The Greg Brady Project
Welcome to the official Barry Williams' blog
My friends call me Barry. From time to time I also hear the name Greg. Yeah, as in Greg Brady. The Brady Bunch represents a fun time in my life. But it’s only part of the story. There’s more to say and that’s what The Greg Brady Project is all about - a place to say it. So, I’ve invited some friends to join me and share their perspectives on the Brady’s, the 70’s and just about everything else. Now, I’m inviting you…
12 Jun
Animal Trainer Lee Sollenberger
written by Guest Author in Blog, The Brady Bunch | No comments
Lou Schumacher Animal Rentals was the animal supplier for the show. I worked for Lou in the early seventies as did a few trainers. Tiger belonged to Lou and was trained mainly by Karl Lewis, a renowned animal trainer (”Babe,” “Call of the Wild,” “White Dog” and more too numerous to mention). Myself and another trainer Bill Vergis got the call to do the goat show. We found a goat through contacts, and brought her home to my house and started the training. I do remember they called her Raquel in the episode we did.
Training was easier than we thought as she learned quickly and worked to rewards and a “Buzzer.” We train animals to the sound of the buzzer and when they respond to it, they are rewarded with food. When we got to set we noticed that the goat had a lot of inside work. This did not create a problem. But never seeing the set, she was reluctant to “pay attention” to what she was supposed to do. Robert Reed was the director and gave us plenty of time to rehearse with “Raquel”. Sometimes you will have problems with animals as they have never been in a movie or on TV. We did several rehearsals and everything started to go just fine until we started the closet scenes. She did not want to be in that closet. Barry was very patient and so was the crew. In a scene where Florence Henderson is showing a group the house, Greg has to hide the mascot. Hence this is the closet scene. Raquel also wore a mascot blanket type prop with the other school’s name on it.
22 May
“Brady Musical’s” Elliot Kevin Schwartz
written by Guest Author in Blog, The Brady Bunch | 4 comments
When I first heard about “A Very Brady Musical,” I couldn’t wait to audition. Now admittedly, my father, Lloyd J. Schwartz, did co-write and is directing the show. And my grandfather, Sherwood Schwartz, did create the original series. But just like millions of people across the world, I happen to love the show. And trust me, I did not get the normal treatment of nepotism. In fact, seeing some of my own family among the faces of the audition panel was incredibly nerve-wracking. In my five-minute audition I had to convince a room full of people that I was the best one for the part, regardless of my association. Within days the cast was set. I could not have been more excited to land the role of Peter Brady.
In theatre, abnormalities and the unexpected are normal and expected. The actor cast as Greg had to drop out, and I was chosen as the replacement. I took off my Peter wig and put on my identical Greg wig. I was ready. I realized some very important aspects of the character. Greg is old and wise through the eyes of Bobby, Cindy, and the rest of the gang. Yet, he is still naïve and confused when it comes down to surviving in the real world. He has a lot to learn but is completely willing to learn it.
One of the funniest stories from Barry’s Growing Up Brady concerns his adolescent crush on Florence Henderson. The tale prompted a lot of publicity due to its apparently taboo nature. Taboo, that is, until we understand that: 1) their celebrated “date” was as innocent as a Brady Bunch episode, and 2) Florence Henderson is not Barry’s mother, fer cryin’ out loud! Barry himself has tried to help us understand this, writing the following: “Most everybody thinks of Florence Henderson as the quintessential television mom, and that vaguely oedipal association seems to have successfully inhibited the American public from ever realizing what a totally white-hot babe she really is.” Sorry, Barry, but I’m not buying it. She might not be your mom, but the rest of us can’t shake the conviction that she is our mom.
Recent surveys support this notion. As Eric Greenberg reported, Carol Brady came in third place (behind Clair Huxtable and Marion Cunningham) when TiVo asked viewers to identify their favorite TV mom. A recent Harris Poll found similar results after asking people to name the TV mom they wished had raised them. Once again, our Lovely Lady took third place (this time following June Cleaver and Clair Huxtable). Interestingly, when the Harris folks broke down their data into demographic chunks, they found that Carol Brady was the number one TV mom among two subgroups: Gen Xers and Republicans. Among conservatives aged 32 to 43, presumably, that preference must be through the roof.
The Cincinnati Kids. Hawaii Bound. Pass the Tabu. The Tiki Caves. The Subject Was Noses. You might know the five aforementioned Brady Bunch episodes by the key words King’s Island, Hawaii, and Oh, my nose! Time and again as I interviewed fans who were gathered for a recent personal appearance by Barry, these shows were cited as personal favorites. Although I would agree that each of them is a classic, none of them appears in my Brady Six.
The Brady Six is your personal top-six list of favorite Bunch episodes. There is only one criterion for inclusion: each episode you choose should be one that you never tire of watching, the sort of show that causes you to be delighted as the opening credits conclude and you realize that one of the best Brady Bunchesever is on the air. While compiling my own list, I noticed that five of my six favorites include Greg in a prominent role. I swear on my tiki idol that my list would still be the same if I were blogging for the Cindy Brady Project! Here, then, presented in the order in which they originally aired, is my Brady Six.
Who knew there are so many powerful “Brady Bunch” fans out there? In Sunday’s ”World Wide Web Surfing” post, I linked to a story about Indiana gubernatorial candidate Jim Schellinger having become an architect because of Mike Brady. Well long before seeing that, I read a rumor that Louisiana’s new governor and former Congressman Bobby Jindal (born Piyush Jindal) took his first name from another Brady. Last night, he confirmed it on “The Tonight Show:”
“You know, unfortunately the rumors are true…I watched a lot of TV growing up. And when I was four years old, my mom went to pick me up from school and the teacher said, he’s got a new name. She says ‘what do you mean he’s got a new name?’ And apparently I went to school one day and told my friends and my teachers to start calling me Bobby. It was off my favorite character of my favorite TV show. I was watching ‘The Brady Bunch’ and Bobby Brady…”
She was wisecracking yet efficient, gentle as a rule but firm when necessary. Unflappable amidst chaos, she could restore order in an instant. She knew how to read the face of a troubled child and deliver just the right words to make it all better. Her sense of humor was infectious, and she loved a good joke even more than the next person. Long ago she dedicated her life to serving others, always with a satisfied smile of quiet contentment.
Alice Nelson, devoted housekeeper of the Brady family? Certainly. But I’m actually describing Sister Barbara Simon, my fourth grade teacher and “personal Alice.”
Sister Barbara belied the stereotype of the stern disciplinarian nun. She was jovial and witty, and she refused to take herself too seriously. On one occasion during a church festival, she was working the hamburger grill when she overheard a customer requesting a toasted bun. Her famous reply: “Tell him to stand by the fire if he wants his buns toasted!” How many nuns would dare say such a thing? Sister Barbara was so friendly and likable, she could get away with being charming where others would be offensive. Day after day she entertained herself by peppering her instruction with jokes, most of which went right over the heads of her young charges.
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:
‘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.
Let’s raise the bar here at The Greg Brady Project by presenting a little piece of maritime history. After 40 years at sea, the famed cruise ship Queen Elizabeth II set out on its final voyage this week. Vacationers and historians will mark this as the end of an era for the vessel that hosted the likes of Margaret Thatcher, Sir Paul McCartney, and the Queen herself. Now let’s bring the bar right back down as Brady gossip hounds honor the great ship, not for its seaworthiness, but as the site of Barry’s last documented attempt at a little Brady family funny business.
It was Barry’s 18th birthday, and thanks to Robert Reed, the cast was aboard the QE2 for a cultural journey to London. All the kids were there, but Barry only had one Brady on the brain. Here’s his account in “Growing Up Brady” (available for purchase in The Greg Brady Project store): “I was positive, absolutely positive, that the warm sea breezes and lack of parents would combine to finally allow my relationship with Maureen [McCormick] to…uh…expand to its fullest potential. So Barry took his A game and headed over to the room Maureen was sharing with Eve Plumb. How’d it work out?
Brady mania was alive and well in 2007. On a high note, the whole gang was honored with the TV Land Pop Culture Award at the 5th annual TV Land Awards. We also saw the box set release of the entire “Brady Bunch” series along with “A Very Brady Christmas” and lots more wrapped up in a nice fuzzy green package.
Your favorite Brady cast members were on the go this year. Florence Henderson gave us a sneak peak of her upcoming Retirement Living TV talk show, while Maureen McCormick destroyed everyone in her path by dropping 38 pounds on “Celebrity Fit Club” (and oh yeah…you may have heard, she’s been writing a book). As for our leader, he spent the year tearing it up on Sirius Satellite Radio, starring in “Growing Up 70s” in the heart of Times Square, and just under the wire…launching The Greg Brady Project. He also became an honorary member of the Air Force, got his own Upper Deck baseball card and appeared with Maureen on “The Singing Bee.”
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Recent Comments
- Renee on July 4, 2008 said:
THANK YOU BRANDON! I will have to check that out! I appreciate you telling me this! Have... - Brandon on July 4, 2008 said:
It is probably on youtube.com, thats where i seen it…just search barry williams... - Renee on July 3, 2008 said:
THAT would be a cool show to catch! And FREE - even BETTER, lol! But, would be kind of...
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