Let's talk "Family Affair"

A good overview of the sad life and death of Anissa "Buffy" Jones.

Sebastian Cabot did not die of cancer. He died from a series of strokes @ age 59.

That is why, R2, it is wise to vary your strokes.

Loved the sparkling credits.

I watched those shows thinking that life would be that way...

No discussion of "Family Affair" is complete without mention of Kathy Garver's stunning flip.

Jodie was so cute as a boy...fucking time ruins all.

OP, you gave us an update on all the key cast members save one --- Mrs. Beasley! What's up with that bitch?

There was a sweet, narcotic melancholy feel about that show. I envied those orphans and I had a crush on Uncle Bill, despite his yellow hair.

Another tragic death was that of Gregg Fedderson who played Cissy's boyfriend on the last two seasons. He died of cancer at only 53.

Gregg's father was the producer Don Fedderson, (and) his older brother Mike Minor played the handsome young crop dusting pilot who Betty Jo married on PETTICOAT JUNCTION. Minor & Linda Kaye Henning (Betty Jo) married in real life as well though theirs did end in divorce.

Don't forget actor John Williams who filled in for Sebastian Cabot for half a season as French's brother 'Giles' while Cabot was recovering from a health crisis. Then there was Nancy Walker who was on towards the end of the run as the maid 'Emily'. Also, Heather Angel who had the semi-regular part of nanny Miss Faversham whose character seemed to attract the eye of Mr. French. In real life, Heather's husband was murdered right in front of her by an intruder who was trying to rob them.

Why was Sebastian Cabot replaced by John Williams for one season? John Williams was supposed to be Mr. French's older brother.

[quote]There was a sweet, narcotic melancholy feel about that show.

I agree completely...good insight.

Ironically, it had one of the most animated,ebullient themes of the era...I love the funky harpsichord:

Theme from "Family Affair" bitches...the Welk REEE-MIX, wha,wha!

Very Vic Mizzyesque.

I love this show. I saw a rerun not too long ago and it still appeals to me. OMG! That was a luxury penthouse apartment for the ages. They had some really well written episodes too. It kind of reminded me of another one of my favorites, Father Knows Best. Both shows had great cast chemistry, was very funny yet there was some very well written and somewhat serious episodes that gave some very good messages. Family Affair was a great family show.

It was a very special part of my childhood. When Anissa Jones died -- she and I would be the same age -- I knew that my childhood was over

For some reason the thing that stands out for me most about "Family Affair" are the doorknobs.

[quote]Why was Sebastian Cabot replaced by John Williams for one season? John Williams was supposed to be Mr. French's older brother

I mentioned above that Cabot was 'out' recuperating. I couldn't recall why so I just went on IMDb.com and it said that Cabot apparently had double pneumonia and it took him some time to recover before returning to the rigors of working on a tv series.

I took my childhood once-a-week shower on Monday nights while Family Affair was on.

After seeing a few episodes, I figured I wasn't missing anything.

I was 10 when I realized another meaning of the word "Affair" and used to crack my sister up by singing the theme and pausing to say:

Uncle Bill does it with Cissy

Buffy does it with Jody

Mr. French does it with Mrs. Beasley

She always laughed her ass off

I wish I knew someone who would appreciate a gift of Kathy Garver's "Family Affair Cookbook." I think I'm going to order a copy for myself.

[quoteT]he Family Affair Cookbook by Kathy "Cissy" Garver with Geoffrey Mark is a tasty trip to the elegant retro-recipes of the 1960s! Not only does Kathy share the culinary secrets of Mr. French's kitchen as well as those of the great restaurants of the era, but she shares warm and poignant memories of working on one of the classic sitcoms of all time. Included are recipes from Kathy's own kitchen and many never-before published photos from her private collection. Whether you are a Family Affair fan or a lover of good food, this book is for you!

Somebody here posted a funny yet disturbing account of Kathy Garver having a mental breakdown while in rehearsal for a play in some flyover town.

Sissy was cray-cray?

I loved Mr. French's consistent, but not unreasonable, snobbery.

I think the young actress from Mad Men, Kiernan Shipka looks a lot like Anissa Jones

[quote]Don't forget actor John Williams who filled in for Sebastian Cabot for half a season as French's brother 'Giles' while Cabot was recovering from a health crisis.

Sebastian Cabot's character was named "Giles French." John Williams played his brother Niles.

I know hundreds of people who had normal happy childhoods and had substance problems as adults. You can't put Jody with them.

he was a bachelor who just happened to have a 4 bedroom apt (and excuse me, his "manservant" was Mr. "French") nuff said spoiled me for life--thats the apt i expected to have when I got older

The penthouse was big, but it was hideous....AstroTurf carpet, sick green paint, that awful 60s earth tones decor combined with ugly fake Mediterranean style furniture and doors with the knobs in the middle?! And the building lobby looked like a car dealer waiting room.

I also agree with the comment

[quote]There was a sweet, narcotic melancholy feel about that show

And I also loved the sparkling stuff at the intro, the music, and even the lettering

I liked the kids, they were really cute and Mr French. I liked how he was formal but nice

Brian Keith seemed gruff and Sissy seemed boring but they were nice in the end so they were ok.

Liked the big Manhattan apt and the big doors.

I had a parent that died as when I was a child and was a bit of a quiet kid so this show probably had extra appeal for me.

It's not a garden. I'ts a kitchen...a dirty ol' kitchen.

Now I'm starting to remember plotlines.

Wasn't there a multi-episode arc where Buffy and Jody get lost in Spain?

They were on a bus, touring the Spanish countryside with Mr. French. The bus stops for a break and Mr. French gets off to buy souvenirs or something and the bus takes off without him.

The last scene is Buffy and Jody screaming in fear from the back window of the bus.

To be continued....

Disney liked that Johnny Whitaker. They teamed him up with Jodie Foster in that wildlife flick, "Samson and Delilah".

I was disappointed when Brian Keith went on to be in the NBC series Little People with Shelly Fabres but was no longer Uncle Bill. Instead he was a pediatrician to little Polynesians.

Pics of fab penthouse? I can't seem to find any anywhere even googling.

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I do remember the ugly furniture and carpet of the penthouse. I might be wrong, but wasn't there an episode where other relatives tried to take away the kids from bachelor Uncle Bill.

I also remember there was a cleaning lady in the last two seasons.

While Anissa Jones obviously had issues, I admire the fact that she didn't want anything to do with show business after the show ended -- you rarely see that with child stars. Her mother sounded like a real piece of work.

Kathy got her start on the Patty Duke's show as one of Patty Lane's friends

I remember there was an E! True Hollywood Story about Anissa and Kathy Garver was interviewed and Kathy mentioned what bitch Anissa's mother was.

Avocado green. I remember it well as my mother had an avocado green and harvest gold kitchen. I think it was like the granite and stainless of its era.

The all-girl band Angel and the Re-Runs sang a tribute to Anissa Jones--to the tune of the Family Affair theme song:

r21, I posted that story a few years ago. It wasn't a fly-over city, it was in San Francisco!

I was in this interactive murder-mystery show- lots of audience participation - and she was brought in to bring a "name" to the show.

From the beginning, we could tell she was a loon. Just very dramatic, showing off her little boy's headshot, bitching about this lawsuit against Haim Saban (who ripped her off from royalties, etc).

Anyway, rehearsals were tough, because the directors were always trying to throw us curveballs as they prepared us to be in front of the "audience"

One day, Kathy says to me, "I've got a bit of a headache" and on we go with rehearsal. The directors were actually being a bit tough on me and some of the other actors, not Kathy, but she suddenly runs offstage!

The director sends the stage manager backstage to see if she's ok and we continue.

All of a sudden we hear this bloodcurdling scream, "MOMMY!!! I WANT MY MOMMY!!!! AAHAHHAHAA!!!" It was unreal.

Needless to say, the director sent us outside for a bit.

We came back in, there's Kathy, sitting in the audience, eating a bear claw (I'll never forget that). After a minute, she came back onstage and said to me, "Well, my headache is gone."

They fired her the next day.

The stage manager told me later that when he went backstage, Kathy was lying on the ground in a fetal position and when he went to touch her to see if she was ok, she jumped up and stared past him as if he wasn't there. And then she started to scream for her mommy.

It's probably the most bizarre experience I'd ever had in the theater (and there have been a few!)

Thanks, R43! I tried looking up the original thread and couldn't find it, so I hoped you'd see this one.

This was on in the afternoon in the late 70s where I lived and I remember watching it, but only one specific episode. In this episode, Jody was playing with some kid in a "bad" neighborhood and the kid liked to eat sugar on white bread. My brother and I thought it sounded good, so we tried it. NASTY!!!! So sweet. It was almost as bad as when I made "A Cup- A Cup- A Cup" from STEEL MAGNOLIAS. That shit was nasty.

I absolutely loved their apartment.

[quote] Jody was playing with some kid in a "bad" neighborhood

"fancy kids ain't allowed to get doity."

I don't remember many episodes but the one where Buffy and Jody play with the poor kids is one of them. They learned how to play stickball and, for some reason, walked around chanting "Fat, fat, the water rat."

Years ago I read an article about the show that said Brian Keith didn't want to be tied down to a sitcom, so he had it written into his contract that he'd only work a few weeks a year, freeing him up to do movies. That meant a year's worth of scripts had to be done and all the "Uncle Bill" scenes for the year were shot at once. The rest of the year the supporting cast filmed the rest of the scenes. It sounded confusing.

I always thought Brian Keith was sexy as hell. Was he married, kids? Why did he kill himself?

He had been married and had kids. He was ill and his daughter had just killed herself the year before when he killed himself.

R48 Fred MacMurray had that same deal in the later years of "My Three Sons," also a Don Fedderson creation, so I assume that's where Keith got the idea.

He also had COPD and lung cancer, so he was likely tired of suffering.

Here's some of Kathy Garver's recent work.

Anissa Jones was one of the most tragic child stars of all time. She had an awful cunty mother who wanted to make her little girl into a star; she put Anissa in dance classes when she was TWO years old. At six she was doing tv commercials. At eight she was starring in "Family Affair." Family Affair was a grueling, full-time, year-'round job: she was often either shooting or promoting the show in public, seven days a week. Almost from birth, she was working. She never had anything approaching a normal life. It probably wasn't easy for her to be known as "Buffy", the girl with the pigtails who carried around a doll she named Mrs. Beasely. it was so uncool.

After "Family Affair" ended, she didn't know what to do with herself, although she did seem sure that she didn't want to be in show business anymore. At 18 she came into the money that had been held in trust for her until she came of age. A few months after that, she would found dead of an overdose of drugs after partying hard all night. The coroner who examined Jones reported she died from one of the most severe drug overdoses he had ever seen.

Her brother died of a drug overdose at age 24.

What a sad story. She was so young when she died and she'd led such an unhappy life.

[quote] It probably wasn't easy for her to be known as "Buffy", the girl with the pigtails who carried around a doll she named Mrs. Beasely. it was so uncool.

Tell me about it.

Mrs. Beasley lives with her "longtime companion" Kitty Carryall and their cats in Northampton, Mass.

According to the link at R1, the producers made Anissa wear a chest binder when she hit puberty so she'd still be credible as a pre-teen girl. With shit like that plus the grueling work schedule, no wonder she said "fuck it" after the show was cancelled.

UNKABILLUNKABILLUNKABILL!

Anissa Jones tried out for the role of Regan in The Exorcist (1973), but lost out to Linda Blair.

Was considered for the role of Violet in Pretty Baby (1978) but she died before auditions began.

R59 and R60 are totally full of shit. Annissa Jones NEVER "tried out" for the role of Reagan and God knows she was never "considered" for the role of Violet in "Pretty Baby."

Don't know about Pretty Baby, but Wikipedia and IMDB both mention The Exorcist:

She auditioned for the part of Regan MacNeil in the film The Exorcist, but the director felt that, with Family Affair still in popular consciousness at the time through syndicated daytime reruns, movie audiences might have thought Buffy was the one being possessed.

Dana Plato made the same claim about The Exorcist and Pretty Baby, but in her story she was actually offered both parts.

Anissa's coroner's stated that she was 4'9 1/2 and 81lbs when she died.

Another good blog about Anissa Jones.

I always this should have been the shows theme song.

[quote]she put Anissa in dance classes when she was TWO years old.

Shirley Temple said her mother put her in dance class at age three -- not to make her a star; to get her to use up some energy because she was so hyper.

I only got to on watch this on rare days when I stayed home from school sick because it was shown during the day in reruns.

"Mistoh Fwench, YOUR MOTHER SUCKS COCKS IN HELL!"

"Mrs. Beasley, LET SATAN FUCK YOU!"

I used to get high and watch the opening, till one day the break with reality was permanent.

i loved when Cissy had her period. And I felt "funny" down there for a few days afterwards!

[quote] Brian Keith didn't want to be tied down to a sitcom, so he had it written into his contract that he'd only work a few weeks a year, freeing him up to do movies. That meant a year's worth of scripts had to be done and all the "Uncle Bill" scenes for the year were shot at once. The rest of the year the supporting cast filmed the rest of the scenes. It sounded confusing.

I thought Henry Fonda started that. He had a show called "The Deputy" as a US Marshall riding circuit that included a small town where he was training a reluctant deputy as a lawman. A few episodes would focus on Fonda, but most would be about the titular deputy.

Anyway Uncle Bill most nights tried to get Jodie and Buffy asleep early. Cissy partied hard.

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Those doorknobs!

My sister had the doll, and it would not shut the fuck up!

"Do you want to hear a secret? I know one."

"Gracious me, you're getting to be such a big girl!"

"I do think you're the nicest little friend I ever had."

"It would be such fun to play jump rope, don't you think?"

"If you could have three wishes, what would you wish for?"

"If you were a little smaller, I could rock you to sleep."

"Long ago I was a little girl just like you!"

"Speak a little louder dear, so Mrs. Beasley can hear you."

"Would you like to try on my glasses? You may if you wish."

"You may call me Mrs. Beasley. Would you like to play?"

I loved this show - must've been six or seven years old when first hooked. Remember being attracted to Uncle Bill as a father-figure, mine was never around (but funny I had two Uncle Bills in real-life, neither resembled Brian Keith, unfortunately).

For some odd reason I watch this show upside down: I would fling my legs up the back of the sofa, back on the cushions, and my head would hang as I watched this show in my pyjamas.

I was FASCINATED with Mr. French's beard, and when upside down I pretended his beard was his hair, making his hair his beard, and I was transfixed watching his mouth speak just below his hair!

yeah I was and odd duck, still am.

No, it was Unka Beeyo.

Johnny had some kind of speech impediment and was careful to rrrrroll his "r"s.

A classmate in Current Affairs in HS was there at the party when Anissa died and couldn't wait to tell us all about it. Her 15 minutes.

Now why did Uncle Bill always call the oldest boy a sissy? Was it because he dressed like a middle aged hausfrau?

r32 Remember DL fave Nancy Kulp had a role on that show, but this time she played a rich pain in the ass.

Big thx for posting the Mad Mag version! Memory Lane! Mort Drucker was an amazing charicaturist

R51, MacMurray had that arrangement from DAY ONE. It was key to getting him to sign on, and it was Fedderson's idea.

Oprah staged a (phony) reunion between Carver and Whitaker, which didn't go so well, despite the fake smiles, etc.

Check out Garver's defensive replies on the thread, and the response from someone who was a friend of Jone's mother.

I seem to recall Miss Ida Lupino appearing in one episode as Lady Cuntwych or something, an old flame of Mr. French.

I didn't care for the characters in this show. They all left me cold, as did the apartment they lived in.

God those YouTube posters are a bunch of nuts. One even goes by the handle "Anti-Satan Pro-Life"! Can you imagine?

I couldn't take Brian Keith's sleepy delivery, and the way he was always rubbing his face, eyes, forehead...

Jody is G A Y.

I went to school with Sebastian Cabot's daughter. She was fat like him.

This has got to be Jody's greatest film role, evah!

I remember getting choked up (even as a child) when, in the first episode, the three siblings are reunited. Cissy was dropped off last and she looked so sad until she saw her brother and sister. The biggest shame about the show was it didn't let Buffy and Jody grow up. Buffy wore the same stupid little girl dresses and carried around that cock sucking doll and Jody seemed brain damaged.

Kathy Garvey once kicked me in my vagina bone.

At a very young age I became a bear-ette when i got all tingly below when I saw Mr. French and Uncle Bill. I wanted to be the filling in their sandwich!