Scalping in V for Vitamins

"Gilligan's Island": V for Vitamins (TV Episode 1966)
Episode aired 14 April 1966The Professor tells his fellow castaways that if they don't find a way to grow more oranges and other fruits on the island, they risk dying from vitamin deficiencies.The story starts with a blatant stereotype:

Gilligan's Island Script
Episode #66, "V for Vitamins"EXT – CLEARING – DAY

Ginger and Skipper are in the clearing. The Skipper has a tablecloth over his front and Ginger is cutting his hair.

SKIPPER
Please, Ginger, not too much off the top!

Ginger
Just a little bit more, Skipper.

SKIPPER
But I believe you're part Indian...you're trying to scalp me!

Ginger
You're a sailor. Sailors should have crew cuts.

SKIPPER
Well I don't mind a crew cut, but you're trying to remove the entire crew!

Savage Indians in The Sweepstakes

"Gilligan's Island": The Sweepstakes (TV Episode 1965)
Episode aired 14 October 1965Gilligan wins a million-dollar sweepstakes and is invited to the Howell's country club. After feeling lonely he issues IOUs to the others so they may also attend. He quickly misplaces the wining ticket and they all get evicted.Comment:  In a "Wild West" dream sequence, Prospector Howell and Marshal Gilligan meet sweet, innocent Mary Ann. The following dialogue ensues:GILLIGAN: Keep your hands where I can see 'em.

MARY ANN: Oh, marshal. it's just me.

MARY ANN: Sweet little warm-hearted girl of the golden west me.

GILLIGAN: Why are you crying, Mary Ann?

HOWELL: Will you have a little drink on me?

HOWELL: Would you like a little drink?

MARY ANN: Oh, dare I say it in front of a stranger?

HOWELL: Well, I'm not a stranger.

HOWELL: I'm a friend of your father's.

MARY ANN: Was.

HOWELL: You mean, he passed over?

MARY ANN: Helped by the Apache.

HOWELL: Well, your mother and me, we were kind of friendly.

MARY ANN: Pushed out by the Cherokee.

HOWELL: Your brother, Tom?

MARY ANN: Sioux.

HOWELL: Your sister, Emily?

MARY ANN: Navajo.

HOWELL: Your dear, sweet, innocent little grandmother?

MARY ANN: Shot by the marshal.

GILLIGAN: Well, you can't win 'em all.The obvious meaning is that Indians are anonymous and interchangeable savages. As if tribes in three widely separated regions took turns surrounding a cabin and picking off settlers one by one.

The dialogue doesn't explicitly say the Indians killed anyone, but it strongly implies it. No one would get the impression that the Indians kindly "helped" the settlers pack up and move to a better location.

It's a typical example of 1960s stereotyping--trying to have it both ways. The writers might have learned enough not to label Indians as bloodthirsty killers and scalpers. But they wanted to use that racist idea, so they cloaked it in veiled language and slipped it in.

Savage Indians in The Little Dictator

Another stereotypical episode of Gilligan's Island:

"Gilligan's Island": The Little Dictator (TV Episode 1965)
Episode aired 30 September 1965A Latin American dictator is exiled to the island, and he immediately declares himself dictator of the island, with Gilligan as his puppet leader in training.A video of the episode:

Gilligan's Island The Little Dictator S02E03

You can see Indians at the 21:32 mark.

The setup is that Gilligan is dreaming about being a Latin American dictator. Everyone shows him glimpses of "his" country through a window, including Ginger aka Secret Agent 0036. The scene goes like this:DICTATOR: And I say the country is in great shape.

GINGER: And I say it's in terrible shape. Take a look.

Gilligan looks at her bikini-clad body.

GINGER: Not at me. At the state of the country.

GILLIGAN: Oh.

He looks out as whooping and yelling fill the air. He sees rampaging Indians on horseback, many wearing headdresses, from an old Western movie.

GILLIGAN: That must be the window facing the west.So Indians = a country in terrible shape. Chaos and destruction. The decline and fall of civilization.

That's stereotypical.

Rain dance in Gilligan's Island

Some Native stereotyping from a popular 1960s TV show:

"Gilligan's Island": Water, Water Everywhere (TV Episode 1965)
Episode aired 2 January 1965The castaways desperately try to find a new water source as they have completely exhausted their current water supply.Gilligan’s Island Transcript
Episode #14, “Water, Water Everywhere”EXT. JUNGLE - DAY

Mrs. Howell wears a headband with a feather in it. Her dress looks vaguely native American, but she has accessorized it with a broach and pearls.

MRS HOWELL
I can't understand it, Thurston. All that nonsense about a divining rod to bring water.

MR HOWELL (O.S.)
Yes, I know. Totally unscientific.

MRS HOWELL
Are you ready?

Mr. Howell enters dressed in a Cherokee ceremonial headdress.

MR HOWELL
Yes, any time you are, my dear. One, two, three.

The Howells perform a "rain dance."

HOWELLS
Ha!

Mr. Howell and Mrs. Howell look to the sky.

MR HOWELL
Rain!

Mr. Howell looks at his dry palm and then back up at the sky.

MR HOWELL (cont'd)
You're not listening.

MRS HOWELL
I don't understand it. It worked last year in Yellowstone Park for the Cherokees.

Comment:  I don't remember the line about the Cherokees. The show may have eliminated it during filming.

The fact that it's in the script makes the stereotyping worse. Clearly the writers didn't know the difference between Plains and Cherokee Indians, or anything.

Eddie Little Sky in Gilligan's Island

Actor Eddie Little Sky appeared three times on Gilligan's Island--twice as Polynesian natives and once as a "witch doctor" with Mesoamerican roots. Here's more on him:
Eddie Little SkyEddie Little Sky was born August 15, 1926, as Edsel Wallace Little on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in Shannon County, South Dakota to Oglala Lakota parents, Wallace Little, Sr. and Wileminna Colhoff. He also served in the United States Navy and worked as a bull rider and bareback rider in the rodeo. As an actor, he took the name "Eddie Little Sky" and starred in numerous in numerous feature films and over sixty television shows, mostly Westerns, playing Native Americans at a time most Indians were often played by white actors under heavy make-up. He was one of the first Native American actors to play Native American roles and is best remembered for his performance as Black Eagle in "A Man Called Horse' (1970). He was also technical adviser for the movie "Soldier Blue."Comment:  For more on Gilligan's Island, see Indigenous Episodes in Gilligan's Island and Native Voodoo in Gilligan's Island.

Indigenous episodes in Gilligan's Island

Some info on the indigenous-themed episodes of Gilligan's Island:

NativesNatives" is the generic term for the local indigenous tribes that live in the area around "Gilligan's Island," small island nations of Polynesian and Papuan aborigines somewhere in the castaways proximity. These tribes worship a number of gods, possibly deified ancestors, and practice a number of rites including cannibalism, head-hunting and a practice resembling Voodoo of the Caribbean Sea.A list of the episodes:

Two on a Raft (Season 1, Episode 1): Each group of castaways fears that the other group is headhunters.

Waiting for Watubi (Season 1, Episode 10): A buried stone idol seems to carry a curse.

How to Be a Hero (Season 1, Episode 23): Gilligan thinks a real headhunter is the Skipper trying to boost his confidence.

Music Hath Charms (Season 1, Episode 26): Gilligan's drumming attracts natives who think it's a challenging war cry.

Three to Get Ready (Season 1, Episode 29): A native gem, the Eye of the Idol, seems to grant three wishes.

Gilligan's Mother-in-Law (Season 2, Episode 1): Gilligan must marry fat Native girl to get the castaways off the island.

Voodoo (Season 3, Episode 5): A witch doctor practices voodoo on the castaways to retrieve stolen artifacts.

Topsy-Turvy (Season 3, Episode 10): Gilligan's vision is on the fritz while headhunters stalk the castaways.

High Man on the Totem Pole (Season 3, Episode 23): Based on a "totem pole," headhunters think Gilligan is their god.

The Secret of Gilligan's Island (Season 3, Episode 25): An ancient stone tablet may show the castaways how to leave the island by boat.

Slave Girl (Season 3, Episode 26): Gilligan rescues native woman and she becomes his slave.

Gilligan the Goddess (Season 3, Episode 30): Natives want to toss a maiden "goddess" into a volcano.

Comment:  These episodes are racist and stereotypical, of course. The natives grunt or speak made-up gibberish. They do little more than kill and eat people. They're played by white actors, usually in brownface.

If South Seas islanders were ever this savage and barbaric, it ended a century or two ago. You know, when white men conquered them and colonized their islands? Sent in the missionaries and forcibly converted them to Christianity and "good Christian" lifestyles.

By the 1960s, many island peoples were dealing with their British and French occupiers, demanding self-rule or territorial status. With all the traffic in the area--people must've visited Gilligan's Island dozens of times--it's ridiculous to think the indigenous cultures would have continued untouched. The islanders would be selling goods and services to waves of tourists, not hunting heads in grass skirts.

For more on Gilligan's Island, see Native Voodoo in Gilligan's Island Mohawk Astronaut in Gilligan's Island.

Native Voodoo in Gilligan's Island

I've been watching reruns of Gilligan's Island. Given the oft-mentioned Native islanders, it's had several indigenous-themed episodes.

I didn't recall any Native American content, but I was wondering if such content would show up. The answer is yes...in the Voodoo episode.

Season 3, Episode 5
Voodoo (10 Oct. 1966)A witch doctor wreaks havoc on the castaways after he steals a personal item from each of them and then creates voodoo dolls that bear their likenesses.My comments on this episode:

Mesoamerican archaeology revolutionized on ‪#‎GilligansIsland‬! Gilligan finds artifacts in a cave, including a vase that's a "classical example of early Mayan worksmanship."

So the Maya were a seafaring race that reached the Hawaiian islands? Incredible!

The castaways find gold jewelry encrusted with gems, too! Priceless!

Unfortunately, the artifacts are accompanied by a "witch doctor" who practices "voodoo." Even though the Professor says there's no such thing within a thousand miles.

In keeping with the Mayan claim, the witch doctor is played by Eddie Little Sky.Eddie Little Sky was born on August 15, 1926 in Pine Ridge, South Dakota, USA. He is known for his work on A Man Called Horse (1970), Paint Your Wagon (1969) and 7 Faces of Dr. Lao (1964). He was married to Dawn Little Sky. He died on September 5, 1997 in Pennington, South Dakota.

With the Mayan objects and the Native American actor, there's a pretty clear implication that Mesoamerican religion and culture were equivalent to black magic aka "voodoo."

The episode ends with the castaways returning the artifacts they've taken and Gilligan finding the voodoo dolls. So there's still a Native American "witch doctor" on the loose? Let's hope he's satisfied with the return of his ancestors' items!

In the 1960s, Mayan Indians were driving cars, watching TV, and going to college like everyone else. So this portrayal of a "witch doctor" practicing "voodoo" is horribly wrong. It wasn't true in the classical Maya period and it's certainly not true a thousand years later.

But the episode isn't a total failure. It does identify Mexico as the closest Native American site. And give it a point for using a Native actor to play a Native character. Even if he is a witch doctor.

For more on the subject, see Mohawk Astronaut in Gilligan's Island..

Mohawk astronaut in Gilligan's Island

In The Kidnapper episode of Gilligan's Island (airdate: Nov. 28, 1966), Mr. Wylie--the kidnapper played by Don Rickles--says he enjoyed Ginger in the movie Moon Over the Mohawk. Ginger says he's mistaken; the movie was Mohawk Over the Moon. It was about an Indian astronaut.

It's just a throwaway gag, but it was an early acknowledgement that Indians could be something other than warriors in headdresses and buckskins. There were only a few examples on TV prior to Ginger's remark. For instance, the Eskimo pilot in The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour and the Lakota scientist in The Time Tunnel.