What Is It About Brady Bunch?

I t’s the story of a man named Brady . . .

The Brady Bunch, TV’s first family of bell-bottoms and plaid jumpers, are back--and they’re hipper than hip-huggers.

Eighteen years after the situation comedy ended its five-year run on ABC, the Bradys are undergoing their own polyester renaissance. Cast members have appeared on “Sally Jessy Raphael” and “The Howard Stern Show.” Barry Williams’ book, “Growing Up Brady: I Was a Teenage Greg,” recently reached No. 2 on the New York Times bestseller list. And a theatrical re-creation of the original TV episodes, “The Real Live Brady Bunch,” is playing to hundreds every night at the Westwood Playhouse.

The Bradys are even in the presidential race. In a July 18 campaign speech, George Bush told supporters, “The last time interest rates stayed this low, ‘The Brady Bunch’ wasn’t even on TV yet.” And in the Bill Clinton camp, the candidate’s 31-year-old communications director and young campaign workers have been nicknamed “the Brady kids.”

Why the Bradys in ‘92?

One clue: a recent MTV survey of 21- to 25-year-olds found that “The Brady Bunch” was their all-time favorite program. Author Bill McKibben notes this statistic in his book, “The Age of Missing Information,” labeling the program “part of the oversoul.”

McKibben adds: “We can make fun of it, laugh at it, but all of us who grew up with it (which means nearly everyone born since it went on the air) are affected by it.”

Barry Williams, who played eldest Brady son, Greg, says: “We’ve been on continuously, and those other shows, like ‘The Partridge Family,’ have not been on in syndication over the last few years. These nostalgia things go in 20-year cycles. When we were on back in the ‘70s, shows about the ‘50s were popular.

“And, don’t forget, we had the coolest clothes.”

As Marcia Brady would say: Groovy!

“The Brady Bunch” debuted Sept. 26, 1969, on ABC with a simple premise: Mike (Robert Reed), a widower with three boys, married Carol (Florence Henderson), a widow with three girls-- “the youngest one in curls. “

Creator Sherwood Schwartz added one zany maid (Alice), one shaggy dog (Tiger), and placed them all in a sprawling suburban home with two bedrooms for six kids. The sitcom recipe worked; “The Brady Bunch” lasted five years in its original incarnation, and went on to produce four spinoffs, TV-movies and an interminable life in syndication.

The latest and strangest Brady redux is “The Real Live Brady Bunch.” An instant hit when it opened in April at the Westwood Playhouse, it’s been extended twice. It was similarly popular when it began at Chicago’s Annoyance Theater in June, 1990, and a New York production is still running off-Broadway.

“We all grew up thinking our families were weird, and I think the Bradys made us feel that way,” says Jill Soloway, 26, who, with her sister Faith, 29, created the stage show and directs each episode. (In authentic TV fashion, episodes change weekly.)

Just as “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” fused ‘50s monster-movie memories with ‘70s androgyny, “The Real Live Brady Bunch” takes ‘70s TV-trash culture and juices it up with a heavy dose of ‘90s irony.

Under the Soloways’ direction, “The Real Live Brady Bunch” is highly audience-participatory. Spectators applaud each actor’s entrance, hoot at the vintage dashikis, ponchos and velour shirts, and chant along with affectionately remembered lines like “Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!”

“The Real Live Brady Bunch” is more fond homage than parody, though the actors explore character traits only suggested on TV. Becky Thyre turns oldest sister Marcia into a junior-high bitch-goddess in white vinyl boots, while Melanie Hutsell’s middle sister Jan is an adenoidal, neurotic wreck, ready to snap at any moment.

Unlike several of the other actors who played the original Bradys, Williams has not seen “The Real Live Brady Bunch.” Nor, despite invitations from the Soloways, does he intend to.

“I think it’s well-intended,” Williams says, choosing his words carefully. “It certainly attempts to celebrate ‘The Brady Bunch,’ but I really think it’s the audience that makes the show.”

Since the Bradys went their separate ways, Williams has starred on Broadway and in many theatrical roles. He’s now the star of the national touring company of “City of Angels,” but Williams has reprised his role as Greg every time the series has been revived.

“I never watched the show after the first year and a half,” says Williams, who received 6,500 fan letters a week in 1971. “Before I wrote the book, it was all sort of a mishmash of memories, but now having sat down and watched the episodes and talked to the other cast members, I understand what people are relating to. Before, I would have to wrack my brain to realize they were quoting from an episode when they would come up to me, point, and say, ‘Don’t play ball in the house!’ ”

“Don’t Play Ball in the House” was just one of the Brady games at a daylong “Brady Bunch-a-Thon” at the Motor On In coffeehouse in Palms last Sunday. The object of the game: break Mom’s vase with a ball, just like Peter did in a well-remembered episode. The winner was actress (and Brady fan) Ricki Lake.

Motor On In owner Ginny Glass organized the 12-hour marathon, which included Brady look-a-like contests, trivia games, Brady bingo, Brady haiku and a tribute to Robert Reed, who died earlier this year. A large crowd of men and women in their 20s turned out for the event, which had a decidedly ‘90s twist. Several people were in drag, and a Greg Brady doppelganger demonstrated his ability to put out a cigarette on his tongue.

Among the Brady fans at Motor On In was Lisa Sutton, 30, who brought down her collection of Brady memorabilia--lunch boxes, paperbacks, fan magazines, coloring books and albums, gathered from thrift stores and swap meets. Her latest acquisition: a rare Greg Brady Halloween costume she discovered on the East Coast.

“It’s a lot harder to find Brady stuff these days. Five years ago, it was everywhere and dirt-cheap,” says Sutton, as a syrupy rendition of “Away in a Manger” from “The Brady Bunch Christmas Album” played in the background. (Sutton has put together a retrospective of The Bradys’ musical efforts, which will soon be released on the MCA label.)

All this Brady mania still begs the question: Why?

“It was always on when we came home from school. As preteens, we all saw it, and we didn’t question it,” theorizes Sutton. “In high school, ‘The Brady Bunch’ was not cool. But the older you get, the cooler it gets, in retrospect at least.”

Beverly Ginsburg, 29, is a lifetime fan who has fond childhood memories of seeing the Bradys perform at the Hollywood Bowl. She even made a video documentary about the Brady phenomenon, “The Brady Boomers,” which has been screened at New York’s Museum of Broadcasting.

“First of all, there was a mom and a dad,” Ginsburg says. “I came from a really nutty family, and the Bradys meant stability.”

Ginsburg stops herself in mid-thought. “It’s funny,” she adds, shaking her head, “You know, I really hate ‘family values’ and Dan Quayle. But I think ‘The Brady Bunch’ taps into what we all think are supposed to be real family values.”