Sherwood Schwartz

Mr. Sherwood Schwartz has died. If you don't know the name, you know his work. He was best known for the "Red Skelton Show", "The Brady Bunch" and "Gilligan's Island". He passed away and my condolences go to his family. I laughed many times because of him. I wasn't a big fan of the Brady Bunch; but, attended school with the youngest and never heard anything bad about her, seemed like a nice kid. Gilligan's Island is like Samuel Beckett with a sense of humor.

Samuel Beckett wrote a play called "Waiting for Godot", now I have put on many plays and can right now state that this is the play I liked the least. It is just boring and depressing to me. My favorite piece of theater is Thorton Wilder's "Our Town".

When Mr. Schwartz created "Gilligan's Island", he had intent. He once explained how he wanted to take people from different backgrounds and walks of life and put them on this island to show how they would work together and treat each other. The jokes are all based on the social status of the individuals. The boat, the S.S. Minnow was an in joke, it was named after the FCC chairman that called television "the vast wasteland".

If you think about it, the Brady Bunch was pretty much about the same thing, it is about two different groups working together as a family. Not a bad message. When people watch these shows they discover that they usually have a pretty positive message, you don't see that much anymore. May God greet you with a smile Mr. Schwartz, you gave plenty of others smiles.