Susan "Cindy Brady" Olsen: I Drink, Therefore I Am

Drinking at high altitude can be hazardous, as delegates to the Democratic National Convention could soon discover the hard way. As advance warning, convention organizers should enlist the poster child for high-altitude alcohol affliction: Susan Olsen, the child star who became Cindy Brady a few days after her seventh birthday,...

By Patricia Calhoun

July 8, 2008

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Drinking at high altitude can be hazardous, as delegates to the Democratic National Convention could soon discover the hard way.

As advance warning, convention organizers should enlist the poster child for high-altitude alcohol affliction: Susan Olsen, the child star who became Cindy Brady a few days after her seventh birthday, and forty years later was still touting that Brady Bunch credential in a July 3 radio interview in Colorado Springs, where she was to appear that night with comic Chris Fonseca.

"Chris got me so wasted last night," she told the Jet 107.9 radio hosts. "I'm so ready to vomit on the microphone... Anybody got a hat?"

Not a hat, but a camera, and the video of the hungover Olsen is now all over YouTube. For the record, Olsen blames the altitude for her inebriation, and also says she didn't know she was being taped -- but her loss (of dignity) could definitely be a gain for delegates who might not get quite so high in the Mile High City.

Click "More" to watch the video. -- Patricia Calhoun

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Patricia Calhoun is editor-in-chief of Westword, the alt-weekly she co-founded in September 1977. She’s been inducted into the Colorado Press Association Hall of Fame, the Association of Alternative Newsmedia Hall of Fame and the Colorado Restaurant Association Hall of Fame. She’s also received dozens of local, state and national awards for writing, including first place for feature writing and first place for column writing with the Society of Professional Journalists. Patricia is a weekly commentator on Colorado Inside Out, PBS 12's public affairs roundtable, which has won two Emmys.

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