David Cassidy on the Web
The Partridge Family On Video
www.columbiahouse.com
2000
TV's first family of pop music, The Partridge Family, is back in a deluxe collector's edition! With their stylish and comical blend of bubblegum pop and teen romance, the Partridges delighted viewers for four seasons on ABC prime time, and for 25 more years in reruns.
Shirley Jones starred as Shirley Partridge, the widowed musical matriarch. Teen heartthrob David Cassidy played singer/guitarist Keith, with beautiful Susan Dey as keyboardist Laurie, carrot-topped Danny Bonaduce as precocious bass player Danny, Suzanne Crough as tambourine-waving Tracy, and Jeremy Gelbwaks (soon replaced by Brian Forster) as drummer Chris. Dave Madden rounded out the cast as the band's manager - and father figure - Reuben Kincaid.
Episodes found the family at home or on the road in their colorful school bus. Storylines centered on the pressures of show business, as well as more personal crises such as dating and getting braces. A new Partridge Family song was featured in every episode, and this breezy musical TV series proved a welcome distraction from a turbulent year that saw the Kent State shootings and the U.S. invasion of Cambodia. Introductory videocassette (4 episodes) is just $4.95 plus shipping and handling with subscription. Subsequent volumes are $19.95 each plus shipping and handling.
Notes & Trivia:
The Partridge Family was partially based on a real-life musical family, The Cowsills, who scored a hit with "Hair"...In real life, Shirley Jones was David Cassidy's stepmother...The Partridge Family was nominated for the 1970 Grammy® award for Best New Artist of the Year, but lost to Crosby, Stills and Nash...The Partridge Family inspired a short-lived, Saturday-morning cartoon, Partridge Family: 2200 A.D., featuring the voices of several original cast members.
The Partridge Family debuted September 25, 1970... Also in 1970: Two members of The Chicago Seven are acquitted of conspiracy charges...The Apollo 13 mission is launched and successfully returns to Earth after a mechanical failure...President Richard M. Nixon signs into law a bill that bans cigarette advertising on TV and radio.
Your First Volume:
Volume 1: COME ON GET HAPPY On September 25, 1970, The Partridge Family, television's first singing family, loosely based on the Cowsills and The Sound of Music, premiered at 8:30 p.m. on ABC, following the Brady Bunch and Nanny and the Professor. Traveling in a psychedelic bus, which they painted themselves, and dressed in matching maroon crushed-velvet pant suits, the Partridge Family lip-synched songs recorded by studio musicians and starred Shirley Jones and her real-life step-son, David Cassidy, who actually did sing. The Partridge Family Album, the group's first album, rocketed to number four on the charts, and their single "I Think I Love You" hit number one on the charts. By December, The Partridge Family was flying high in the Top Ten. So Come On, Get Happy!
What? And Get Out of Show Business? [Episode 1] After recently-widowed Shirley Partridge joins her kids' rock band to record a song in the garage, ten-year-old Danny gets manager Reuben Kincaid to listen to the recording by slipping a tapedeck under a rest room stall -- landing the Partridge family their first gig at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas where the kids get stagefright. Featured Songs: "Let the Good Times In," "Together" Note: Shirley Jones starred in Oklahoma!, Carousel, Elmer Gantry (winning an Academy Award® for Best Supporting Actress), The Music Man, and The Cheyenne Social Club.
But the Memory Lingers On [Episode 8] After a skunk stows away aboard the Partridge Family's bus, Mr. Kincaid forces everyone to bathe in tomato juice and then charm hotel guests into lending them their clothes so they can play a benefit concert for children at St. Mark's hospital. Featured Songs: "I Think I Love You," "Brand New Me" Note: The Partridge Family ends up playing their concert from inside the hospital operating room.
Fellini, Bergman, and Partridge [Episode 41] After Keith makes a avant garde home movie starring the members of his family, Danny shows it at Muldune's Point, prompting the owner of the Royal Theater to offer Keith one hundred dollars for the rights to show it as a short before Gone with the Wind at his movie theater -- much to the family's chagrin. Featured Songs: "Together," "Hello, Hello" Notes: Be sure to watch for Mr. Kincaid dressed as a good fairy.
Bedknobs and Drumsticks [Episode 68] Mr. Kincaid arranges for the Partridge Family to star as a wholesome family having a picnic in a commercial for Uncle Erwin's Country Chicken, but Uncle Erwin insists that the Partridges appear in the commercial wearing feathered chicken suits. Featured Song: "Friend and a Lover" Note: William Windom (Erwin) starred as Congressman Glen Morley on The Farmer's Daughter, John Monroe on My World And Welcome To It, and Dr. Seth Hazlitt on Murder, She Wrote.
