One day, however, Mr. Brady remarried and Alice's duties doubled over night as Mike's new wife, Carol Tyler-Martin, a widow and her three daughters - Marcia, Jan and Cynthia ("Cindy") - moved into the four-bedroom Brady home. But Alice took everything in stride and welcomed the newest members of the Brady bunch including the girl's cat Fluffy (The boy's had a scruffy dog named Tiger).

ALICE: If there's anything I can't stand is a perfect kid.
And SIX of 'em, Yeech!"

At first, Alice felt that she was no longer needed with Carol Brady being the new lady of the house. Alice confided to her sister, Myrtle "Things have kind of changed around here, Myrt. Now that Mr. Brady's married, I'm just not needed anymore. Who needs an old Victrola when stereo comes in?" When Alice contemplated leaving, Mike, Carol and all the kids rallied to convince her that she was an important part of the family and just had to stay. And stay she did. Later, when Alice sprained her ankle, the kids happily pitched into cook and clean until she was back on her feet.

As a live-in housekeeper, Alice's job is a 24-hour-a-day affair. She lives in a room off the kitchen (she never eats with the Brady's) and when anything goes wrong in the Brady household, Alice is there to lend a hand, console a troubled child or serve coffee or a midnight snack to her employers when they can't sleep or arrive home from some social function.

CAROL: Oh, Alice, what would we do without you?
ALICE: Probably eat out.

While shopping for the Brady's groceries, Alice will find time to visit the owner of Sam's Butcher Shop where she is guaranteed to get a good cut of meat (lean ground sirloin @ 92cents/lb) and a smile from her boyfriend Sam Franklin, the butcher.

On occasion, Alice dreams of Mark Millard, an ex-boyfriend. He once came to town to court Alice, much to the chagrin of Sam, the butcher. Unfortunately, Mark (who had been married six times and had a gambling problem) tried to swindle Alice with a "very unusual investment opportunity" that luckily Alice turned down with the help of information provided by Mike's friend in the district attorney's office. Eventually, Alice and Sam married and like other married couples, they had to travel a few rocky roads along the way. After her wedding in 1977, Alice moved out of the Brady house but still lived nearby.

ALICE: I've been digging Sam so long, by the time
he proposes, I'll be six feet under.

When not shopping, cleaning or cooking (she makes great flapjacks) Alice found the time to help the Brady kids with their homework assignments, console Jan about her jealousy issues with her sister Marcia ("Marcia! Marcia! Marcia!"), cook "pork chops and applesauce" for Peter, sew a fairy princess costume for Cindy's Dixie Canyon Elementary School play, offer a remedy for Carol's laryngitis and even organize a campaign to "Save the Woodland Park." Alice is so loyal that when the whole family got the measles, she cared for the bed-ridden Brady bunch and only when they were all cured did she come down with measles.

For fun, Alice likes to enter jingle-writing contests (she won a stereo), watch Perry Mason on TV, go bowling with Sam Franklin and dance the Charleston. Alice's claim to fame is being friends with Lucille Ball's housekeeper.

Alice and Sam celebrate with some bubbly

 Continued next page >

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