The Partridge Family
 |
The opening titles, featuring animated partridge hatchlings, was created by artist Sandy Dvore. |
The Partridge Family was an
American television sitcom about a widowed mother and her five children who, in addition to living their typical suburban family life, traveled around in a very colorful bus to different venues to perform songs. The series originally ran from
September 25,
1970 until
August 31,
1974 on the
ABC television network, with many subsequent runs in
syndication.
The show starred
Shirley Jones as mother Shirley Partridge and
David Cassidy (Jones' real life stepson) as Keith Partridge.
Susan Dey played Laurie,
Danny Bonaduce played Danny,
Jeremy Gelbwaks (later replaced by
Brian Forster) played Chris, and
Suzanne Crough played Tracy Partridge.
Dave Madden played Reuben Kincaid, who was their manager and booked all their tours. The story was loosely based on
The Cowsills, who were a real singing family; in fact, the Cowsill children were originally approached to play the Partridge children. The show was produced for ABC by
Screen Gems television, which had also made
The Monkees, another show about a fictional music group.
 |
The back of the bus, which became somewhat of an icon for the show, due to its Mondrianesque paint design. |
As it had with The Monkees, the production company capitalized on the success of the show by releasing a series of albums featuring the music of the "group". Even though the only cast members who sang on the recordings were Shirley Jones and David Cassidy, and none of the cast members actually played their instruments, people did buy the albums and The Partridge Family became a phenomenon.
The Partridge Family's biggest hit came in 1970 with the number one song "I Think I Love You" (
lyrics). The album that followed reached number four on the
Billboard magazine album chart. The lead singer, actor David Cassidy, solidified his growing
teen idol status with that recording. The second single, "I'll Meet You Halfway," also made the top ten. The next single, "I Woke Up in Love This Morning", released in
1971, was a slower seller (eventually reaching the Top 20) but was still a very popular title.
The Partridge Family television show lasted for four years until Cassidy, a reluctant teen idol who was actively pursuing a solo career, decided he no longer wanted to play the role of Keith Partridge. The show was cancelled after 96 episodes; during the four years of the television run ten Partridge Family albums were released.
The Partridges had a brief resurgence in animated form on the
CBS Saturday morning schedule as the
Hanna-Barbera-produced
Partridge Family 2200 A.D., which saw the family propelled into the future. Originally slated to be a part of a proposed new version of
The Jetsons (ABC, 1962-63), the animated version featured new characters Veenie (Keith's Venusian friend) and Marion (Laurie's Martian friend). Danny had a pet robot dog named Orbit. (Shirley Jones and David Cassidy did not voice their animated counterparts.) 16 half-hour intallments 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.
In
2003,
American cable TV network
VH1 announced plans to create an updated version of the show. In
2004, the network premiered
In Search of The Partridge Family, a
reality television series centered around the selection of a new
Partridge Family cast, decided in an elimination process in the vein of
American Idol. The reality show aired seven audition episodes before picking the new group in October 2004. A pilot episode of
The New Partridge Family, featuring the cast selected in the reality show, was filmed and aired on VH1 in January of 2005; the series was immediately cancelled and no further episodes were produced.
The first season of the original series, consisting of 25 uncut episodes, was released in May
2005 on Region 1
DVD from
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. At the same time,
Arista Records released "Come On Get Happy!: The Very Best of The Partridge Family," which includes four previously unreleased tracks. The second season DVD set was released in November 2005.
*
Keith Partridge :
lead vocals,
guitars*
Danny Partridge :
vocals,
bass*
Shirley Partridge :
vocals,
keyboards,
tamborine*
Laurie Partridge :
vocals,
piano*
Tracy Partridge :
vocals,
tambourine*
Chris Partridge :
drums*
Chris Partridge :
drums *
Reuben Kincaid :
band manager |
One of The Partridge Family's greatest hits albums, released in 2005. |
*
The Partridge Family Album*
Up to Date*
Sound Magazine*
Christmas Card*
Shopping Bag*
At Home With Their Greatest Hits*
The Partridge Family Notebook*
Crossword Puzzle*
Bulletin Board*
World of the Partridge Family*
Come On Get Happy!: The Very Best of The Partridge Family*
*
C'Mon Get Happy fan site
