Re the Brady Bunch mom, she wan’t working outside the home, why did she need a full time maid? What was she doing all day?
Re the Brady Bunch mom, she wasn’t working outside the home, why did she need a full time maid? What was she doing all day?
She was probably screwing around, since her husband was gay.
I think the backstory was that Alice had already been working and living with Mike and the boys before he married Carol. So the boys (I guess) were already attached to her and he didn’t want to put her out of a job.
The reason they felt they needed a housekeeer character at all? I think it was just because that was somewhat of a sitcom standard at the time.
Well, people with money often have maids, you know. I know a woman, raising children in the '50s who was a stay-at-home mom, married to a doctor. She had a full-time maid.
But I’d say that it’s because in Television World, SIX CHILDREN (my God!) would be way to much for one single woman to handle. There’s JUST NO WAY. We have to have a maid!
Or: Television = no resemblence to reality.
Weezy on The Jeffersons also was a housewife with a full-time maid. And the thing is, the Jeffersons lived in a condo apartment with what looked like 2 bedrooms and no kids.
That’s easily explained: George Jefferson had just “moved on up”–ooops, was “noveau riche” and having a maid was his idea in order to let the world know he had money.
DtC is correct, that is how it played out in the first episode or 3.
100% correct. George even mentioned that specific part.
What a foolish OP. Check out episode 4 of the first season, Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore where the family scheme to have her stay when she feels that she is dead weight. The handjob/blowjob episode was a little later but I can’t reference it yet.
But four bathrooms.
As for Alice, come on, that house was pretty big. Three bedrooms, two bathrooms, living room, kitchen, family room, laundry room, screen porch and den/home office, plus maid’s quarters and, once Greg set it up, the attic room. That’s a lot for one person to handle, and on top of that there’s cooking for a family of eight plus a dog and, in the pilot, a cat. Not to mention all the work involved maintaining the chameleon circuit that fit all of those rooms into what from the outside was a single-story ranch.
Besides, they needed someone to fill the ninth square in the opening credits grid.
What was the BB mom’s name, Carol?
It probably took Carol several hours each day to apply makeup and do her hair. That’s time away from the family doings. She HAD to have a maid to look that good all the time.
From a classic theater perspective, Alice provided “outsider” commentary on the family. She was the Greek chorus, and equally useful as a foil for any of the other characters. She existed because the writers needed her for certain plot turns.
Plus without her, having Sam the butcher hang around would be even more creepy.
Not only that, but Florence did so little work that it probably took her and Weezy’s efforts just to get that little apartment cleaned up.
Cite?
I want to see the episode of “Maid Swap” where Carol Brady and Weezy Jefferson traded maids for a week.
Carol needed a maid because she was so busy with her charity/volunteer/club work. There was the ladies auxiliary, the PTA, that anit-smoking organization…
And without Alice, who would have been Jan’s secret admirer and giver of the bracelet?
You forgot the astro turf lawn.
George… Tropicana!