Let's face it. The Brady's needed an Alice in their household. To me, the entire family weren't all the funny, especially with the one-liners. Hey, come to think of it, Alice and Sam were perfect for one another. They both like to joke. :wave:

I love how Alice liked to joke here and there. She did provide a lot of comic relief, you are right.

Yes, Ann B. Davis was the "comic relief." And she came well-equipped for the
role, having played Bob Cummings' secretary Schultzy on THE BOB CUMMINGS
SHOW (a.k.a. THE BOB CUMMINGS SHOW), back in the 1950s. She was the
funniest person on that series, too.

Sherwood Schwartz has stated as much. He originally wanted Monty Margetts (who appeared on Bewitched & many other sitcoms of that time) as a more serious Alice to play against Joyce Bulifant (the original choice for Carol), who came across as funnier. When Florence Henderson, who seemed more serious in demeanor than Ms. Bulifant, won the role, Schwartz went for Ann B. Davis as a more comic housekeeper.

Yes, Ann B. Davis was the "comic relief." And she came well-equipped for the
role, having played Bob Cummings' secretary Schultzy on THE BOB CUMMINGS
SHOW (a.k.a. THE BOB CUMMINGS SHOW), back in the 1950s. She was the
funniest person on that series, too.

I believe she won two Emmys for her role as Shultzy as well. But that's off the top of my head, and could be wrong...

Alice was great!

In fact I appreciated her even more when I got older watching the syndicated prints. When I first started watching The Brady Bunch though around early 1975, I didn't really care for her at all. But being only about 8 years old at the time, I didn't understand some of the great humor that she interjected into the show. Now, I think that because of her humor, it brought even more adults into watching and learning about The Brady's. As an adult, I don't think that she was in too many Brady Bunch scenes that didn't work.

Jack

I believe she won two Emmys for her role as Shultzy as well. But that's off the top of my head, and could be wrong...
You are absolutely correct. Ann B. Davis won an Emmy Award for her role on
THE BOB CUMMINGS SHOW in 1957 and 1958 (and was also nominated in 1955
and 1956). Source: "THE EMMY AWARDS," by Thomas O'Neil (1998)

Let's face it. The Brady's needed an Alice in their household. To me, the entire family weren't all the funny, especially with the one-liners. Hey, come to think of it, Alice and Sam were perfect for one another. They both like to joke. :wave:

Considering the Brady Brat's problems they went through, yes, Alice was comic relief. Just about everything that came out of her mouth was a joke.

Alice was great!

In fact I appreciated her even more when I got older watching the syndicated prints. When I first started watching The Brady Bunch though around early 1975, I didn't really care for her at all. But being only about 8 years old at the time, I didn't understand some of the great humor that she interjected into the show. Now, I think that because of her humor, it brought even more adults into watching and learning about The Brady's. As an adult, I don't think that she was in too many Brady Bunch scenes that didn't work.

Jack

I agree jack. I started watching BB around the same time you did and at first I didn't appreciate her that much. I just knew that whenever she said something, everyone would laugh. Think about her moments:

Stepping in a bucket
The famous scene where she fell into the dunking machine.
Hula in Hawaii
Afraid of Myron

Can you imagine being stuck with Kay as the housekeeper?

Considering the Brady Brat's problems they went through, yes, Alice was comic relief. Just about everything that came out of her mouth was a joke.
Alice was the comic relief, she worked on the timing with the kids. I'd hardly call the kids brats.

Alice wasn't there to give the moral lectures..that was Mike's job:)

Alice was an enjoyable character to watch. There were times that some of her lines were forced so she can get some laughs but most of all she was naturally funny. I liked the fact that Alice was not trying to be their parent but more of a friend. I did like the comedy between her and Florence Henderson. Florence became more funnier after the second season and held her own as well. Her and Ann provided some good comedy together and you can tell that Alice and Carol were close.

Who can forget Alice's scream when the ghosts went by ?

Les we forget that Carol was originally designed to be the "wacky wife", when Joyce Bulifant was initially cast, but when Florence wowed Sherwood over, he had to recast the maid part from sensible (someone named Monte Marketts was cast) to the more comical Ann B. Davis.

Ann B. Davis is a very underrated character actress - she had a terrific comedic delivery.

I would love to see more of Ann as Schultzy on "Love That Bob", another series that seems to have faded into obscurity.

or even an episode of "The John Forsythe Show"--now that is OBSCURE! :lol:

I would love to see more of Ann as Schultzy on "Love That Bob", another series that seems to have faded into obscurity.

or even an episode of "The John Forsythe Show"--now that is OBSCURE! :lol:

... and you're just the one to bring it up! :happyface