Brady Bunch Production Stories on the Set!

[Jack1000]

List what you know, or have a reasonable degree of belief that they are true. But let's look for some less obvious ones that people don't know:

1.) Hope Sherwood had a story about the famous Frog Jumping Scene with Greg and She in the car at the drive in. They had an unseen guy who made the frogs jump. (Not sure on the specifics.) But I do know that they had to reshoot the scene about 15-20 times because the crew and especially the kids were laughing so hard. The pizza was not a real pizza, but was specially made to be fake so that the frog's feet would not be harmed by heat when they jumped onto it. "Barry's final lines were ad-libed. "Don't think we'll be eating this tonight. And he was in 34th place too!"

2.) Watch the close-up shots in "The Tiki Caves" when Prof. Whitehead gets right in the boys' faces insisting that they tell him where they found the little idol. When he gets to Mike Lookinland, it is rumored that Mike just started laughing at Vincent Price, because after that close-up, you see a quick cut-a-way.

3.) You will sometimes see Robert Reed's intentional look of disgust in doing a scene or saying a line, nowhere is this more evident than when he is holding the box of Safe laundry soap in "And Now a Word From Our Sponsor."

4.) Robert Reed also looks PO in the first season opening squares! As he rotates his head, looking at each family member, he literally scowls at Bobby! It's like, "How did I get into this?" They reshot his expression later on to make him look "happier."

5.) Cindy's favorite doll, Kitty-Karry-All, was one of three identical dolls on the set.

6.) Greg's science project mouse, Myran got sick on the set, and Mrs. Whitfield, who was one of The Brady Kid's teachers and Welfare Worker, took him to the vet. In "Snow White and the Seven Brady's" the real Francis Whitfield plays Cindy's retiring teacher in the audience.

7.) Tiger the dog was tragically hit by a car, according to Sherwood Schwartz, the producers tried to find a look-a-like from an LA shelter, but the dog could not act and often misbehaved. They used Tiger for cameo roles after this. Tiger's doghouse however, was kept on the set, because it covered a big hole in the Astroturf , resulting when a light fell down and burned a hole in the artificial grass.

Jack

[Jack1000]

Mike Lookinland was not thrilled with his "Dog Begging" scene in "Amateur Night", (a.k.a The Silver Platters Episode.) He told Lloyd or Sherwood (or both) that he could not see kids his age doing something like that. I totally agree with him. This sounds like something that Robert Reed would also object to as well. I have always felt that the episode should have ended with the moving dialog of Mike and Carol thanking the kids for giving the performance, and the kids in turn showing their appreciation for Mike and Carol paying for the engraving. That dog-begging scene is a downer, in an otherwise great episode!

Jack

[Jack1000]

In "The Grass is Always Greener" (a.k.a Role Reversal) Robert Reed objected to "Mike" slipping and falling in the kitchen telling cast and crew how slapstick it was. (no less than 3 times, and once with his face into a bucket of water used to scrub the floor.) When they first rehearsed one of his falls, Robert actually fell for real...hard. Ann B. Davis went over to him and said, "Bob, do you think you can do the scene realistically now?" He said to her, "You know Ann, when I was falling, on my way down, I was thinking, I deserved this!"

Jack

[Jack1000]

The Brady's refrigerator was often stocked with lunches and drinks that were actual food and drinks that cast and crew brought to work with them.

Jack