how popular

[hifijohn]

I always wanted to know how popular was the partridge family band suppose to be???when ever they play a gig it never seems to be more than a few dozen people in some club.I know the cost of hiring thousands of extras to play the part of concert goers is out of the question, but they just seem to be a fancy version of a bar band.

[Vito]

Originally Posted by hifijohn

they just seem to be a fancy version of a bar band.

I've always thought they were more like a "lounge act" than a bar band. A bar band would play music that gets the crowd going -- dancing, loud cheering, etc. None of the venues that the Partridges perform in look like a bar; they look more like the dining room of a nice hotel. The audience usually looks like a bunch of couples sitting around small restaurant tables. They politely clap before and after the song, and that's it.

I think "The Partridge Family" was a great sitcom, but I probably wouldn't have had a whole lot of fun at one of their TV concerts!

[Mr. Drucker]

It was all just a novely family entertainment project really,tv show,conerts and records all included.One interesting factoid here is that "I Think I Love You" was the top selling 45 of 1970,the year that "Let It Be" and "Bridge Over Troubled Water" were originally issued!Bottom line here is,just as with "The Monkees",various tv and music industry professionals took strong hold of the task at hand and in the process did what they had to do and made truck loads of freakin' money.......

[comedyfreak]

I read that the show was based on a real singing family.

[DJM77]

Originally Posted by comedyfreak

I read that the show was based on a real singing family.

Yes, it was based on the Cowsills.

[GrtGzu]

Originally Posted by DJM77

Yes, it was based on the Cowsills.

Yup, and didn't I read somewhere that one of them just passed away recently?

[um]

Originally Posted by GrtGzu

Yup, and didn't I read somewhere that one of them just passed away recently?

As of the date of your comment, you seem to be saying that one of the Cowsills died. But, only a few years later two cast members of the Partridge Family died almost simultaneously .

I did mention this before somewhere in this forum too, The Partridge Family was the only TV show (sitcom) ever that was like The Monkees (that I know of) in that a group of actors were portraying musicians and singers; In the Monkees, the entire cast ( Mickey, Mike, Peter and Davey) all had singing and/or music playing talent. In the Partridge Family, only 2 members actually had singing and music-playing talent, David Cassidy and Shirley Jones.

"The Monkees " was an attempt to re-create the movie "A Hard Day's Night" (which reportedly was said to have scenes that preceded music videos by some two decades). The Partridge Family was an attempt to make a fictitious musical family who were like The Cowsills.
The tambourine player in The Monkees was Davey Jones. The "tambourine player" in The Partridge Family was "Tracy" (Suzanne Crough).

The youngest cast members of both shows both died before older cast members and both portrayed the tambourine player.
Of course with Davey, he also played other instruments sometimes, and he sang lead in a lot of the songs.

(I think I recall a David Letterman show in which David Letterman jokingly
asked the audience to "Vote for the best tambourine player" by applauding for one of several tambourine players, and he mentioned "Betty" of "The Archies" and he mentioned "Tracy" of "The Partridge Family" and he mentioned Davey Jones of "The Monkees" and the one who got the most applause was Davey Jones of course).