RIP...

Sherwood Schwartz.

Mr. Schwartz was also largely responsible for his shows’ theme songs, which spelled out the premises in detail. “The Ballad of Gilligan’s Island,” which Mr. Schwartz wrote with George Wyle, told the story of those castaways and how they ended up on that island. The “Brady Bunch” theme, which Mr. Schwartz wrote by himself, told the story of a woman with three daughters and a man with three sons who met and married. Viewers who swore they had never been fans of either show somehow knew the lyrics, or at least couldn’t help associating phrases like a “three-hour tour” or “the youngest one in curls” with the series.

Sherwood Charles Schwartz was born in Passaic, N.J., on Nov. 4, 1916. He grew up in Brooklyn and was a premed student at New York University. After receiving his bachelor’s degree, he moved to Los Angeles to attend graduate school at the University of Southern California, but the master’s he earned in biological sciences was never put to use.

In 1938, while waiting for acceptance to medical school, he asked his brother Albert, who worked on Bob Hope’s radio show, if he could try writing a few jokes. Soon there were two Schwartzes on Hope’s payroll.