When Henry Met The Bradys
'earring
in the
new year...
You'll never believe which famous politician stopped in to visit
Greg and Marcia.
ELIZABETH APPLEBAUM ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Q: Growing up, I was a big fan
of "The Brady Bunch" television
series. I was wondering if any of
the actors or actresses who played
the Brady kids is Jewish?
From reader S.B. in Atlanta
A: Alas, Tell Me Why is
painfully sorry to report that
apparently none of those fab-
ulously talented Brady kids
was Jewish. Nor were Mom or
Dad or even that friendly
housekeeper, Alice.
This doesn't mean, howev-
er, that buckets o' Jewish con-
nections to the show did not
exist. Mom Brady (a.k.a. Flo-
rence Henderson, without
whom we might never have
heard that charming phrase
"the chicken's got a certain
Wessonality") has a daughter
named Barbara Bernstein; in
an interview 'long ago, Ms.
Henderson said she and her
husband were raising the chil-
dren Jewish.
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The creator of the show,
Sherwood Schwartz, was
Jewish, as were many of the
directors and writers. As a
devoted fan, no doubt you
remember an episode in which
Peter Brady was given his
own column in the school
paper; that was written by Bill
Freedman and Ben Gersh-
man. And how about that
time when Mike becomes
convinced an FBI agent is
about to cause trou-
ble for Dad; that was
the handiwork of Howard
Ostroff (the writer) and
Bernie Wiesen (the direc-
tor).
Without a Jewish agent, you
might never have seen Barry
Williams starring as the eldest
Brady boy, Greg. Toni Kelman
was responsible for signing Mr.
Williams to his first profes-
sional contract when he was
11 years old.
Probably the most unusual
Jewish connection Tell Me
Why has been able to
find to "The Brady Bunch"
has to do with a famous politi-
cian.
In his stunning and com-
pelling book Growing Up
Brady, Barry "Greg" Williams
recounts how former Secretary
of State Henry Kissinger ac-
tually visited the set of the
show. Why?
"The answer, quite
simply, is that he
was trying to im-
press his daughter,"
Mr. Williams wrote.
"She was a big
`Brady' fan, and
when she asked
her father if he
might arrange for her
to meet us, he simply
made a phone call, blew
off an afternoon full of
globally significant meet-
ings, and arranged for the
visit."
Q: My wife and I recently
visited Los Angeles, where
we spent many pleasant
hours strolling along the
Walk of Fame. I couldn't
help but notice that a num-
ber of Hollywood greats
have more than
one star; can you
tell me if any of them
are Jewish?
A: Certainly
the man with
the most stars, Gene Autry,
was not — nor were the two
men who each have four, Bob
Hope and Tony Martin.
There are, however, many
Jewish celebrities who have
three stars on the Walk of
Fame. They include Dinah
Shore, Sammy Kaye, Danny
Kaye, Al Jolson, Eddie Cantor,
George Burns and Jack Ben-
ny. Jewish celebrities
with two stars are Wal-
ter Winchell, Groucho
Marx, Jerry Lewis, Eddie
Fisher, Fanny Brice and
Milton Berle.
Although the Walk of
Fame is crowded with stars, it
is still regarded quite an hon-
or to have one. Usually, enter-
tainers are nominated by fans,
then approved by the Walk of
Fame Committee. The stars,
just one of which costs $5,000
to dedicate, are awarded based
on such factors as longevity
and achievement.
As to why celebrities have
more than one: It has to
do with outstanding talent
in several fields. Al Jolson,
for example, was honored
for his work in movies (The
Jazz Singer), on radio (as host
of the "Kraft Music Hall" in
1933) and for his records (his
famous rendition of "Sonny
Boy").
Q: I know there
are 613 mitzvot, or
commandments,
but can you tell me
what's the very first
mentioned in the Torah?
A: You might think it would
be one of those prohibiting
murder or the worship of idols,
right?
Guess again.
The first mitzvah
(in Genesis 1:28,
9:1) is a positive
command-
ment, di-
recting man
to procreate.
Editor's Note: Reader S.R.
in Pikesville, Md., recently
wrote regarding a question
in the Dec. 6 issue of Tell
Me Why. The question cited
Neil Diamond as the
man behind the Mon-
kee song "Daydream Be-
liever." In fact, as S.R. noted,
"Daydream Believer" was
written by John Stewart.
Neil Diamond wrote another
Monkee hit, "I'm A Believer."
(Believe it or not, that's all
the Monkee singles we know
with the word "believe"; who
could tell the difference be-
tween any of their songs, any-
way?) ❑
Send questions to Tell Me Why,
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