Gilligan's Island: Waiting for Watubi

Gilligan's Island: Waiting for Watubi
CBS
December 5, 1964
Sitcom
DVD
B-

We learn more about the Skipper's superstitiousness, as he becomes convinced that a native statue has given him the curse of Kona.  So he starts waiting for the witch doctor Watubi, whom Gilligan (on the Professor's prodding) dresses up as, with the girls in quite fetching "native" costumes as his assistants.  Note, for the first time Ginger vamps the Skipper, to cheer him up, even saying that he's someone that a young, attractive girl would be interested in.  He's too depressed to appreciate it.  And, yes, Ginger has now flirted with every male castaway.  Mary Ann is shyer, but she does say Gilligan is wonderful, while the Professor takes her arm when escorting her out of the Skipper's hut.

Written by Lawrence J. Cohen and Fred Freeman, who had collaborated on three earlier episodes and still had one more to come, this is the GI debut for Jack Arnold, who'd direct over one-quarter of the series (and fifteen episodes of The Brady Bunch).

Note Mary Ann violating the "intermittent navel rule,"
 while Ginger has gotten around it by using a jewel.