How sad! We probably all remember this little song from a favorite show of ours --
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- George Wyle, who wrote the theme song to
"Gilligan's Island" and directed music for singers including Andy Williams,
has died at the age of 87.
Wyle also wrote the Christmas classic "The Most Wonderful Time of the
Year" and more than 400 other songs.
He died Friday of leukemia at the Encino-Tarzana Regional Medical
Center in Tarzana, his son Jerry Weissman said.
"The Ballad of Gilligan's Island," which Wyle wrote with the show's creator
and producer Sherwood Schwartz, became one of the most popular
television theme songs. The show debuted on CBS in 1964 and ran until
1967, but its reruns remained popular for years.
"America doesn't want great music themes," Wyle once said of the song.
"Just something it can remember."
In recent years, Wyle wrote music and lyrics
and directed choirs for community groups
and schools in Thousand Oaks, just north of
Los Angeles.
"Music is a learning process. It's a reading
process. Everybody gets a book of words,
and we learn. It teaches them to work with
other people. It teaches kids to get out and
sing," he told the Daily News of Los Angeles
in 1998.
Wyle was born Bernard Weissman in New
York City and began playing piano
professionally at clubs in New York's Catskill
Mountains. He moved to Los Angeles in 1946
to write and conduct music for the "Alan
Young Radio Show."
In Los Angeles, he worked as choral director
for television shows such as "The Dinah
Shore Show," "The Jerry Lewis Show" and
"The Andy Williams Show." He also handled
music for specials by magician David
Copperfield, Carol Channing, and for the
People's Choice Awards presentations.
Besides his son, Wyle is survived by a
daughter, sister and brother.
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- George Wyle, who wrote the theme song to
"Gilligan's Island" and directed music for singers including Andy Williams,
has died at the age of 87.
Wyle also wrote the Christmas classic "The Most Wonderful Time of the
Year" and more than 400 other songs.
He died Friday of leukemia at the Encino-Tarzana Regional Medical
Center in Tarzana, his son Jerry Weissman said.
"The Ballad of Gilligan's Island," which Wyle wrote with the show's creator
and producer Sherwood Schwartz, became one of the most popular
television theme songs. The show debuted on CBS in 1964 and ran until
1967, but its reruns remained popular for years.
"America doesn't want great music themes," Wyle once said of the song.
"Just something it can remember."
In recent years, Wyle wrote music and lyrics
and directed choirs for community groups
and schools in Thousand Oaks, just north of
Los Angeles.
"Music is a learning process. It's a reading
process. Everybody gets a book of words,
and we learn. It teaches them to work with
other people. It teaches kids to get out and
sing," he told the Daily News of Los Angeles
in 1998.
Wyle was born Bernard Weissman in New
York City and began playing piano
professionally at clubs in New York's Catskill
Mountains. He moved to Los Angeles in 1946
to write and conduct music for the "Alan
Young Radio Show."
In Los Angeles, he worked as choral director
for television shows such as "The Dinah
Shore Show," "The Jerry Lewis Show" and
"The Andy Williams Show." He also handled
music for specials by magician David
Copperfield, Carol Channing, and for the
People's Choice Awards presentations.
Besides his son, Wyle is survived by a
daughter, sister and brother.
