R.I.P., Allan Melvin

Allan Melvin, who played Sam on The Brady Bunch and about a zillion other things, passed away last week. Mark Evanier has a nice write-up on his site, including some personal experiences with him. Mark points out that a number of obituaries have emphasized his role as Sam the butcher, to the detriment of his other work. And while that might not be fair (and might not be particularly professional, even), I think it's a natural reaction. I personally think The Dick Van Dyke Show is a much funnier TV show than The Brady Bunch, and would probably say the same about Sgt. Bilko and All in the Family, were I more familiar with the shows themselves (I've only seen a couple episodes of Bilko, and was too young to really appreciate All in the Family when it was originally airing). They're all good sitcoms -- great ones, in fact.

But The Brady Bunch wasn't so much a sitcom as a phenomenon. And while it certainly has a bigger hold on some people than others, the series somehow provides my generation with strange communal memories of vacations to the Grand Canyon and shampoo that turns hair orange. (I'm still always a little nervous when I measure out laundry detergent, thanks to an incident that never actually happened in real life, but somehow marks me to this day.)

I think by saying "Sam the butcher has died," obid writers are acknowledging Melvin's place in those communal memories, in much the same way that when Christopher Reeve died, he was Superman. Yes, it ignores many of Mr. Melvin's other acting accomplishments. But what it does do is pay our respects to a man who never existed, but who Allen Melvin made us think we knew well.

Rest in peace, Mr. Melvin.

Rob