How did the Brady family afford Alice?

[Anonymous]

I grew up watching the episodes on Nick at Nite. I still remember my dad telling me you didn't get to see one episode back to back, everyday like they played them. It blew my mind!

I also loved watching Leave it to Beaver. A few years back, I caught an episode and good grief is that show full of racist comments!

[Anonymous]

"Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Mrs. Brady didn't work - even more reason to be envious. Alice was Mr. Brady's nanny/housekeeper before he met Carol and decided to keep her after the marriage because she was so good.

Plus she got room and board, so she must have been pretty cheap.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mrs. Brady didn't work - even more reason to be envious. Alice was Mr. Brady's nanny/housekeeper before he met Carol and decided to keep her after the marriage because she was so good.

Plus she got room and board, so she must have been pretty cheap.

Or she had a personal trust fund to pay her bills. Are we sure she didn't didn't go home to her own place on the weekends?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My husband and I were daydreaming about how we could make our lives with three small children and two full time jobs easier and more fulfilling and realized that what we really need is Alice from the Brady Bunch. How on earth did they afford that kind of wonderful and loving domestic help? They had normal jobs, and weren't really old enough to have accumulated a ton of wealth. Maybe a really excellent life insurance policy on one of the deceased spouses?

This is soooooo FUNNY!!!!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The real question is how did they have that big house with maids quarters, yet only 3 bedrooms upstairs.

The maids quarters was downstairs I think.

Were not was!

first poster here--I know the maid's quarters were downstairs. My point was that they ONLY has 3 bedrooms in such a huge house. How does one have room for maids quarters, but only 2 bedrooms and 1 bathroom for 6 kids?

[Anonymous]

And Dad was an architect. Why didn't he renovate their house?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And Dad was an architect. Why didn't he renovate their house?

Yes, they needed a bedroom for each child with ensuite bathroom to cut down on conflicts. So, with Alice, they needed an 8BR house.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Alice took all the edges off their life. No stress, Carol could relax and feel sexy.

She might have felt sexy, but ber dh was gay. Maybe she was spending time with Alice when the kids were away.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Alice took all the edges off their life. No stress, Carol could relax and feel sexy.

...even with that unfortunate hair-do. a mullet for the ages!

It was actually called a "shag," and it was incredibly popular. HELL to grow out, and you wanted to grow it out as soon as you saw yourself in it. Both my mom and I had one. The world's ugliest hair style ever.

OMG, thanks for the memories, I'm black and had a jheri curled, afro shag. No human being will ever see those pictures!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Alice took all the edges off their life. No stress, Carol could relax and feel sexy.

She might have felt sexy, but ber dh was gay. Maybe she was spending time with Alice when the kids were away.

Or with Sam. He sure was coming over there a lot with his meat packages.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

first poster here--I know the maid's quarters were downstairs. My point was that they ONLY has 3 bedrooms in such a huge house. How does one have room for maids quarters, but only 2 bedrooms and 1 bathroom for 6 kids?

Actually I knew a lot of real actual (not sitcom) families during the Brady Bunch era where the kids shared bedrooms and bathrooms. In fact, in most families I knew, everybody used the same bathroom, including the parents. Though these families did not have live-in housekeepers who wore uniforms.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The real question is how did they have that big house with maids quarters, yet only 3 bedrooms upstairs.

I just thought this same thing. I was originally thinking it was a modest house with only 3 bedrooms, but then I remembered Alice's quarters, the den, the attic space...the LARGE family room, dining room, eat-in kitchen AND tv-watching room; oh and large foyer area...so it wasn't so modest maybe.

Don't architects make a lot of money?

http://www.westcollection.org/images/mbennett2517.jpg

That is awesome! Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

first poster here--I know the maid's quarters were downstairs. My point was that they ONLY has 3 bedrooms in such a huge house. How does one have room for maids quarters, but only 2 bedrooms and 1 bathroom for 6 kids?

Actually I knew a lot of real actual (not sitcom) families during the Brady Bunch era where the kids shared bedrooms and bathrooms. In fact, in most families I knew, everybody used the same bathroom, including the parents. Though these families did not have live-in housekeepers who wore uniforms.

I actually grew up in a house with (gasp!) ONE BATHROOM.

Perhaps that should be a new thread. "I grew up in a one-bathroom house. Ask me anything."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

The biggest thing that I envied about the sitcoms from that era is that despite the high-powered jobs that some of them had (Cosby Show, etc), they weren't that stressed and never seemed to have to work TOO many hours. Pretty nice lives.

Totally. I wanted to be Claire H. when I was little. Have everything except the brownstone. My husband, a college prof, works more hrs than Clifford!