The Partridge Family Opening Theme Song. In the pilot episode this group of musical siblings convinces their mother to help them out by singing with them as they record a pop song in their garage. Through the efforts of the 10-year-old son Danny, they find a manager who helps make the song a Top-40 hit. After some more convincing, Mom finally agrees that the family can go on tour. They acquire an old school bus, paint it and depart to Las Vegas for their first live gig at Caesars Palace. Each subsequent episode features the band performing in various locations and types of venues. The shows would often contrast their suburban life with the adventures of a show-biz family "on the road". After the first season the show focused more on the "at home" themes and less on their touring. The series originally ran from September 25, 1970 until August 31, 1974 on the ABC television network, as part of the Friday night lineup following The Brady Bunch. It had a few subsequent runs in syndication. Created by Bernard Slade, the series was inspired by and loosely based on The Cowsills, a real pop music family famous in the late Sixties. In fact, in its early development, the Cowsill children were actually approached by the producers to be featured on The Partridge Family, though the children rejected the offer when they learned their real-life mother and band member Barbara would not be included in the cast. Shirley Jones had already been signed as mother Shirley Partridge and star of the show. The remaining Partridge children were played by David Cassidy (Jones' real-life stepson) as her eldest son Keith, Susan Dey as Laurie, Danny Bonaduce as Danny, Jeremy Gelbwaks as Chris and Suzanne Crough as Tracy. Dave Madden played Reuben Kincaid, who was their manager and family friend. After the first season, the dark-haired Gelbwaks was replaced by a blond actor, Brian Forster. It was reported by teen magazines in 1971 that this was because his family simply moved away.

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