gilligan passes out after inhaling the Professor's sedative. He also passes out (faints) in ]]How to Be a Hero]] and in Quick Before It Sinks.
- When Gilligan goes for surgery, the Castaways are all wearing surgical outfits. While this could be an hallucination from the anesthetic, they were possibly washed up on the island behind the scenes with medical supplies, especially since the Professor has an unexplained Hypodermic Needle in Slave Girl.
- It's uncertain as to how Gilligan talks so well with the hardened clay on his head since it would have hardened with his lips and jaw in a closed position.
- Mary Ann is seen without her signature pig tails while making the noses with Ginger.
- Gilligan is given a number of Hollywood celebrity noses for his attempted surgery. Among the noses he is given a choice of are Burt Lancaster, Cary Grant, Gregory Peck, John Wayne, James Garner, Richard Burton, Tony Curtis, Jimmy Stewart and Jack Lemmon. Julie Andrews and Elizabeth Taylor are also mentioned in passing.
- In New Neighbor Sam, it's revealed Ginger has had training in first aid, which possibly explains why she helps the Professor in medical aide, such as in Bang! Bang! Bang! when Gilligan loses his fillings and requires dental assistance.
- When Gilligan approaches Mrs. Howell with the hardened clay around his head, we hear what sounds like him ringing a buzzer at the Howell's entrance. This is never repeated for the rest of the series.
- This is the last episode to air in black and white as well as the last one to air the original version of "The Ballad of Gilligan's Isle" as sung by The Wellingtons with the line "And the rest..." Starting in the next season, the series went to color lyrics and the theme song was changed to "The Professor and Mary Ann," finally crediting Russell Johnson and Dawn Wells in the opening credits.
- The Professor also injures his nose in Gilligan Goes Gung-Ho while acting from one of Ginger's scripts.
- This is the second time The Professor gets injured. The first time was Three to Get Ready when he hit his forehead in one of the caves.
- This is the last episode to air in black and white, and the final episode to have The Ballad of Gilligan's Isle sung by The Wellingtons with the last line: "And the rest, are here on Gilligan's Isle". The switch to color also allowed for a new tag in color where the Castaways wait by the beach as Gilligan and the Skipper fight over fire wood.