Author Archive

13 Mar

Heartthrobs and Heartbreak in ‘74

written by Bob Hunt in Blog, The Brady Bunch | 3 comments

The mild wit and even milder caricature of TEEN WORLD, 1974

If you were an adolescent girl during the summer of 1974 (and I can most assuredly tell you that I was not), you might have passed a few leisurely hours thumbing through the pages of Teen World and Tiger Beat, carefully removing full-page posters of cute boys for display while scowling at the ones you thought were undeserving of space on your bedroom wall. You might even have felt your heart pitter-patter as you came across this bit of scoop in Teen World’s June issue:

“What else is happening with the Bradys? Well, for one thing, all you faithful Barry Williams fans can stop worrying. A lot of people were afraid that bouncy Barry was going to leave the show. But that’s just not true - whew! Barry is definitely going to stay with the show, so you’ll be able to watch him every week! Probably, Barry will be entering college on the show, so you’ll be able to watch some exciting academic exploits, too! Isn’t that great?”

Before you and your friends could find the Funk and Wagnalls and look up “exploits,” Teen World breathlessly continued:

08 Mar

The Cost of Convenience

written by Bob Hunt in Blog | No comments

The televisual event of the century…or at least I thought so.

Rise up, children of the digital age! Break free from your iPods, erase your TIVOs, avert your weary eyes from YouTube! For once there was a time when young people lived in a strange and analog land, where there was no such thing as media on demand. Consumers lived only in the present, unable to reproduce their favorite entertainment for later viewing. Subjected to the whims of broadcasters and distributors, they were forced to experience content at the moment it was presented (yes, it’s true!), with no promise that it would ever be repeated. A nightmare, you presume? Not necessarily.

For all of the convenience of today’s media storage options - and don’t get me wrong, I’m glad we have them - their very existence comes at a subtle but certain price. Never again will we know the anxieties and joys of transitory media. For example, let’s say you missed a pithy comment from one of the political debates, and now everyone’s giving their two cents about it around the proverbial water cooler. No problem, as the remark in question is doubtless a YouTube search away. That movie everyone’s talking about? If it’s not on DVD now, it will be soon. But back in the analog days, if you missed something, it was gone. That was the “anxiety” part of it.

07 Mar

O m’guh!

written by Bob Hunt in Blog | 3 comments

With two daughters of Disney Channel-watching age in our house, we often hear the latest catchphrases repeated throughout the day. Most times the favored phrase du jour doesn’t last more than 24 hours before dying out. Occasionally a word will have more staying power and enjoy repetition throughout a week or more. You might assume it’s the girls who are doing all this parroting, but I must confess to being just as much of an offender (if not more so). My current favorite? The rapidly-spreading O m’guh!

I first saw it as a comment posted below a photograph on Flickr. The picture showed a shopping center as it was in the early 70’s, and locals who remembered frequenting it in their formative years gushed about the image bringing back vivid childhood memories. Some said more than others, but one viewer summed it all up by saying nothing more than - you guessed it - o m’guh!

Not to be confused with the ubiquitous OMG nor the full-blown exclamation Oh my God!, the friendly o m’guh! is simply fun to say. Once I got the ball rolling in my family, we found it especially amusing to use in the most mundane situations:

18 Feb

Wacky Packages Redux

written by Bob Hunt in Blog | 18 comments

Ajerx Cleanser. Gadzooka Bubble Gum. Crust Toothpaste. Land O’ Quakes Butter. Ring a bell? If so, you probably bought a few packs of Wacky Packages stickers once upon a time. Though introduced to the juvenile public in 1967, the subversive marketing parodies didn’t really catch on until 1973, when the legendary “1st Series” hit groceries, gas stations, and carry-outs everywhere. For a mere nickel, a kid could open the bright red wrapper to find a pair of stickers, a checklist, and a stick of bubble gum. Ironically, I recall these satirical jabs at consumerism as the first collectible items I desired owning.

Words alone cannot do justice to the allure of Wacky Packages. A big part of their appeal was the wonderful graphic artwork, which skillfully mimicked original packaging while adding absurd elements for a surreal send-up. Thus, Windex Window Cleaner became Windaxe Window Breaker, the familiar clear bottle bearing a label inscribed BREAK GLASS TO REMOVE AXE. And naturally, there was a large axe dominating the interior of the bottle. Though the humor was simplistic and mild, the artistic accomplishment could be mesmerizing.

12 Feb

Be it ever so humble…

written by Bob Hunt in Blog | 3 comments

Have you ever wondered what you might do if you suddenly had an extraordinary amount of discretionary income? I’m not talking about just having a healthy bank balance after the bills are paid, or even a retirement plan that could see your family living comfortably through its next few generations. I mean ridiculously, couldn’t-even-begin-to-spend-it-all, top-of-the-Forbes-list, prince-of-a-land-brimming-with-fossil-fuels, stinkin’ rich. What might you be tempted to do with that kind of money? That is, once you’ve tithed and fed the world’s poor and all of the other benevolent things you swear you’d do if only you got the chance - after all that - how would you use up all the piles of cash left cluttering up the palace?

05 Feb

Location, Location, Location!

written by Bob Hunt in Blog | 5 comments

Have I got a deal for you! Right here in Columbus, Ohio, just a stone’s throw and then some from the home of the Buckeyes, stands the retail space pictured above. Now, I know you’re thinking that it doesn’t look like anything special, but I ask you to acknowledge that appearances can be deceiving, and hear me out. By the time I’m done, you’ll be begging to sign the lease before someone else does. The property in question is situated within a modern strip mall at one of our fine city’s busier intersections. It rubs shoulders with a financial institution on one side and a haircut shop on the other, with plenty of respectable businesses filling out the corner, from a bakery to an excellent Chinese buffet. Even if you’re giving me the benefit of the doubt at this moment, you’re probably wondering about dull things like square footage and how many dollars per month. Trust me, those are petty concerns. After I’ve finished, you’ll realize that any amount of capital is a worthy investment for this gem of an opportunity.

03 Feb

WWGD?

written by Bob Hunt in Blog, The Brady Bunch | No comments

‘Rusty is stripped of his campaign manager duties by an angry Greg’

In these turbulent political times, as accusations fly and mud is slung, may we remember the example of those upstanding citizens whose steadfast adherence to ethical campaign principles lit a path along the dim road to a truly democratic republic. In a society where winning so often seems to be everything, a few brave souls have been willing to sacrifice victory for the sake of doing the right thing. As usual, we need look no further than the admirable behavior of Greg Brady.

29 Jan

Accept No Substitutes

written by Bob Hunt in Blog | 5 comments

‘No…Not Fake Jan’

The Brady Bunch has seen its share of stand-ins over the years. The recent passing of Allan Melvin recalls the disappointment that fans experienced during A Very Brady Christmas, in which a faux Sam the butcher is lamely concealed beneath a Santa costume. The same TV movie was notable for the absence of Susan Olsen as Cindy. When The Bradys came along for its brief run, it did so without the participation of Maureen McCormick as Marcia. But among all of the Brady substitutions, none seems so rooted in the firmament of pop culture as the non-presence of Eve Plumb in The Brady Bunch Variety Hour. You know what I’m talking about: Fake Jan.

28 Jan

Barry Haiku

written by Bob Hunt in Blog | 3 comments

‘Poetry in Motion’

It’s poetry day here at The Greg Brady Project. Time to sharpen our pencils and make the world a whole lot brighter by sharing some inspiring verse. The format? Why, haiku, of course. For the uninitiated, haiku is a Japanese poetic device in which three related images are described successively in three lines. In English, it is often expressed using exactly five syllables in the first line, seven syllables in the second line, and five syllables in the last line. Here, then, are some Barry-inspired examples:

Barry is not Greg.

Some people think otherwise.

What a patient man.

Get the idea? Feel those creative juices flowing? Here’s another one:

25 Jan

The Tenth Brady

written by Bob Hunt in Blog | 21 comments

When I say fifth Beatle, whose name pops into your mind? Chances are, it’s George Martin, the legendary producer whose talent shaped the arrangement and sound of the songs we know so well. But maybe not. Others argue that the accolade should go to Pete Best, the original drummer who was dumped early on in favor of Ringo Starr. Still others believe it’s Mal Evans, whose behind-the-scenes efforts as roadie and general gofer contributed to happily working Beatles as much as anyone. And then there’s Yoko Ono. The point is, there are a lot of cases to be made for the honorary title of Fifth Beatle.Which brings us to a question likely to spark scholastic debate for generations to come: after we account for the nine smiling faces that beam from the opening credits matrix, who was the Tenth Brady?