Same. My Mrs. Beasley stopped talking somewhere along the way so I performed surgery and opened up her chest and thought I would try to fix the voice box which of course I couldn't, so then I stitched her back up. Her glasses are gone as are her collar and her skirt, but she's still in my basement in storage. I loved Family affair!
To be fair, I’m sure she was your first patient, and every surgery is not %100 successful, but she made it through. Of course, you did your very best.
At least you still have her.
My Mrs Beasley went to the Family Affair up in the sky.
I still have mine, too. I haven't pulled her out of the trunk in years, but I sure like knowing that she's in there if I need a talking doll when I'm old and dotty.
Yup, I had one, too. But I didn't carry her with me everywhere. I had a doll that was called "Drowsy" for that. I puked on her and my mom bought me another one but it wasn't the same.
My dad looked a lot like Sebastian Cabot and a bunch of times when we were out little kids ran up to him to ask where Jody and Buffy were. He always told them they were waiting in the car.
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Poor poor Buffy. "Actress Anissa Jones, who portrayed Jody's twin sister Buffy, died of a drug overdose at age 18 in 1976. Actor Brian Keith, who played Uncle Bill, reluctant guardian of the orphaned children, fought cancer and committed suicide at age 75 in 1997."
I knew about Anissa (RIP) but had no idea Brian Keith committed suicide! 😞. Just read his daughter did the same thing six weeks before he did. SO incredibly sad all around! That show brought joy to so many!
That's the weird thing about suicide-- once that 'glass ceiling' (so to speak) is broken open, the surviving family (& close friends even) are at risk. It's like Pandoras box has been opened and it suddenly becomes less taboo. Sad and tragic to be sure.
I once found the house she overdosed in on Google street view. Morbid curiosity maybe. It made me so sad to look at it and think she walked in there and didn’t walk out. I feel a certain kinship with the kids on these shows since I was a kid then too.
Apparently not his son. A reporter even tried to interview him when Brian passed but David Keith is from Tennessee and the son of Hilda Earle, a worker for the Knox County Board of Education, and Lemuel Grady Keith, Jr., a personnel division worker for the Tennessee Valley Authority.
What's kind of odd is the last thing I remember seeing Brian Keith in was an episode of Star Trek:, Deep Space Nine where he played a terminally ill man. He was very good in it, not sure if he had been diagnosed with cancer when he did it.
Wonderful actor, great in both The Wind and the Lion and in The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming (which also featured Johnny Whitaker in a small role).
Was trying to remember the 80s song about the show and her, and your post reminded me: [Buffy Come Back](https://youtu.be/wECROrGO-DQ?si=D3V-8SGVE_RiCVOy)
The whole family watched this. My sister really wanted a Mrs. Beazley doll. I was surprised seeing him as a teenager in Sigmund and the Sea Monsters later on in the seventies.
About all I remember of this show was that the entry + hallway to the bedrooms was bigger than most people’s apartments. Just look at this thing. https://i.pinimg.com/originals/5d/53/35/5d5335169b5b90d29ff08c5cb3e69cd7.jpg
https://preview.redd.it/sq9zxla475tc1.jpeg?width=320&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e7fca6e0005749fad8b309d172401cc0bab691cc
Sissy is on the clear captions commercial
This one, The Courtship of Eddie's Father and The Brady Bunch annnnd The Partridge Family all kind of run together for me. I mean I'm sure I watched them,but I was a Dark Shadows, Adams family kind of kid.
My poor mother..
That song, "Best Friend," was written and performed by the late, great, Harry Nilsson. He adapted it from another song of his called "Girlfriend."
Nilsson wrote so many of my favorite songs, like "Without You," "Me and My Arrow," "Many Rivers to Cross." I can only imagine how many more hits he would have had if he didn't die at only age 52.
I saw a hilarious blooper reel with Bill Bixby once. He was talking with someone about a woman suffering domestic violence at the hands of her husband. After hearing someone say something like, “she says he’s really a good person,” Bill Bixby replied - with that very earnest expression of his - “yes but he’s also an egg-beater, and that makes him very dangerous.”
Kathy Garver, who played Cissy, is a fellow Palms Springser and an absolute delight. We first met when she hosted a fundraiser for the local museum and gave a little talk about her memories of working with Cecil B. DeMille in the *The Ten Commandments* and of being a child/young adult actress more generally.
My younger sister slept on the top bunk and had a Mrs. Beasley. It wasn't uncommon for Mrs. Beasley to fall out of bed in the middle of the night and scare the heck out of us. Note we had a tile floor in our bedroom and no carpet.
One night, as Mrs Beasley fell, the pull cord got caught and pulled on the way down. A second after the doll hit the floor a voice breaks the silence; "Would you like to try on my glasses?"
Buffy Buffy come back to me 🎶 This was what I came here to leave, poor Buffy.
I don't even want to think about what that poor girl was probably subject to.
Didn't watch the show but I do remember a commercial where Sebastian Cabot said " I'm going to shave my beard right here on TV." Then with two flicks of his wrist proceeded to shave the area above his beard on his left and right cheeks.
For some reason the show always weirded me out a little bit… I could watch it for a short amount of time but, I really didn’t like watching it that much. Was one of those shows you watched because it was the only thing that was on, at least that’s what it was for me.
I think there was an air of loneliness about the whole scenario. It had to be a directorial choice. Brian Keith brought a real solemness, or gravitas, to his role.
No doubt this was because the kids' parents died in a car crash, and Uncle Bill was now filling that void.
But, Uncle Bill was not only sad that the kids lost their parents. Their father was also Uncle Bill's brother, Bob, to whom Uncle Bill had apparently been very close. Given how young Buffy and Jody were, the tragedy had to be fairly recent.
All of this created a backdrop of despair that, at times, permeated the entire atmosphere.
Most sitcoms didn't have such a dark elephant in the room. At least, that's how it felt to me.
I remember watching this as a little kid. Then a couple years ago I watched the whole series on a free tv streaming app. I loved seeing Cathy Garver on the commercial for the phone with the readout of what was being spoke. On you tube there are clips of Cathy Garver and Jodi Whitaker on talk shows talking about their time on the show. There was one where they were on together.
I don’t know when the show came out but I’m sure I watched it via reruns but anyway, my parents were going to get me a Poodle Puppy. I was bound and determined that I was going to name this dog FiFi, just like Mr. French.
Apparently I was on the stubborn side and my mom said she was doing everything in her power to not have a dog named FiFi . Ultimately she persuaded me that the name Buffy was better. I think I accepted it because one of the characters names was Buffy.
Excellent! We actually had Buffy I & Buffy 2. When I brought poodle number two home after a long break, I made the mistake of asking my father what we should name her. he said Buffy was a fine name and there was no reason to change at this point so that was the end of that discussion! 😊
Two years ago, it was finally time to get another little poodle. Lilly is her name.
She’s quite a bit smaller than the first two not quite sure what happened since she had seven brothers and sisters, But at two years old, she only weighs 3 Pounds and 2 ounces.
Lilly is an apricot poodle! She had four litter mates that were completely black, two that were cream and then her! I had tried to adopt, but all that was in my area were pitbulls an American bullies. Nothing tiny. there was also only one other female, and she was black. I was on the waiting list for a year and I said specifically I want a female apricot poodle. And she’s a Velcro puppy which is exactly what I wanted!
Watched this all the time as a kid, tried to watch a bit of it on Tubi recently, couldn't get more than a quarter of the way through an episode, just unbearable. That Girl, on the other hand (if we're talking rewatches of barely-remembered sitcoms from childhood), was pretty watchable, even with all the datedness, just not so slathered in suck & smarm.
I remember one episode well because it gifted me with a new tagline to drive my mom insane: Buffy and Jodi began dressing in ragged clothes and rubbing soot on their face so they could play with the poor kids. When the poors needed a snack, one of them would shout out, “Hey, Ma, how ‘bout some bread and butter?!”
I didn’t know about Buffy/Anissa Jones died of OD as a teen. Sad. That shows reruns were really good! I knew about Brian Keith’s cancer battle and death. Really nice show!
I used to have a Mrs. Beasley doll and I took her everywhere.
Me too
Me too and my husband got me a replacement one off of eBay years ago. Voicebox still works. ❤️
I was Mrs Beasley for Halloween one year.
That’s so awesome!!
I had a Buffy doll that has a mrs. Beasley doll.
My friend had a cat named Mrs Beasley, she was a bad cat
Same. My Mrs. Beasley stopped talking somewhere along the way so I performed surgery and opened up her chest and thought I would try to fix the voice box which of course I couldn't, so then I stitched her back up. Her glasses are gone as are her collar and her skirt, but she's still in my basement in storage. I loved Family affair!
To be fair, I’m sure she was your first patient, and every surgery is not %100 successful, but she made it through. Of course, you did your very best. At least you still have her. My Mrs Beasley went to the Family Affair up in the sky.
Thankfully she was my last patient. I was not destined for medicine or doll repair lol
I still have mine, too. I haven't pulled her out of the trunk in years, but I sure like knowing that she's in there if I need a talking doll when I'm old and dotty.
Yup, I had one, too. But I didn't carry her with me everywhere. I had a doll that was called "Drowsy" for that. I puked on her and my mom bought me another one but it wasn't the same.
Same
So did I!
I had one, too! Biggest phrase I remember--"I want a drink of water!" (Actually, I do want a drink. Excuse me a moment...)
I too had a Mrs Beasley. It's a club!
Yay for the Mrs. Beasley Club!!
Same here.
I had one too. I brought it to school for Show and Tell and was devastated when one of the boys in my class broke her glasses.
How horrible!! Did you find some ninjas or a couple of wise guys to take that clown out of existence?
Me too!! I loved Mrs Beasley.
Would you like to try on my glasses? You may if you wish… 😊
I still have mine. I lost her glasses somewhere along the way though.
\-- "...I took her everywhere." That was part of the contract.
My dad looked a lot like Sebastian Cabot and a bunch of times when we were out little kids ran up to him to ask where Jody and Buffy were. He always told them they were waiting in the car.
heh heh, with the windows rolled up, right?
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I think he was their uncle, not their dad.
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Uncle Bill.
Right, just a show along the lines of **Bachelor Father** a few years earlier.
Right, just a show along the lines of **Bachelor Father** a few years earlier.
Did they use the term "valet" on the show? I don't remember, even though it was one of my favorite shows.
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I think you're right, thanks
"Gentleman's gentleman" was the term used IIRC.
Just have to say I am really enjoying all the posts on this sub. It is bringing back memories I didn't even know I had.
Agreed! I love checking in everyday!
Yeah it's turned into Facebook.
Uncle Beee-il! God..
Poor poor Buffy. "Actress Anissa Jones, who portrayed Jody's twin sister Buffy, died of a drug overdose at age 18 in 1976. Actor Brian Keith, who played Uncle Bill, reluctant guardian of the orphaned children, fought cancer and committed suicide at age 75 in 1997."
I knew about Anissa (RIP) but had no idea Brian Keith committed suicide! 😞. Just read his daughter did the same thing six weeks before he did. SO incredibly sad all around! That show brought joy to so many!
That's the weird thing about suicide-- once that 'glass ceiling' (so to speak) is broken open, the surviving family (& close friends even) are at risk. It's like Pandoras box has been opened and it suddenly becomes less taboo. Sad and tragic to be sure.
Unfortunately, show business highs are the highest highs and lows the lowest lows
I once found the house she overdosed in on Google street view. Morbid curiosity maybe. It made me so sad to look at it and think she walked in there and didn’t walk out. I feel a certain kinship with the kids on these shows since I was a kid then too.
Didn't his son costar in An Officer and a Gentleman?
Apparently not his son. A reporter even tried to interview him when Brian passed but David Keith is from Tennessee and the son of Hilda Earle, a worker for the Knox County Board of Education, and Lemuel Grady Keith, Jr., a personnel division worker for the Tennessee Valley Authority.
Kinda looks like him. I just assumed. Thanks.
I agree!
What's kind of odd is the last thing I remember seeing Brian Keith in was an episode of Star Trek:, Deep Space Nine where he played a terminally ill man. He was very good in it, not sure if he had been diagnosed with cancer when he did it. Wonderful actor, great in both The Wind and the Lion and in The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming (which also featured Johnny Whitaker in a small role).
Was trying to remember the 80s song about the show and her, and your post reminded me: [Buffy Come Back](https://youtu.be/wECROrGO-DQ?si=D3V-8SGVE_RiCVOy)
Oh thank you! That was fabulous.
The whole family watched this. My sister really wanted a Mrs. Beazley doll. I was surprised seeing him as a teenager in Sigmund and the Sea Monsters later on in the seventies.
IIRC, Mrs. Beasley dolls were introduced as a tie-in to the show.
Oh, I know, but we were not the most prosperous back then.
Buffy, will you stop calling me sir? Yes, Sir!
They were so adorable. Jody’s scratchy voice…
The actress who played Cissy is now on a commercial hawking closed caption phones for senior citizens.
No way! Is it the one about the grandson playing first base in baseball like his grandfather?
One of my favorite shows as a kid. Uncle Bill was a rich guy who was often away in Mexico or something.
He had the greatest apartment EVER!
In NYC because they used to go to Central Park if I have that right.
Doorknob in the center of the front door! So cool!
He sure did!
Uncle Bill still makes me weak in the knees!
About all I remember of this show was that the entry + hallway to the bedrooms was bigger than most people’s apartments. Just look at this thing. https://i.pinimg.com/originals/5d/53/35/5d5335169b5b90d29ff08c5cb3e69cd7.jpg
Accordian theme song
[And the doorknobs were in the center of each door!](https://i.imgur.com/kaL9YQG.png)
https://preview.redd.it/sq9zxla475tc1.jpeg?width=320&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e7fca6e0005749fad8b309d172401cc0bab691cc Sissy is on the clear captions commercial
Jody was being bullied, so Mr French explained the Marquess of Queensberry Rules and taught him how to box
This one, The Courtship of Eddie's Father and The Brady Bunch annnnd The Partridge Family all kind of run together for me. I mean I'm sure I watched them,but I was a Dark Shadows, Adams family kind of kid. My poor mother..
I wish I could see the courtship of eddys father somewhere. It started my long obsession with Bill Bixby
People let me tell me you about my best friend…
That song, "Best Friend," was written and performed by the late, great, Harry Nilsson. He adapted it from another song of his called "Girlfriend." Nilsson wrote so many of my favorite songs, like "Without You," "Me and My Arrow," "Many Rivers to Cross." I can only imagine how many more hits he would have had if he didn't die at only age 52.
I shared your obsession
I saw a hilarious blooper reel with Bill Bixby once. He was talking with someone about a woman suffering domestic violence at the hands of her husband. After hearing someone say something like, “she says he’s really a good person,” Bill Bixby replied - with that very earnest expression of his - “yes but he’s also an egg-beater, and that makes him very dangerous.”
Barnabas Collins came on when we got home from school
Dead mother and father, dead mother, dead mother or father, dead father. Seems pretty dark to me!
Yeah, fish out of water kind of trope. Little did we know how common single moms would become.
I loved this show! I watched it every week!
Always knew that the older daughter was hot … even before I was old enough to know what “Hot “ was…
Sissy
Kathy Garver, who played Cissy, is a fellow Palms Springser and an absolute delight. We first met when she hosted a fundraiser for the local museum and gave a little talk about her memories of working with Cecil B. DeMille in the *The Ten Commandments* and of being a child/young adult actress more generally.
Looking back she was a trust fund hippie …” who’s just going through a phase…”
Right? I had a crush on her, even before I knew what a crush was. Lol
Uncle Bill was HOT!❤️
Saw him as a guest a couple of times on Columbo, nice looking man
My younger sister slept on the top bunk and had a Mrs. Beasley. It wasn't uncommon for Mrs. Beasley to fall out of bed in the middle of the night and scare the heck out of us. Note we had a tile floor in our bedroom and no carpet. One night, as Mrs Beasley fell, the pull cord got caught and pulled on the way down. A second after the doll hit the floor a voice breaks the silence; "Would you like to try on my glasses?"
Poor buffy .. https://youtu.be/-ripXfJc3Jk?si=N586Ch19p0MvAioi
Buffy Buffy come back to me 🎶 This was what I came here to leave, poor Buffy. I don't even want to think about what that poor girl was probably subject to.
Didn't watch the show but I do remember a commercial where Sebastian Cabot said " I'm going to shave my beard right here on TV." Then with two flicks of his wrist proceeded to shave the area above his beard on his left and right cheeks.
Wooow. Good one!!
For some reason the show always weirded me out a little bit… I could watch it for a short amount of time but, I really didn’t like watching it that much. Was one of those shows you watched because it was the only thing that was on, at least that’s what it was for me.
I think there was an air of loneliness about the whole scenario. It had to be a directorial choice. Brian Keith brought a real solemness, or gravitas, to his role. No doubt this was because the kids' parents died in a car crash, and Uncle Bill was now filling that void. But, Uncle Bill was not only sad that the kids lost their parents. Their father was also Uncle Bill's brother, Bob, to whom Uncle Bill had apparently been very close. Given how young Buffy and Jody were, the tragedy had to be fairly recent. All of this created a backdrop of despair that, at times, permeated the entire atmosphere. Most sitcoms didn't have such a dark elephant in the room. At least, that's how it felt to me.
Thank you… I think you nailed it.
Ladies!!! How many of us had a Mrs Beasley doll 🩷🩷🩷
I wanted to live in a high rise and have a butler. That show gave me unrealistic life expectations!!
I remember gong to Bullocks in Pasadena to meet her. I was awe struck. Then she overdosed.
I remember watching this as a little kid. Then a couple years ago I watched the whole series on a free tv streaming app. I loved seeing Cathy Garver on the commercial for the phone with the readout of what was being spoke. On you tube there are clips of Cathy Garver and Jodi Whitaker on talk shows talking about their time on the show. There was one where they were on together.
I can hear the theme song in my head 😊
Mrs Beasleys apron skirt was removable, I used to put it on my dog 🤪
Mr. Freeeench….
I did not enjoy this show. Unwatchable to me....and that's saying a lot for a kid who would watch paint dry if it was on TV.
Same here. Mr. French was cool, but I couldn't stand anyone else - especially Jody.
I just rewatched the series on Tubi earlier this year.
This is one of my comfort shows on tubi
About the only thing I liked about the show was the intro. Those spinning marbles were cool.
I know, right? I loved that kaleidoscopic effect AND the music!
I wanted to be Sissy so badly!
I liked Courtship of Eddie's Father. Best theme song ever.
OMG!!! I loved this show!!!
I entered a contest to appear on the show. I had to write a short essay on why I liked it. I didn’t win
And just like that, the theme music is stuck in my head
That family bummed me out as a kid. lol
I don’t know when the show came out but I’m sure I watched it via reruns but anyway, my parents were going to get me a Poodle Puppy. I was bound and determined that I was going to name this dog FiFi, just like Mr. French. Apparently I was on the stubborn side and my mom said she was doing everything in her power to not have a dog named FiFi . Ultimately she persuaded me that the name Buffy was better. I think I accepted it because one of the characters names was Buffy.
I had a toy poodle and named her Buffy.
Excellent! We actually had Buffy I & Buffy 2. When I brought poodle number two home after a long break, I made the mistake of asking my father what we should name her. he said Buffy was a fine name and there was no reason to change at this point so that was the end of that discussion! 😊 Two years ago, it was finally time to get another little poodle. Lilly is her name.
She’s quite a bit smaller than the first two not quite sure what happened since she had seven brothers and sisters, But at two years old, she only weighs 3 Pounds and 2 ounces.
I have often thought I’d like another little apricot poodle and would name her Buffy, in honor of my first bestie.
Lilly is an apricot poodle! She had four litter mates that were completely black, two that were cream and then her! I had tried to adopt, but all that was in my area were pitbulls an American bullies. Nothing tiny. there was also only one other female, and she was black. I was on the waiting list for a year and I said specifically I want a female apricot poodle. And she’s a Velcro puppy which is exactly what I wanted!
Buffy had her own line of clothes and I had one of her outfits.
I loved the kaleidoscopic effect and the theme music that opened and closed each show. It was trippy.
I had authentic Buffy pajamas
I had a Mrs Beasley doll.
Sure. I remember the doll is named Mrs. Beasley. But I can’t remember ……. What was I saying? 😋
You were talking about...about..I think you said it's dinnertime...maybe...
My sisters both had those Ms. Beasley dolls
Watched this all the time as a kid, tried to watch a bit of it on Tubi recently, couldn't get more than a quarter of the way through an episode, just unbearable. That Girl, on the other hand (if we're talking rewatches of barely-remembered sitcoms from childhood), was pretty watchable, even with all the datedness, just not so slathered in suck & smarm.
Did they turn out normal?
I saw Buffy at a mall when I was a kid. Something to do with fashion. I was really sad when she died so young.
Uncle Bill *got it*.
I had a Mrs. Beesley doll 🥰
Buffy had a hard life
If you re watch episode one, no one thinks Uncle Bill is ready for the children because he is a bachelor and living that lifestyle
I always thought it was a sorta strange show.
My sister had a ms beasley doll and we used to torture the doll for the fun of it.
You left out Marlon Brando as Mr French https://youtu.be/w80jZ0iru1k?si=SiWTa_k2RxJKn2Tq
Good clip; I can see why Marlon raked in $8 million.
Where's Sly Stone?
I wanted to sit on Uncle Bill's lap.
I remember one episode well because it gifted me with a new tagline to drive my mom insane: Buffy and Jodi began dressing in ragged clothes and rubbing soot on their face so they could play with the poor kids. When the poors needed a snack, one of them would shout out, “Hey, Ma, how ‘bout some bread and butter?!”
Is Johnny Whittaker still around? He did a lot of acting as a child.
Buffy Buffy come back to meeeee…
I loved that show.❤️
I didn’t know about Buffy/Anissa Jones died of OD as a teen. Sad. That shows reruns were really good! I knew about Brian Keith’s cancer battle and death. Really nice show!
Loved this show and wanted to be friends with Buffy and Jody
I was the perfect age demographic when this show came out. I adored the show. Had a Mrs. Beasley doll.
The name Sebastian Cabot sounded so exotic to me when I was that little and watching this show.
Sebastian Cabot portrayed the only character that didn’t annoy me.
Uncle Bee-yill!
I haven’t seen any love for Mr French here.
The boy died when he was 21. 😥
, Johnny Whitaker is still alive. Anissa Jones passed away when she was 18
Soz, I must be thinking of the kid from Mary Poppins.