Did they really hit Marsha with that football, or did she stand behind a sheet of Plexiglass or something?

It looks like it REALLY hit her, but I can't imagine they would require Maureen Mc. to really get hit.

If anyone knows, please tell me, because my husband, kids and I are wondering..

Elizabeth B.

Interesting question, Elizabeth...

I'm only speculating, but my guess is that they had some time of a mock football, perhaps made of a light foam substance or something (for example, nerf footballs did in fact exist by the early 70s). It does appear that the ball really does hit her right in the face. I don't think I've ever noticed any type of plexiglas-like effect (such as reflection of stage lights, etc) when the ball appears to hit her.

But, if you think about it, if a REAL football was really thrown as far as Peter threw it in that scene, it would have come down with a lot of force. It seems to me that Marcia would have been knocked on her butt if she were hit in the face with a real ball.

On a side note, did you see the first "Brady Bunch" movie? I love the scene where they recreate this moment...the boy who plays Peter in the movie throws right handed, while Christopher Knight throws left handed...it looks funny to see the new "Peter" try to throw left handed in that scene, in order to make the scene as authentic as possible. Of course, they knew how silly the new Peter looked, and that was part of the fun of the movie!!

But, I really don't know, and have never heard, how that scene was actually accomplished. Anyone else out there want to guess?
(To Maureen McCormick, if you're reading this, feel free to respond)

Originally posted by Elizabeth B.
Did they really hit Marsha with that football, or did she stand behind a sheet of Plexiglass or something?

It looks like it REALLY hit her, but I can't imagine they would require Maureen Mc. to really get hit.

If anyone knows, please tell me, because my husband, kids and I are wondering..

Elizabeth B.

According to Barry's book, yep! She was hit!

I don't know if Maureen was hit or not. When N@N showed the "Big Little Man" episode where Bobby has a bruise on his face a pop said that it took two hours for the makeup artist to make Maureen's nose look swollen and it took fifteen minutes to do Mike Lookinland's bruise. This was during the Pop Up Brady episodes on N@N.

N@N=Nick At Nite

Crystal

Check out Barry's book "Growing Up Brady." She got nailed (lightly) with that football, but they exaggerated the bruise so it would look like a humongous one that the Big Man on Campus would stay away from!