Throwback Thursday – Here’s The Story

Not only did I love The Brady Bunch TV show, sometimes I fantasized about being a Brady. Maybe a cousin, who visited often and hung out with Marcia and Jan as they did groovy things and had groovy sister fights. But being a Brady cousin was too close. How could I marry Greg if I was his cousin? Ewwwwww! 

Working at MIX 99.9 in Toronto (Now Virgin radio) gave me the opportunity to meet so many people I admired, from Mario Andretti to Rowdy Roddy Piper to, yes, Barry Williams aka Greg Brady. The occasion was the release of his first book, an autobiography titled, Growing Up Brady: I Was A Teenage Greg.

Meeting someone you idolized as a kid is nerve-wracking and exciting. Interviewing them is huge fun. You can ask the silly questions you had as a kid, knowing thousands of others just like you would want to know. In the case of the eldest Brady boy, he was as kind, nice and charming as I could have hoped. I mean, just look at how he signed my copy of his book.

(Don’t tell me that’s how he signed it for all of the women he met on the book tour. I don’t want to know!)

This was the tell-all that revealed he had gone on a “date” with Florence Henderson. It seems young Barry had a crush on his TV Mom and she indulged him with a grown-up outing. It was sweet.

There were make-out sessions between cast members in Tiger’s doghouse, tales of the late, great Robert Reed’s unhappiness with the scripts and other behind-the-scenes nuggets.

Years later, I’d meet Maureen “Marcia” McCormick in Nashville and notch another Brady in my belt. Sadly, it’s a count that will likely end at two, but at least it’s the two best Bradys in my pre-teen assessment. Still, it would have been nice to have a Christopher “Peter” Knight sighting or how-do-you-do.

I still do the Brady kids’ dance sometimes when I’m happy and alone.  Ann B. “Alice” Davis hawked Minute Rice (ready in FIVE minutes!) and we all bought it. She was the Brady’s cook. If she said it was good, who were we to disagree? Their influence at the time cannot be overstated.  And you’ll have to clutch Growing Up Brady from my cold, dead hands.