Whoever said "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" should see Anissa Jones and Johnnie Whitaker hard at work in the popular television series Family Affair.
To a casual visitor on the set, it looks as though the two youngsters have little time for anything but work. Yet it would be hard to find two brighter children. Far from being dull, they're so sharp that grown-ups have a hard time keeping up.
Anissa and Johnnie play the roles of Buffy and Jody, young twins who join the previously well-ordered household of their bachelor uncle, played by Brian Keith, and his Man Friday (Sebastian Cabot). Featured also is Kathy Garver as the twins' teen-age sister.
The show is seen in color on the CBS Television Network.
Although they closely resemble each other (both have blue eyes, blond hair and freckles) Anissa and Johnnie aren't really brother and sister. Anissa has a younger brother. Johnnie is one of seven children.
Anissa's father is a doctor and a member of the Purdue University faculty. Perhaps one of the reasons Anissa is so fond of animals is that her mother majored in zoology in college. Anissa has always been interested in acting and she has taken dancing lessons ever since she was four years old. When she was five, she and one of her friends gave a puppet show for the children in the neighborhood. They charged admission and made a profit of thirteen cents each. Anissa collects miniature troll dolls and has a special name for each one. She and her brother also have a special game they play at bedtime. They make up stories in which each child pretends to be an animal or insect and tells what it's like.
Anissa goes to the Paseo Del Rey Grammar School and is a Brownie scout. She lives near the beach, and she and her brother spend a lot of time in the water during the summer months.
Johnnie is proud of his freckles. He claims that he has counted them and says that he has exactly 3,251. He rarely goes any place without his good luck hat--a stringy straw hat which he won when he was three years old. If you saw The Russians are Coming, you saw Johnnie in his first motion picture.
Johnnie considers himself a very lucky boy because he has three sisters and three brothers. His father is a teacher at Pacoima Junior High School. Johnnie is studying piano and loves to work with crayons. He'll color any drawing he can find. Johnnie and his family live in the San Fernando Valley, and he goes to Pacoima Grammar School. Johnnie's family has a swimming pool and he and his brothers and sisters spend a good deal of time swimming. Another of Johnnie's favorite pastimes is baseball. He loves animals and has two big cats, named Tiger and Tiger Two.
As soon as Anissa and Johnnie finish a scene, they dash for the schoolroom set up on the stage for them. By state law, the children must get in four hours of lessons during each of their days at the studio.
"Luckily, they enjoy school," their teacher, Mrs. Catherine Neeney says. "I never have any trouble rounding them up."
Even if they have finished their required school time, Anissa and Johnnie can usually be found with Mrs. Neeney. She keeps them supplied with coloring books and a variety of games for recreation.
"The only other place we ever have to look for them," she says, "is at the doughnut box." When the adult actors take a coffee break, Anissa and Johnnie have doughnuts and milk.
The two children come to work at 8:30 every morning, accompanied by their mothers. They finish around 4:30 p.m.
They eat lunch in the commissary, or sometimes have a picnic meal in a small park on the studio grounds. Wherever they eat, they manage to finish their lunch in time to play games together or join their mothers for a story session. Sometimes they bring their bicycles and ride them around the studio grounds.
Before a scene is shot, the children go over their lines, and then rehearse for Director William D. Russell. Then they are ready to play their roles for the camera.
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