David Cassidy on the Web
Getting There: Cassidy vs. Bieber
Saturday, April 20, 2013
By Gail Williams
Lifestyle editor
Plainview Daily Herald
I discovered David Cassidy. I saw him first on an episode of "Bonanza," then on an episode of "Marcus Welby, M.D." With all the wisdom of 13, I said, "That guy's a really good actor, and he's going to be great someday."
Alas! On my next trip to the Red Owl where I perused fan magazines while my mother shopped for groceries, there was my discovery on the cover of Tiger Beat magazine, which was certainly good enough for the likes of Mickey Dolenz, but not David Cassidy!
I don't remember what the article said, but it may have announced that Cassidy was scheduled to act in a TV show called "The Partridge Family."
The recent misfortunes of Justin Bieber started me thinking about Cassidy in contrast to Bieber. Cassidy, whose parents were actors, was discovered in a Broadway play that ran briefly when he was 19. Bieber was discovered on YouTube at the ripe old age of 13. Cassidy had to fight to be allowed to sing alongside his stepmother Shirley Jones, while Bieber is primarily musical and taught himself to play several instruments before his discovery.
Both Cassidy and Bieber have had the same adjective applied to them: androgynous. Or, as Archie Bunker might say, "He looks like a goil."
One of "The Partridge Family" shows spoofed the mania that was actually occurring with Cassidy. Keith (Cassidy's character) loses a lock of hair to his younger brother, who proceeds to sell strands to neighborhood girls. Keith gets up in the morning, walks to the mirror, runs his fingers through his flowing locks and says, "Awk!" Probably his best acting moment on "The Partridge Family."
We are used to manias — at any given time, paparazzi are following one actor or singer or another. Cassidy had his turn; Bieber is having his. Sooner or later another celebrity will replace Bieber in the number of Facebook mentions and Twitter feeds.
But the word "mania" implies a frenzy that can and does lead to death.
On May 26, 1974, a 14-year-old girl named Bernadette Whelan was badly injured in a gate stampede at a David Cassidy rock concert in London. She later died from her injuries. Cassidy was quoted as saying that the death would haunt him until the day he died.
On Jan. 1, 2013, a photographer was killed crossing a street while chasing Bieber's car on foot. Bieber, who was not in the car at the time, responded with a statement of condolence and a hope that "meaningful legislation" would pass to prevent such tragedies.
Recently, Bieber, now 19, visited the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam — undoubtedly a good step in his educational process. But, since nothing he does can escape scrutiny, his remark in the guestbook that Anne Frank was a nice girl, very inspiring and, hopefully, she would have been a belieber, has thrown the e-world all a-Twitter.
In Bieber's world, shaped by his own fame since the age of 13, everything comes back to himself. In his own inarticulate way, I think he was reaching across the divide of years and experience to connect with the girl who died in a concentration camp. So I will give him a pass on this one.
David Cassidy, now 63, has sung in some concerts, starred in some plays, shown up for guest appearances, written a book, had some failures and some successes, married three times and gone through drug rehab for addiction to painkillers. He was even rumored to be dead.
The latest Internet entry I find for Cassidy says that he is auctioning off some of his '70s rock-star costumes with all their fringe and embroidery to raise money for Alzheimer's Association of America. His mother, actress Evelyn Ward, had severe dementia before she died at age 89.
Cassidy commented on the size of the costumes.
"It's amazing what happens to your body as you get a little older," he said.
