Friday, February 26, 2010

Bunny Caldwell (Née Flingus), Age Eighteen

EDIT: Nope! Turns out this is all wrong. Baranski said so herself. See conversation in comments.

Do you ever wonder what Christine Baranski looked like as a teenager? I know I do constantly — and especially so if she happened to actually be eighteen at the time but still looked like an awkward fourteen-year-old. And especially especially if she happened to be acting, using a less Polish-sounding stage name (say, something like Chris Charney) and playing a character who gets to hang out in the Brady Bunch living room.

Joy of joys: The answer to all of our troubles, Christine Baranski-related and otherwise, can be found on YouTube. The clip is non-embeddable but easily clickable. If you’d like to see the girl who would become Baranski, skip ahead to the 4:45 mark; she plays the first girl to be questioned in the game of Truth or Dare. But know that skipping ahead will make you miss other bizarre slumber party hijinks, including a chip-eating frenzy scene that’s weirdly reminiscent of Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” and a glimpse at an inexplicable party game called “Ha,” which Spencer rightly describes as involving “laying in a weird circle, laughing for fifteen seconds, and then… not playing anymore.”

A screengrab:

BARANSKI!

It surprises me a bit, considering how much I watched the reruns as a kid, but I only have one other Brady Bunch post of note on this blog, but for fans it’s worth a look. It features a video of a woman burning to death in the Brady Bunch kitchen. Enjoy!
By Drew Mackie at 9:54 PM
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5 comments:

  1. Anonymous6:03 AM

    Christine Baranski has gone on the record as saying it's definitely NOT her and that she didn't act professionally as a child. Don't see any reason for her to lie...I think it's just a kid who looks a lot like her. Also, Baranski was 18 when this episode aired; that girl looks around 14.

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  2. Drew Mackie5:34 PM

    Huh. You would appear to be right. How strange. When I originally looked into this I didn't see any of the reaction -- Baranski's or otherwise -- that this was actually not the case. Will note at the top of the article.

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  3. Anonymous9:13 PM

    christine was in buffalo until she graduated from high school. my mother was her guidance counselor. she went directly from high school to juilliard and never appeared on the brady bunch.

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  4. Anonymous8:48 PM

    CHRIS CHARNEY IS NOT CHRISTINE BARANSKI, http://www.facebook.com/people/Chris-Charney-Marks%20/722074967#!/profile.php?id=722074967 THIS IS THE PROFILE OF THE REAL CHRIS CHARNEY

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  5. Jon H11:46 PM

    Chris Charney also appeared on the final 2-part episode of FLIPPER, "Flipper's New Friends", with Stuart Getz playing her brother. Brady fans would know Getz best from his portrayal of Charlie Anderson, the boy with whom Marcia broke a date to go out with BMoC Doug Simpson in "The Subject Was Noses".

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