The Partridge Family Episode #13
Hello! Welcome to my review of The Partridge Family Episode #13. This episode is called Star Quality and originally aired on December 18, 1970. This is another Danny Bonaduce based episode. This is only episode 13 of the series and five shows have already focused on Bonaduce. I wonder how that made the older cast members feel. I wonder if David Cassidy threw any tantrums early on because of Bonaduce getting more lines. Anyway, this episode is about Danny getting a big head and wanting to leave the family to become a solo star.
The show opens with The Partridges in performance. The females are wearing really funky looking hats. It was the first and last time the velour purple Donny Osmond hats were used on the show. They show Chris singing and banging away on his drums. Jeremy Gelbwaks was so adorable. They show Danny with his left hand going up and down the bass neck. Awesome fake bass playing there, Danny. Why is Tracy hitting the cowbell with a clave? Maybe she could hit it with a guiro or cabasa next time. The club they’re playing at is called Stage 7 and it’s a very chic private club in Hollywood. They took the gig for publicity. Sheila Faber, a very influential columnist is in the audience for the show. (FYI, Sheila Faber is played by Mitzi Hoag who was best known for playing Elsie Gillis on Here Comes the Brides.)
Danny’s Review & Fantasies
Sheila writes a glowing review in her column about the Partridge show she attended. She especially says nice words about Danny. She says he has personal magnetism, star quality, tousled hair, impish grin, and says how cute he is and stuff. Danny, of course, gets a big fat head and fantasizes in his dreams that night about being Mr. Big Dick.
Danny’s fantasies include Dick Clark, who Bonaduce later went on to star in a talk show with. That’s funny. In the dream, Dick Clark interviews the family about Danny leaving for a solo career. It then segues into a Danny (Frank) Sinatra theme, complete with the jacket over the shoulder, fedora hat, and lamp post. He says, “for my first number, I would like to grin at you”. It sounds like “I’ve Got You Under My Skin” in the background (but it’s not). The next dream sequence is of my favorite, Jeremy Gelbwaks. Danny gave him the Los Angeles Dodgers for his 8th birthday.
Danny calls Reuben in the middle of the night and tells him he’d better get on a plane and fly right out there. Where does Reuben live? Did they ever say? I thought he was local? He’s driven up in his car before. Mmm….. Reuben arrives the next day by taxi and is immediately taken up in the tree house by Danny. Danny tells Reuben that he’s decided to leave the family and go out as a single performer. Reuben looks uncomfortable in the tree house.
Auditions
Keith walks in the next morning while Shirley is making breakfast and complains about Reuben snoring. Why does David Cassidy already have wet spots under his arms if it was just morning? Why is he already sweating? At the breakfast table, they notice a bunch of people going into the garage. Shirley and Reuben go to check it out and find auditions happening for Danny’s replacement. First up was a clarinet kid who tap dances. Wow. He must have gotten beat up a lot on the playground.
The family decides to act like they don’t care at all that Danny is leaving the group. Danny is sitting at the kitchen table reading Variety when he hears some groovy music pouring out of the garage. Danny walks in to find Norman wailing away on guitar. The whole family is praising Norman. Keith talks about the groovy arrangements he’ll be able to do now that both of them are on guitar. Umm…..who’s going to play bass? Laurie’s left hand?
The group is going to play at Stage 7 again the next night and Danny is going to try out his act. What is his act? Shirley has a talk with Danny in his dressing room and gets him to admit that he’s not doing this for the money, but for the fame. Danny is depressed and wishing that lady had never written her column about him.
Danny’s Big Show
The show opens and Danny is introduced in his “first solo performance”. I still don’t know what he was planning on doing. He walks out, hems and haws, and then introduces his family. The curtain rises and there’s his family waiting for him with his bass that he doesn’t know how to play. They sing the ba dee dum ba dee dum song (Singing My Song) while Norman stands off stage and cheers them on. He looks a lot like Jeremy Gelbwaks. I wonder if Norman originally auditioned for the show for the role of one of the Partridge kids. Mmm…..
Sheila the journalist joins the family in the dressing room after the show and says she missed Danny’s opening act. How come they showed her there when they announced him? Blooper. It turns out that all this time she thought Chris was Danny. It was Chris who she thought had the impish grin, star quality, etc. Chris heads out to catch Mr. Kincaid to talk to him about something. Why does Chris say Kincaid differently? He put the accent on the first syllable. Anyway, Keith and Danny grab him before he gets to Mr. Kincaid. Danny tells Chris that being a star isn’t quite what it’s cracked up to be. Everyone laughs. Ha Ha. The end.
I hope you liked my review of The Partridge Family Episode #13. I also review Brady Bunch episodes as well…..because I have no life. I hope you’ll come back again soon.