If you ever wondered about the opening to all five seasons of "The Brady Bunch",I'm going to give you the play-by play:

A line goes on the right side when they say 'here's the story of a lovely lady'. The square where Florence Henderson("Carol") shows. 3 more squares appear on the left: Marcia(Maureen McCormick at the top left square),Janice(Eve Plumb in the middle square),and Cindy(Susan Olsen at the bottom square). Carol looks at Marcia,then Jan,then Cindy.

Now the line goes to the left where the 'its the story of a man named Brady' part begins. Mike's(Robert Reed's)square is on the
right. Three more squares appear to the right: Greg(Barry Williams
at the top square),Peter(Christopher Knight in the middle square)
and Bobby(Michael Lookinland in the bottom square). Mike looks at Greg,then Peter,then Bobby.

Now,Carol's square is at the top,and Mike's square connects it. They look at each other. The squares separate,and the six squares appear. Mike and Carol look at each kid as they look at them and each other. The title "THE BRADY BUNCH" appears. Then it has 'Starring Robert Reed',Then 'Florence Henderson'. The center square appears. It says 'And Ann B. Davis as Alice'.

What else do you know about the Brady opening? Tell me as soon as possible!

I think you mentioned everything.

thats cool

In the 1988 "A Very Brady Christmas" movie, Reed and Henderson switched billing, so it said "Starring Florence Henderson...Robert Reed...and Ann B. Davis as Alice". I guess Florence had a better agent for that one. Or maybe Bob decided to let her have top billing for once. They shared top billing for "The Bradys" in 1990.

Starting with season two, the Brady Kids sing the theme song. During season one, it was sung by the Peppermint Trolley Connection, or whatever they were called.

During season one, Mike give the boys dirty looks and then smiles at the girls.

The same footage of the family is used during seasons two and three, but the theme song is sung differently.

The actors wear different clothes in the openings in each year, except for years 2 and 3 which are the same. Florence has a different hairdo in each of the 4 different openings. In year 4's opening Robert Reed has his year 3 hairstyle which he has in the very first scene of year 4's first episode (the Hawaii ep), but he has curly hair from the second scene through the rest of the series.

The theme song was re-recorded for each of the series' first four seasons. For the last season, they went back to the same recording used for season 3. That recording sounded much better than the season 4 theme, in which a very nasal Eve Plumb was heard prominently.

Originally posted by Lamont Holmes
Now the line goes to the left where the 'its the story of a man named Brady' part begins. Mike's(Robert Reed's)square is on the
right.

Actually, Robert's square was on the left. The boys were on the right in a column.

Originally posted by hawaii five-o
... it was sung by the Peppermint Trolley Connection, or whatever they were called.

They were the Peppermint Trolley Singers.

Thanks, James. It was driving me nuts because I couldn't remember their name.

*Starting with season 3 and continuing through seasons 4 and 5, when the Brady kids sung the theme song, the boys sung the "STORY ABOUT A LOVELY LADY, WITH THE 3 VERY LOVELY GIRLS." The girls sang the "STORY ABOUT A MAN NAMED BRADY, AND THE 3 BOYS OF HIS OWN."

*The 2nd season opening credits with the kids singing, Barry Williams and Mike Lookinland can be heard over the rest of the kids.

*In the 4th season opening credits, it sounds as if Eve Plumb is singing the girls part with her voice echoed over and over. (They probably should have used Marueen McCormick, she always had a pretty voice.)

*Look at Bobby in the 2nd and 3rd season opening credits, several times he closes his mouth and moves his tounge. (It almost looks as if he is licking peanut butter or something on his upper lip.)

*As noted already, Mike (Robert Reed) looks like he is shaking his head in disgust in the 1st season closing credits. Strange. Why would they take that footage?

*Hairstyles -

1. Mike: 1st - 3rd season has his shorter hair. 4th and 5th seasons shows his longer more permed hair.

2. Carol: 1st season has the blonde wig. 2nd/3rd season has her short natural darker hair. 4th season has her blonde mullet like hair. 5th season back to shorter darker hair.

3. Alice: Had the same hair style in all 5 seasons, only it started to look grayer in seasons 4 and 5.

4. Marcia: 1st season wore her hair in pigtails, 2nd - 5th seasons wore her hair down.

5. Jan: 1st - 5th seasons wore her hair down. In season 4, her hair looked a little wavy.

6. Cindy: 1st - 3rd seasons, had her hair in curls. 4th and 5th season, had her hair in braides.

7. Greg: 1st season - Short dark hair, a tiny bit longer in 2nd/3rd season. Had the perm like hair in seasons 4 and 5.

8. Peter: Pretty much the same as Greg.

9. Bobby: Short dark black hair (which was dyed) in seasons 1 through 3. 4th and 5th seasons, had longer Beatles like hair style over his ears with natural brown color.

.....One more thing. I asked Barry Williams myself on his website (Ask Barry http://www.barrywilliams.com/ask/answer.htm) about filming the opening sequences on the show.

He said each cast member sat on a stool (one at a time) on the paramount soundstage. They smiled and were told where to look and when to turn their heads. He said it was a little embarresing smiling constantly in front of the crew. Later, each character was placed in their traditional square.

Also in season 4,Jan wore her glasses in the opening credits.

Someone mentioned on this message board that Robert Reed hiccups during the season 4 opening. I've seen it--funny!

Did you know that 6 out of the 9 squares were used in "The Brady Kids"? Will you tell me play-by-play of THOSE Openining credits?

Jan looked really nice in the last season credits!!

in the second season opening credits, watch jan, at the end she looks over at alice, then looks back but the expression on her face looks like she thinks alice is crazy? dont ya think?

My hubby noticed that too--funny!

lol, that cracks me up! but if alice wasnt really nxt to her, i wonder if she done that on purpose, or not lol or if there was someone pulling faces at her or sumthin.

It's actually The Peppermint Trolley COMPANY.

"In year 4's opening Robert Reed has his year 3 hairstyle which he has in the very first scene of year 4's first episode (the Hawaii ep), but he has curly hair from the second scene through the rest of the series."


Actually, he had straight hair (non permed) in the episode where Marcia goes to High School for the first time. (ie. the episode with Peter's volcano, and Marcia joins all the clubs to be popular)

[QUOTE=BillyK
Actually, he had straight hair (non permed) in the episode where Marcia goes to High School for the first time. (ie. the episode with Peter's volcano, and Marcia joins all the clubs to be popular)[/QUOTE]

It's been years since I've seen this show. I never realized this. That must mean that that episode you mentioned was the first one filmed for season 4. I saw an episode of Mission Impossible from the fall of 1972 with Robert Reed in it and his hair was straight in that episode as well.

Maybe his hair was naturally curly and he straightened it? I can't tell, but if you look at 60s tv shows very few white men have curly hair.

Here's something I didn't see mentioned yet. If you listen closely on the 1st season beginning, about the time where it says "and they knew", there's a fart-like sound in the background.