Okay now, here's the story (and that's the title!) of Maureen McCormick, forevermore known as Marcia, Marcia, Marcia. Of all of the autobiographies I've read in the past few months, this is the only one where I felt the protagonist actually learned something and became a better person along the way.
For boys of a certain generation, THE BRADY BUNCH's Marcia Brady was IT! She was gorgeous, hot, funny and she could sing, too! Right off the bat in this book, you find out that Maureen McCormick was NOT Marcia Brady! While the whole book is an anecdotal journey of coming to acceptance of one's self, there is, of necessity, an underlying theme here of coming to acceptance of one's public persona, also--in this case, her Brady doppelganger.
I'm beginning to think that my family, growing up, was one of the few functional (as
opposed to dysfunctional) families around. Certainly Maureen's family was not like the Brady's. She does a relatively quick job of detailing her Brady years and then we go into her long, slow downward spiral into drugs.
Ususally one hears rumors about celebs one likes but I somehow missed any talk of Maureen and cocaine. It's all here, though. There are even references to other celebs about whom I DID hear stories (Michael Brandon, Gregory Harrison and Lauren Tewes for example) that now make sense in a larger context.
Perhaps more interesting was her unexpected relationship with the late cult exploitation star Claudia Jennings (about which I can't help but feel there's more to be told).
Throughout the book, one constant is the fact that the other BRADY BUNCH cast members keep turning up in one way or another, cementing the fact that this show, perhaps more than any other, really did seem to create a family of sorts...even though not the perfect, mythical family of its premise.
The man she eventually marries sticks with her through all of the nightmarish moments (and there are many--not just from the drugs)and eventually Maureen finds empowerment from the unlikely corner of CELEBRITY FIT CLUB!
By the time we catch up with her in the present, I felt I had really gotten to know someone I THOUGHT I had known for nearly 40 years...and I liked her.
I just finished the book and I like Maureen McCormick, too. As for her late 1970's friendship with Claudia Jennings, I remember reading about it years ago.
ReplyDeleteIt's hard to believe that when Maureen was doing all those late 1970s guest spots on shows like Vega$, Love Boat and Fantasy Island that she was in the throes of cocaine addiction, but apparently she was.
I'm glad she's healthy and happy now, though.
John
If you haven't seen the movie 'Dickie Roberts', it's worth the price just to see "Marcia" and several other former child stars sing at the end... I saw the music video on the disc at a friend's house (it has more footage than the song in the movie) before I watched the film, and I went directly to Wal-Mart and paid $20 for it just because of the couple of lines Maureen McCormick sang-- and I ended up liking the movie too.
ReplyDelete...worse than any cocaine addiction, Ms McCormick's "singing" has had detrimental effects on us all. Maybe she ought to take 12 steps toward that vocal coach over there...glad that she's overcome ONE bad habit, anyway!
ReplyDeletei'd like to know who this anonymous asshole is-- i see him/her comment on blogs everywhere and he/she never has anything positive to say... it's almost as if he/she doesn't want us to know who he/she is
ReplyDeleteor could it be that there is more than one of them?
SUCH LANGUAGE.
ReplyDeleteBut seriously, she can't sing, and she never could.
I am positive about THAT.