"Brady Brady Brady": Here's the story of an oft-old story ... never told with quite this much authority

Guest Shot blog 
By Jude Cormier

When I first heard that a book called Brady, Brady, Brady was coming out, my first thought was, "What? Another book on The Brady Bunch? Hasn't that subject been covered to death?" 

And I say that as a die-hard fan. Then I saw who the authors were to be: Sherwood Schwartz and his son, Lloyd J. Schwartz, the two guiding hands behind the Brady family throughout most of their incarnations. So I knew this was a must-own for me. 

When I first got my copy, I was surprised to see it was a hardcover. All of the other Brady books were paperbacks. I had owned most of them and had read and re-read them many times. What could be possibly be said that's new and different? Well ... not much. Plenty of the facts that were covered in the other books are simply verified here. The difference is we get the perspective from the two men who were there from day one. 


Misconceptions the other books have put forward as fact are corrected here, such as the supposedly near-death drowning of Susan Olsen, who played Cindy, while on an outrigger filming one of the show's more adventurous episodes. Lloyd tells us that has been a gross exaggeration of what really happened. 

The book is written in two sections, the first by Sherwood, the creator, who basically gives us the story of how the Bunch came into being. He clearly states that this book is not intended to be an episode-by-episode guide, so if you have one of the other books, hang onto them just for that aspect. I noticed a few errors that a fact-checker, an editor or proof-reader from the publisher could have corrected. When I mentioned this to Susan (yes, we are casual acquaintances via Facebook), she told me (in humor) that I was "picky, picky, picky."

The second section is written by Lloyd, who handles the Brady story after the original 1969-74 ABC series. Lloyd's section is really fun to read; he has a great way with words and storytelling. Lloyd shares his account of being a college student during Bunch's genesis after serving as a dialog coach on his father's previous TV creations, Gilligan's Island and the short-lived cave-people comedy It's About Time. Initially he was hired in the same capacity for his dad's new blended family sitcom, but soon he realized that all the things the associate producer was doing, he could do and better. 

His father gave him a chance, but not the title, less nepotism charges be levied. Lloyd more than proved himself and soon Sherwood granted his son the official title of "associate producer," making him one of the youngest to have achieved that status.  



One subject that both father and son clearly agreed on was Robert Reed. Specifically, that he was a pain and only landed the role of Mike Brady thanks to his Paramount "pay or play" contract. They contend he was clearly not into doing comedy, much less Gilligan-esque slapstick. But they also concur that Reed loved his TV kids deeply and was overjoyed to be asked to reprise Mike Brady for the 1981 TV movie The Brady Girls Get Married. 

But by the time of The Bradys--CBS's short-lived 1990 primetime attempt at making the Bunch into a quasi-soap opera--everyone had just about enough of Bob's temperament. (When Ann B. Davis cusses you out, you know you have sunk to new depths.) 

Lloyd discusses further Brady incarnations such as the theatrical movies and the fight to get the first big-screen feature properly made as a satire that didn't destroy Bunch's reputation. He doesn't care for A Very Brady Sequel, which was made without the father-and-son team's input. The follow-up Fox TV movie The Brady Bunch Goes to the White House was a Schwartz production--and Lloyd is very proud of it. Here is where I heartily disagree with Lloyd. It is the one Brady project I refuse to own. Seeing it once on TV was one too many times. 

The book, though, is a must for any Brady fan, simply for the fact you won't get this perspective in any other Brady tome. It is a light, airy read, which helps offset the fact that it covers really nothing new (as in major revelations) that you haven't more or less known before. Except for the bit about the dead security guard found during the filming of the Bradys-do-a-TV-commercial episode. 

Now go off, buy the book and start practicing your "Keep On Moving" choreography in your plaid bell-bottoms!

 

Check out Jude's Facebook campaign to bring season four of The Donna Reed Show to DVD!

"Lost" and found: An exclusive interview with the Hollywood memorabilia master behind this weekend's historic TV props auction

Retroality.TV spoke with Profiles in History owner Joe Maddalena about his company's historic auction of Lost props, costumes and set pieces, scheduled for this weekend at the Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, Calif. Click here for press release. For complete information about the two day extravaganza this Saturday and Sunday, including details about registering to bid live or online and the unprecedented Lost fan events in the hours leading up to the auction both days (beginning at 1 p.m. Pacific), visit http://ProfilesinHistory.com. 

The Lost auction is really incredible. What has the response been so far?

It’s phenomenal—maybe two or three times the normal response of one of our catalogs. If we had 800 people bid in an auction, we’ll have 2500 this time. It’s off the charts. The interest is really, really good.

When ABC Studios approached you last year, what was their expressed intention in doing this auction? I imagine there was a fan element but also an element of, “Hey, we have these huge production bills on Lost that we need to offset. Was there a dual approach to this for them?

No. The thing they’d always told me going in is they wanted to do something for the fans. You’ve gotta realize they could do this with any show. The picked this show because they really thought the fans were—to me, it’s like Star Trek. You have the beloved characters the great story arcs. You haven’t had a show like this since Star Trek. I think they really thought about it and thought it through and I think that’s why they ended this show when it was on the top and not nine years into the show. I think this was an effort that they really felt that it was best served (to put the props and costumes) back into the hands of the fans who celebrated and made the show. \

This series developed a following unlike any other I’ve seen in my lifetime.

It’s like Star Trek. You really have the hardcore … I mean, you go to Comic-Con and you have people dressed in Dharma jumpsuits. You don’t have that in any other (recent) show. It’s very specific to this show.

Look, the event they’re doing this weekend is going to unbelievable. They’re doing it for the fans. These are not moneymakers. They’re doing it for the fans.

Can you give us a brief preview of the event—from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Pacific this Saturday and Sunday—before the auction?

Basically ABC has taken over Barker Hangar at the Santa Monica Airport. It’s gigantic; it’s hard to explain to people how big (the hanger) is. The entire room is being turned into Lost. It’s gonna be a “Wow”-and-a-half. There’s gonna be special surprises, special guest appearances. ABC is telling a whole lot; whoever shows up is going to be very, very surprised. There’s gonna be screenings, there’s gonna be a lot of cool things—it’s the best exhibit you’ll ever see if you like Lost. So it really is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to come out and celebrate the show, see these things, walk away with some great things, and if you want to come to the auction you can.

The auction is part of the exhibit. But what they’re doing is above and beyond and beyond and beyond.

Could there be people from the show there?

What I’m allowed to say is we’re anticipating cast members. There won’t be a lot of information let out until they’re ready to release it.

You were on set for Lost’s entire final season?

Our crew was. I was there I would say every other month. I had staff there the entire season, though.

Can you describe a bit the process of cataloging items both from previous seasons (1-5) and the final season (6)? Was there a big storeroom there in Hawaii?

There were a number of storerooms. It was massive, massive—Lost probably had the highest production values on TV in the last 30 years. It was shot on film on a tropical island. The production costs were astronomical. With Lost you never knew if the writers were suddenly going to take you back 20 years or take you forward 30 years. And a prop that might have been significant in season one that you haven’t seen in four years is suddenly significant in season five because of some kind of flashback, forward or sideways. Everything was kept under lock and key. Very little information ever got off that lot about what was coming up—especially in season 6. They had that place on lockdown.

The props in the catalog for season 6 I photographed six or eight episodes after (the prop’s episode) was shot. Security was extremely tight. So we’d go from department to department. If costumes was busy I’d work on set dec(oration). If set dec was busy I’d work on props. If props was busy I’d work on construction. I’d just sort of go around the flow of wherever there was access and calmness. Because it was a hot thing for that (current) episode, we’d just work around it.

Were there any big or iconic Lost items that the studio wouldn’t put up for bids?

They kept a piece of the plane, they kept … everything that’s in the auction represents everything that was on the show. They kept some airplane seats and pieces of the plane. They kept things for the archives. But they were almost things that were too big to move. 

The piece of the plane they kept it would take a crane to move it. We have a 9’ x 12’ piece of the plane with the Oceanic logo. It must weight 2,000-3,000 lb. That was as big a piece as I thought we could sell.

They were really conscientious about everything being in the auction. A lot of things (used on the show) got destroyed. It was Lost. They blew up things right and left. This is what’s left after six seasons of being on a tropical island.

This is an unprecedented chance for fans to get a piece of the show. But for auctions like this, what’s the typical percentage of fans vs. investors who turn out?

There’s no investors who buy this stuff. That’s the worst possible word you could ever use. I tell people, “If you’re buying this as an investment keep the money in your pocket. This is not an investment.”

That’s encouraging for fans then. It’s an attainable goal to have something from the show.

Absolutely. You buy these things because you love them. You buy them because you want the memories, you want a nostalgic blast. You buy something iconic, it will probably go up in value in decades to come, because I think Lost will be around like Star Trek. A lot of these shows come and go. Look, I was visiting Dawn Wells, Mary Ann from Gilligan’s Island. She’s a cultural icon. I was also good friends with Bob Denver before he died. He was an odd guy but he was a cultural icon—Gilligan and Dobie Gillis. The next 30 or 40 years unless there’s a massive change in everything they’re part of our culture. I think Lost is that kind of show.

Everything in this auction is $100-$200, $200-$400, $400-$600. The 9’ x `12’ section of the plane, I think I have it at $2,000-$3,000.  It could be worth $20,000 to $30,000 with the Oceanic logo on it. You’re talking about an art piece.

Not part of the auction, but part of our collective consciousness.