Three former Brady Bunch kids - maybe you are never a "former" when it comes to the bunch - were going to Kings Island to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the summer when The Brady Bunch went to Kings Island to shoot an episode in 1973.
Barry Williams (Greg), Christopher Knight (Peter) and Susan Olsen (Cindy) were all there to tell some funny stories and show some classic clips. Remember "Mom always said: Don't play ball in the house," "Oh, my nose!" and "Pork chops and apple sauce"?
Donna Delph came from Hebron, Ohio, with her grandson Aiden. She loved the show as a kid, and now he watches it with her on the Hallmark Channel. "This is going to be so exciting," she said as the lights began to dim.
Olsen, now 51, talked about being the mother of a 16-year-old son with a mohawk, and people began to realize that we have all aged together.
Knight, 55, was kind of the bad boy of the gig. He told the crowd that he has few memories of his time as a Brady and that it was fun to be able to recall these events through his fans.
But the show was really Williams'. He came out first and introduced the others. He talked about the clips, and he did a little Johnny Bravo. And in truth, Williams remains quite groovy. His skin is tan, his hair is dark, and his pants still fit just right.
And everybody loved it. At the first of four shows Sunday, there was not an empty seat in the 844-seat venue. People who couldn't get into the first show were given wristbands for the second. There were already enough to fill the place for all four shows.
Kim Williamson drove more than three hours from her home in Huntington, W.Va., to see the Bradys. She held a couple of Brady-centric books, and after the show, she would wait for a chance to meet the three actors and, for $20, pose for a photo with them.
"I think everybody, at some point in their life, wanted to be a Brady," Williamson said, sounding quite reasonable. "Their whole family seemed so perfect. They were so nice. I think it resonates with the child in all of us to want to be Brady."
And things got weird only for a moment when Williams, 58, told the story about how he tried to explain his popularity to his young son a few years ago. The boy didn't seem to understand, so Williams told him he would write him a song to explain why people always want his autograph and hope to get a photo with him. The son does not like dad's music.
And that is when Williams channeled his inner Eminem and began to rap. When the first notes of The Real Slim Shady began to pour out of speakers, nothing seemed real. Then Williams changed the words to "The Real Greg Brady."
And somehow it worked. Pretty much.
Source: http://www.freep.com/usatoday/article/2325397
