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Welcome to my 11th review of The Partridge Family. This episode is titled “This is My Song” and originally aired on December 4, 1970. It’s about when Keith can’t come up with any new songs. He’s going through a dry spell. He’s all panicked and stuff because the group has to record a live album in two weeks. Talk about pressure! Poor Keith. Anyway, Danny tries to help out by writing songs. Yeah, right. Danny’s songwriting skills consist of copying. He first comes up with Born Free and Moulin Rouge before copying Keith’s song. Once again, the episode features the awesome Danny Bonaduce. BTW, this is one of the few episodes not to have any guest stars.

The show opens with Reuben on the sofa snoring very loudly. Why is he there? Shirley is reading on the sofa next to him and scratching the family dog, Simone. (He disappeared after the first season.) Laurie and Danny are watching TV (Moulin Rouge). Keith walks in with his shaggy doo and Reuben (who is now awake thanks to Danny) jumps on him about a new song. They have a live record date in ten days and Keith is supposed to write a song. Since Keith is going through a dry spell, Danny decides to help by “knocking out a couple of songs”. Is that anything like knocking out a transvestite?

Danny has thought of a great new song. He calls Reuben over (and away from his date with Bonnie Kleinschmidt) and asks Laurie to write the song down while he sings it to her. Reuben and Laurie realize that what Danny is humming is the song from the movie they watched last night (Moulin Rouge). Susan Dey actually sings in this scene and sounds great. I wonder why she never made an album. If Danny Bonaduce can put out an album….. I’m just saying.

Danny comes into Shirley’s bedroom to whistle his newest song for her. It turns out to be Born Free. Why he so stupid?

Keith finally has an idea for a new song and excitedly rushes into his room to work on it. The rest of the house is asleep except for Shirley who tells him not to stay up too late. Keith continues to pound out his new song on the guitar all the while Danny is in the next room taking it all in. The walls are apparently very thin and Danny is able to steal Keith’s song, but Danny doesn’t know it’s Keith’s song. He’s asleep! He’s learning Keith’s song by osmosis.

Cut to the next morning while Danny is singing “his” new song to Laurie, Shirley, and Reuben. They compliment him and tell him how great he is. Keith comes running in from a morning jog looking like a cartoon character. When he hears Danny’s new song, he starts freaking out. He says it’s his song that he wrote last night. Nobody believes him because he sucks.

Shirley and Keith are in his room and realize how paper thin the walls are when they hear Danny and Chris laughing. Keith purposely writes a piece of crap song to see if Danny will steal it again.

Danny comes down to breakfast the next morning and is depressed because he wrote another song last night but it’s garbage. Keith plays the POS song on the guitar and Danny accuses him of even stealing his poo. Everyone laughs.

Cut to the live concert. Shirley is trying to make Danny feel better by telling him he made Keith’s song better. Uh huh. Keith introduces the song as a collaborative effort between himself and Danny. They sing the song, but it’s not David Cassidy’s voice. I guess this song was recorded with the pros before they knew David could sing. But wait! There’s about two lines in the bridge where Cassidy is singing. What the hell? Odd. Did they think nobody would notice?

Did Tracy have a speaking line at all in this show? The song they sang was a bossa nova with some syncopation (off the beat rhythms). Tracy nailed her part a couple times on the cowbell. I was impressed.

The tag of the show is Danny wanting to bring back the bunny hop. He thinks it would be nice if they all hopped off stage after the concert. Danny, why you so stupid?

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I think Susan Dey is beautiful. I never gave her a thought when I was a kid watching The Partridge Family. I was busy drooling over Jeremy Gelbwaks (Chris Partridge) and learning all of their groovy songs. Now that I’m an adult, I see that Susan Dey was a really beautiful girl.

Susan Dey was born Susan Hallock Smith on December 10, 1952 in Illinois. She was 17 when she got the job of Laurie Partridge on The Partridge Family. She was discovered modeling in New York when she was offered the job. During the filming of the pilot and some of the early episodes, she had to live with a guardian until she turned 18 (December 1970). She had no acting experience at all when she started on The Partridge Family.

In addition to Laurie Partridge, Susan Dey is also well known for her role as Grace Van Owen on the drama series L.A. Law. Her second big hit of her career ran from 1986 to 1992. She won a Golden Globe for her role and was nominated for numerous other awards.

Susan was not part of The Partridge Family reunion on The Today Show earlier this year. I think Danny Bonaduce made some smart ass comment but David Cassidy seemed sincere when he spoke into the camera and said he loved her. She had always kind of stayed out of the limelight. I can’t recall her ever being in trouble or in any kind of scandal. It’s odd that nobody seemed to know the reason why she didn’t do the reunion. Maybe she just didn’t want to.

Susan Dey was a beautiful young girl and went on to become a classy actress. She stayed out of trouble and kept her nose clean. Her last acting credit was in 2004 and she seems to have just disappeared since then. Maybe she’s off enjoying life with her husband. I find it VERY impressive that she had a successful acting career beginning at a young age and was able to leave Hollywood with no scandals or issues that plague so many of the child actors. I wish her the best and hope she’s happy in her life.

Check out my website at www.ztams.com for over 16,000 pinups and magazines. I have a lot on Susan Dey and all of The Partridge Family. Join me on Facebook where I post a fact once or twice a day about a celebrity and include a pinup. It’s cool. Join me on Twitter where I talk about the celebrities on my mind. You should join and tell your friends. I’ll be back with another blog in three days. Woo Hoo!

Hello! What a beautiful day it is today! Thank you for joining me here with my blog about The Partridge Family episode #10. This episode is about when the family plays a concert at a jail and they end up having to stay there overnight. This is entitled Go Directly To Jail and originally aired on November 27, 1970.

The opening scene is of Shirley driving the bus on the way to the gig. Reuben is sitting there in the front seat talking to her. I mentioned in an earlier blog that I didn’t think Reuben rode the bus that often. Mmmm…..maybe I’m wrong. It has happened before. Once.

Chris is pretending he has a gun and is shooting it at Tracy. Shirley tells him to never shoot his finger at anyone. Jeremy Gelbwaks is so cute in this scene. I wish he could have stayed on as Chris Partridge after the first season. I guess Chris is shooting guns because he’s thinking about their upcoming concert at a prison. Awesome. Maybe he can do a little arson too. Then he can rob someone. Then he can beat up a transvestite. Oh, wait. Never mind.

The family arrives at the prison and gets ready for their concert. After performing “Singing My Song”, Shirley talks to the inmates. She talks about how they’re a captive audience. So funny. Not. She then says “in some real way, we’re all prisoners”. WTF? Is she serious? The prisoners should have attacked her at that point. Stupid line.

BTW, Chris’ drumming drives me crazy. He’s holding the sticks way far back and they have him sitting on a milking stool. Where is his drum throne? Why is the hi-hat so far away from him?

After Shirley’s lame comment, they sing “Only a Moment Ago” which I love. The lyrics are pretty cool and gain more meaning as I get older. I think it’s rare that the family sing two songs back to back like this in an episode. I like.

Inmate Hank Buford set the whole gig up so that he could get the family to listen to his songs. When Reuben won’t allow him to talk to the family, he pretends that his buddy was exposed to some stuff and now everyone needs to be quarantined. Silly plot that’s not realistic, but what are you going to do? Hank’s buddy (the one who was allegedly exposed to the disease) has the thermometer in his mouth and right after that Reuben has it in his. Gross. Did they not sterilize stuff back then?

There’s not enough room for the family as far as sleeping arrangements go, so Keith, Danny, and Reuben end up in a jail cell. They start talking to the inmates in the cell across from them. How come they don’t know they’re The Partridge Family? Didn’t they just see the concert? Anyhoo, Reuben is all uptight while Keith and Danny are relaxed. Reuben is pretty darn funny.

Keith plays through one of the songs the Hank handed him and everyone loves it. Everyone, that is, except for gigantic Max who actually wrote the song.

Reuben finds a threatening note in his pancakes the next morning from Max. When Max confronts Shirley and tells her those are his songs, she is very surprised since they’re tender love songs. To help find out who really wrote the songs, Shirley suggests putting Hank and Max alone in a room for a few hours to see who writes a song. Max comes up with kind of a lame song but says it’s because he was pressured. Hank writes down an already published song that he thinks Shirley hasn’t heard before. She catches him in the lie and everyone realizes that big tough Max wrote the sappy crappy love songs.

I didn’t love this episode but it was okay. I thought the stand out star of this episode was Reuben (Dave Madden). He was pretty funny. I love any scenes with him and Danny Bonaduce. Those two are great together.

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Welcome to my review of The Partridge Family episode #9. This episode is about Danny thinking he’s funny when he’s not. Hey, kind of like real life for Bonaduce. Kidding! This episode is entitled “Did You Hear the One about Danny Partridge” and originally aired on November 20, 1970.

The show opens up with the band in concert. I love their blue outfits! What is Laurie doing with her right hand? She fake plays almost as bad as Chris and Tracy. Is she aware the chord needs to change in her left hand? The band is singing Somebody Wants To Love You which was the B side to the I Think I Love You 45 rpm. I Think I Love You, coincidentally, hit number 1 on the Billboard charts the week this episode aired.

Danny gets tangled up in his cords during the closing song and freaks out. Never panic on stage, Danny! When trying to get his foot out of the tangle, I guess he unplugged his amp. When Shirley announces her family to the audience, Danny is missing. He’s in back of the amp trying to plug stuff in which really makes no sense since the concert is over. Danny comes out from behind the amp after Shirley announces the band and says “I can’t find my thing”. FYI, I think Bonaduce may still be looking for his thing. Anyway, everyone laughs at lame Danny Partridge. He gets embarrassed and hides out in the bathroom. He throws a lovely pity party while in there. Reuben is able to talk Danny out of the bathroom by telling him how hilarious he is and how he wants to add the comedy bit to the show.

Danny then goes to see Ziggy Shnurr (Morey Amsterdam) to buy jokes. He brings his lunchbox full of pennies (his life savings of $21.47) to buy jokes. Ziggy is a loser and sells Danny lame and stupid jokes.

At the show the next night, Danny tells his dumb jokes. The audience laughs, but they’re laughing at his lameness. Shirley has to bitch slap him to get him off stage. Even then, he keeps coming back. That in itself is funny and the audience laughs. Danny thinks he’s a success.

After the show, they cut to a scene of the family driving in the bus. Reuben and Shirley are talking while Reuben is driving the bus. I think that’s rare. He seemed to arrive at the venues on his own most of the time. I wonder why Reuben and Shirley never hooked up. They’re kind of cute together.

When Danny skips band practice the next day to rehearse his jokes, Shirley and Reuben concoct a plan to have a pro listen to Danny’s routine. Danny goes to see Max Pepper (Jackie Coogan) who tells him he sucks ass. Danny realizes he sucks and thanks his mom for not being a bitch to him. He was happy to figure stuff out on his own and learn his own lesson instead of being protected by the Shaun Cassidy look-a-like.

The tag is Danny and Shirley going to see Ziggy to take advantage of his money back guarantee. Ziggy tries to sell him other stuff and they end up walking out before they get their money back. The end.

This wasn’t one of my favorite episodes but I am impressed with the work that 10 year old Danny Bonaduce did. He had tons of dialogue and was spot on. The writers and producers must have realized early on that Bonaduce had great comedic chops. He owned many of the episodes. David Cassidy wasn’t a big part of this episode at all. I wonder how that made him feel. Oh well.

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Please enjoy my review of The Partridge Family episode number eight. This episode originally aired on November 13, 1970 and is called “But the Memory Lingers On”. It’s about the Partridge Family smelling. Awesome.

The show opens with the song I Think I Love You which hit number one on the charts two days after this show originally aired. The Partridges have a rare day off and are having a lovely picnic. Tracy is picking flowers, Danny and Chris are running, and the rest of the clan are pretending to listen to music on the stereo they have on the table. There’s no electricity nearby and it wasn’t battery operated. Nice prop.

While the Partridges are picnicking, the family dog Simone (who looks a lot like the Brady Bunch‘s Tiger) finds a playmate in Pepe Lapue. Simone chases the skunk around and then it ends up getting on the bus. Oh no! If you look closely, the poor skunk didn’t voluntarily get on the bus. It was pulled up by wires. Animal cruelty! The Partridges all board the bus. Laurie picks up Simone, who I’m sure weighs more than her, and is the last to board the bus.

Laurie is the first to notice the skunk as they’re driving away from the park. Shirley slams on the brakes and the skunk literally gets kicked off the bus. More animal cruelty!

Shirley asks if everyone is okay. Tracy asks what the funny smell is and Danny says “Don’t look at me”. Funny. My husband actually likes the smell of skunk.

The family tries to cover up the smell of skunk with perfume. Smort. They decide to rent a crappy hotel room just so they can take a bath and smell nicer when they arrive at their elegant snobby hotel. When they arrive at the crappy hotel, Shirley does the most awesome parking job with the bus. Not. She then decides to call the crapbag hotel from a phone outside instead of going inside the lobby. She thought that would be better because of the smell. How considerate of Shirley! When the hotel clerk looks outside, he’s terrified to see a group of robbers! The Partridges had put handkerchiefs over their noses to help avoid the smell of the skunky bus but end up looking like hoodlums. Oh no! The gay hotel clerk calls the cops who arrive in seconds to harass the poor Partridge kids. Shirley gets her big dick on and protects her children by saying they did nothing wrong. The cops ask why they were wearing “holdup masks”. Funny. The crapbag hotel didn’t even let them rent a room. Lame.

The Partridges arrive at the snooty high class hotel still smelling like skunk. They walk through the lobby while all the rich snobs give them dirty looks. Shirley is trying to explain to the hotel clerk that they’ve had a very unfortunate accident. When he becomes confused, Danny yells out “We don’t smell very good!” There’s a message from Reuben stating that he booked a benefit concert at a children’s hospital that night.

They walk into their hotel suite and Shirley immediately tells the kids which bathrooms to use. How did she know where the bathrooms were? Had they stayed at this hotel before?

They all take a shower and are sitting in the front room in towels when Reuben arrives. (FYI, David Cassidy looks pretty yummy in only a towel.) Reuben walks in and smells the skunk. The Partridges are devastated because they scrubbed so hard they almost scrubbed their skin off and they STILL smell. Reuben remembers that there’s something in tomato juice that kills the smell, so he orders 40 large cans of tomato juice from room service. That would make a lot of bloody mary’s. Yum.

The family get their bodies clean but then realize they have nothing to wear since their clothes are contaminated with the skunk smell. Reuben and Danny troll around the hotel looking for clothes. This is comical for many reasons, but especially because Danny is wearing Reuben’s suit. They round up enough clothes for the whole family. Shirley looks absolutely gorgeous in the prostitute outfit. Chris looks adorable in the bellhop uniform. Laurie is cute in her marching band uniform.

The family gets in a cab while Reuben plans to drive the smelly bus with the equipment. The family has been clean for a few minutes and are about to leave for the gig when a cute boy puts Simone in the cab. Oops. The boy saw Simone on the bus and said he looked lonely. You shouldn’t leave animals locked up in cars, peoples. Yay to the boy for rescuing him. He had a bad cold so he wasn’t aware that Simone smelled like skunk. So, the family is once again polluted.

The Partridges end up performing the benefit concert in a sterile operating room while the kids look on behind glass from above. That reminds me of the Seinfeld episode where Kramer drops a Junior Mint inside someone that was being operated on. Anyway, the Partridges perform “A Brand New Me”. I like the individual scenes of the family while the sax and brass line is happening. (Where are the sax, trumpet, and trombone players? Is Reuben playing from off in the corner?) Danny looks happy and adorable with his big mouth open singing. Tracy looks all retarded. Does she not know to hit the tambourine on the beat? She’s just kind of whacking it here and there. Shirley is beautiful as always. There’s a really cute profile shot of Chris. A lot of drum action is happening while they show him but he’s just kind of sitting there. Oops. But he looks just adorable.

The show ends with the family on the elevator heading up to their hotel suite. They hold the door for Reuben who comes running up. He’s been in the bus and now smells. Everyone vacates the elevator and Reuben leaves us with some crack about being abandoned. The end.

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