Crap. Once it hits the tabloids, that's it, it's everywhere. People love to mock celebrities and their bad behavior. And it soon becomes a dog pile. (For the record, we are not dog piling here; we are discussing, assessing, bemoaning and speculating. We are doing a lot of things but we are not dog piling.) I can just hear radio announcers having a field day mocking David and the Partridge Family. It makes me wince. It makes me angry. It's undeserved. Well, maybe David's attitude deserves something akin to mocking, but how dare they disrespect the PF! So what do we do? Email them our dissertations on why The Partridge Family still deserves a following forty years after it debuted? Request they play David's version of "Ain't No Sunshine" instead of looping the ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-baba refrain of ITILY while they laugh in the background?
Then again, maybe it'll hit the tabloids and nothing will happen. It'll be like your first birthday party where you invite your whole class and two people show up.
Something else caught my attention in Scott's post: did David really call a woman in the audience at a concert the *c* word? That is beyond bad. Was he drinking? It doesn't excuse the behavior - it just explains it. Did this incident hit the press at the time?
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I hope this doesn't hit the press. Why would it be next week? I would have thought it would have happened already if it was going to. I get annoyed at people mocking the Partridge Family. It was a good show and David really brought Keith alive. David had good comic timing and I'm sure a lot of the good, positive, happy-go-lucky part of David went into Keith. Even as a child I was able to separate the character from David.Yes, David we loved you for yourself, not Keith.
I can't believe David would use that word, although I've heard some women are, to be polite, 'over-zealous' at his concerts, bordering on obnoxious and sometimes spoil the fun for others. I've no doubt those antics would try the patience of a saint (and David ain't no saint!)
British fan xx
Do any of you think many of David's problems result from over-analysing himself and woryying about how he is perceived by others?
In his first book he documents his early drug taking and wanting to be part of the 'hip' scene (idiotic, thank God he survived that), progressing to worrying about not having a cool enough image and his friends/peers taking the mickey (mocking). We all feel that way when young but as we get older we mellow we don't care anymore! I'm quite happy to admit liking the Partridge Family, Abba and other uncool stuff. David doesn't seem to have acquired the laid back wisdom of age and just 'do' what makes him happy, free of the insecurities of youth.
Sorry I'm hijacking this blog. Guess when I'm on the Net between chores everyone over in the US is having their beauty sleep.
Regards. British fan.
LOL! I'm here too from Florida, although I will be going to work soon.
I agree with your comment. He does seem to go way above and beyond to please, or to be credible. After reading a lot and corresponding with some others about this, I tend to think it has to do with his rejection by his father. The drive he has really impresses me. He seems to have such a work ethic. But it seems unnatural too, like he is driven by something way beyond what most people can tap into. It’s a shame that he sabotages it so often. I think that is also probably tied up with the rejection: He’s not worthy?
He seems like such a damaged soul to me. After I read his first book just recently, while I cried at some points when he wrote of his father, I was so happy for him at the end since he seemed to have triumphed through it all. He has professionally I guess, but after David’s Sunday Disaster, it seems he is still battling himself.
singmedavid
Yes, you're absolutely right. David has been shaped by what he experienced as a sensitive child. I think some of us are perhaps guilty of making allowances for him because of this and also because we feel for him too that he has not had the recognition he deserves formally acknowledged. Lately, I've revisited most of my chilhood crushes/idols and some of them make me cringe! David's talent really stands out and this is what has kept his fans so loyally connected to him all these years. It is way more than mere looks or a manufactured image. I sincerely hope he comes to realise this and finds peace with himself.
British fan
I will have a old article to back myself up on this one.
Stop saying that Jack rejected David.
This is what Shirley had to say in a cmongethappy.com interview.
It is under People and Places.
this was regarding any jealousy.
NO. it had nothing to do with jealousy.
It had to do with the fact that david was selling out.
He called him a monkey in a cage.
He lost respect for waht David was doing.
David started out on Broadway and he respected David's talent.
He wanted him to become an actor.
He thought that by doing what David was doing, that he was going going to end up as he did.
Jack had to start over.
All this says to me is that David does things for financial reasons.
Not for any joy.
Where was this acting career and why wouldn't a lot of people hire David?
My personal view is that tv/film exec.s. have no vision and insist on pigeonholing someone into one compartment. They could only see David as 'teen hearthrob' and vacuous and I think he may have turned down roles seen as 'fluff' cashing in on that. This evil deed is called 'typecasting'. Possibly, why he turned to theatre where he HAS been very successful. He played Blood Brothers to acclaim and turned around a flagging Las Vegas show into a huge success. He has much to be proud of. Many other actors have fallen into this trap and not had a chance to show what they're capable of. Don't forget the early promise he showed before P/F.
I don't think this will hit the press. It happened last Sunday, it's old news already. And David Cassidy isn't really the kind of celebrity they like to chew up, anyway. They want Paris Hilton...or Zac Efron, to bring it closer to home. Cassidy is 59 years old and was a teen idol 35 years ago.
As for him calling some woman the "c-word", I saw that on the Get Happy board, but only one person mentioned it, and it wasn't clear that it really happened. I would think that if he really said that, it would be a huge deal and they all would have been talking about it. So I'm skeptical on that one.
Many people have had roles that in the beginning have pigeon-holed them.
Tom Hanks. Sally Fields, and Robin Williams have had limited roles on TV and have parlayed their talents in Oscars.
The only reason Blood Brothers sold ticket was because Shaun Cassidy agreed to perform.
They let David go from "Little Johnny Jones" and brought in Donny Osmond because David wasn't selling tickets.
Shaun Cassidy also was brought in to transform the FX show in Vegas in production.
I don't know what kind of hold DC has on these brothers unless they feel sorry for him.
They didn't grow up with him in the house and there is more than an 8 years age difference between him and Shaun.
If David doesn't want to be seen as teen idol, then why do a teen idol tour in the UK, why sing Partridge Family Songs, why go on Good Morning America to promote Ruby and the Rockits with your brothers, but drive up in...A Partridge Family Bus?? With Blood Brothers and his other theater work I am sure he was not being seen as Keith Partridge. But he sort of threw that away to go back to doing concerts singing Partridge Family songs. He even did a promotional tour for Nick at Nite in a Partridge Family Bus! David pretty much sabotaged his own career with the choices he's made. And the biggest pill to swallow is for fans to know that he REALLY doesn't care about them, or any of their fond memories. And for all your worrying and concern about him and his "tortured" soul, he and his publicst think we should all GET A LIFE. Whatever press or lost bookings he gets from this is his own doing. How can we ever believe him when he says how much fans mean to him and whenever he sings those songs in a concert. A fan: "Oh David, when I was a kid I had bad childhood and The Partridge Family gave me happiness and the songs made me feel hopeful." David: "Oh get a life, I don't want to be associated or remembered for that, that was then and this is now!"
Next time he sings a PF song someon should yell out in the audience, "THAT WAS THEN, NOT NOW!"
cao: The three actors you mention as being pigeon-holed did not have the level of fame that David did. (And for what role, pray tell, was Tom Hanks pigeon-holed?) Not only that, they are the exception to the "rule" of typecasting. Many more actors do not break out of the mold and stop trying. Henry Winkler, Ron Howard, Rob Reiner, Penny Marshall, William Shatner, Larry Hagman, Ted Knight...They all played iconic roles that are seared forever in the public's mind.
Blood Brothers sold out even when David and Shaun weren't the leads - the play was a top draw regardless who played lead. You're correct about "Little Johnny Jones" but David managed to sell plenty of tickets to EFX, didn't he? You can't be a success in EVERY venture. In what capacity did Shaun work on EFX? I've never read that before.
If David's brothers feel sorry for him it's because they know he got the short end of the stick with their father! And this 8-yr difference between David and Shaun? How is this important? It makes a difference when you're a kid but once David was 30 and Shaun 22, it mattered a lot less, I'm sure. It's hardly a generation gap now.
cao: forgot to address your comment of "Stop saying that Jack rejected David."
JC left David's mother when he was three and didn't tell David he had divorced her until he was five. The whole time that JC was on the west coast, he hardly ever saw David and when outings were arranged, would bow out at the last minute. How is this not rejection and betrayal? How can this not affect a young boy's sense of trust? Seriously. You don't have to be psychoanalyst to figure that out.
David speculates that his father was jealous of him in the later years - this is how he explains to himself that JC was never able to tell David he was proud of him.
Plus, Daydreaming David, I've heard Shirley say in more than one interview that Jack was jealous of not only David's success, but Shirley's too.
Yes, this is what I was referring to when talking of the rejection - what he experienced in early childhood. To a child that IS rejection. I've never heard anyone close to him dispute these claims, only corroborate it. And in almost every interview I see of him he talks about how it still affects him. I actually think that is a very healthy thing for him to do. He probably has deep wounds that will never completely heal.
Anon at 5:25: You bring up some very valid points. I know that he's said that he does the PF songs because the audience expects it. But then, he's quoted as saying he doesn't do nostalgia acts. His concerts aren't pure nostalgia, but he certainly throws some in there!
Even when he started promoting Blood Brothers, in interviews, announcers would always introduce him as "former teen idol David Cassidy". I recall one morning show tidbit (Good Morning America?) where the host signed off the segment by mentioning it and David looked so angry and disappointed. He asked the guy "you just had to throw that in, didn't you?" He had a point. Why couldn't the host have just said "actor and singer" or something generic like that?
The label was superglued to him.
All the back in forth between a "that was then, this is now" comment and "embracing" his past by re-recording those old PF hits makes him out to look like a plain old hypocrite.
I'd just like to conclude my thoughts on this and say that even though I feel sympathy for DC for his past and enjoy his performances/music immensely, I am aware he is flawed and upsets people and do not condone it. If David chooses to behave in this manner he must accept the consequences for his actions just as any of us do. If he loses fans over it, then it is his own doing.
I was just trying to point out that a so-called 'normal', happy and 'media savvy' person would not display these behaviours in public and risk tarnishing themselves so.
His experiences have unfortunately shaped who he has become.
British fan xx
Also don't take his publicist's throwaway comment too close to heart. I bet he/she was most likely stressed and under pressure from both fans and David. I bet he/she works hard for their money! And to me David showing sings of being a hypocrite, swinging from embracing p/f one minute to outbursts of malice toward it the next only reinforces to me that he IS troubled.I think he reacts to things on a day to day basis depending on his state of mind. At least you can say he is not deceitful, he airs it all out for all to see.
Daydreaming David
I've just revisited the first page of your lovely blog again. Just like you I started researching David earlier this year.
Yes, he was the most beautiful thing that ever graced the earth. Perhaps we want everything about him to be as perfect as his features once were.
I think I'm in love with a fantasy but it makes me happy! (I do have a life and am happily married!)
British fan xxx
DC has been known to say "get a f****** life", so she may have gotten it from him.
Jack and Evelyn for married when they were 21 and were still young when they had David.
Jack was in Show business and had to go where the work was.
Ok, Jack should have stayed home and work on the railroad. Let see how David would have done in that business
What was David's excuse for Katie?
David was in his late 30 when she was born and DC didn't get involved in her lefe til she was in 5th grade.
OK. look at the cmongethappy.com interview with Shirley. It is under People and Places.
Shirley said that Jack was disapponted with David.
Jack left home at age 14 to be in the chorus of a Cole Porter Musical.
Jack had a work ethic that David does not have.
Jack was working towards the end of his life doing movies, Broadway and film and the live.
David was not.
FOr the Record , all 3 of the
other kid said that Jack would have been proud of them.
In fact, Jack was helping Shaun out with the Hardy Boys before it premiere.
Jack died one month before it aired and never got to see it air.
Here is an interview on Patrick's website.
HE's be really touched and proud, I think, that I made the conscience choice to make the theater a career and that I'm making a living at a craft I have developed.
This is another thing that Shirley said.
It is not that Jack was not proud of David. Jack wanted David to learn his craft and work his way up, which is what Patrick did.
This is a People Magazine article with Shaun Cassidy.
His father, actor Jack Cassidy could really blow people away who didn't know him.he was straight with me. The biggest disappointment in my life was that my father never got to see me perform.
I think he would have been proud of what I had accomplished but he would think the way I handled things is even more important.
By the way, Tom Hanks was in Bosum Buddies. Do you remember he was wearing a dress?
I don't think you can believe much of what David says about Jack. His grandchildren are kind of cute.
David doesn't think twice about trashing though.
Greetings David Cassidy Fans,
If anyone would like a healthy dose of "the most beautiful thing that ever graced the earth" (thank you British Fan :=)), here is the link to the LIFE magazine issue featuring David. It's a treat whether you're viewing it for the very first time or the 100th time!!! I personally love the picture of him in the water on the last page of the article...those unbelievable lashes:
David Cassidy Teenland's Heartthrob
I just saw that this issue is for sale on ebay:
LIFE MAGAZINE OCTOBER 29,1971 DAVID CASSIDY FRANK RIZZO
Enjoy!!! :=)))))
Cao, that Shirley interview is not the only one. I wish I could tell you exactly which interviews where Shirley mentions Jack's jealousy but I can't (maybe some of the rest of you can help me out here). Shirley actually said this, not just David. I believe this was on Shirley's biography on the Biography Channel, and she reiterated it on David's as well.
I've also seen David reveal exactly what you are saying about his what his father hoped for him; what he expected. David fully admits that in his book. He's not trying to hide that.
I get the impression that David has great love for his father, even though he was deeply hurt by him. I never saw it as trashing. He's describing his incredible life as an entertainer and the great influences on it. And for better or worse, JC was the biggest influence. Shaun basically says this too on David's bio.
I, like most people, have written to the 'star for Jack' site.
Michelle, at one point, was doing a book at one point about Jack.
She doesn't have the time now to complete it.
I know some people said that Jack was jealous of Shirley, but she said in the CMONGETHAPPY.Com interviews that Jack wanted her to do the role so she could spend more time with the kids.
Michelle has known the Cassidy Family for years and has done interviews with David's mother and the like.
Most people would say that David misconstrued Jack as being jealous when Jack was just trying to warn him about fleeting fame and such.
DAvid was acting up at the time on the show. Posing nude, talking about getting out of his contract, talking about not liking the show.
Nobody in the business wants to hear this.
NOw, David was making a lot of money on concerts at the time.
David should have been doing different roles when the show was on to show people that he had a range.
Instead, he blames everything on typecasting.
This is an old article from a DAVID CASSIDY FANSITE.
http://davidcassidyfansite/InprintPages/News1977March10TheValleyNews.pdf
Shirley was a ringside seat observer to the pressure and pains experienced by her stepson as his fame and fortune grew. As she says now,"A great success at an early age could be tough. Also a great deal of money too young could cause one to lose inventiveness.
She uses the words truly proud to descibe the emotions she has felt toward Shuan and her two younger son's, Patrick 15 and 11 year old Ryan, in these days of adjustment to the death of their father Jack Cassidy. Since that terrible day in December when Jack perished in an apartment house fire, say Shirley."I have watched my boys become men in front of my eyes.They have handled it marvelously". They miss him and I miss him terrible,too". "They talk about Jack a lot, talk about how lucky they were that he was their father and how proud he made them.
Wow! Thanks for the links. Stunning. I think those gifted with such beauty are cursed by it. What is gifted to you on one hand is paid for by the other. His looks got in the way of the talent he possessed. I think the media always gave him a hard time over it.
British fan xxx
British Fan, You're very welcome!!
So true what you are saying.
cao, you are giving too much credit to things posted on the net. Shirley's boys grew up with Jack, David didn't. You can not compare the two. Michelle ran a fan site for Ryan. She is not a Cassidy family friend.
Tommygirl: Michelle interviewed everybody in Jack's life. Including David's mother before Dementia.
David's version of things I think gets very scewed when it comes to Jack. I think David was a disappointment.
BY the way, Jack's career was on Broadway mostly and he did have to spent time away from the OTEHR KIDS.
The other kids talk about the values Jack gave them
HERe is what Patrick had to say on his website.
Part of the reason, he says, is that like his dad, the late Jack Cassidy, that he has concentrated on theater, etching indelible portraits as the narrator in Stephen Sondhein's Assassins and Mack Heath in Kurt Weill's, The Three Penny Opera, as well as in more popular fare : The Pirates of Penzance, Leader of the Pack and ,most, recently, starring opposite Cheryl Ladd in "Annie get Your Gun".
"I was exposed to all the trapping of the teen-idol thing through David and then Shaun,"he says. " I saw what it did to their future careers. When you weigh one against the other, I'm not sure the excitement is worth it.
" I wanted to build my chops as an actor, and be taken seriously, so I went to New York to learn my craft, the way my father did.
Sing me David: Thank you so much for the link to that Life article. I hadn't yet read it. It's fabulous. And that last picture is to die for.
British Fan: you're starting to make me believe in a parallel universe. Are you me in the UK? I read your posts and wonder if I've started sleepwriting.
cao: I did not remember that Tom Hanks was in Bosom Buddies - doubt most people do. His role was hardly iconic, whereas even people who didn't watch Happy Days knew The Fonz. David's version of his relationship with his father is just that, HIS version. He doesn't claim it to be anything else. He describes how he feels towards his father, how his father made him feel and speculates on his father's thoughts of him. And you stating that "David was a disappointment" is whose opinion? For the record, David has spoken positively about what values that his father gave him - it's not all bad what he says about JC. It's just that the bad severely marked him and that's DC's reality, not his brothers' and to say he has no right to feel that way is quite presumptuous.
Bosum Buddies was people's first introduction to Tom Hanks. When Hanks started doing film, he was considered to be a 2nd rate Bill Murry.
I think the trouble most people are having is why Keith never got beyond Keith Partridge. David was making a lot of money on concerts while he was on the Partridge Family.
John Travolta and Michael J. Fox were on hit series too, at the same time they were doing other film and television work to show they had a range.
David went with whatever was the most money at the time. David did go Bankrupt in 1976.
And about Jack, David perception of everything is that he was taken advantage of. The guy actually came from a show business family. Both Jack and Shirley were also big stars in their teens.
David had a support system most people would give their eye teeth for. My perception, David turned his nose up at everybody and wants to make believe everybody was jealous.
cao, Tom Hanks has no relevance to this discussion but your examples of John Travolta and Michael J. Fox are great. These were two actors who managed to get beyond their teen idol status. To be fair though, Michael J. Fox did end up pretty much playing the same role over and over in his successful films.
David's early career was not in his hands. He was doing a hit TV series and concerts in the weekends and on hiatus. That was his contract. When could he take on another role? He did not go with "whatever was the most money at the time" - he went where he manager said to go.
As for showing his range, he did that very well in 1978 with Man Undercover. That role was nothing like Keith Partridge and if anybody was looking to see if he had real acting ability, that series, as contrived as the plot could be, showcased it. He had some very strong scenes in that show.
David's recollection of his younger days definitely has a "woe was me" feeling about it, I'll grant you that. As for having "a support system most people would give their eye teeth for", he has said that Shirley Jones helped him a lot when it came to dealing with the press, handling the fame and being professional on the job. And if his father was so unimpressed with David's teen idol role, it stands to reason he didn't support him much, doesn't it?
David got to renegotiate his contract when he turned 21.
DC was at the height of his fame. He could have had any scenario imagined.
DC chosed to stay with the concerts because they were financially rewarding.
Alan Alda is someone who worked in different roles and was a TV icon. Alda also had a good theater background. This helped him overcome typecasting.
Shuan says something in one of the special that got to me.
IF you want to go the long haul in the music business, you have to have something more to offer than looking good in a poster.
I think Jack knew that David wasn't going to evolve to much in the music business.
DC might have done better if he would have stayed on Broadways at 18 and worked his way up.
Just my opinion.
You know, cao, just because you insist something is true doesn't make it so. You've been harping on how DC does things for money, but you're very selective about your sources and how you interpret them. I've read other interviews where DC said he desperately wanted to break out of the "Keith"-type roles, but no one sent him scripts that he considered worth doing---either they were too close to the teen-idol type, or the quality of the writing was awful. He says this is what sent him back into theater---that he had more range and flexibility there in what he was able to do.
In addition, his daughter Katie has spoken about how the main advice she received from him was not to take work only for the money---to wait for something that she really liked.
Just because we haven't seen him in a really good movie or tv show doesn't mean that he's only interested in it for the money. There have been many many typecast actors who have never been able to turn their careers around (e.g. Henry Winkler), and many others who languished for decades before making a comeback (e.g. William Shatner, John Travolta). Very often, it's a matter of luck and opportunity. Quentin Tarantino gave John Travolta his career back when he put him in Pulp Fiction. All of a sudden, Travolta was "hot" again, and then everyone wanted him. Hollywood is a very fickle environment, and you can't always blame someone's misfortune entirely on themselves. Who's to say someday someone like the Coen brothers might decide to put DC in a movie, and it becomes a big hit? It could make him the next "big" thing, and he could have a dozen great scripts come his way. It's unlikely, but that's how things work in that business.
Well said SLK. Thank you.
That is why you have to show a range in show business. I listen to Danny Bonaduce and he realized he couldn't make it as an adult actor. He is in radio and he is happy. Shuan did not want to act any more and went into directing.
IT just seems to me that David is not happy and people have seen it.
As far as doing things for money, David commited himself to signing autographs last week demanded more money than original. Could have made the money at the event, but decided to demand money from the event for work he didn't want to do. Threatened to trash the event if money was not given.
What was that!
This is again an old article, again about the values that Jack and Shirley wish to impart on their children.
http://davidcassidyfansite.com/InPrintPages/News1977april21ModestBee.pdf
Shirely is confronted with the impossibe situation of telling her offspring to get an education before considering a life of bright lights and greasepaint.
"I'va never been in favor of children going into show business-especially mine,"Shirley said. ""Iva wanted them to have a good education first. It's especially important for boys. Their father agreed with me on that'
Jack and Shirley shared to thought that David's booming career had played an important part in the father-son estangement.
She has gone to great lengths to prevent any such occurence in her own family.
"Show business is so unstable I feel my sons should be prepared to do other things,"Shirley said.
They are not accustomed to seeing failure. Jack had an enormously successful career and lord knows I've been working steadily since they were born.
"If they'd ever had any doubt, the boys only had to look at David, who was an idol for four years.
"I'd rather see my boys pumping gas than be rich , famous , mixed up and unhappy in show business", she said.
"IF they won't take my advice, I haope at least that Jack and I gave them good foundations and values-- you never know.
Apparently David told Chip Deffaa that his drinking and drugging in the 1970s (after the PF went off air) affected his ability to be happy.
I have spent 18 months researching David and I start to see changes in him around 1980, and he then never got back to his 1970's self.
So why did he change then? We will never really know now, but here are my impressions:
1. His marriage to Kay Lenz was breaking down
2. He lost his $8m fortune.
3. His career was in a nose-dive, and he had to start again from scratch.
For a man, whose ego and self-image is tied to his career (this is true for all men)this must have been a devastating time, possibly more than he has ever confessed. Imagine, your career (and ego) came crashing down and now no one wants to employ you. You thought you had a fortune as a fall back and a wife to love you, and it's all crumbled away. You worked so hard on your career and through no fault of your own, it's over. Devastating.
Elle
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