Gilligan’s Island Creator Wrote the Pilot in Unimaginable Pain

In his 1994 memoir, “Inside Gilligan’s Island,” Schwartz shares a memorable and entertaining story about how his determination to be handy around the house resulted in significant pain throughout the creation of the series’ pilot. The episode begins with Schwartz being disrupted by workers who were busily chopping down a large eucalyptus tree in his backyard, diverting his attention from the scriptwriting process for what would become 98 unforgettable episodes.

The trouble arose when the workers completed their job and offered to cut the eucalyptus tree into firewood. Recalling that eucalyptus wood gives off a pleasant fragrance when burned, Schwartz decided to turn the initially annoying situation into a positive one by accepting their offer for firewood.

One Saturday, as Schwartz was about to dive into working on the pilot, he noticed storm clouds looming nearby. Concerned that the eucalyptus logs might get soaked and ruined, he decided to move the logs into his garage. However, when he picked up the first log, he quickly realized he was in for a physically demanding task. Schwartz described the experience:

“My knees buckled. I couldn’t believe a three-foot section of eucalyptus weighed that much.
I had bought a lot of firewood over the years, but I never had any trouble lifting it. It never occurred to me that the firewood I bought had been cured for many months, maybe years. This eucalyptus wood was fresh, full of water and sap.”

Despite the intense struggle of carrying the first two logs to his garage, Schwartz forged ahead rather than opting to use a wheelbarrow. Heading back outside for the third log proved to be a mistake worthy of the kinds of misadventures found on “Gilligan’s Island.”

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