From: mekotl@aol.com (Michael Kotler) Newsgroups: alt.tv.brady-bunch,alt.culture.us.1970s Subject: The Brady Bunch FAQ List Date: Tue, 23 Jun 1998 15:27:50 GMT After an absence of over three years, the FAQ is BAQ! Enjoy. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The Frequently Asked Questions list for alt.tv.brady-bunch The Brady Bunch FAQ list version 3.0 Last Modified 6/22/98 ------------------------ This FAQ represents major changes from previous versions. Most of the questions have been edited or completely rewritten. TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Background of the Bunch [1.1] What is The Brady Bunch? [1.2] How many spin-offs were there to the original BB? [1.3] Were there any "Lost Episodes" of BB? [1.4] What books are there about the Brady Bunch? [1.5] Where can I find Bradys on the World Wide Web? [1.6] What is the "Brady Bunch Movie"? ------------------------------------------------------------ 2. The actors and actresses [2.1] Who was in the original BB cast? [2.2] Why wasn't Susan Olsen in "A Very Brady Xmas?" [2.3] Did the actress that played Marcia/Jan/Cindy later go on to perform in adult (X-rated) movies? [2.4] Did Robert Reed really die from AIDS? [2.5] Why did the four Brady men all have straight hair at the begining of the series, but curly hair at the end? [2.6] What other TV series / movies / stage performances have the Brady cast members appeared in? [2.7] Did Barry Williams really date his mother once? [2.8] Are the Bradys a family in real life? ------------------------------------------------------------------- 3. The characters [3.1] Was Carol Brady originally a single mother? If not, what was the fate of her first marriage in which Marcia, Jan and Cindy came about? [3.2] Were Mike and Carol Brady the first TV couple to sleep in the same bed? [3.4] Did Alice ever marry Sam the butcher? [3.4] Who is Phoebe, the supposed "Lost Brady"? ------------------------------------------------------------------ 4. Production [4.1] Was BB filmed in a real house? [4.2] If the Brady house is just a set, what was that house we saw in the establishing shots every day? [4.3] Where is this house located? [4.4] Where was that big amusement park they all went to? (where Jan almost lost Mike's blueprints) ------------------------------------------------------------------ 5. Questions concerning the show's premises and logistics [5.1] In what city was The Brady Bunch set? [5.2] What technical/logistical errors were there in the series? [5.3] What errors/inconsistencies are there regarding the architecture and layout of the Brady house? [5.4] Why was there only one bathroom for six kids? [5.5] How many bathrooms were there in that house? [5.6] Why wasn't there a toilet in the kids' bathroom? [5.7] What was the door at the top of the stairs used for? [5.8] Why did Mike say "The attic? That'd be great if Greg were 2 1/2 feet tall"? ------------------------------------------------------------------ 6. Brady Miscellany [6.1] What is the connection between BB and Gilligan's Island? [6.2] What is "Eve's Plumb"? ------------------------------------------------------------------ 7. Credits --------------------------------------------------------------------- QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 1. BACKGROUND OF THE BUNCH [1.1] What is The Brady Bunch? The Brady Bunch was a Television series that ran on prime-time TV from 1969 to 1974. Its premise, delineated in its opening theme sone, was a single man with three boys who married a single woman with three girls, creating a blended family. The parents and the six kids live together with a housekeeper named Alice to sort of "referee" among them. The series dealt with a host of domestic and social issues. The overall feeling presented was one of happiness, laughter, and most importantly "Ozzie and Harriet"-type wholesome family values. (Note to readers: accepting entries for a better description here) ----------------------------- [1.2] How many spin-offs were there and what were they called? - Original Series: The Brady Bunch. 1969-1974. Five seasons: 116 episodes + the pilot. - The Brady Bunch Hour. 1977. A Donny-and-Marie-type variety show. Lasted 6 episodes. - The Brady Girls Get Married. 1981. Three part special. Double wedding for Marcia and Jan. - The Brady Brides. 1981. Series about Marcia and Jan and their new husbands. Lasted 6 episodes. - A Very Brady Christmas. 1988. Christmas special. Very high ratings. - The Bradys. 1989-90. Series about the grown Brady kids, and _their_ spouses and kids. Bobby was in a wheelchair from a racing accident, and Marcia became alcoholic. Lasted 6 episodes. - The Brady Kids. A Saturday morning cartoon about the kids only. Included the actual voices of their real-life counterparts. - The Brady Bunch Movie. 1995. See question 1.4 - A Very Brady Sequel. 1996 Incidentally, the "Kelly's Kids" episode, where a neighbor adopts 3 kids, (one Caucasian, one African-American and one Asian-American) was actually a pilot for a proposed spin-off series. The concept was resurrected in 1986 with "Together We Stand". ----------------------------- [1.3] Were there any "Lost Episodes" of The Brady Bunch? No. "Lost episodes," for the uninitiated, are those which were produced but never aired, or which for various technical or legal reasons didn't get sold into syndication with the rest of the series. "The Brady Bunch" was cancelled in March 1974, several weeks after production for the last season was finished and well before actual production of the new season had begun. This is called "hiatus" in the business. It is unlikely that scripting had even been done, since producers are unlikely to spend money on material which had not been ordered. This is also the reason why there was no "farewell" episode of the Bunch. Generally, only shows which leave voluntarily and are not cancelled do farewell shows. The modern farewell show tradition began with "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" in 1977. This was three years post-Brady. Part of the speculation for this stems from the last few pages of "The Brady Bunch Book" which includes a list of "lost episodes." But these "episodes" (in which, for example, Jan became a Moonie and Mike & Carol became swingers) are obvious parodies of the Bunch. (Thanks to Tony L. Hill for this information) ----------------------------- [1.4] What books are there about the Brady Bunch? - "The Brady Bunch Book," by Andrew J. Edelstein and Frank Lovece. Foreword by Florence Henderson. (268 pages, Warner Books, 1990) ISBN: 0-446-39137-9 The BB Book has a strong emphasis on real-life personalities. It has many trivia tidbits about the show as well as an episode guide. - "Growing Up Brady: I Was a Teenage Greg," by Barry Williams with Chris Kreski. Foreword by Robert Reed. (286 pages, HarperPerennial, 1992) ISBN: 0-06-096588-6 Barry Williams, you may recall, was the actor that played Greg Brady. This book is sort of a memoir, describing Barry's experience with The Brady Bunch from many different angles. Williams also includes an episode guide peppered with lots of things he remembered from the productions. - "Bradymania!" by Elizabeth Moran. (240 pages, Bob Adams Inc., 1992) ISBN: 1-55850-154-1 A new edition of this book, with information about the movie, is due out in the spring of 1995. - "Alice's Brady Bunch Cookbook," by Ann B. Davis with Ron Newcomer and Diane Smolen. Foreword by Sherwood Schwartz. (258 pages, Rutledge Hill Press, 1994). ISBN: 1-55853-307-9 This book contains recipes and trivia about the show. - "TV Treasures guide to The Brady Bunch" (need info) - "Life Lessons from the Bradys" (need info) Additionally, there are several Brady Bunch novels from the early 70's. Long out of print, these occasionally turn up at garage sales or on e-bay. ----------------------------- [1.5] Where can I find Bradys on the World Wide Web? [section under construction] Visit Brady Bunch Internet Resources. ----------------------------- [1.6] What is "The Brady Bunch Movie"? "The Brady Bunch Movie" is a feature film based on the original ABC series, with new actors in the familiar roles. Directed by Betty Thomas, the Paramount production started shooting on location in California's San Fernando Valley in July, 1994. Here is the main cast: Mike..................Gary Cole Carol.................Shelley Long Greg..................Christopher Barnes Peter.................Paul Suttera Bobby.................Jessie Lee Soffer Marcia................Christine Taylor Jan...................Jennifer Elise Cox Cindy ................Olivia Hack Alice.................Henriette Mantel Mr. Ditmeyer..........Michael McKean Mrs. Ditmeyer.........Jean Smart Set in the present day, in the BB Movie the Bradys act, dress and talk as if they were still living in the 1970s. Much of the film's humor involves the family's unwillingness to conform with modern culture, although the main plot is Larry Ditmeyer's attempt to force the Bradys from their home so that a shopping center can be built on the site. The script also draws many of its subplots and dialogue from episodes of the original series. For example, the words "Pork Chops and Applesauce" are written on the blackboard in the kitchen. A list of references may be found at: The movie set for the Bradys' house was meticulously re-created from the original blueprints and a facade was built to resemble the familiar exterior, since the original house had been slightly modified. The film also features cameos by several original "Brady" cast members, including Barry Williams, Christopher Knight, and Ann B. Davis. Also appearing are Davy Jones and RuPaul. The movie was released on February 17, 1995. Note: Two cameos with Mike Lookinland and Susan Olsen were edited out of the film to reduce the running time. Susan Olsen played a disgruntled postal worker, and Mike Lookinland was a police officer who came to take a report on a burglary of the Brady home (nothing was stolen, as there was nothing worth stealing. Afterall, what good is a 1971 stereo system?). "A Very Brady Sequel" was released in 1996. Employing a theme similar to the first movie, the plot of this film revolved around the familiar horse sculpture underneath the stairs and the fate of Carol's first husband. --------------------------------------------------------------------- 2. THE ACTORS AND THE ACTRESSES [2.1] Who was in the original BB cast? Character Actor Actor's real name --------- ----- ----------------- Mike..................Robert Reed..............John Robert Rietz Carol.................Florence Henderson Greg..................Barry Williams...........Barry William Blenkhorn Peter.................Christopher Knight Bobby.................Mike Lookinland Marcia................Maureen McCormick Jan...................Eve Plumb Cindy.................Susan Olsen Alice.................Ann B. Davis Oliver................Robbie Rist Sam (the butcher).....Allan Melvin (non-regular; appeared in only 8 episodes) ----------------------------- [2.2] Why didn't Susan Olsen play Cindy in "A Very Brady Christmas"? Contrary to the rumors that abounded (including one that she had died), she was actually just away on her honeymoon while "Brady Xmas" was being filmed. Jennifer Runyon stood in for her. But this was not the first time a Brady had a stand-in. In "The BB Hour", Geri Reischl played Jan in lieu of Eve Plumb. And in "The Bradys", Leah Ayres played Marcia in place of Maureen McCormick. The only reunion show in which everyone played their original role was "The Brady Girls Get Married". ----------------------------- [2.3] Did the actress that played Marcia/Jan/Cindy go on to perform in adult (X-rated) movies? Absolutely not. This does not mean that there wasn't a widespread urban legend to the contrary, though. Here are some possible reasons for the popularity of this "porn-star" rumor: 1) Because the Brady girls were "squeaky-clean" on the series, it amuses us to think that one of them could be making adult movies. 2) Lots of male viewers were sexually attracted to the Brady girls, and this rumor provided a sort of vicarious fantasy fulfillment. (Some of the postings on alt.tv.brady-bunch would seem to bear this out) 3) Other child actors and actresses got into trouble as they grew up. 4) Some of the Brady girls did in fact play the part of promiscuous females on subsequent made-for-TV movies and/or as guest stars on TV series. 5) Some adult strip-clubs like to name their dancers "Marilyn Monroe" or after some other female sex-symbol (to give class and/or wangle higher tips from gullible patrons who believe them). Perhaps one day some club announced "...and here's Marcia Brady!!" and people caught on. 6) A certain nude GIF image has been seen circulating around the Net. There are rumors that this picture is of Marcia Brady taken around the time the latter part of the original series was being filmed. The model in the picture, however, actually only bears a very faint resemblance to Marcia -- mostly by the hairstyle, since her eyes are closed and her head is tilted back -- so there is no evidence that it is actually a shot of Maureen McCormick. One netter speculates that the picture was actually Marcia's face carefully spliced onto another body using Adobe Photoshop or Corel Photo-Paint. (see also alt.folklore.urban for further discussions of urban legends) See my list of the Top 10 Questions About the Brady Bunch for a more thorough answer. ----------------------------- [2.4] Did Robert Reed really die of AIDS? See my list of the Top 10 Questions About the Brady Bunch for a more thorough and accurate answer. ----------------------------- [2.5] Why did all four Brady men have black straight hair at the beginning of the series, but have curly hair at the end? Did they get perms? Despite the rumors, only their hairdressers know for sure. But here are some theories. Observation from "Johnny Bravo": > Just saw the Hawaii episode (well part 1 of 3) and I > noticed something I hadn't noticed before.... > In the begining, when Mike brings home the box of airline > tickets and anounces the trip to Hawaii, his hair is straight > as an arrow. Next scene, getting off the plane..... > Put your hands togrther and give a warm welcome to > Mike "My hair is gigantic" Brady. Did he get a perm > on the plane? Because I have never seen such service > on domestic flights!!! An anonymous post replied: The official story is that Robert Reed never had a perm, just let his hair go to its naturally curly state when he realized that there was no way to keep it straight in the Hawaiian humidity. Then Barry Williams and Christopher Knight said "Us, too!" thus the groovy Brady-men 'fro." And on the Herman's Head episode, Mike says "You have to get a perm. All the Brady men have perms." However, that was a parody of their own show, so that line was really not meant to be taken seriously. But it does illustrate the prevalence of the "perm" rumor. Of course, one might wonder why all the men were initially given flat hair in the first place. Possible reasons: (a) straight hair was the style at the time for men, (b) the producers wanted them to look especially nice and neat so they'd contrast with the shaggy, long-haired hippies of the late 1960's. Speaking of hair, Carol's "Bubble-do" in the first several episodes was really a wig. The flip-do came later. ----------------------------- [2.6] What other TV series / movies / stage performances have the Brady cast members appeared in? Far too many to list here, although subsequent appearances were largely limited to made-for-TV movies and guest shots on the likes of Love Boat and Fantasy Island. "The Brady Bunch Book" has a nearly comprehensive filmography for each Brady cast member. Perhaps the most significant subsequent Brady role was when Eve Plumb played in "Fudge-a-mania", a Saturday morning kids' show based on the Judy Blume books. While Eve was the mother, Florence Henderson played the Grandmother, making them mother-and-daughter once again! Another interesting encounter was when both Robert Reed and Florence Henderson appeared on the same episode of "Love Boat". Although their love interests on the show involved other people entirely, there was a scene in the dining room where someone dropped something, and Reed and Henderson both bent down to pick it up putting the two of them face-to-face. At that moment, they looked at each other with an expression of "don't I know you from somewhere?" Some BB cast members appeared in commercials. Here is a partial list: Florence Henderson ........... Wesson Oil, Tang breakfast drink Maureen McCormick ............ Living Barbie, Starburst Fruit Chews Christopher Knight ........... Kellogg's Frosted Rice Ann B. Davis ................. Miracle White laundry spray ----------------------------- [2.7] Did Barry Williams really date his mother once? I should certainly *hope* not!!! :^) Now, if you're asking if Barry Williams dated the woman who _played_the_part_ of his mother on TV, that's a different story. (If the idea of Greg dating Carol seems too unsettling for you, see next question.) Williams has an entire chapter in his book "Growing up Brady" describing his one-time date with Florence Henderson. Why on earth would he want to? Although us TV viewers might think of Henderson as a motherly figure, Williams saw her as little more than a co-worker. The following quote from the book says it all "...for a minute, put the apron and the six kids out of your mind and think of her _that_ way." He also describes other romantic interludes involving the members of the cast -- including one between himself and Maureen McCormick (his TV sister, Marcia). See my list of the Top 10 Questions About the Brady Bunch for a more thorough answer. ----------------------------- [2.8] Are the Bradys a family in real life? No. While there may certainly be some kind of camaraderie among the cast for having worked closely together for several years plus the occasional reunion, none of the characters are related in real life. The actors all went home to their real families in the evening. And their names are not Marcia, Jan, Cindy, Greg, Peter, Bobby, Mike, Carol, and Alice (although Bobby's real name is Mike, and Mike's real name is Bobby. [OK, Robert]) See Question 2.1 to learn their real names, or wait till the closing credits next time you watch the show. Some of you are probably wondering what such a ludicrous question is doing in the FAQ to begin with. Simple: an awful lot of people seem to think that the Bradys are a real family. People often call the actors by their TV names upon recognition and ask them this very question. Indeed, the illusion of a real family seems particularly strong with the Brady Bunch. Why don't people think this as much of, say, the cast of "Facts of Life" or "Eight is Enough"? My feeling is that (a) the Brady actors had few other recognizable roles, (b) there was a certain closeness about the family that seemed real, and (c) the family life portrayed in the series seemed so ideal that, consciously or not, many viewers _wanted_ them to be a real-life family. But no matter how convincing a performance may be, aren't people smart enough to know the difference between truth and fiction? Well, a few weeks after Gilligan's Island premiered, a few dozen people sent telegrams to Vandenberg Air Force Base asking the military to rescue those castaways before they starved to death. That's the power of television for you: people tend to believe what they see. --------------------------------------------------------------------- 3. THE CHARACTERS -------- [3.1] Was Carol Brady originally a single mother? If not, what was the fate of her first marriage in which Marcia, Jan, and Cindy came about? Although we did learn in "the Honeymoon" that Mike's first wife had died, we never found out about Carol's first husband. However, Sherwood Schwartz, the producer, has stated several times that Carol was TV's first divorcee (but "A Very Brady Sequel" alleges that Carol's first husband died at sea.) In those days, divorce was too controversial to mention on TV. Even 2 years later, the Mary Tyler Moore show changed a divorce to a "broken engagement" to avoid controversy. The first mention of divorce on TV was around 1975 (anyone have exact show and date?) This leads to other questions, though. According to someone whose name I accidentally deleted: "If Carol was divorced, what about the girls' father? He would have had visitation. And why didn't the girls ever talk about their father? Did he move to the moon, or what? Also, why didn't the boys ever talk about their biological mother?" Perhaps such discussions were not considered appropriate in that age of television. Or, they discussed these things only on days when the show was not broadcast. See my list of the Top 10 Questions About the Brady Bunch for a more thorough answer. ----------------------------- [3.2] Were Mike and Carol the first TV couple to share a bed? Contrary to popular belief (and at least one trivia book), they were not. Although many TV parents slept in twin beds in those days (e.g. June and Ward Cleaver, and even Fred and Wilma Flintstone!), Mr. and Mrs. Brady got beat to the double bed by a number of other TV couples. They included: Herman and Lilly ...... "The Muensters" The Nelsons ........... "Ozzie and Harriet" (Thanks to Sandra L. Griffin for identfying Ozzie and Harriet as the first TV couple with a true means for having children :) ) Speculation on the net has included the "Green Acres" couple as well, but this has not been confirmed. ----------------------------- [3.3] Did Alice ever marry Sam the butcher? Yes. Actually, it was still in the series that Alice Nelson announced her engagement to Sam (but he only agreed to set the month, date, and year, not the century). In "The Brady Girls Get Married", Alice parenthetically mentions that she married Sam Franklin four years earlier (which would have been 1977). And yes, they had last names. We heard Alice's surname on TV when she won the sweepstakes. ----------------------------- [3.4] How did "that lady meet that fellow"? Although the series said nothing about how Mike and Carol first met, in "A Very Brady Xmas" we learn that the building contractor (name needed here) of that ill-fated construction project was the one who introduced the two of them. ----------------------------- [3.5] Who is Phoebe, the supposed "Lost Brady"? According to some recent promos on the cable TV network Nick-at-Nite, Phoebe was a seventh Brady kid that was in all of the episodes originally, but edited out when the show was sold into syndication. The reason? Red-haired Phoebe had an obnoxious personality that did not quite match the Brady profile. She was the one _really_ responsible for all the mishaps in the series, e.g., Phoebe broke mom's favorite vase but framed Peter for it, she (deliberately) hit Marcia in the face with the football, etc. She even picked her nose during the opening credits! During a Brady Marathon in June, 1998, Nick-at-Nite aired a few of these rare scenes with footage of Phoebe, and even showed interviews with several of the original cast members, reminiscing about how Phoebe didn't really fit in with the rest of the family. Of course, there was never any such character on BB. The scenes they showed on TV were from actual episodes, but with a red-haired girl superimposed into the scene. I might add that the special-effects technology was quite impressive -- they didn't just use the typical, obviously phony chroma-key effect. This was such that you could even see Phoebe's shadows on the walls! Someone unfamiliar with the Bunch would never know that the scenes were faked. The fact that Nick-at-Nite has never said otherwise (to my knowledge) explains why so many people seem to believe that this Phoebe story was true. See my list of the Top 10 Questions About the Brady Bunch for a more thorough answer. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 4. PRODUCTION [4.1] Was BB filmed in a real house? No. The home you see on TV was just a set constructed inside Stage 5 on Paramount Studios' Hollywood lot. But the "first floor," from the backyard to the front door and including the staircase, were all really connected in one large set. The children's bedrooms and bathroom were also connected like you saw on TV. But Mike and Carol's bedroom, Alice's room, the attic, and the seldom-seen laundry room were each independent sets. [Question: was the upstairs hall set tied in to any of the bedrooms? An unconfirmed report says that at any given time during production, only 4 sets were operational.] Notice that you never see the foreground of the bedrooms (except occasionally the girls' bedroom window) or the front living room wall between the dining table and the front door. Rarely see ceilings, either. ----------------------------- [4.2] If the Brady House is just a set, what was that house we saw in the establishing shots every day? That was a real house, which was chosen solely by its appearance and surroundings to represent the Brady home. It is located in California's San Fernando Valley (near Los Angeles). According to a recent L.A. newspaper article, the house is still there -- but is less recognizable because of 25 years of plant growth, a missing window (see below), a slightly different color paint job, and a fence installed around the front yard to discourage sight-seers. Because of the area's nebulous boundaries, there is some disagreement as to whether the house is located in Studio City or North Hollywood. Ironically, that house has only one floor -- so an extra window was _nailed_ on to simulate the presence of an upstairs. That prop window, BTW, had lights in it for use when establishing an evening scene. Watch for it! ----------------------------- [4.3] Where is this house located? For fear of lawsuits and respect for the elderly widow that lives there, I've decided to expurgate that information from the FAQ. But if you do find out the location (on the web or elsewhere), and you must make a pilgrimage, please, PLEASE, for heaven's sake, DO NOT try to peek in the living room window in hopes of catching a glimpse of the inside of the Brady's home. You won't see the living room that you saw on TV (it was all just a studio set; see previous question 4.1) but you might see a criminal charge for trespassing and voyeurism. This was probably why the owners of the house built a fence around the front yard. People on the net have commented that the vista surrounding the house rings more of a bell than the house itself, altered as it is, so you really don't need to get too close to it anyway. ----------------------------- [4.4] Where was that big amusement park they all went to? (where Jan lost Mike's blueprints) The park is called King's Island, and it is indeed near (but not in) Cincinnati, Ohio. The episode "The Cincinnati Kids" was filmed there in 1973, one year after KI was first opened. Many of the rides seen on the show have long since been removed, but "The Racer" roller coaster -- the one we saw them all ride on -- is still intact (although they now run one of the trains backwards). "Growing up Brady" has a whole chapter devoted to this episode. Williams describes how the cast escaped serious injury from a loose film camera while shooting the roller-coaster sequence. FWIW, a Partridge Family episode was also filmed there around the same time, and the park was even used in a movie version of "The Banana Splits". BTW, that park is now called "Paramount's Kings Island", as it was bought by Paramount pictures in late 1992. Yet Paramount is the same company that did the Brady Bunch. Kind of makes you wonder. (see also rec.roller-coaster under PKI or "Beast" references) --------------------------------------------------------------------- 5. QUESTIONS CONCERNING THE SHOW'S PREMISES AND LOGISTICS [5.1] Were there any technical or logistical errors in the series? Several, though some are kind of hard to pick up out. Here are some famous ones: - In "What Goes Up...", when they get a trampoline, Greg says to Jan "Let's see you try it, Eve." (Jan was played by _Eve_ Plumb!) Apparently, Carol says to Peter as "Oh, Chris!" (as in Chris Knight) in this same episode. - In "54, 40, and Fight", Peter's shirt changes colors while placing a card on the house of cards. - In the episode where Bobby appears on a kiddie TV show, they leave in a blue convertible but return in the brown station wagon. - In one episode (which needs identification here), Carol somehow changes her outfit when walking from the living room to the dining room. There are lots of more subtle goofs as well. Here's an error for those of you who need proof that the Brady house was really just a set. In "What goes up", there is a scene where Bobby accidentally lets his pet bird loose in the house from the the top of the steps. As the camera follows the bird's flight path, the pitch-black ceiling of the soundstage can be seen for a split second. (You might need a single-frame capable VCR to see this, though.) ----------------------------- [5.2] What errors/inconsistencies are there regarding the architecture and layout of the Brady house? Quite a few, it seems. Many of them stem from the fact that the house seen from the outside was not consistent from the interior -- since, afterall, they were not the same structures. 1) DJ Cheezy Whiz wrote: > ... I couldn't help notice that the interior of their (Bradys') > house never matched the exterior. The interior was always > larger and more spacious than you would surmise from the exterior > shot (perhaps due to some spacial anomaly?) and the room layout > seemed different. Keith Ammann replied: Yep ... it always seemed to me that all the upstairs bedrooms HAD to be cantilevered off the side of the house instead of over the kitchen, which wouldn't have been deep enough anyway if they WERE over it. And to think Mr. Brady was supposed to have been an architect ... :-) 2) Someone noticed that the area of the house with Alice's bedroom and the laundry room actually altered its appearance during the course of the series. This makes sense, as the door at the far end of the kitchen seems to have led to two different places. On one episode, we saw soap bubbles coming out from under the door (when Bobby used a whole box of detergent to wash his dry-clean-only slacks), so the laundry room must have been there. But we also saw Alice retire to her bedroom lots of times through that same door. Was there a second door off the laundry room? Notice that a delivery boy once entered the kitchen through that door as well. There must have been a third entrance back there somewhere. 3) Mike asks Greg to hose down the screens and store them in the cellar. We never saw a basement, though, nor did we ever see any stairs to get there. 4) In "A Room at the Top", when the boys are hauling the mattress up the attic stairs, the steps go straight to the door. But when observing someone going down the steps from the attic itself, the door is on the left side. 5) According to Chris Mulvihill: The Mailslot/mailbox. In various episodes, there is a mailbox (fine, I have a mailbox too.) In others there is a mailslot (also fine, many well-adjusted people have mailslots) the problem is from what I know about the house, the mailslot led into a wall. The mailslot was on the left hand side of the front door on the wall. Where would this lead to? A closet? ----------------------------- [5.3] In what city was The Brady Bunch set? The show was set somewhere in southern California. My best guess is one of the Los Angeles suburbs but not the city itself. There was really nothing, other than the southern locale and California license plates, in the original series to suggest a location. In "A Very Brady Christmas," they used Los Angeles International Airport and its famous Theme Building as the setting of the airport, and the "Miracle on 34th Street" scene used Los Angeles city street signs. In "The Bradys," Mike was elected to the city council, but nowhere was it stated which city, so it could be Burbank or Riverside or Covina or Torrance or Fountain Valley or possibly 200 others. Recent observation: When Jan once to buy some freckle remover, we saw an exterior shot of a "Valley Pharmacy". The BB Variety Show, OTOH, was set in Malibu, with Greg's bachelor pad in Santa Monica. However, this cannot be considered canonical since that spin-off was not produced by the original creators. ----------------------------- [5.4] Why was there only one bathroom for six kids? Maybe Mike wasn't such a good architect afterall. (Sherwood Schwartz and some of the cast members report that they are asked this question more than any other.) Here are some explanations. 1. When the house was built, Marsha, Jan, and Cindy didn't live there. 2. Homes, even ritzy ones, had fewer bathrooms then than they do today. 3. Another bathroom would have eliminated a lot of the interplay among the kids. 4. Having another bathroom would require another set 5. When there's only one bathroom for six kids, you need to have "calm, cool reasoning". The one-bathroom issue was also brought up in the series. The whole discussion of moving was sparked by one of the boys cutting through the girls' bedroom (walking in on a partly undressed Marcia) because the other two bathroom doors were locked. The ensuing argument ended with the words "we need a bigger house." [editor's note: I always found it amusing that Marcia was too embarassed for her brother to see her in her underwear, but OK for 30 million TV viewers.] Of course, the prospect of losing the famous Brady house quickly gets the kids to reconsider, one bathroom or not. ----------------------------- [5.5] How many bathrooms were there in that house? Let's see, there was... -- The ever-popular kids' restroom. -- The bathroom in the parents' bedroom. We saw Mike go back there once to get some after-shave off the shelf for Greg's hot date, but we never saw the rest of its interior. -- A bathroom behind the stairs. Although the door was always there, we didn't learn what it was for until "A Very Brady Xmas" when the two boys were searching for it in the middle of the night. This one must have served as a powder room for company use. -- Speculation on the Net says that Alice had her own bathroom as well. Otherwise, in order to take a shower she'd have to go upstairs and either compete for the already overcrowded kids' bathroom, or use the one in Mike and Carol's bedroom (not a likely situation for the help to use the owners' facilities). But where could it be located? Regarding that last point, it is entirely possible that the bathroom behind the steps, though presumed to be a 1/2 bath, may actually have been a full bath for Alice. Taking this a step further, we could conjecture that the restroom had a second door leading directly to Alice's bedroom for maximum privacy. Note: In The BB Movie, a neighbor character stated that there was only one bathroom for nine people. Given the evidence listed above, perhaps we should assume he was just being sarcastic. That character also said he "...never did see a toilet" (see next question) ----------------------------- [5.6] Why wasn't there a toilet in the kids' bathroom? One of the books says that a toilet was put in there when the set was first constructed, but the network executives quickly ordered it removed. The best explanation is that the Brady Bunch, as well as all TV of the time, was supposed to portray an immaculate image of the family. Despite the fact that having a toilet obviously does not make one "immoral" or "unclean", a commode would still serve as a reminder that the Brady kids would, ahem, have a need to use it. (Just try to mentally juxtapose your favorite Brady kid and a porcelain throne, and you'll see what I mean.) But how many other TV shows had toilets in them back then? Or even bathrooms for that matter. This leads to one other question: How did the Brady kids answer calls to nature? Sorry, I don't know the answer to this one either. Maybe they used an outhouse out behind the carport. :) Actually, there was a toilet in there -- somehow we just couldn't see it. In "My Brother's Keeper", Bobby yells to Peter "The bathroom's on _my_ side of no-mans land!!" He then walks into the john off-camera, and we hear a toilet flush. But this was a later episode, after Archie Bunker had made TV flushing popular. ----------------------------- [5.7] What was the door at the top of the stairs used for? No one knows for sure, although it was apparently opened in "Brady Christmas". Perhaps that's where the toilet was kept . ----------------------------- [5.8] Why did Mike say: "The attic? That'd be great if Greg were 2 1/2 feet tall"? Mike uttered this line in "Our Son, the Man" in reference to a separate bedroom for Greg. Only problem is, Greg did in fact move to the attic 2 years later in "A Room at the Top". There are several possible explanations for this continuity error: 1) Schwartz decided that the idea of a bachelor apartment for Greg outweighed an insignificant story constraint. 2) Mike knew that the attic was big enough, but had collectibles or adult magazines stashed up there that he didn't want Greg to get his mitts on. 3) After some storm damage or a tree fell on the house, the roof was partially rebuilt with the clearance of the rafters raised to a height suitable for human habitation. 4) All the junk stored up in the attic (which was cleaned out the day Greg moved in) made it impractical for a taller person to live up there. Other theories state that the house was actually built by M.C. Escher (thanks, Chris Mulvihill) or Greg shrunk to a height of 2 1/2 feet in the interim. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 6. BRADY MISCELLANY [6.1] What is the connection between The Brady Bunch and Gilligan's Island? 1) Sherwood Schwartz was the creator and producer of both. 2) In "The Snooperstar", Penelope Fletcher was played by Natalie Schaefer, alias Mrs. Howell. Jim Backus, a.k.a. Thurston Howell III, appeared twice on BB: as Zacchariah (the swindling gold prospector) in "Ghost Town USA", and as Mr. Matthews (Mike's boss) in "The Hustler". 3) In "The Brady Girls Get Married", when Mike was asked if he was busy, he jokingly replied: "No. Unless you consider watching re-runs of Gilligan's Island to be important." 4) There were BB and GI episodes which used the same device. One example: a magic trick is performed in which a volunteer steps into a booth to disappear, and, once inside, sneaks out the secret door and hides, causing a stir. 5) The Brady Bunch Movie had two references to GI. Both involved Holly, Peter's love interest in the film. The lines were: -- HOLLY: Peter is cute ... in a Gilligan sort of way. -- PETER: (After Holly plants a lingering smooch on Pete's lips) "Wow, you're better than Ginger and Mary Ann combined!" 6) A Very Brady Sequel had an even stronger reference to GI. The point is made that Carol's first husband was named Roy Martin, and he died in a shipwreck -- in a boat called the "Minnow" captained by someone named Gilligan! (Actually, the professor on Gilligan's Island was named Roy Hinkley) ----------------------------- [6.2] What is "Eve's Plumb"? Eve's Plumb is a New York-based rock band named for the actress that played Jan Brady. -------------------------------------------------------------------- 7. CREDITS Keith Ammann David Brady (yes, that's his real name!) Sandra L. Griffin Tony Hill Karen (Miss Midi) Chris Mulvihill DJ Cheezy Whiz Got any additions/corrections/gripes/queries/comments? Write me. ---- Michael E. Kotler mekotl@aol.com ---------------------------------------------------- Michael E. Kotler mekotl@flynns.com [clear spamfilter before replying] The return address is really "erols.com". (Er[r]ol Flynn, get it? ;) ) I've had to get creative to foil the spammers.