I really got into the Partridge Family more than the Brady Bunch. The music was great, especially to an 8 year old. Had the Partridge Family lunchbox to take to school as well and the PF was cool in second grade so I didn't get hassled at all by my classmates. My mom would pack peanut butter sandwiches in it along with a banana or apple and an individually wrapped Twinkie. The thermos was filled with milk or chocolate milk.
I wasn't yet into girls at the time but Susan Partridge really appealed to me. I saw her as more of a mother figure than a romantic one. Susan would have been the perfect mother to me at that time. Shirley looked more like a grandmother!
The show didn't last too many years but around 1973, when I was about 11, I actually got up the nerve to pen a letter to Reuben Kincaid, the manager. Yes, in my naive little brain, I actually thought Partridge Family was an actual real life band and not just a TV creation with studio musicians doing most of the recordings.
In that letter, I mentioned that I had some drumming skills and in fact fancied myself a better drummer than Chris, and that I really wanted to join the band. I gave out my address and for the next few weeks, I fantasized about the psychedelic Partridge Family pulling up to my house and whisking me on board to become a member of the band. In which I could scheme practical jokes with Danny Partridge and have Susan, my fantasy mother, make me sandwiches and spank me when I was bad.
Instead, I ended up receiving a form letter as a response, with an invitation to join the Partridge Family fan club. As insult to injury, I also received a 8 x 10 glossy of Keith Partridge. Yuck. I handed the photo over to my sister, who was infatuated with Keith, and went on with my life a little more cynical. Just like the kid from "Christmas Story" who got a commercial message on his decoder ring.
I confess, I had a Partridge Family lunchbox, when I was in Kindergarten.
I remember disappointing form letters from fan clubs in response to sincere letters to shows.
"I went out to face the world again. Wiser."
Back in the early 1970s, Laurie (Susan Dey) was perhaps the most beautiful woman on the planet and the perfect mother for a young boy to have.
Ten years later, I would have wanted to marry the woman. But by then, it was too late. She had already married some guy named Lenny.
Can you imagine being a 8 or 9 year old boy and having this beautiful woman as your mom packing your lunchbox?
I hope my actual mom doesn't read this.
I always felt sorry for Jan(Eve Plumb), but she became such a bitter bitch in real life, that Wendy Williams, had to kick off her show
Hahaha!
What would your parents have said if the bus did come to collect you?
“Fine, boy, go! Don’t worry about school, we’ll cover for you. Don’t forget to write!”
I was pretty much a similar dumb kid.
That’s a great story, Sam. I love the part about you giving the pic of Keith to your sister and being more cynical.
That was so kind of you to give your sister the picture of David Cassidy. I had a picture of my heart throb Donny Osmond that I cut from Tiger Beat magazine and taped to my door. My evil brother spit on it and ruined it. My heart broke like it was knifed and I began to sob uncontrollably. Ooooh... The Osmond Brothers with their One Bad Apple, the first record I ever bought.