And the center Brady box goes blank -- RIP Ann B. Davis

[mpcincal]

Ann B. Davis, known to everyone as the Brady Bunch's housekeeper Alice, dies at 88.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/06/01/showbiz/ann-b-davis-dies/index.html

Another part of my childhood's late afternoons is gone.

 

[spikechiquet]

First thing that came to our minds in the newsroom when we heard she died: "She was still alive?"

Makes me remember the good old' days of TBS, when the Brady Bunch aired at 3:35.

 

[Vombatus]

6.

Maybe higher if she had worn a French maid outfit.

 

[Songbird]

It's like Sam the butcher bringing Alice the meat (in the Great Beyond).

She must've been a terrific hurdler as a young woman: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsMR3dW5SxI

Spent many many many many days with her and the Bunch.

 

[EStreetJoe]

Will anyone remember any of her other roles without needing to look them up?

 

[PCLoadLetter]

Will anyone remember any of her other roles without needing to look them up?

She actually won two Emmys before appearing on The Brady Bunch. Had no idea.

 

[Songbird]

A1?

 

[DanOregon]

RIP Alice.

 

[Ronnie "Z-Man" Barzell]

Will anyone remember any of her other roles without needing to look them up?

She actually won two Emmys before appearing on The Brady Bunch. Had no idea.

I didn't even know that the Bob Cummings Show existed before today.

 

[Riptide]

A1?

B8.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

Will anyone remember any of her other roles without needing to look them up?

She actually won two Emmys before appearing on The Brady Bunch. Had no idea.

I didn't even know that the Bob Cummings Show existed before today.

I don't even know who Bob Cummings was.

RIP Alice. I used to watch the show all the time after school.

 

[KJIM]

The movies were on here yesterday and I watched them and was remembering how awesome I thought Alice was the best one on that show. Davis wasn't in the movies as Alice, but man, as a kid, I just loved her. She was way cooler than the kids or the parents.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

A1?

B8.

I'll bet the story was teased on A1 of quite a few papers. The people over 60 who still get the paper will eat it up.

Deaths like this, people who were on beloved shows who haven't been seen since, get a ton of clicks.

 

[Bob Cook]

Will anyone remember any of her other roles without needing to look them up?

She actually won two Emmys before appearing on The Brady Bunch. Had no idea.

I didn't even know that the Bob Cummings Show existed before today.

I don't even know who Bob Cummings was.

RIP Alice. I used to watch the show all the time after school.

Great wikipedia section on Bob Cummings, actor, Emmy winner, meth addict:

Cummings married five times and fathered seven children. He was a staunch advocate of natural foods and a healthy diet and in 1960 authored a book, Stay Young and Vital, which focused upon health foods and exercise.[20]

Despite his interest in health, Cummings was also a methamphetamine addict from the mid-1950s until the end of his life.[21] In the 2013 book Dr. Feelgood: The Shocking Story of the Doctor Who May Have Changed History by Treating and Drugging JFK, Marilyn, Elvis, and Other Prominent Figures,[21] authors Richard Lertzman and William Birnes describe how Cummings began receiving injections from Max Jacobson, the notorious 'Dr. Feelgood', in 1954 during a trip to New York to star in the TV production of Reginald Rose's 12 Angry Men.

Rose and Cummings' friends Rosemary Clooney and José Ferrer recommended the doctor to Cummings, who was complaining of a lack of energy. While Jacobsen insisted that his injections contained only 'vitamins, sheep sperm and monkey gonads', they actually contained a substantial dose of methamphetamine.

Cummings continued to use a mixture provided by Jacobson, eventually becoming a patient of Jacobson's son Thomas, who was based in Los Angeles, and later injecting himself. The changes in Cummings' personality caused by the euphoria of the drug and subsequent depression damaged his career and led to an intervention by his friend, television host Art Linkletter.

The intervention was not successful, and Cummings' drug abuse and subsequent career collapse was a factor in his divorce from his third wife Mary, as well as his divorce from his next wife, Gina Fong.

After Jacobson was forced out of business in the 1970s, Cummings developed his own drug connections based in the Bahamas. Suffering from Parkinson's Disease, he was forced to move into homes for indigent older actors in Hollywood.

 

[Bob Cook]

More Wikipedia fun -- there's a direct line from Ann B. Davis to Gwyneth Paltrow:

Ann B. Davis' character, Schultzy, was the inspiration for the comic book character Pepper Potts, a supporting character in the Iron Man comics, who was modeled after her. Potts first appeared in Tales of Suspense #45 (September 1963), and was depicted with brown hair and a hairdo resembling Schultzy's. Eventually, it was decided by the editorial team that the resemblance was too great, and in Tales of Suspense #50, her appearance was altered to give her red hair and a different hairstyle.[1]

 

[3_Octave_Fart]

Why is this show so popular?
I know syndication had a lot to do with it, but it wasn't a very good show.
Badly acted, bad jokes, canned laughter - everything about it was corny.
And this was a fairly cynical time in Amer. history. Maybe it was responding to that.
But all in all a goofy ****ing show whose popularity is perplexing.

 

[exmediahack]

Why is this show so popular?
I know syndication had a lot to do with it, but it wasn't a very good show.
Badly acted, bad jokes, canned laughter - everything about it was corny.
And this was a fairly cynical time in Amer. history. Maybe it was responding to that.
But all in all a goofy ****ing show whose popularity is perplexing.

Largely the success was its layer of escapism during a very turbulent time in this country.

 

[Guy_Incognito]

Sit-Coms weren't funny until much later. Try watching Who's the Boss or Growing Pains or Kate & Allie etc.

 

[BTExpress]

canned laughter -

The number of sitcoms without canned laughter you could count on one hand, and some people who protested to get rid of the canned laughter (The Monkees, Bill Cosby) found their shows canceled instead.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

Why is this show so popular?
I know syndication had a lot to do with it, but it wasn't a very good show.
Badly acted, bad jokes, canned laughter - everything about it was corny.
And this was a fairly cynical time in Amer. history. Maybe it was responding to that.
But all in all a goofy ****ing show whose popularity is perplexing.

I liked it as a kid, but I saw it a few years ago and thought it was dreadful.