Despite his success, the serious-minded Gibson — whose plays often dealt with historical characters and eras — was not altogether pleased with the experience. He was pressured to make numerous changes to the script to satisfy the box-office-minded producer and the star, Henry Fonda, who had grown dissatisfied with his part. He found solace by keeping a diary. The following year, he published a memoir, "The Seesaw Log," related his alarm and ambivalence to the events that surrounded him becoming a successful playwright. In one section, during the Philadelphia tryout, he wrote that he suffered the "paradoxical experience of seeing his work improve by becoming poorer."