The Geri & Jerry Show

After years in the making, it finally happened: Jan Brady and I finally met face-to-face.

For those of you know me in “real life,” you know that I inexplicably, and against all odds, struck up a friendship with the woman known 'round the classic-television world as “Fake Jan,” actress Geri Reischl. Ms. Reischl is known as Fake Jan because she was the actress who replaced Eve Plumb in the iconic role of Jan Brady when ABC saw fit to revive the classic sitcom The Brady Bunch as a weekly one-hour variety series. Legions of loyal Brady Bunchers tuned into The Brady Bunch Variety Hour, saw Ms. Reischl in the role of Jan, and immediately cried “Fake Jan!!!” The name kind of stuck, and Ms. Reischl not only accepted the title of Fake Jan, but went on to embrace the title. What might have originally been looked upon as a slight has since grown into a term of endearment and a mantle of honor. If the truth be told, Ms. Reischl was an excellent choice for the role of Jan, as she not only brought just the right attitude to the part, but she brought along something equally as important (at least in terms of the context of a television variety show): the ability to SING. The bunch known as the Bradys was a fine group of individuals, but with only a couple of exceptions (Florence Henderson and Barry Williams), they were not known for their classically-trained musical ability. With Geri in the role of Jan, the producers gave themselves a great deal more musical firepower with which to power the series.

Anyway… that was in the mid-to-late 70s. Fast forward to the mid-2000s, and thanks to the global village created by the phenomenon of social-networking, Geri and I were able to strike up a friendship. We had discovered each other’s myspace pages, and being that my myspace page is part homage to the world of classic television, and being that Geri was an indelible part of classic television comedy’s first family (can you name another sitcom that lived so long and through so many incarnations?), we began to correspond. Before you knew it, we were e-mailing, commenting, chatting via instant messenger, and finally chatting via telephone. A friendship was born.

It was a little less than a year ago that Geri and I first tried to meet in person. She told me that she was going to be traveling to New Jersey to appear in a show. Being that Jersey is within driving distance, I made plans to head down there so that we could finally meet face-to-face. Fate (or just some really bad luck) intervened, however: only days before I was scheduled to leave for Jersey, I found myself needing an urgent oral-surgery procedure. The surgeon assured me that I’d be feeling good as new in a couple of days, and so I would be able to make the trip to New Jersey without a problem. WRONG. Lots of pain. Lingering pain. Side effects from the anesthesia. Lots of side effects. Lingering side effects. EVIL side effects. You get the idea. So, there was no way that was going to be able to make the trip down to Jersey (hell, I ended up being out of work for the rest of that week!). Sadly, I had to cancel.

Fast-forward to last weekend. Geri was due to be back in New Jersey for another show, and I appeared to be healthy (which is NEVER a given with me!), so my girlfriend Carrie and I jumped in the car and headed down for a weekend at the Hilton. We arrived late Friday night, and finally met up with Geri on Saturday. It was a great get-together (many thanks to Carrie for the introduction “Geri… this is Jerry”…!), as Geri was just as cool in person as she’d been in e-mail, IM, and on the phone. Carrie and I hung out with her for a while, and then made plans to meet up later that night at the show’s Saturday-night party.

While we let Geri get back to work, Carrie and I then made the rounds of the hotel, taking in the sights while keeping our eyes peeled for celebrities. As it turned out, actor Pat Harrington (who played Schneider on One Day at a Time) was appearing in this same show, so OF COURSE I had to go over introduce myself and say hello. It was Schneider – I had to!! We also ran into Mark Slaughter (of 80s rock band Slaughter), and had a very nice conversation with KISS veteran Peter Criss. While Mr. Slaughter was full of himself and slightly on the pompous side, I was very impressed with Mr. Criss: he was a “regular guy;” humble and down-to-earth. He spoke with us at length, and, upon discovering that Carrie and I were from New England, he shared with us the fact that he spends a lot of time in the Cape Ann area of Massachusetts, and that later this year he’s going to be playing there with a swing band (swing music is one of his true passions). He was even kind enough to invite us to Cape Ann to hear the band.

All in all, it was a great weekend… from my long-awaited in-person meeting with Geri, to a perfect romantic dinner with my beautful Carrie at the hotel’s restaurant (Ruth's Chris), to some incredibly-therapeutic time in the hotel's hot-tub... and finally to the FANTASTIC people-watching at the hotel. It really was one of the best weekends that I’ve ever had.

And speaking of people-watching at the hotel, allow me to ask: why does legendary film star Tony Curtis (who was also at the Hilton last weekend) insist on wearing a cowboy hat 24/7? I saw him on a couple of different days, and on both days he was wearing that silly-looking hat. And just in case you were wondering: he was INSIDE of the hotel each time that I saw him, making the hat that much more of an unnecessary accessory.

Tony – if you’re reading this: lose the hat. Try the hotel's hot tub instead - it's fantastic!