The Partridge Family

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The Partridge Family was an American television sitcom about a widowed mother and her five children, living in San Pueblo, a small fictional town in Northern California. In the pilot episode this musical family records a pop song in their garage, and through the marketing efforts of the 10-year-old son Danny, the song becomes a hit. Soon the family decides to begin touring the country in a colorful school bus, performing their music in various types of venues.

In the pilot episode of The Partridge Family, "What? and Get Out of Show Business?", the band performs "Together."

The Partridge Family house on the Screen Gems lot was also home to Gladys and Abner Kravitz on Bewitched, among many other series.

The episodes would often contrast their suburban life with the adventures of a show-biz family "on the road". The series originally ran from September 25, 1970 until August 31, 1974 on the ABC television network, as part of the Friday night lineup with The Brady Bunch. It had several subsequent runs in syndication.

Created by Bernard Slade, the series was inspired by and loosely based on The Cowsills, a real pop-music family, famous in the late sixties. In fact in its early development the Cowsill children were actually approached by the producers to be featured on The Partridge Family, though the Cowsills rejected the offer when they learned their real-life mother and band member Barbara would not be included in the cast.

The pilot episode found the family preparing to go "on the road".

The show starred Shirley Jones as mother Shirley Partridge and David Cassidy (Jones' real-life stepson) as her eldest son Keith. The remaining Partridge children were played by Susan Dey as Laurie, Danny Bonaduce as Danny, Jeremy Gelbwaks as Chris and Suzanne Crough as Tracy Partridge. Dave Madden played Reuben Kincaid, who was their manager and family friend. After the first season, the dark-haired Gelbwalks who played young Chris was replaced by a blond actor, Brian Forster. It was reported by teen magazines in 1971 that this was because his family simply moved away, but years later it was disclosed by cast members that young Gelbwalks had "behavior problems" on the set, and got replaced after he bit one of the featured players. It was also noted by producers in subsequent interviews that Gelbwak's mom was a problematic "stage mother" on the set.

A dog named Simone was also featured in the first season, though she was phased out of production early in the second season. Like Tiger on the Brady Bunch, Simone simply disappeared without an explanation.

The Partridge Family was produced for ABC by Screen Gems television, which was just finishing its run with The Monkees, another show about a fictional music group. The company promoted the success of the show by releasing a series of albums featuring the music of the family band, though most cast members did not actually play on the recordings. The Partridge Family sound was created by a group of studio singers and musicians, led by producer Wes Farrell. Although David Cassidy was originally cast with the intent to lip sync, just weeks into production he convinced Farrell he could sing well, and was allowed to join the studio ensemble as the lead singer. (Several songs were made without Cassidy as lead, and were featured in some of the early episodes and on the first album.) He and Shirley Jones, who sang background, were the only cast members who were actually featured on the recordings. Then the cast would lip sync to the recordings when they performed on each episode. And though it was obvious to most viewers that the cast was lip-syncing, The Partridge Family became an instant success, not only as a TV show, but a band that produced actual hit songs.

The opening titles, featuring animated partridge hatchlings, was created by artist Sandy Dvore.

The Partridge Family's biggest hit came in 1970 with the song "I Think I Love You" (lyrics), which began climbing in September and peaked at number one on the Billboard charts in December of that year. The companion LP, "The Partridge Family Album" reached number four. Other Partridge singles, "I'll Meet You Halfway", "Doesn't Somebody Want To Be Wanted", and "I Woke Up in Love This Morning" would also chart high on Billboard. Despite the "bubblegum" label and prefabricated nature of the "band", the Partridge Family's records were considered some of the best arranged and produced of their day and sold very well. The theme songs "When We're Singing", and its successor "C'Mon, Get Happy" also became popular favorites, as well as album cuts "I Can Feel Your Heartbeat" and "Point Me In The Direction Of Albuquerque".

As the show and other associated merchandizing took off, David Cassidy became an overnight teen idol. Although the Partridge Family did not actually exist as a live band, Cassidy launched a solo singing career, touring with his own group of musicians and performing Partridge songs as well as hits from his own albums. And in the midst of his overwhelming rise to fame, Cassidy soon grew tired of the show. In the summer of 1972 he gave a very candid interview to Rolling Stone magazine in which he attempted to distance himself from the squeaky-clean image of Keith Partridge.

The family that plays together, stays together.

By the fourth season, between Cassidy's looming departure and a decline in the ratings, a feeble effort was made by the producers to breathe new life into the show, by introducing a precocious 4-year-old neighbor named "Ricky" Ricky Segall to occasionally sing children's songs with the band. In another parallel to the Brady Bunch, who introduced the younger "cousin Oliver" in its simultaneous final season, this was was perceived as a "jumping of the shark". Knowing it would not survive, ABC moved the show from its 8:30 Friday night slot to Saturday at 8:00, directly opposite the hit All in the Family. The show was canceled after 96 episodes and ten Partridge Family albums.

The Partridges had a brief resurgence in animated form, which saw the family propelled into the future. The animated Partridges first appeared when the kids did a series of guest spots on "Goober and the Ghost Chasers". That idea evolved into a CBS Saturday morning Hanna-Barbera-produced cartoon, "Partridge Family 2200 A.D.". (Shirley Jones and David Cassidy did not voice their animated counterparts, and Susan Dey and Dave Madden had very limited involvement with this series.) Sixteen half-hour installments were produced for the animated series, which lasted for half a season on CBS Saturday morning (September 7, 1974 - March 8, 1975); on the syndicated Fred Flintstone and Friends, it was retitled The Partridge Family in Outer Space.

The first re-creation of the Partridge's bus was made by the Art department at Nickelodean to promote it's run of the series.

Though more successful in its time than its Friday night companion The Brady Bunch, The Partridge Family did not become as widely circulated in syndicated re-runs. Consequently the Brady Bunch, which has never been off the air since it first began, has become more well-known to subsequent generations. Nickelodeon did feature a heavily publicized run of The Partridge Family in the mid-90s, along with the Brady Bunch, as part of its Nick-At-Nite line-up. The network used interviews and commercials featuring cast members, and even created a new version of the Mondrian-esque Family bus for promotion.

Another replica of the bus was made for one of the TV movies about the series in 1999.

In late 1999 two different made-for-TV movies aired on different networks; "The David Cassidy Story" and "Come On Get Happy" attempted to tell the story behind the series. While both movies were criticized by fans as being inaccurate, they did recreate imagery from the series. Some of the original musicians were gathered together to re-record music for the "Cassidy" movie, and "Come On Get Happy" even featured another replication of the bus, which was later auctioned off on an internet auction site.

Danny Bonaduce and Shirley Jones helping out with the "New Partridge Family" in 2004.

A modernized version of the bus was created for a new promotion in 2004, when VH1 premiered In Search of The New Partridge Family. This talent competition in the format of American Idol sought a new cast for a contemporary version of the sitcom. The elimination type program aired seven episodes in which a panel of judges selected a new Partridge Family cast from auditioners across the country. The resulting pilot episode of The New Partridge Family aired in January of 2005, but due to low ratings VH1 opted not to produce any more episodes.

The first two seasons of the original series were released as of October 2005 on DVD from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. Also, at the same time Arista Records released a new music compilation, "Come On Get Happy!: The Very Best of The Partridge Family," which included four previously unreleased tracks.

The back of the bus, which became an icon for the show, due to its Mondrianesque paint design.

1 "Band Members"
2 Selected discography
3 DVD Releases
4 External links

[edit] "Band Members"

David Cassidy as Keith Partridge : lead vocals, lead guitars
Danny Bonaduce as Danny Partridge : vocals, bass
Shirley Jones as Shirley Partridge : vocals, keyboards, tambourine
Susan Dey as Laurie Partridge : vocals, piano, percussion
Suzanne Crough as Tracy Partridge : vocals, tambourine, percussion
Jeremy Gelbwaks as Chris Partridge #1 : drums
Brian Forster as Chris Partridge #2 : drums
Dave Madden as Reuben Kincaid : band manager

[edit] Selected discography

One of The Partridge Family's greatest hits albums, released in 2005.

The Partridge Family Album
Up to Date
Sound Magazine
A Partridge Family Christmas Card
Shopping Bag
At Home With Their Greatest Hits
The Partridge Family Notebook
Crossword Puzzle
Bulletin Board
World of the Partridge Family (Greatest Hits Collection released at the end of the series)
Greatest Hits
The Definitive Collection (Partridge Family)|The Definitive Collection, includes David Cassidy solo material)
Come On Get Happy!: The Very Best of The Partridge Family (includes some previously un-released material)

[edit] DVD Releases

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has released the first 2 Seasons of The Partridge Family on DVD in Region 1 for the very first time. Release dates for Seasons 3 and 4 have not been announced yet.