Ann B. Davis -- RIP

Once a forum member accused me of only being able to converse about gambling and 1970s situation comedies. There is a lot of truth to that painful accusation. In particular, I hold the Brady Bunch close to my heart. That said, I would like to take a moment to remember Ann B. David, who played lovable maid Alice, who died today.

I could rehash the story of Ann's life, but why bother. The New York Times has a nice obituary for her already. It says that Ann was known for playing characters like Alice, ordinary women who had difficulty finding lasting romance.

Much like Mindy Cohn, who I recently wrote about in this blog entry, I can't say that I closely identify with Alice. However, it is the common person, like Natalie from the Fact of Life, and Alice, who I truly get to know in real life. If I had been a friend of Greg or Bobby, I bet I would have had a crush on Marcia, who would have never spoken to me, but Alice would have always been there with pork chops and apple sauce if I was feeling down. On half of all the ordinary people, who Alice tended to play, I salute Ann B. Davis.

Finally, I know my thoughts would reach a bigger audience on WoV, but Mosca just took me to task for writing about unicyling there. So, I hope the small but loyal group we have here will at least skim this post.

That's sad, Alice was one of my favorite characters on the show. She always cracked me up.

R.I.P. Ann B. Davis

It's sad the way she died. Slipped in the tub and hit her
head. Totally preventable. She should have had a walk
in bath at her age. I don't think she was in really bad
health, she just had an unlucky event.

I never saw an episode of Brady Bunch, but I remember
her well from the Bob Cummings show in the late 50's,
mostly from reruns in the 60's. She played Charmaine
"Schultzy" Schultz in 154 episodes. Very funny, very
good character actress. That was a great show, I wonder
if it's available on DVD.

Here's Ann Davis in Love That Bob. Bob Cummings
plays his own grandpa, it was a running bit. I grew
up watching Ann Davis on this show, and Mike saw
her on another. Same great actress. At least she got
residuals from the Brady Bunch, there was no such
thing in the 50's.

Scoot ahead to 9min 30sec in to see her first scene.

Quote: Wizard

Once a forum member accused me of only being able to converse about gambling and 1970s situation comedies.

"I find that hard to believe" (unless you can tell where that's from <w>)

Old US sitcoms, or plain US sitcoms overall, are not very popular outside English-speaking countries. Other shows can be very popular, but sitcoms don't translate well. They try from time to time, but usually they bust, except for some animated shows like The Simpsons. Ergo, I don't think I've ever seen a single episode of the Brady Bunch, or any other sitcoms airing prior to the late 70s or early 80s.

Actually the two exception to the US sitcom rule in Mexico I can recall are "Bewitched" (here translated as "Hechizada") and "I Dream of Jennie(SP?)" (here translated as "Mi Bella Genio"). But then having magical beings screw up one's life is a near-universal experience anyone can relate to ;)

Marcia was hot. Reading about the passing of Alice, I felt compelled to see if Sam the butcher was still alive. He passed away in 2008.

Olivia de Havilland will be 98 on July 1st. She starred with Errol Flynn in Captain Blood in 1935.

Eli Wallach is 98 years old.

Robert Vaughn is the only one of the Magnificent Seven still alive.

They should have a sequel called: The Magnificent One. It would be about an octogenarian gunfighter protecting a small Mexican town from the oldest bandito still alive and causing havoc ( played, of course, by Eli Wallach).

Edit: As of June 24 the project has been shelved.