David Cassidy on the Web
Feathers fly when these birds reunite
September 23, 2004
By William Keck
www.usatoday.com
HOLLYWOOD - Each Sunday through Oct. 17, VH-1's In Search of the Partridge Family (9 p.m. ET/PT) brings back the kind of traditional family values exemplified by original Partridges Danny Bonaduce, Shirley Jones and David Cassidy.
But off camera, the former Partridges' "family values" include jokes about sex, drugs and incest.
Yes, it turns out this wholesome Partridge trio, who are reuniting to help VH-1 cast a new Partridge Family in an American Idol-type competition (this Sunday the Dannys compete), is more like a real rock band than anyone might have suspected.
As the three extremely close stars of the original 1970-74 ABC sitcom about a widowed mom who forms a family band are positioned on a sofa for a photo shoot, they reveal an inner raunch longing to break free from their brittle Partridge shells.
Cassidy, 54, cracks a joke about getting a "little mother/son action" as he stretches an arm around his former real-life stepmom. (David's father, the late Jack Cassidy, was married to Jones.) "I always wanted to take that walk down Dad's Memory Lane."
As he switches positions with Cassidy, Bonaduce, 45, relates the time he got arrested for possession of narcotics while wearing a "Just Say No to Drugs" T-shirt. "I've been arrested in four states," he boasts.
"That's pretty good," laughs Jones, 70, caught in the middle of this back-and-forth insanity.
Finally, Jones puts her boys in their place, telling Bonaduce, "Danny, go to your room!"
Jones' son Ryan Cassidy, 38, a propmaster on the VH-1 show, stands in the shadows, taking in the debauchery alongside Jones' horrified manager.
As the laughter subsides, we finally start the interview. But the mood turns almost immediately and unexpectedly dour as a question about Jones and Cassidy's real-life relationship turns into a nearly half-hour eulogy to Cassidy's bi-polar father. Jack, a skilled actor who was jealous of Shirley and David's success, near the end of his life thought he was Jesus. He died in a house fire in 1976.
Hoping to liven things up, we change the topic to talk of a missing cast member: "Let's talk about Susan Dey."
For a moment, all three Partridges quiet as if some horribly offensive joke has just been told. Then, the trio erupts into uproarious laughter all over again.
"Try again," Bonaduce advises.
"As we all get up and leave," Jones says.
"Let me put it this way," Bonaduce explains. "Jack Cassidy's more a part of my life right now than Susan Dey."
Dey, 51, who declined a request to be interviewed and was last seen on screen in 2002's L.A. Law TV reunion movie, has wanted nothing to do with The Partridge Family or cast reunions since the show ended. She turned down VH-1's request to help judge the new batch of Lauries, just as she has declined every other Partridge-related project.
Her distance has not endeared her to the other cast members, who say they have seen her only a handful of times since 1974.
"Nobody seems to know where she is," says Cassidy, who became a national phenomenon as a result of the show.
Jones, who 35 years ago turned down the role of The Brady Bunch mom, says she ran into Dey about five years ago on Sunset Boulevard.
"Please don't tell me she was working the Boulevard," Bonaduce jokes, causing more hysterics. "Was she with Hugh Grant?"
"No, no," Jones says. "She was coming out of a UPS store."
"That's her new job," says Cassidy, who hasn't seen his TV sister since the two were paired at the MTV Music Awards a decade ago.
"I got the sense that she was very uncomfortable," he recalls of that evening. "I held her arm, and it seemed very stiff."
Bonaduce bumped into Dey in a television studio about eight years ago, but he says the two barely spoke. "I hadn't seen her in so many years that I felt relatively awkward," he says. "I said, 'How've ya been?' She said, 'Fine,' and I said, 'Good.' "
Cassidy holds even less affection for Jones' husband of 27 years, comedian Marty Ingels. Asked whether he's a fan of Ingels, Cassidy simply says "No" and refuses to elaborate.
"That's difficult for me because I'm always in the middle," says Jones, who acknowledges that her sons Shaun and Patrick (with whom Jones recently appeared in Broadway's 42nd Street) share David's poor opinion of her husband. "The one who's the hardest on (Marty) is Shaun," whom Ingels blamed for his temporary separation from Jones in 2000. "But that's Shaun's prerogative."
Perhaps the new Partridge Family, when assembled, will prove a better blend. History, however, could repeat itself. One of two remaining Keith finalists, Leland, is the real-life biological son of Krissy, one of eight Shirley finalists. Krissy gave Leland up for adoption at birth, and although the two recently reunited, problems have yet to be resolved.
nce America helps select the new Shirley, Danny, Keith and Laurie, producers will then cast the two younger children, Chris and Tracy, as well as the family's band manager, Reuben Kincaid. The plan is to then launch a new Partridge Family sitcom this fall, to be written by two former producers of The Simpsons.
But Cassidy, who initially balked at the project before negotiating himself a co-executive-producer position, says there will be no sitcom unless he gives his approval. (Once Cassidy leaves the interview, reps from VH-1 hurry in, insisting that there will most definitely be a series, with or without Cassidy's blessing.)
"I care about The Partridge Family legacy," Cassidy says. "We're going to do everything to make this good, but if it goes the wrong way, I want to able to say, 'Stop, please, don't do this.' "
