First of all, Shirley Jones chose Shirley Partridge instead of Carol Brady because she liked the idea of playing a single, working mom during the days when stay-at-home moms ruled. She said, “While the idea of playing the mother in The Brady Bunch was initially attractive to me, I turned it down because I didn’t want to be the mother taking the roast out of the oven and not doing much else.”
She was drawn to the role of the Partridge family’s mom, “First, because she was destined to become the first working mother on TV, and I loved the script. Second, because working on the series would let me be an almost full-time mom and raise my kids.”
A Grammy Nomination for the Family
The Partridge Family, as a musical group, topped the Billboard Hot 100 with the hit single “I Think I Love You,” selling over 5 million copies and outselling the Beatles’ “Let it Be.” With lead singer Cassidy a verifiable teen idol, the album hit No. 4 on the Billboard Top 200.
Selling millions of records domestically and internationally, the group produced eight studio albums. In 1971, the TV show was nominated for the Best New Artist Grammy. In total, The Partridge Family group released 11 singles.
The Real Partridge Family
The Partridge Family was loosely based on a real-life musical family called “The Cowsills.” The TV show was inspired by these troubadours whose hit song “The Rain, the Park & Other Things” made waves when it was released in 1967.
At first, the show planned to cast the family as the Partridges, but after ABC decided to go with Shirley Jones, the kids of the Cowsill family backed out.
And Then There Was Ricky
In season four, Ricky showed up. Ratings were in a slump, and adding an adorable little boy seemed as if it would bring just the bounce the show needed. The little guy, an actor named Ricky Segall, was only four years old.
He played neighbor Ricky Stevens, a boy who liked to sing. With zero results, the boy was dismissed mid-season.
Tragedy Strikes at a David Cassidy Concert
At the peak of his success, teen idol David Cassidy’s concerts were selling out to wildly ecstatic crowds. At a 1974 show at London’s White City Stadium, crowds got out of hand, and a youngster was killed. A wave of enthusiasm caused a mob of teens to rush the stage. Thirty people were crushed in the stampede.
One of the victims was concert goer Bernadette Whelan, a 14-year-old. She was rushed to the hospital and treated for her wounds but died four days later of cardiac arrest. When asked about the melee, Cassidy said that the death will always haunt him.