Marcia, Marcia, Marcia

Entertainment 6 Minutes

In honor of Maureen McCormick’s birthday this month, I went digging for info on the Brady Bunch series.  I found this article on Biography’s website. 

The Brady Bunch: 8 Secrets and Scandals About TV’s Squeaky-Clean Family

Here’s the story about the on-set hookups, arguments and drug use that plagued the cast.

By Colin BertramUpdated: Sep 8, 2020

On television, they were the epitome of the wholesome family. Even when the blended clan of six children that made up the majority of The Brady Bunch did something wrong, it resulted in teachable lessons often delivered by squeaky-clean, caring parents Carol and Mike.

Like many of Hollywood’s classic small-screen series of the late 1960s and early 1970s, the behind-the-scenes goings-on and cast relationships made for far juicier stories than ever appeared on air. For all the sweet-natured shenanigans of the Bradys, off-screen there was drug use, intimate relationships between the cast, hidden sexuality and disputes over storylines.

The Brady Bunch aired from September 1969 through March 1974 on ABC and was created and produced by Sherwood Schwartz. The series went into syndication in 1975 and has become a rerun staple of cable television. The show followed the day-to-day lives of the Bradys, a blended family of six children thanks to the marriage of Mike Brady (Robert Reed) to Carol Martin (Florence Henderson). Mike’s children were three boys: Greg (Barry Williams), Peter (Christopher Knight) and Bobby (Mike Lookinland), and Carol’s three daughters were Marcia (Maureen McCormick), Jan (Eve Plumb) and Cindy (Susan Olsen).

Mike was a widowed architect and the story of Carol’s first marriage was never fully explained, but the blended group took up residence in a sprawling two-story house – designed by Mike – in a suburb of Los Angeles. Also ensconced in the shag-carpeted abode was Alice Nelson (Ann B. Davis), Mike’s live-in housekeeper, and the boy’s dog, Tiger.

Henderson had a risqué sense of humor

The role of Carol would be something Henderson, who passed away in 2016, would be associated with for the remainder of her life. The archetypal mother figure, Carol was ingrained in the imaginations of millions of viewers. In real life, Henderson was described as fun-loving and having a bawdy sense of humor. “She knew the respect that people had for that character,” Lloyd Schwartz, son of Sherwood, said to Variety following Henderson’s death. “Whenever anybody came up to her to say anything about the show, she was as warm as could be – I saw it a million times.”

Williams took Henderson on a date

One particular rumor from her time on set would haunt Henderson throughout later life: That she and Williams dated and had an affair. Williams, as eldest son Greg, was 16 at the time and Henderson was 36. In his 1992 memoir, Growing Up Brady, Williams recalled having a crush on his onscreen mom. “When those little things called hormones start kicking in, you get excited by even inanimate objects. It wasn’t that I sought to bed her,” he writes. “I just wanted to spend time with her.”

Henderson, a happily-married mother of four at the time, humored her young co-star but ensured things never progressed beyond being work colleagues. They did once go out for dinner but were driven by Williams’ older brother as Williams was still without a driver’s license. “That whole thing with Barry got blown way out of proportion,” Henderson wrote on her website of the rumor/date. “I guess in a sense it was a date, because Barry thought it was. But of course, I had no idea that his intentions were to ‘date’ me. It has made for a good story though!”

Williams and McCormick dated while playing brother and sister

Williams had more luck with onscreen sister Marcia. In her 2008 memoir, Here’s the Story: Surviving Marcia Brady and Finding My True Voice, McCormick wrote of dating Williams during filming, noting that at the time she said to herself, “Oh my God! I’m kissing my brother. What am I doing?”

McCormick turned to drugs when the series ended

Only 14 when the series began airing, McCormick said she battled anxiety and personal insecurities due to playing sweet and wholesome Marcia. “As a teenager, I had no idea that few people are everything they present to the outside world,” McCormick writes. “Yet there I was, hiding the reality of my life behind the unreal perfection of Marcia Brady. … No one suspected the fear that gnawed at me.”

Following the end of the series, McCormick’s fear was still there, resulting in cocaine and Quaalude abuse and depression. McCormick recalls drug binges at the Playboy Mansion, and even being so out of it she blew an audition with Steven Spielberg for a role in Raiders of the Lost Ark. After getting clean in the mid-eighties, she says she has come to terms with and even feels acceptance of her Brady character.

Williams filmed an episode high

Williams, like many teens in the 1970s, admits to experimenting with drugs. Except unlike most teens, the results didn’t end up on television. Enjoying a day off from the set with friends, Williams says they smoked some marijuana. “Then [the show producers] called in the middle of this high to go into work,” Williams recounted during a Brady Bunch convention talk in 2014. Though he regrets it, Williams said the results can be seen in the 1973 episode “Law and Disorder”: “I’m a much better actor when I am completely sober than when I’m high!”

Olsen and Lookinland would ‘make out in the doghouse’

Cindy, the youngest member of the Bradys, was often chided for being a tattletale on the show. In real life, Olsen spilled the beans to News.com.au in 2015 about life on the Brady set. When asked whether any of the kids “hooked up” during filming, Olsen replied that she believed “all of us did … We led a sheltered life for part of the year so if there was anybody to crush on or try to date, it would be our counterparts.”

According to Olsen, each young actor paired up with their opposite cast member on the show. “So, I had Mike and we used to make out in the doghouse when we were nine. Eve always had a crush on Chris, they did kind of hook up later on. And, of course, there was Maureen and Barry.”

Reed was a homosexual in real life and kept his sexuality a secret

As Mike, Reed was the level-headed patriarch of the Brady family, doling out words of wisdom with a kindly tone and fatherly hugs at the ready. In real life, Reed, a classically-trained actor, was a homosexual who kept his private life under wraps, a not uncommon occurrence at the time due to fears the revelation would impact ongoing career success.

“Here he was, the perfect father of this wonderful little family, a perfect husband,” Henderson told ABC News in 2000. “He was an unhappy person. … I think had Bob not been forced to live this double life, I think it would have dissipated a lot of that anger and frustration.” While many on set knew of Reed’s life away from the set, it was never discussed openly. “I had a lot of compassion for him because I knew how he was suffering,” Henderson said of Reed, adding that she believed coming out was not a possibility due to the era they were in. “I don’t think The Brady Bunch could have existed at that time with the public knowing that Robert Reed was gay. I just don’t think they would have bought it.”

Reed disagreed with many of the storylines and didn’t appear in the final episode

Reed, who passed away in 1992, also clashed with producer Schwartz over storylines, and especially the visual gags written into each episode. Shakespearean-trained Reed preferred a more serious approach to the storylines, Schwartz told ABC News. Though Schwartz believed Reed to be “a good actor,” he also felt he “wound up on a show that he didn’t want to do in the first place, and it became more and more difficult for him.”

Reed’s displeasure with the scripts would continue throughout the entire series, culminating in his character being written out of what ultimately became the last episode of the original five-season run. The storyline dealt with Greg’s impending graduation from high school and a prank that left his hair orange ahead of the big day. Reed believed the story to be under par and reportedly demanded the episode be rewritten or he would not appear. The powers-that-be called his bluff and Mike’s lines were divided between Carol and Alice, resulting in Reed’s complete absence from the finale.

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Published by pat frederick

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156 thoughts on “Marcia, Marcia, Marcia”

  1. Good morning! Strange occurrence for me – this only happens a few times a year – I woke up at 1:30 am and couldn’t for the life of me get back to sleep. It was still muggy and 75 when I finally gave up, got up, and opened the doors – so I closed up again – a/c even came on! Suddenly, now temp has dropped to a wonderful 72, so the doors are back open. High heat index predicted again, altho hopefully not as bad as yesterday. I called and talked to Jerry – we agreed to wait a few days, until this heat wave passes – I wouldn’t be mowing anyway!

    Those were turbulent years for me, when that show first started! When I logged on yesterday, I saw that M’s new open hadn’t posted so I quickly got something uploaded that I had written several years ago but, IIRC, had never posted. Turns out, she was also having internet issues and her open was scheduled but didn’t post until she fixed it. So she saved the open and it is posted today. Needless to say, I wasn’t paying a lot of attention then but I did watch BB with HB in later years now and then.

    Liked by 1 person

  2. Morning All!
    cloudy out there again!
    and it’s too dark to see what’s what yet…lol
    on my way here, i always quickly look at tcth…he has an article where Dan Bongino suggests President Trump NOT pay his bond today and force THE FANNY to jail him. this is the dumbest thing I ever read. I get his point–it’s sets a precedence for other past presidents to go to jail, and the secret service would be running the jail…but still.

    Liked by 1 person

  5. BurningBright
    @reBurningBright
    The Establishment raised the white flag officially on October 31, 2022 when they begged for mass amnesty and sparked the biggest post-COVID backlash to date … which, of course, is going to pale in comparison to the ACTUAL backlash to the most damaging PsyOp and Mass Terror campaign launched on the world population in … ever, I suppose.

    Every attempt they make to delay the COVID Awakening simply accelerates it, and attempting to restart the whole thing over again is the biggest possible germination agent for three+ years of redpills delivered in the midst of mass psychological anguish, angst … and anger.

    They know what’s coming. They know nothing can stop it.

    If you’re already awake to the crime against humanity the Scamdemic was, the Scareiant shouldn’t bother you, as it heralds the impending collapse of a paradigm.

    It’s going to be big.

    It’s going to be beautiful.

    And it’s probably going to be Biblical.

    Try to enjoy the show.

    Like

    1. Like

  7. Like

  8. MAVERICK X
    @MAVERIC68078049
    Someday we’ll all learn oil isn’t made from dinosaur fossils. It is naturally produced from within the earth, like the blood within our bodies. It is a renewable resource which can never run out.

    The scarcity tactics is used by the elites to promote them as “fossil” fuel, because allegedly being fossil fuels, it means that it will run out, therefore keeping the prices high.

    Infact there is almost as much underground oil, as there is water here on Earth.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Like

  12. TheseTruths(@thesetruths)Offline
    Wolf
    August 24, 2023 00:58

    This is a complilation of data on Georgia election fraud compiled by True the Vote and Open.Ink (Catherine Englebrecht and Gregg Phillips). I think you might need an account to access all of it, but it looks like a massive amount of material. Maybe the Trump case will lead to disclosure of some of this.

    https://open.ink/georgia

    Special Collection | GeorgiaIntroductionThis open.ink special collection offers an in-depth look at True the Vote’s election integrity efforts in Georgia. It is not a complete recitation of True the Vote’s work; for that, we would have to start over a decade ago. Instead, this collection is meant to highlight a series of extraordinary events that began in 2020, are happening at the time of this publication, and by all indications, will continue throughout 2024.
    Certain documents, video clips, and other exhibits will not be immediately released for reasons including active litigation, protective orders, and ongoing research. Open.ink will add exhibits to this collection as events unfold.
    Note on video: True the Vote currently stores over 100 hard drives containing Georgia ballot drop box surveillance video, ranging in size from 8 to 90TB. This body of evidence was collected by True the Vote through county specific open records requests. The drives have been preserved strictly as provided to them.
    To view the contents of these drives and maintain metadata requires the use of players particular to each recording device. If you are interested in obtaining copies of these hard drives, please email us at GAhardrives@open.ink.

    Open.Ink Editorial: The Georgia and January 6th-related indictments against Donald J. Trump are predicated on the narrative that election authorities like Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr, and others had thoroughly evaluated the accuracy of the 2020 elections and gave counsel to then-President Donald Trump that there was “no meaningful election fraud” based on their professional, supportable evaluations. True the Vote’s experiences in Georgia prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the General Election of 2020 was never meaningfully investigated. From the over 67,000 votes attached to voting records of individuals ineligible to vote in their jurisdiction to unmonitored surveillance cameras and phantom ballots, these errant processes should have been monitored and investigated before certification. As you will read, True the Vote repeatedly presented its work to Federal and State law enforcement officials. Authorities did not investigate. Instead, they obfuscated, delayed, and ultimately targeted President Trump, True the Vote, and others, for publicly exposing their failure to uphold lawful processes. Those who question the accuracy of the 2020 General Election were, and are, right to do so.

    open.ink team

    There is a 52-minute video of Gregg and Catherine as well.

    Liked by 1 person

  14. HAHAHAHAHA…funny if true

    TheseTruths
    TheseTruths(@thesetruths)Offline
    Wolf
    Reply to TheseTruths
    August 24, 2023 01:44

    😂🤣😂
    Bret Baier Has to Interrupt Debate to Tell Audience to Stop Booing Chris Christie (VIDEO)
    Keep It Classy, Murdoch Family – FOX News Runs a MoveOn.org Ad to Bash Trump During GOP Debate (VIDEO)

    Liked by 1 person

  16. TheseTruths(@thesetruths)Offline
    Wolf
    August 24, 2023 01:16

    Massachusetts judge: Second Amendment rights cross state lines

    As FPC Action Foundation’s Cody J. Wisniewski said on Bearing Arms’ Cam & Co yesterday, since the Bruen decision was handed down by the Supreme Court last year we’re starting to see lower courts around the country start to take the Second Amendment a little more seriously. While we’ve still seen some egregiously awful misreadings of Bruen over the past twelve months, we’ve also seen some major successes, including one case out of Massachusetts that addresses the fact that in many states, your right to keep and bear arms stops at the state line.

    As The Reload’s Jake Fogelman reports, a Massachusetts judge recently concluded that the state’s prohibition on non-residents bearing arms for self-defense without first obtaining a temporary license to carry is a violation of their Second Amendment rights; a stunning development in a state where lawmakers are currently trying to obliterate the 2A rights of gun owners inside the borders as well.

    Part of the ruling:

    “This Court can think of no other constitutional right which a person loses simply by traveling beyond his home state’s border into another state continuing to exercise that right and instantaneously becomes a felon subject to mandatory minimum sentence of incarceration,” Coffey added.

    Coffey’s decision isn’t an immediate game-changer for anyone other than Dean Donnell, but it’s very good news for gun owners across the country and a sign that the courts are going to have to take this issue seriously. Why should I be able to exercise my right to bear arms in my home state of Virginia but lose that right when I cross the Potomac into Maryland? Why should anyone visiting places like California or New York be deprived of their Second Amendment rights when they cross the state line? Or maybe a better question to ask is why authorities in these states think they can get away with violating the constitutional rights of non-residents?

    Liked by 2 people

    1. I watched as long as I could stand it….I just can’t watch him speak for very long. His speech mannerisms and repetitive statements, the breathing thru his nose coming over the microphone, etc. – all like nails on a blackboard to me. And I wasn’t hearing anything new or startling so…it’s a “whatever” to me, tbh.

      Liked by 1 person

  22. well, duh…
    the guy is facing the death penalty for killing 4 college students, so yeah postponing the trial “indefinitely” means he gets to live longer…no brainer.
    FTA
    The capital murder trial for Bryan Kohberger, the man accused of killing four Idaho college students last fall, will be delayed indefinitely.

    Kohberger’s trial had been set to begin Oct. 2 — less than six weeks away — but will now be postponed after he waived his right to a speedy trial Wednesday afternoon in court. The judge accepted his waiver.

    Kohberger defense attorney Anne Taylor said more time was needed to effectively present their case than would be possible by Oct. 2.

    Kohberger’s defense said they still wanted to keep the upcoming Sept. 1 hearing date to address their request to dismiss the indictment – and after that, reconvene to discuss a new schedule reset.

    The decision to delay the trial had been anticipated for weeks, ever since prosecutors announced they would seek the death penalty against Kohberger.

    In court on Wednesday, Judge John Judge directly confirmed with Kohberger that no one had pressured him in this decision to waive his right to a speedy trial, and that this was what he wanted to do — which Kohberger affirmed.

    Idaho law requires that defendants receive a trial date within six months of their arraignment if they don’t waive that right.

    https://abcnews.go.com/US/trial-idaho-college-killings-suspect-bryan-kohberger-delayed/story?id=102512826

    Liked by 1 person

  23. long, informative article about a prominent Philadelphia lawyer’s son who was arrested in connection with terrorism. he’s all peace and acceptance, but his son is buying the ingredients for IED’s on line?
    FTA
    Abdul-Rahman, a 50-year-old legal figure who had recently campaigned on a platform of community engagement and understanding, expressed shock and devastation over the arrest of his teenage son, who stands accused of arson, criminal conspiracy, possession of weapons of mass destruction, and risking catastrophe, among other serious charges.

    “I didn’t see it coming at all. At all,” Abdul-Rahman told The Daily Beast. “I go to court because I want people to know that Muslims are out here doing things in the community, for the community. I’m an American like everyone else.” The arrest has sent shockwaves through the legal community and raised pressing questions about the radicalization of young Muslims and the complex web of Islamic influences.

    https://rairfoundation.com/prominent-moderate-muslim-attorneys-son-17-arrested-in-most-serious-islamic-terror-plot-in-philadelphias-recent-history-video/

    Liked by 1 person



  26. “We need to use this log chute to throw the fuckers off. Of course after a ride nailed to a log.”


    “Too much demanding today by those I wouldn’t spit on if on fire.”

    Liked by 1 person

  30. dropping down…got back from my mini banana run that i didn’t make yesterday (stomach troubles)
    sweet corn is $6 a dozen??
    i remember when we paid $2 a dozen a few years ago…gees

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Of course you can buy it at the Farmer’s Markets here, in Pierce, Norfolk, along with the stands on the side of county roads but IDK how much they are charging these days. I’m making my run very early tomorrow – I want to leave by 7 am my time so I probably won’t be on until I get back, hopefully by 10:30 or so. I have to stop @ the CH to renew my truck registration on my way back thru Pierce. If I wait to leave and stop there first when they open at 9 am, then go to Norfolk, it will be 12:30 at least by the time I get back and way too hot in my truck.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. there are a few places where we always stopped for fresh picked corn but so far no one has any yet at those stands. hopefully this weekend we can take a drive and find a good stand. i wanted to get more zucchini but today the ones at the little place in town were pitiful

        Liked by 1 person

    1. That won’t go over well out here in these small farm towns! Yes, they use cards but cash is always important to have on-hand for them.

      Liked by 1 person

  32. Bubby
    August 24, 2023 10:54 am

    https://www.politico.com/news/2023/08/23/georgia-trump-racketeering-case-state-court-00112480

    FTA “A federal judge quickly shot down bids Wednesday by two former Trump administration officials — Mark Meadows and Jeffrey Clark — to derail the criminal proceedings against them in Fulton County, where they’re charged alongside Donald Trump with a sprawling racketeering conspiracy to subvert the results of the 2020 election. In two six-page rulings by Atlanta-based U.S. District Court Judge Steve Jones effectively ensures that Meadows and Clark will face arrest this week, a result both men attempted to prevent in a series of emergency filings.

    Meadows and Clark had both pleaded with Jones to prohibit District Attorney Fani Willis from arresting them by a Friday deadline for the 19 defendants to turn themselves in. Both men say their cases should be handled — and ultimately dismissed — by federal courts because of their work for the Trump administration.

    Jones, an appointee of President Barack Obama, sided with Willis’ arguments that the law governing so-called removal of state criminal cases to federal court makes quite clear that those proceedings can continue while a federal judge considers whether it is appropriate to shift the case into the federal system.”

    Absolutely amazing how all cases involving President Trump, his attorneys or staff or supporters always end up with an obama appointed Federal Judge! It’s almost as if it was all planned? Repost from late last night.

    Liked by 1 person

  33. Jordan sends request for info from The Fanny.
    she doesn’t think Jack Smith could say her name properly…what am I missing FANNY Willis
    entire article
    House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) fired off a sweeping request for documents dealing with former President Trump’s prosecution for election interference in Georgia, asking Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis (D) to turn over all records relating to the case.

    Sent hours before Trump is expected to surrender at the Fulton County Jail, the letter cites “concerns about [Willis’s] motivation” in bringing the case and suggests her sprawling racketeering indictment against the former president and 18 others highlights “the threat that such state prosecutions can pose to the operations of the federal government.”

    The letter also asked whether Willis at any point communicated with the team of special counsel Jack Smith, who earlier this month brought federal charges against Trump related to his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

    The letter mirrors those the committee has sent related to other criminal cases against Trump and echoes the former president’s frequent complaints that all of the charges leveled against him are motivated by politics rather than any wrongdoing.

    “The timing of this prosecution reinforces concerns about your motivation,” Jordan wrote.

    “You did not bring charges until two-and-a-half years later, at a time when the campaign for the Republican presidential nomination is in full swing,” he continued. “Moreover, you have requested that the trial in this matter begin on March 4, 2024, the day before Super Tuesday and eight days before the Georgia presidential primary.”

    Willis’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

    Jordan’s panel has frequently sought information on criminal probes into Trump at key junctures.

    He sent a letter to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D) before he had even brought charges against Trump, writing that he was “reportedly about to engage in an unprecedented abuse of prosecutorial authority.”

    He’s also sent two letters to Attorney General Merrick Garland concerning Smith’s investigation.

    Thursday’s letter lays out a case for Trump, arguing the actions he took in Georgia — asking the secretary of state to “find” enough votes for him to win and assembling a slate of fake electors — could be considered official actions taken by a president.

    “When states rely on acts like these—apparently taken in connection with official duties—to criminally prosecute federal officers, it raises serious concerns under the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution and poses a threat to the operations of the federal government,” Jordan writes.

    “The threat of future state prosecution for official acts may dissuade federal officers from effectively performing their official duties and responsibilities.”

    He also posits that such prosecutions could have a chilling effect on presidents while in office.

    “To the extent that presidents fear that they may be subject to politically motivated prosecutions after they leave office, this could impact the policies they choose to pursue while in office,” Jordan said.

    “And because this former President is a current candidate for that office, the indictment implicates another core federal interest: a presidential election.”

    For her part, Willis has denied having any contact with Smith.

    “I don’t know what Jack Smith is doing, Jack Smith doesn’t know what I’m doing. In all honesty, if Jack Smith was standing next to me, I’m not sure I would know who he was. My guess is he probably can’t pronounce my name correctly,” Willis told local media ahead of filing charges.

    https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/4169099-jim-jordan-launches-probe-into-georgia-trump-prosecution/

    Liked by 1 person

  34. Steyer being investigated for possibly not having a rental permit –for the one he rented to ultra maggot at fair market value.
    FTA
    Officials are investigating billionaire Tom Steyer for allegedly violating Vacation Home Rental (VHR) policies in his rental of his vacation home to President Joe Biden.

    Biden rented Steyer’s $18 million property for a six-day vacation in Lake Tahoe, Nevada, for “fair market value,” the White House said. The president is accompanied by first lady Jill Biden and son Hunter Biden at the mansion.

    A local resident filed a complaint against Steyer claiming he did not have a VHR permit, The Nevada Globe first reported Monday. VHR Program Manager Ernie Strehlow confirmed to the Daily Caller that the complaint is “being researched.”

    “Several [inquiries] have been received on this address. We cannot comment further as we are actively investigating any Douglas County Nevada code violations on this rental,” Strehlow said in a statement.

    If found to be in violation of VHR policies, Steyer could face a fine of up to $20,000, Douglas County policies state.

    https://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattvespa/2023/08/23/heres-where-biden-vacationed-before-disastrous-maui-trip-talk-about-bad-optics-n2627418

    Liked by 1 person

  41. Huge “Make America Great Again” bus is driving around the area pic.twitter.com/j2nqNmKJ18

    — FreedomNews.Tv FNTV (@FreedomNTV) August 24, 2023

    Liked by 1 person

    1. fanbeav
      fanbeav
      August 24, 2023 2:49 pm

      This is what happens when you are “selected” and not elected. They use their powers to go after their enemies. Just like they are doing to Trump.

      This is completely insane.

      Biden’s DOJ is suing @elonmusk’s SpaceX because they only hired American citizens instead of refugees and asylum seekers and wants to force them to give full back pay to non-citizens that they choose to not hire. pic.twitter.com/IzB3GVj252

      — Greg Price (@greg_price11) August 24, 2023

      Liked by 1 person

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