David Cassidy on the Web
Shirley Jones doesn't mind Partridge past
Sunday, October 17, 2010
By David Burke
The Quad-City Times
Shirley Jones, who has been performing professionally since she was 17, shakes her head when she reads the latest headlines about the tribulations of any young star.
"The business has changed so much," she said in a telephone interview from her home in California. "It's not about learning your craft, about trying to do the best job you can. It's about walking down the red carpet and trying to get your name in the paper. It's sad because that's not what it used to be."
Performers in her generation, she said, worked their way up from summer stock theater and small roles until they found stage or screen work.
"These kids get tied up with the money that they make and the so-called success immediately, and it leads to drugs and alcohol and everything else," she said. "It's sad because that's not what this business is all about."
The Oscar-winning actress and performer gives a concert later this week at the Quad-Cities Waterfront Convention Center in Bettendorf.
It will be a mix of showtunes, love songs and standards.
"I don't do 'Partridge Family' songs, and I say that up-front," she said. "I leave that to (stepson and former co-star) David Cassidy."
Even though Jones had the lead roles in the iconic Broadway musicals "Oklahoma!" "Carousel" and "The Music Man," people still recognize her most as Shirley Partridge, the leader of a family band that was at the heart of a TV sitcom from 1970 to '74.
"The kids are grown up now and that's all they know," she said. "Some of them don't even know that I did 30 motion pictures before I did 'The Partridge Family.' "
When asked whether there is any frustration that her reputation comes from the TV series, she said, "Yeah, it is somewhat.
"At that time, it was kind of a step down to do television if you were a movie actor. I remember my agents and managers saying, 'Shirley, if you decide to do this and it's successful, you'll be that character for the rest of your life and your movie career will be in the toilet,' " she said and then laughed. "Of course they were right.
"But I have no regrets because it gave me the chance to stay home and take care of my kids. At that time, I was all over the world on movie locations and taking my kids with me with a nanny."
Jones - who said she was offered and declined the mother's role on "The Brady Bunch" - called Shirley Partridge the first working mother on television.
"She wasn't just taking the roast out of the oven and being a mom and a housewife," she said. Adding in the chance to sing, "It had all of the things I was excited about."
Jones is still busy acting, including a Hallmark Channel cable TV movie in which she plays the grandmother of an athletic, competitive family. That will begin filming when she gets back from concerts in Bettendorf and her native Pittsburgh.
"If the acting part is great, I don't care about the money," said Jones, who also filmed a commercial for Toyota with Cassidy last week. "If the part is lousy, I'd better get paid a lot."
But performing onstage, she said, is still her greatest thrill.
"It's still very exciting for me. At this age," the 76-year-old said, "I just love all of the excitement about performing, almost more than I did when I was 20."
