The show centered on a widowed mom and her five kids who formed a touring pop band, with Shirley Jones as the steady parental figure and David Cassidy as the breakout teen star. The setup was simple, but the timing was right. Rock groups were dominating the radio, and TV networks were looking for anything that could pull younger viewers away from variety shows and reruns. Cassidy’s voice, paired with an early single (“I Think I Love You”), gave the series immediate music credibility. That single quickly climbed the charts, making The Partridge Family both a sitcom and a real-life pop act.
The Partridge Family: “I Think I Love You”
It wasn’t the first time TV tried to cross over into the record business, but this one hit the mark. Bell Records rolled out a full marketing plan, with albums, singles and magazine spreads. Cassidy, who had some acting experience and had grown up in a show business family, became the face of the franchise. His appeal carried the show well beyond the typical sitcom audience and turned him into one of the biggest teen idols of the early ’70s.
Shirley Jones brought stability to the cast, both on-screen and off. Already a major name thanks to her film and stage career, she grounded the series with a mix of professionalism and humor. Her real-life connection to Cassidy as a step-parent (she was married to his father, Jack Cassidy) gave their scenes a certain familiarity, even if the family dynamic on the show was completely fictional. Off camera, Cassidy was quick to say he was more interested in music than acting, but he saw The Partridge Family as a way to do both.
The music from the show walked the line between safe and stylish. Cassidy described it as “sophisticated blues rock,” though it leaned more toward polished pop with layered harmonies and studio production. The sound was light and melodic — enough to catch on with kids, but slick enough to land on mainstream radio. It had just enough edge to suggest something cool, without pushing into anything the network would find risky.
In early interviews, Cassidy didn’t shy away from talking about the gap between the show’s image and real life.
He said the scripts were better than most family comedies and that the tone was about fun, not messages. He was open about wanting more control over his music and being skeptical of the industry hype. But at the same time, he understood that the exposure was helping him build a career — and he was ready to make the most of it.
Below, we’ve collected vintage photos, cast bios and the original article that introduced The Partridge Family to audiences back in 1970. From the on-screen antics to the off-screen rise of David Cassidy as a major pop star, it’s a snapshot of how one quirky show found its place in TV history — and on the charts.
Meet the Partridge Family (1970)
The Atlanta Constitution (Atlanta, Georgia) September 27, 1970
Ever since Ricky Nelson made his singing debut and became a teenage idol on “The Ozzie and Harriet Show,” television producers have devised ways to capitalize on music vis-a-vis the family situation comedy, with some success.
Their latest innovation, “The Partridge Family,” premiered Friday on ABC, and may have the pizzaz to succeed where others have failed.
One reason is its youthful costar, David Cassidy — a bright, brimming actor-musician — who will carry the ball in the music department just as Ricky Nelson — now but a rerun memory — did in less sophisticated, bygone years.
The other reason is the show’s unorthodox theme: a family of youngsters ages 5-17 makes the big-time in rock ‘n’ roll, and, led by their mother — in real life, David’s stepmother, Shirley Jones — tour club dates as “The Partridge Family” aboard a psychedelic bus.
Like the popular Monkees’ TV show of a few years back — which borrowed heavily on the success of the Beatles’ Marx Brothers parody in the film “A Hard Day’s Night” — the Partridges will release several youth-oriented songs during the season.
Bell Records, a division of Columbia Pictures, has launched an expensive campaign to promote this music.
Stars in the cast
Already, their first release, “I Think I Love You,” has made headway on the market charts. And an album of Partridge music will be released shortly after the half-hour program’s debut.
No one can deny Miss Jones’ indefatigable talent. The Rodgers and Hammerstein sweetheart of the movie versions of “Oklahoma!” and “Carousel” has been awarded and rewarded for her many accomplishments in the theatrical arts — including an Oscar for her role as Lulu Baines in “Elmer Gantry.”
Her stepson, David — son of Broadway star Jack Cassidy — is not totally without references either. He commanded a co-starring role in the Alan Sherman Broadway musical, “The Fig Leaves Are Falling,” and has been seen on TV in “Ironside,” “The Survivors,” “Marcus Welby,” “Adam 12,” “FBI” and “Bonanza.”
“Partridge” producer Screen Gems feels he is destined to be the next teenage idol in the rock world.
At 20, the 5-foot-8, 130-pound star has been a prime target for teen and pre-teen magazine publishers in recent months.
Cassidy said the show is “a stepping stone” to help him in his music career, not in acting which he said is “just an experience.” A guitarist since he was 11 and a drummer of sorts, he said he has become “disillusioned” by Hollywood glamour.
“The image is not a good image,” he said in an interview. “Everyone wants to be a heavy, but there are no heavies.”
But he said he liked the new show because it is different, fresh and offers him the opportunity to play guitar and sing. “Whatever creative freedom I have, I’d like to take advantage of,” he said.
“A lot of family shows you see on television are very stale and not really funny,” Cassidy said. “Our scripts are not like that.”
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Cassidy said the show is not trying to convey a message. “It’s music and comedy first; it’s fun and good times,” he explained.
“People who want to see bad times — murders and violence, people dying and beating each other up — can see enough of that on the street.”
Neither does his music try to convey a message: “I’m not out to get it altogether for everyone else, just for me,” he said. “If people want to listen to what I’m saying, that’s okay; I’m not trying to preach anything or right anyone else’s wrongs. I’ll leave that to other people.”
The music, produced by Wed Farrell, is what Cassidy called “sophisticated blues rock” that “at times gets right down to it, right there, and at other times, it’s Mamas & Papas-type stuff with lots of harmony and flow.”
The Partridge Family & David Cassidy’s music
Influenced by blues and stars like Chicago, Jeff Beck, Rod Stewart and B. B. King. (albeit there admittedly is “little blues” in his music), Cassidy said the music of the “drug culture” is mostly nonsense, without messages.
“Bob Dylan was the one who had a lot to say. And the Beatles? What did they mean? That’s so ridiculous,” Cassidy said. “Who cares, man?”
“The Beatles are fantastic,” he said. “Their contribution to contemporary music is incredible; there’s no getting away from it.
“They did some really far-out things in a recording studio — utilizing what they had.
“But you don’t have to look into it. All you have to do is listen — there’s nothing to find — just listen to it,” he said.
But the drug messages of other artists? “I must say, music has never stimulated me by hearing anybody telling me about mushroom clouds,” Cassidy said.
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He’s outspoken on other issues as well. Like all concerned youth, he is touched by the war in Indochina.
“It’s not the politics to me, it’s the people,” he said. “It’s necessary (to end the war) because it’s more than a crime; it’s incredible to think that people can’t learn to live with one another because everybody just doesn’t think the same — and people just can’t cope with that.”
With 11 episodes of “The Partridge Family” filmed, one on location at Las Vegas, Cassidy said he feels the show will make it.
“The competition is stiff,” he said referring to “The Andy Griffith Show” and “The Name of the Game” in the same time slot.
“But the show is good enough that it can prevail over anything,” he said. “It really is.”
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The Partridge Family 1970 – 1974: Opening credits & closing theme song video
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