15 Things Every Fan of ‘The Partridge Family’ Should Know

If you were a young TV watcher during the 1970s, you probably had a poster of Keith Partridge on your bedroom wall or a crush on Laurie. Maybe you admired Danny’s pluck, or wished you could play the tambourine alongside Tracy. You surely thought Shirley was the coolest mom ever, even if some of those outfits were a bit out there. The Partridge Family was one of the most popular programs on television between 1970 and 1974 (and beyond in syndication), and their fame spilled over to the music world as well. ABC struck gold with this show about a widowed working mother who forms a band with her five children, traveling from gig to gig in a trippy school bus. C’mon get happy and reminisce about your favorite musical sitcom with us, and learn a few things you never knew about The Partridge Family.

1. Shirley Jones turned down a role on The Brady Bunch

Before The Partridge Family, Shirley Jones was actually offered the role of Carol Brady on The Brady Bunch. “While the idea of playing the mother in The Brady Bunch was initially attractive to me, I turned it down because I didn’t want to be the mother taking the roast out of the oven and no doing much else. I had no doubts at all about playing Shirley Partridge. First, because she was destined to become the first working mother on TV and I loved the script. Second, because working on the series would let me be an almost full-time mom and raise my kids.”

2. Danny Bonaduce was always a bit of a troublemaker

Like his character, Danny Bonaduce, who played the wisecracking middle son Danny Partridge, was a bit of a wild child who would do things like throw food and have pillow fights. In Shirley Jone’s memoir she said, “We couldn’t deny that he was snotty at times. Once, when he was getting too big for his boots, we all ganged up on him and convinced Susan to pour a pitcher of milk over his head, just to put him in his place.” The actor later struggled with drug abuse, homelessness and multiple arrests but has continued to appear on television and radio throughout the years.

3. The success of the show led to divorce

Shirley Jones has said that the massive success of the show put a strain on her marriage to Jack Cassidy (who was David Cassidy’s dad in real life). “The stratospheric success of the show took its toll on my marriage to Jack. His overriding sense of inferiority in the face of my success drove him into the arms of other women even more often than before.”