Life Is Not a Stage
From Broadway Baby to a Lovely Lady and Beyond
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
For millions of people around the world, Carol Brady is synonymous with motherhood, but growing up as the youngest of ten children in rural Indiana in the aftermath of the Great Depression, Florence Henderson lived a life quite different from that of the quintessential TV mom she later played on television.
Florence's father was a dirt-poor tobacco tenant farmer who was nearly fifty years old when he married Florence's twenty-five-year-old mother, and was nearly seventy when Florence was born. Florence's childhood was full of deprivation and abandonment. Her father was an alcoholic at a time when there was no rehab or help for the disease. Their home rarely had electricity or running water. When she was twelve, Florence's mother left the family to work in Cleveland and never returned.
Florence opens up about her childhood, as well as the challenges she's faced as an adult, including stage fright, postpartum depression, her extramarital affairs, divorce, her hearing loss, and heart problems. She writes with honesty and wisdom of how her faith and ability to survive has brought her through rough times to a life of profound joy and purpose.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Henderson's depiction of the perfect mother of the perfect family as Carol Brady provided Americans "a cultural icon," but her true upbringing in Indiana as "a small child confronted by the unpleasant side of humanity," devoid of affection, with an alcoholic father, an absent mother, and a home without running water or electricity, taught her "not to be dependent on other people." Her musical talent shone on Broadway while working with Rodgers and Hammerstein, Josh Logan, Noel Coward, and David Merrick. A natural on live television, Henderson charmed Jack Paar, broke new ground as "the Today Show girl" and as the first woman to sub for Johnny Carson. She discusses raising her own family while on the Brady Bunch set; Robert Reed's troubles as actor and closeted gay man; warm friendships and a date with Barry Williams, her Brady Bunch son. In this genuinely introspective narrative, Henderson reflects honestly on the birth control pill as liberation; affairs, including a one-night stand with former New York City mayor John Lindsey; stage fright; and postpartum depression. 16 pages of photos.
