The Partridge Family Episode #3
Baby I love you
Oh baby I love you
Baby I love love love I love you
Baby I love you
Baby I love you
Baby I love love I love you
Welcome to my far out third review of The Partridge Family. This episode originally aired on October 9, 1970 and is called “Whatever Happened to The Old Songs?” This episode is about Shirley’s parents, played by Ray Bolger and Rosemary DeCamp, coming to visit. Her dad wants to be a cool and hip younger person, but mom is more level headed. Dad tries to join the music group and feelings are hurt but of course there’s a happy ending.
The scene opens with the youngest kids running into the kitchen. They’re talking about how Chris tore out the seat of his pants. Jeremy Gelbwaks says his line and then sticks his tongue out at either Susan Dey or Suzanne Crough. I don’t think that was written, but it’s very cute and probably very much like the person Jeremy Gelbwaks was as a little boy.
Grandma and Grandpa pull up in a groovy yellow corvette. Grandpa is played by the same actor who played the scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz. You could knit a blanket out of his sideburns. What’s up with that?
The next scene shows Grandpa walking in to the band’s rehearsal toting a mandolin. He joins them for their canned rendition of “Baby I Love You”. Tracy looks confused. Shirley looks incredible. Grandma looks on and has somewhat of a cold hard look about her and is most likely thinking, “God, my husband is an ass”.
Sitting on the porch talking to Danny, Grandpa sounds and looks like his scarecrow part in The Wizard of Oz. In the next scene, he catches up with the family bus on the road by catching a ride in the back of an El Camino. When he jumps out, he looks just like the scarecrow coming down off his post.
Observations
- Why do the kids share seats on the bus? There was certainly enough for them to have their own seat.
- Their outfits during the first season were awesome. I had one just like it. I wore it for my 3rd grade picture.
- When Grandpa is auditioning for the family and Reuben, where’s Chris? Surely Shirley (I’m funny) wouldn’t leave him alone in a hotel room. Where was he? I’m guessing Jeremy Gelbwaks was being a bad boy and was written out of the scene.
- Why was Chris’ voice overdubbed in the scene with Grandma and Grandpa in the dressing room?
- Okay, so Chris explains he wasn’t at Grandpa’s audition because he was watching the Dodger’s game on TV. But who was watching him? I love the Dodgers too (probably because of my early crush on Jeremy Gelbwaks). My favorite player is Corey Seager. Maybe next season they can find a cup that fits him.
- How do they fade their songs out on stage? That’s a neat little trick.
- Bolger needs a lesson from Tracy on how to fake play. There are scenes when he’s singing Bye Bye Blackbird (which is a very cool song – check out the Miles Davis version), where you can clearly hear the mandolin but he’s just holding it and not doing anything. They shouldn’t have shown any close ups with the mandolin because he did a very poor job of faking it.
- Why are there two drum tracks happening during the last few seconds of Baby I Love You?
Grandma and Grandpa make up and prepare for a trip around the world. They burn rubber as they’re driving away in their yellow corvette with Grandma at the wheel. Rock on, Grandma! Please check back in a few weeks for another review of The Partridge Family. I also review The Brady Bunch episodes if you want to check those out as well. See you soon!