Patterson-Davis would feel like “Buffy” Elizabeth, and Anissa would be preparing for a new television sitcom called “Family Affair”. The television producers Garson and Beloin were catching the attention of Anissa’s acting talents. In later years, Anissa, a six-year-old at the time, was hawking cereal in her first television commercial. Her hard-driving mother enrolled her in dance classes.
Her Stellar Brilliance Shines Radiantly.
During the duration of the show, Mrs. Beasley, Buffy’s doll, also became the top-selling doll in the United States at one point. Buffy and Jody became well-known names, as the show reached the number 1 spot in the ratings in June of 1969. Anissa’s dedication paid off, as her schedule was demanding, often requiring her to work for the show throughout the year and sometimes even seven days a week. Anissa portrayed Buffy for the entirety of the show’s existence, as the role was altered to be Jody’s twin sister based on Uncle Bill’s (Brian Keith) insistence, originally intended to be an older sister to Johnny Whitaker’s character, Jody.
Anissa’s fame would continue to grow, as she went on to appear in numerous television specials including Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In, To Rome With Love (TV series guest appearance), and as a presenter at the 1967 Emmy Awards. Merchandising deals, although not as lucrative as they are today, would eventually come her way as well. There were Buffy paper dolls, Family Affair coloring books and lunch boxes, a Buffy line of children’s clothes, and a Buffy Cookbook in 1971, with Anissa featured on the cover.
Her sibling, Paul.
Anissa, at a very young age, was very kind-hearted. She would kindly give away her gift, even if it meant giving it to her brother Paul. She always demanded an identical gift to accompany her brother for any occasion. Anissa would frequently receive gifts as she was a popular star on a hit TV series, and she was very fond of the love and kindness shown by her fans, especially Paul. Due to logistical concerns, Anissa’s younger brother Paul would almost always accompany her to the studio.
Anissa saw a janitor friend who was kinder than Earl. Although nothing more than a janitor, Anissa allowed her mom to say goodbye to her good friend in the Family Affair magazine, taking out a $400 ad in Variety Magazine. This act further evidenced Anissa’s kindness upon the death of Graham Earl, the janitor.
The relationship has ended.
Family Affair would go on for five seasons and 138 total episodes. But after the 1971 season the show began to slump in the ratings and was immediately cancelled. Surprisingly though, Anissa was thrilled that the show’s run was over as it would now mean she could finally go to school, hang out with her friends, and just be a normal girl. But most of all it meant she could finally get rid of that stupid Mrs. Beasley doll that the producers insisted she continue to play with even though was now thirteen years old. Anissa had grown tired of show biz.
Looking Downhill
Later, Anissa’s relationship with her divorced mother would continue to worsen once she departed from the show. Their father eventually moved in with Anissa and her brother. Anissa frequently spent a significant amount of her time at a friend’s residence instead, but after their father’s passing, Paul and Anissa were compelled to return to their mother who resided at 100 Rees Street in Playa Del Rey. This greatly angered her mother, which, combined with the fact that Anissa’s grades at Westchester High in L.A. Began to decline. Her mother proceeded to file a police report labeling her daughter as a runaway. In the hopes of rebuilding her life, Anissa also spent some time in jail (juvenile detention). However, upon her release, Anissa once again began frequenting the beach, indulging in alcohol, and using substances. Little did she know, just two short years later, her life would come to a premature end.
Finally, the royalties have arrived.
Hoping to make ends meet and to bide away time until her eighteenth birthday when she would receive royalties from Family Affair, Anissa took a job at Winchell’s Donut Shop at 8139 Manchester Avenue in Playa Del Rey. After her eighteenth birthday, Anissa would receive her $70,000 trust fund and $107,800.00 in US Savings Bonds from her Family Affair earnings (paltry by today’s standards). She and Paul moved into an apartment together. Anissa then went and bought herself a brand-spanking new Ford Pinto and her brother a loaded Camaro that cost twice as much as her own car. Anissa clearly had fun with her generosity.
With her newfound freedom, her recent wealth, and more drugs than she knew what to do with, Anissa would begin partying in the hardiest of ways. She also started seeing a guy named Allan Kovan who did nothing to stop her downward spiral.
Anissa’s drug problem continued to escalate to the point where she was taking large doses of marijuana, liquor, barbiturates, cocaine, dust angel, quaaludes on a track-way with French Mr. And Sissy Jody Bill Uncle and hell to pull her out of Buffy’s life.
Littler Lane.
Anissa Jones, just eighteen years old, was declared dead from what the coroner would reportedly describe as one of the most severe overdoses he had ever witnessed. Although they called the paramedics after dressing her, it was already too late. An hour later, Anissa’s friends discovered her lifeless body. Her boyfriend claims to have checked on her in the early hours of the morning and she seemed fine. (Quite the partygoer, huh?) While attending a party at her friend Helen’s residence on August 28th, 1976, located at 2312 Littler Lane in Oceanside, Anissa ingested a combination of cocaine, methaquaalone, phencyclidine, and barbiturates, which were considered substantial doses for her.
Buffy and Anissa were the same wonderful person. I tried to disassociate herself from the tragic girl who played on the show by finding the same person in her. I thought she was too smart to destroy herself, but she seemed depressed before Kathy Garver, who played Buffy’s older sister Sissy, “died. I heard about the next thing blew my mind because I thought she was too smart to destroy herself with drugs. She said some friends were going down to Oceanside to visit her friend Helen Hennessey, so she came out of the bedroom and stayed in a bedroom where some other kids were taking coke and dust angels. Following Anissa’s death, Steve Hanford, a fellow student and friend, recalled the weird night at the party.
On September 1, 1976, Mrs. Ocean Pacific Beasley’s ashes were scattered over the building. Her body would be taken to McCormick Funeral Home in Inglewood and the Pacific Crest crematory in Redondo Beach for cremation.
In the household, I suppose it happened. Following an unintentional overdose by Anissa, her brother Paul would also pass away, eight years later.
In the early morning hours, someone who had mainlined cocaine was placed under the care of paramedics at 12:29 AM. However, there was no phone call made until 12:34 PM, when Engine #2113 and Unit Paramedic #2192 arrived at the scene. Dr. Mitchell from City Tri gave the order to cease, as it was clearly useless. Nevertheless, they put electrodes on her and defibrillated her once. They found rigor in her arm and frantically tried to resuscitate her. Her much younger girl’s father, a Meritt Paramedic, took it upon himself to try and save her. She was found in bed, only wearing boxer shorts, covered by a sheet and blanket, with her face hidden. Flanagan Paramedic followed by Captain Imbilli arrived at 12:37 PM. Officer Graf arrived around 12:45 PM. Dr. Mitchell from City Tri gave the order to cease, as it was clearly useless. Nevertheless, they put electrodes on her and defibrillated her once. They found rigor in her arm and frantically tried to resuscitate her. Her much younger girl’s father, a Meritt Paramedic, took it upon himself to try and save her. She was found in bed, only wearing boxer shorts, covered by a sheet and blanket, with her face hidden. Flanagan Paramedic followed by Captain Imbilli arrived at 12:37 PM. Engine #2113 and Unit Paramedic #2192 were at the scene at 12:34 PM. Dr. Mitchell from City Tri gave the order to cease, as it was clearly useless. Nevertheless, they put electrodes on her and defibrillated her once. They found rigor in her arm and frantically tried to resuscitate her. Her much younger girl’s father, a Meritt Paramedic, took it upon himself to try and save her. She was found in bed, only wearing boxer shorts, covered by a sheet and blanket, with her face hidden. Flanagan Paramedic followed by Captain Imbilli arrived at 12:37 PM. They claimed that they did not know she was dead until around 11:00 AM. During those days, the exact science was much less demanding. It was evident that rigor was present in the extremities and jaw and neck. Thomas C’ D’ stated in his notes that the time of death was somewhere around 6:30 to 4:30. I was told by Deputy Coroner Thomas that she would have been pretty solidly set in rigor at least a little after 12:39 PM. The photo of her death shows interesting evidence, but we must take the information with a grain of salt, as we chose not to identify ourselves on the anonymous poster on the JONES ANISSA OF DEATH THE Forum Discussion. The following recollection comes from an anonymous posting.
