David Cassidy on the Web
Cassidy more than just a teen idol
Former pop star plays Casino Rama
March 3, 2011
By Jim Barber
www.thebarrieexaminer.com
There are still some critics out there who believe David Cassidy's career peaked 35 or so years ago, when he was the top teen idol, television star, concert draw and top magazine seller of a generation.
As the character Keith Partridge, the talented, dreamy eldest child of the prefabricated-for-television Partridge Family brood, Cassidy's image was among the most widely marketed, and thus, most widely seen in the early 1970s. He became an overnight sensation, a pop culture icon, and in the jargon of 21st-century marketing, a brand.
But unlike many of the teen idols to come before, during or since his tenure at the top of the pre-teen bandwagon, Cassidy managed to do a pretty decent job of shedding his image, and went on to have a remarkable career as an actor and stage performer, as well as a writer and producer.
Yes, there is still a significant segment of the population who only want to hear sing Come On Get Happy and I Think I Love You, and Cassidy is happy to oblige.
But folks who come out to see his show at Casino Rama, at 9 p.m., tomorrow, are going to see a polished performer, who has embraced his past -- all of his past -- as well as his present and someone who is, even at age 62, still looking for the next challenge.
"I haven't been there for three years, I believe. But I remember that Rama is a great place for an artist to play, because it has a fantastic feel," he said, from his home in Florida, where he lives with third wife, Sue Shiffrin.
Unlike many other acts from the 1970s, Cassidy has not been performing as a nostalgia act for the past few decades. He only got back to playing live concerts, featuring material from his entire career, a few years ago, because he was so busy with commitments in Las Vegas, on Broadway and in London's West End.
"I toured for a time in the U.S. with (the play) Blood Brothers, and I did four months at the Royal Alex in 1996, and the day after I closed there in Toronto, I flew out to Las Vegas and reworked and rewrote the production of EFX, and I did over 1,500 shows with that, and then I wrote, produced and directed The Rat Pack is Back, and then went over and did the show At The Copa for another year. So I was in Las Vegas alone for six years and did over 2,000 shows," he said.
Cassidy also release the odd single or album over the years, as well as making appearances on television and in movies -- some to great acclaim.
When he left The Partridge Family and the Keith Partridge/ David Cassidy phenomena around 1975, it was at its zenith. He left on top, and then went into a sort of self-imposed seclusion as he decided on how to proceed with his career.
"I said, 'OK, I have to stop, and I have to walk away from this for quite a long time and figure out exactly what I want to do, and then figure out a way to do it, because it ain't going to be easy,'" Cassidy said.
"People put a label on you, like a sex symbol, and then that's what he or she is. Anything else they may be or any other skills and talents they have, nobody wants to hear about that. It puts you in a tiny box, that is comfortable for other people, but not for the artist."
In 1978, Cassidy returned to television as a guest star on the popular hit drama, Police Story, and received an Emmy Award nomination for his breakthrough performance.
"I did three years of soul searching and working in theatre, in acting class, working doing what excited me and not competing with that image and that role and that character. And for that reason, so people thought I didn't appreciate it, or didn't like it. But I did it so people would see me as something more than that."
Yes, he's had his personal and professional ups and downs, but said he learned from his mistakes and missteps, and credited a work ethic he inherited from his late father, Jack, an actor, and also learned from his stepmother, Shirley Jones, a show business veteran who also happened to play his mother for five years on The Partridge Family.
"For me, it's always been about the work. And the advice I have given to many people who is that if you do good work, I don't care what it is, you're going to be successful. You may not be the CEO of a company or whatever, but you are going to be successful. If you care, and you follow good work as an artist, creatively, whether you are a writer, singer or an actor, you will be successful. If you are an actor on television, or films or the stage, all the rest of that comes: the money, the fame, the rewards of doing good work," Cassidy said.
The subject of another talented teen sensation came up during the conversation with the QMI Agency, as Cassidy considered the possible future of Stratford, Ontario's own Justin Bieber, arguably the David Cassidy of the 2010s, but a few years younger.
"We will see in three or four years where he is. It is tough, though, when you're 16. I happened to look really young, but I was 19 when we started The Partridge Family. It's tough because you are going to develop and mature as a normal human being usually does, but you will always be compared to yourself at 16, in some regard," he said.
"If I had a chance, I would say to him, follow your heart, and your instincts, because eventually all this goes away, and you have to decide what to so with your life. At 20 or 21, it's not going to be the world that is with you at this moment. You're new, you're young, you're handsome, you're exciting, you're all over the place doing everything. But that only happens for a while, and then someone else will come along. It's that kind of world, where everything is instantaneous, and it will chew you up and spit you out.
"I would tell him that if his intention is to do good work, he could have a life after all this hysteria," he added. "It is never going to be easy, and he is going to have to swallow a lot of pride and try not to compare himself, ever, to be 16."
Cassidy said when he left The Partridge Family, he moved back to his hometown of New York and began auditioning for parts like any young struggling actor. He said he went to more than 200 auditions before landing his first acting job on Broadway.
"I may have some wisdom about things, be it from my own personal or professional experiences, or probably both. I would love to talk to him, or anyone else like who who will be in a quandary as to what to do next."
Cassidy said he is enjoying touring, and tries to be as busy as he can on the concert stage, and said he is fortunate to be working with a great group of musicians as his backing band.
"We're a hardy group, and they are remarkable players, and incredibly talented. It's great because they have really become like my second family and are really great friends of mine. They are not just hired help," he said, adding that he and his band had an interesting experience the last time they played Casino Rama.
"I never told anybody this. We were coming back to the airport and they sent a car for us. And I am not crazy about limousines at all. I don't think they are safe to begin with. And there were five or six of us in one of those long stretched ones. And we are driving along the long icy road from Rama back to Toronto (most likely Highway 400) and we did a 360. No one was injured, but the car ran up against the side of the road, on some sort of embankment, and it was unable to continue," he said.
"So they had to send another car, and fortunately we were not far from the casino. I just remembered that, and hopefully this time it will go a lot smoother."
Cassidy said he gets up to Canada a couple of times a year to meet up with friends he has made through breeding and owning thoroughbreds, and times his visits to when his horses may be running at Woodbine, in Toronto.
And he said he wants to keep playing, keep exploring any and all opportunities, whether they be film, television or stage, for as long as he can.
For information on Cassidy, visit www.davidcassidy.com.
Tickets for his Friday, March 4 show are available at the Casino Rama box office, or through Ticketmaster.
