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    Sherwood Schwartz's Death Evokes Memories of Golden TV Age

    Producer of 'Gilligan's Island' and 'Brady Bunch,' Dead at 94

    By Tom Mc Clure | Yahoo! Contributor Network – Wed, Jul 13, 2011
    This story comes from the Yahoo! Contributor Network, where individuals publish their unique perspectives on some of the world’s most popular websites.
    Do you have a story to tell? Become a Yahoo! contributor

    FIRST PERSON | A good friend I never really knew died yesterday, and it left me a little colder today.

    Sherwood Schwartz, the Emmy Award-winning writer and producer of many beloved TV shows during the "Golden Era" of television, died Tuesday in Los Angeles at the age of 94. TMZ reports he died quietly in his sleep due to natural causes. The New York Times provided a detailed obituary of his life and loves and challenges, as did Entertainment Weekly. I've read the various articles about him in the major online papers, and I'm left a little sadder for his passing.

    Any baby boomer or anyone else alive in the '60s and '70s knows him well. TMZ lists further his major contributions: "Gilligan's Island," "The Brady Bunch," and his earlier works included his Emmy Award-winning writing for "The Red Skelton Show." He was also script supervisor for "My Favorite Martian."

    I remember these shows. I remember them well. As an only child with great memories of measles, mumps, chicken pox, and otherwise quiet days, the shows mentioned were my best friends. Sherwood's name blazed across the screen in the credits, and his name stuck in my young memory.

    I'd hear the ballad of Gilligan's Island (sung by The Wellingtons, for you trivia fanatics) and I'd "sit right back" to a comforting melody and wait for the same episodes to show, over and over; I'd never be bored. I can remember "Clem Kadiddlehopper" or "Freddie the Freeloader," two of Red Skelton's inventive caricatures, and I can remember the theme songs of "The Red Skelton Show" so well. Who could forget Red's famous "The Pledge of Allegiance" expose? And yes -- I can still sing "The Brady Bunch" theme, which annoys my wife to no end.

    Last Christmas, I treated myself to a complete "Gilligan's Island" DVD collection, which included the "unseen pilot" (which I remember seeing quite well). In this episode, Schwartz did a voice-over to fully narrate the entire show, giving his insight into how the show was created, how the characters evolved, and his struggles with getting CBS to even consider the episode. His struggle selling the famous "Gilligan's Island" ballad showed me what determination was all about. He didn't give up.

    We are left with loving memories, those of us who lived that Golden Age of Television, and my three great memories are of shows with pure slapstick humor, clean words good-enough for a toddler, and an eternal source of decent morals and good judgment.

     

    1 comment

    • Max Reiner
      Max Reiner  •  10 mths ago
      He gave up medical studies to make us laugh.
     Post a comment
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