February 2021 - Retro Reminiscing Video and Pictures

Whatever Happened To The Dog On The Brady Bunch?

Tiger the dog and Fluffy the cat were the center of chaos at the wedding of Carol and Mike Brady’s marriage in the pilot episode. Fluffy was never seen again but Tiger was seen in a few episodes. In season two Tiger was hit by a vehicle and killed on the Paramount film set. Some say it was an automobile, others say it was a flower or pizza delivery truck.

The trainer never told the studio or the show’s creator Sherwood Schwartz. Not knowing what to do the trainer found a look-a-like from the pound that was untrained. They still had scenes to record for the episode. Of course with the dog being untrained the dog kept running off set. To complete the scene they had to nail to dog’s collar to the set to keep the dog in position. “Tiger” was never used again but you kept seeing his dog house even to the end of the series. The reason was that during production early on in the series a studio light fell on the Brady’s artificial turf backyard and burned a hole in it. The dog house was placed over it to hide the burn mark!

Here is an interview with Brady Bunch Creator Sherwood Schwartz on the incident:

Fabio Gets Goosed At Busch Gardens (Video)

March 30, 1999
Busch Gardens, Williamsburg, Virginia introduces to the public their new rollercoaster they named Apollo’s Chariot. What better way to promote it than to hire Fabio who has graced numerous romance novels and has been compared to Apollo. The press was invited, and the cameras rolled as Fabio donned in a red velvet cape was led to the rollercoaster with women dressed as goddesses, two on each side of him to the front car for the inaugural ride.

As the rollercoaster zoomed at 70mph down the first drop of the ride, a goose nesting nearby flew into the speeding ride hitting the front of the car and bouncing off and hitting Fabio in the face. In full view of the media, the cameras show the ride coming to an end with Fabio’s face all bloodied. No bones were broken but there was swelling. The goose however died from the impact. The press was then ushered from the event.

Busch Gardens released a statement saying: “Safety is our number one priority, and our ride engineers are examining ways to enhance the safety of an already safe ride.” Fabio went on Good Morning America and stated “”It was not a freak accident, and it’s going to happen again,” Fabio said. “A person — or even a child — can be killed.” It’s been over 20 years since the incident and not one person was ever struck by a bird. If you go on YouTube you sill see a couple of incidents but it is very rare. I’d love to know the odds of this happening.

Jeep Mail Trucks

The Jeep, after proving itself as a reliable, go anywhere vehicle during World War II, the United States Postal Service used the Jeep CJ-3A two wheel drive Jeep Dispatcher from 1955 through 1964 and the DJ5 model which had a 4 wheel drive option. The last Jeep used was a Jeep Cherokee 4×4 in 2001.

Many of us remember the iconic red, white, and blue paint scheme for the carrier trucks and mailboxes. I remember someone saying the truck went from being primarily white and the mailboxes going to all blue as a cost saving measure since they only have to stock one color to paint them. However, I have not been able to confirm this at this writing. It was probably something I heard on the news.

The post office then switched to the Grumman LLV (Long Life Vehicles) trucks, these are the truck we see on the road at this writing (2021). It’s the same Northrop Grumman Corporation that manufactured the F-14 and F-18 fighter aircraft. These vehicles are coming to an end of their life cycle. There are many companies vying to replace the Grumman’s, many companies from overseas. Hybrids and alternative fuel vehicles are being considered. My mail carrier just started driving a white Dodge Ram van with a USPS sticker on the front doors.

60’s Valentine Cards

Who remembers the Valentine cards we shared with our classmates in school? I remember being excited receiving one from the girl I had a crush on only to realize we had to exchange cards with everyone in the class. I wonder if they still allow kids to do this? I guess it depends from school system to school system.