100 Fun Facts About The Partridge Family

On which network did The Partridge Family air from 1970 to 1974?

It ran for 96 episodes and eight albums before cancellation.

Who created The Partridge Family?

Slade later wrote the Broadway hit Same Time, Next Year.

The show was loosely based on which real-life family band?

The Newport, Rhode Island group had hits with 'The Rain, the Park & Other Things' and 'Hair'.

Why did the real family who inspired the show turn down the chance to play themselves?

Screen Gems approached them in 1969, but recasting mother Barbara with Shirley Jones killed the deal.

Who played the family's widowed mother?

The producers insisted her casting was non-negotiable before anyone else was hired.

Who played eldest son Keith Partridge?

The role made him the biggest teen idol of the early 1970s, with a fan club larger than the Beatles'.

What was the real-life relationship between the actors who played Shirley and Keith?

Jones married his father, Jack Cassidy, in 1956; her sons Shaun, Patrick and Ryan are David's half-brothers.

Who played Laurie Partridge?

She was 17 and had no acting experience when she won the part.

Danny Bonaduce's wisecracking Danny Partridge played which instrument in the band?

His father Joseph Bonaduce was a TV writer; Danny later became a radio host and boxed Donny Osmond for charity.

Which character was played by two different actors, Jeremy Gelbwaks and then Brian Forster?

Forster took over the drummer role in season two.

Brian Forster, the show's second Chris, is a great-great-great-grandson of which author?

He is also the stepson of actor Whit Bissell and later raced cars in northern California.

Suzanne Crough's Tracy, the youngest Partridge, mainly played which instrument?

The percussion job made her the least musically demanding member of a band that didn't play anyway.

Dave Madden played the family's put-upon manager. What was his name?

Madden had first gained notice as the confetti-throwing sad sack on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In.

Dave Madden was born in which country?

He was born in Sarnia, Ontario, and later played coach Earl Hicks on Alice.

The Partridges lived in which fictional California town?

In the pilot, the kids convince their widowed mother, a bank teller, to join their band.

What was Shirley Partridge's job before joining the band?

The pilot has her widowed with five kids and a garage full of instruments.

The family's tour bus was painted in patterns inspired by which artist?

The vehicle was an old 1957 Chevrolet school bus.

What kind of vehicle was the Partridge Family bus originally?

The 1957 Chevrolet Series 6800 Superior became as famous as the cast.

Unlike The Monkees, how many cast members played instruments on the records or on the show?

Originally only Shirley Jones sang; Cassidy was allowed to record his own vocals after proving to producer Wes Farrell that he could sing.

Which famous group of Los Angeles session musicians played the instruments on Partridge Family records?

The Ron Hicklin Singers supplied the backing vocals behind Cassidy's lead.

Who produced the music for the ongoing series after the pilot?

Jazz arranger Shorty Rogers, who had worked with the Monkees, handled the pilot.

What was the show's opening theme song from season two onward?

Season one used a different theme, 'When We're Singin''.

What was the title of the season-one theme song?

The pilot is the only episode that uses no version of either theme.

The family's smash debut single, released a month before the show premiered, was what?

It came out in August 1970 and was already climbing when the pilot aired.

Who wrote the family's chart-topping debut single?

It was certified the best-selling single of 1970 and sold more than the Beatles' 'Let It Be'.

How many weeks did the debut single spend at number one on the Billboard Hot 100?

It topped the chart in November and December 1970 and also hit number one in Canada and Australia.

Which alternative rock band covered the Partridges' debut single in 1991?

The Anglo-American band recorded it for their second album.

The Partridge Family Album, the first LP, peaked at what position on the Billboard 200?

It went gold in December 1970, and two of its tracks do not feature Cassidy at all.

What was the name of the family dog seen in season one?

The dog was phased out during the second season.

In season four, four-year-old neighbour Ricky Stevens was added and did what in each episode?

Ricky Segall's addition is often cited as the show's cousin-Oliver moment.

For its final season, ABC moved the show from Friday to which night?

The move to 8 p.m. Saturday preceded cancellation after 96 episodes.

How many episodes of The Partridge Family were made?

The run also produced eight albums.

Bobby Sherman's guest role as songwriter Bobby Conway launched which short-lived spin-off?

The episode closed out season one and the spin-off followed on ABC.

The 1974 Hanna-Barbera cartoon spin-off sent the family to which year?

Partridge Family 2200 A.D. aired on CBS Saturday mornings; Jones and Cassidy did not voice their characters.

The animated Partridge kids first appeared as guests on which Hanna-Barbera show?

The guest spots evolved into their own futuristic series.

Which comedian guest-starred in the 'Soul Club' episode alongside Louis Gossett Jr.?

The episode has the band accidentally booked into a Detroit club instead of the Temptations.

The actress who played Shirley won an Academy Award for which 1960 film?

She won Best Supporting Actress for playing a vengeful prostitute, a sharp turn from Oklahoma! and Carousel.

Susan Dey later won a Golden Globe for playing deputy DA Grace Van Owen on which series?

She is also the one cast member who, per Shirley Jones's memoir, consistently refused reunions.

Cassidy's first solo single, a number nine Hot 100 hit, covered which Association song?

His fan club at the time was larger than that of the Beatles or Elvis.

In May 1972, Cassidy tried to shed his teen-idol image with a revealing cover of which magazine?

The photo was taken by Annie Leibovitz.

Roughly how many were injured in the 1974 stampede at Cassidy's White City Stadium concert?

The crush, in which a teenage fan died, prompted him to retire from touring soon after.

Which of Cassidy's half-brothers became a teen idol himself with 'Da Doo Ron Ron' and The Hardy Boys?

David co-starred with half-brother Patrick in the 2009 sitcom Ruby & the Rockits.

The 1999 ABC TV movie about the show was subtitled 'The Partridge Family ___'?

An animated reboot was announced in June 2023.

Where did the Partridges play their first live gig in the pilot episode?

Their bus was a 1957 Chevrolet Series 6800 Superior school bus painted in Mondrian-inspired patterns.

Which country singer made an uncredited cameo in the Partridge Family pilot?

Ray Bolger played Shirley's father in three episodes, and all three original Charlie's Angels guested separately.

Which jazz arranger who had worked with the Monkees produced the music for the pilot episode?

Chip Douglas was first offered the job of producing the series music but declined, and Wes Farrell took over.

The Partridge Family was the third fictional act to top the Hot 100, after the Chipmunks and whom?

'I Think I Love You' sold more than five million copies, outselling the Beatles' 'Let It Be'.

Which future Oscar winner made her first screen appearance in VH1's 2004 New Partridge Family pilot?

She played Laurie opposite French Stewart as Reuben Kincaid; the pilot was the only episode made.

How many paperback mystery novels featuring the Partridge characters did Curtis Books publish?

Charlton Comics also ran a Partridge Family comic book, and Milton Bradley issued a board game in 1971.

Which label released Danny Bonaduce's self-titled debut LP in 1973?

The MGM subsidiary's single 'Dreamland' was a minor hit, though Bonaduce had not sung on the Partridge records.

In the unaired 1969 pilot, what was the Partridge mother's first name?

That first version also gave her a boyfriend and moved the family to Ohio before everything was reshot for the 1970 premiere.

Who served as the show's executive producer?

Claver also directed and produced on Mork & Mindy, Rhoda and The Dukes of Hazzard before retiring in 1991.

Writer Roberta Tatum sued, claiming she had pitched a similar show under what title?

The dispute was settled out of court, with Tatum reportedly walking away with $150,000.

An episode placed the Partridges' hometown '40 miles from' which California county?

The line comes from episode 24, 'A Partridge By Any Other Name', one of the few times the fictional town was pinned to a map.

Which Hall of Fame catcher played a poolside waiter in 'I Left My Heart in Cincinnati'?

The season-three episode, set at the Kings Island Inn, first aired on January 26, 1973.

Spin-off songwriters Bobby Conway and Lionel Poindexter were modelled on which real duo?

The real pair wrote 'Last Train to Clarksville' for the Monkees, and the spin-off lasted just 14 episodes in a brutal CBS-dominated time slot.

In its final season the show was scheduled against Emergency! and which CBS hit?

Pulled from a Friday slot it had been winning, the show lost more than half its audience and was cancelled.

Which channel marked the 50th anniversary with all 96 episodes over Thanksgiving 2020?

The subchannel had carried the show since its January 2011 launch through a distribution deal with Sony Pictures Television.

The 1977 ABC Thanksgiving reunion special paired the cast with which other sitcom's cast?

Beyond two single parents of large broods, the shows had no connection at all; Dey took part only on videotape.

Which song played under the pilot's opening credits in place of a theme?

The pilot also skipped the animated title sequence, showing the family performing the song as if in concert.

Who wrote the new lyrics that turned the season-one theme into the season-two version?

The tune stayed identical; only the words changed, and the revised theme never appeared on an original Partridge album.

In the 1974 cartoon, Danny owned a robotic dog named what?

Frank Welker voiced the dog, along with a buzzing purple-haired Venusian named Veenie who travelled with the band.

Which member of the Monkees voiced recurring characters in the 1974 Hanna-Barbera cartoon?

His roles included Wonderful Wayne and Spotless Sam, and the gig was among his first voice-over jobs.

Before the Partridge cartoon, Hanna-Barbera pitched CBS an update of which earlier series?

The rejected pitch had Elroy as a teenager and Judy as an ace reporter; CBS chief Fred Silverman chose the Partridges instead.

Who played the young Danny Bonaduce in the 1999 TV movie about the show?

Pyfrom went on to Desperate Housewives; Bonaduce himself narrated the film.

In the 2004 VH1 pilot's closing teaser, Danny Bonaduce was cast as what?

The teaser promised a visit from the father and his same-sex partner, but no second episode was ever made.

Who wrote the two debut-LP tracks sung entirely by the Hicklin Singers, without Cassidy?

'I'm on the Road' and 'I Really Want to Know You' date from the days when the session singers alone were the whole Partridge sound.

Which Up to Date track gave Cassidy his first songwriting credit on a Partridge LP?

The recording introduced a distorted guitar sound to the group's otherwise polished repertoire.

The cover of the 1971 LP Up to Date was designed in the form of what?

The marked birth dates, including the dog's, were the real birthdays of the cast; it was Jeremy Gelbwaks's last cover appearance.

What part of 'Doesn't Somebody Want to Be Wanted' did Cassidy at first refuse to record?

Filming stopped so his manager could talk him round; the single still went to No. 6 and he said he could never listen to it.

Mike Appel, co-writer of 'Doesn't Somebody Want to Be Wanted', went on to manage whom?

Appel and Jim Cretecos wrote five Partridge songs as a trio with the group's producer before Appel moved to New Jersey rock.

Whose 2009 LP Raditude carried 'I Woke Up in Love This Morning' as a Japan-only bonus?

The 1971 original reached No. 13 on the Hot 100 and has also been covered by Max Romeo and the a cappella group the Persuasions.

Which Partridge LP was the only one to reach the UK Top 20?

It peaked at No. 14 in April 1972, riding the wave of Cassidy's UK solo breakthrough, and is widely regarded as the group's best album.

Which racy song cut from a 1971 Partridge LP later surfaced on Bonaduce's solo album?

Bonaduce's 1973 version, with the 13-year-old seducing a woman, has since gained a cult following for sheer camp.

On the 1971 holiday LP, Jones rather than Cassidy sang lead on which track?

The record topped Billboard's special Christmas albums chart for all four weeks it was published that year.

Which Metallica member says the Partridges' Christmas LP was the first album he owned?

The 1971 LP, packaged with a reproduction Christmas card signed by the family, was the season's best-selling holiday album.

The family's 1973 UK Top 10 'Walking in the Rain' revived a 1964 hit by which girl group?

The cover was never released as a US single, yet reached No. 10 in Britain in June 1973.

Whose 1965 hit 'Looking Through the Eyes of Love' became the Partridges' last US Top 40?

The Partridge version stalled at No. 39 at home but reached No. 9 in the UK, sharing the chart with Slade and the Sweet.

The family's 1972 UK No. 3 'Breaking Up Is Hard to Do' covered whose 1962 signature song?

The song was a Top 40 hit three separate times between 1970 and 1975, including the writer's own 1975 remake.

Who really produced and arranged the final LP Bulletin Board, whatever the credits say?

It was also the only Partridge album not recorded at Western Recorders, and the first to miss the Billboard chart entirely.

The Partridges' producer co-wrote which 1965 No. 1, now Ohio's official state rock song?

He also co-wrote 'Boys', the Shirelles B-side the Beatles covered on Please Please Me.

In 1971 the Partridge Family received a Grammy nomination in which category?

Not bad for an act whose on-screen members, apart from two, never sang a note on the records.

Jones became the second person, after whom, to pair an acting Oscar with a Hot 100 No. 1?

She was the first woman to manage it; Streisand and Cher later joined the club.

Jones turned down which sitcom role, which went instead to her friend Florence Henderson?

Her agents warned that a hit series would end her film career, which she admits is exactly what happened.

Jones reprised her Partridge matriarch in a 2000 cameo on which sitcom?

She also played Drew Carey's older girlfriend for several episodes of his show.

Jones was the only singer ever put under personal contract by which songwriting team?

She had never heard of them when she walked into the open casting call, and Rodgers was fetched from across the street to hear her.

Cassidy drew two sellout crowds of 56,000 in one 1972 weekend at which venue?

The press coined 'Cassidymania'; in Australia two years later there were calls to have him deported.

Cassidy's manager Ruth Aarons had earlier been a champion in which sport?

She discovered he had signed his Screen Gems contract while underage and renegotiated it into a rare four-year deal.

Cassidy scored the first hit with which song later adopted as Barry Manilow's signature?

His version reached No. 11 in Britain, co-produced with the song's writer, Bruce Johnston of the Beach Boys.

Which pop star sang backing vocals on Cassidy's 1985 UK hit 'The Last Kiss'?

Michael called Cassidy a major influence and interviewed him for Ritz Newspaper.

In 1982, Cassidy took over the title role in which Broadway musical?

A year earlier he had been dropped from a Little Johnny Jones revival before it reached Broadway.

Cassidy competed on the fourth season of which reality show in 2011?

Four years later he filed for bankruptcy, having said he was already broke by the 1980s despite his earnings.

Dey's first film role was a passenger in which 1972 Charlton Heston hijack thriller?

She later starred opposite Albert Finney in Michael Crichton's Looker and spent six seasons on a hit legal drama.

At 1994's Spring Stampede in Chicago, Bonaduce wrestled which Brady Bunch actor?

Bonaduce won the dark match; he also beat Barry Williams by TKO in a charity boxing bout.

Which retired slugger fought Bonaduce to a majority draw in a 2009 charity bout?

Bonaduce, a Tang Soo Do black belt, had trained in Sacramento for the Philadelphia-area fight.

Bonaduce hosted a morning radio show on KZOK in which city from 2011 to 2023?

He signed off for good in December 2023 and moved to Palm Springs.

Bonaduce co-starred with Mark Hamill in which 1978 film about a stolen custom car?

It came out the year after Star Wars, with Hamill and Bonaduce as high schoolers hunting a stolen customised Stingray.

Bonaduce's early 1969 bit part as a boy with a runaway chimp came on which sitcom?

Two days later he had a bigger part on The Ghost & Mrs. Muir, in an episode written by his father.

What pun title did Dave Madden give his memoir?

Madden took Bonaduce into his home during the boy's family troubles, and quit smoking after an episode built around a no-smoking bet.

In a 2010 reunion interview, Suzanne Crough said she was managing what store in Arizona?

Before that she had owned a bookstore until 1993; her last screen credit was a 1980 TV movie.