First Meeting of Barry Williams

By Wendy Winans
Arlington, VA

This Brady encounter happened many years ago, so the details will be kinda sketchy. Barry Williams was touring the country with the Broadway production of "City of Angels", and promoting his book (then new) "Growing Up Brady" at book signings at local bookstores. I already had tickets for the show when they announced that there would be a book signing at Landmark Mall Brentano's book store in Arlington, Virginia. I had been a collector for many years and have had a scrapbook of Brady clippings since the mid-70's. I took this book with me when I went to the book-signing, hoping he would sign this instead of the book "Growing Up Brady", which I had a copy of as well.

When my mother and I arrived at the mall the line was already forming to see and have the opportunity to speak to Mr. Williams. I was probably 40 or 50th in line. While waiting, I noticed, standing up by the front of the store, Diane Williams (Mrs. Barry Williams). I had my mother stand in line to keep my place while I approached Mrs. Williams.

I walked up to her and introduced myself, and told her what a fan I was of her husband and the Brady Bunch. I showed her my scrapbook with all the old pictures of Barry. She was enthralled by the book, really enjoyed looking at the old photos of her husband and reading the stories of him from the early 70's.

We must have stood there talking for a good 30 minutes when my mother got to the front of the line. Diane walked over to the table with me and personally showed my scrapbook to Barry. He took the time to look through it and laughed a lot at seeing and remembering the articles from the 70's. Both he and Diane signed a wedding photo of theirs, clipped from one of the gossip magazines that was in my scrapbook. He also allowed my mother to take a picture of him and me together. The bookstore had a photographer as well and a couple days later I was able to get a copy of a picture they had taken of Barry looking through my scrapbook. It was an occasion I will never forget.

Later that weekend my mother and I went to see "City of Angels" and Barry Williams did a fantastic job. I would recommend him and the show to anyone.

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