The Pop Culture Addict presents... Television

May 15th, 2005

“HELLO? MR. KINKADE? THIS IS DANNY PARTRIDGE”: IN PRAISE OF AN OVERLOOKED CHILD STAR

I've spent a few nights this week visiting with one of my favourite television families. Last week, the first season of "The Partridge Family" was released on DVD, and being one of my favourite sitcoms of all time, it was a "must buy" set for my collection. Since it’s been nearly ten years since I last saw the mondo groovy 1970s sitcom, I was delighted to see how well it has held up, especially when comparing it to the first season of "The Brady Bunch", which I finished not long ago. In pretty much every way possible The Partridge Family was better. The jokes were more cutting edge, the mother was more realistic, the kids were far more cool and the scripts... well they had a lot more meat to them. There was no half hour drama about a Partridge kid getting hit in the face with a football (mind you, we did have to see a half hour drama about a skunk on the bus which, I guess, was just as bad). However the most surprising thing I rediscovered in this set was the talents of the true, often overlooked, star of the Partridge Family - as well as probably the greatest child actor of his generation - Danny Bonaduce.

"Is that a typo?" you might be asking. Did I say freckle-faced redhead Danny Bonaduce was the true star of The Partridge Family? Actually, you read that right. Bonaduce, in his role as ten year old Danny Partridge, was often overshadowed by his co-stars, but when re-watching those original episodes, it’s quite clear who the real star of the series is. Sure, Shirley Jones might have been the big name draw, Dave Madden was fresh off of the successful "Laugh In", David Cassidy was the teen idol legend who all the marketing was centered around, not to mention being "the voice" of The Partridge Family, and Susan Dey proved later on to be an accomplished actress and was definitely eye candy for the series. However, in the early days of The Partridge Family all four most often took a backseat as supporting characters to Danny Bonaduce. The series was more often than not centered around his money-making schemes. Even when the plots weren't Danny-centered, he was still getting the best lines and the most memorable moments.

Perhaps one of the reasons that Danny Bonaduce stands out is because of the uniqueness of the character that he was playing. In many ways Danny, Keith and Laurie were all written much more realistically than the sitcom kids in most series at that time (I'm leaving out Chris and Tracy because, well, there wasn't much writing or character to their parts except to hang around and look cute). Hell, the three of them are better written than the kids in most sitcoms today. However Danny Partridge was a bit more complex than the rest of his siblings. Obsessed with money and business, Danny was given lines that would have been more appropriate for a twenty year old in your average sitcom. Yet that was where the comedy lay - in ten year old Danny spouting out lines about money, sex and the world around him. However, while most sitcoms would have the child character not fully understand what he was really talking about, Danny Partridge was unique in that he knew exactly what he was talking about! In fact, often he would be even more aware of what was going on around him than his older brother Keith was. Danny's delivery of his lines was also classic. His tone of voice was always matter of fact; the character knew exactly what he was talking about and didn't have to convince you otherwise. His comic timing was genius not only in the way he delivered his lines but also his body language and facial expressions. No wonder the writers often gave Danny the best lines. However there was much more going on than just being a wisecracking know it all. Danny Partridge had this sort of honour where he felt that he had to take matters into his own hands and be the man of the family. Being in one of the original single parent families in television history (I think second to only Lucille Ball on "The Lucy Show", although Lucy didn't have children as young as Shirley Partridge) Danny was often worried that his mother worked too hard to keep the family going. In most cases his money-making schemes were only attempts to help his family out and make sure everything was taken care of. In fact, in the pilot episode, it was Danny who chased down Reuben Kinkade to sell the Partridges’ song and get them their first big break. Danny Partridge was taking the weight of the world on his shoulders and taking his family's problems very seriously. That was a lot more than what most child actors had to do on sitcoms, which was to be like Chris and Tracy and sit around and look cute.

Another of the great overlooked parts of the series was the brilliant character chemistry between Danny Bonaduce and Dave Madden in his role as Partridge Family manager Reuben Kinkade. These two just fit together and made the screen explode with classic moments. Danny was Reuben's eternal foil. The two would exchange wisecrack after wisecrack in mock rivalry. Although Reuben was no fool, somehow Danny could outwit him and pull him into his schemes, which made you question whether Reuben really disliked Danny as much as he often put on. I think the real beauty of the pair was the fact that they were the two comic geniuses of the series giving it their all together. Let’s face it: Shirley Jones, David Cassidy and Susan Dey just weren't that funny. It’s strange that the team of Danny Bonaduce and Dave Madden doesn't get the recognition that it deserves. They were a classic comedy pairing.

However if it was the brilliance of Danny's character that made the Partridge Family as great as it was, it was also the same factor that helped kill the show later on. The problem with child actors is that they grow up and eventually are no longer cute. While the smart mouthed know it all character was cute as a ten year old, the same attitude was not endearing coming from a thirteen year old. Witty Danny quickly turned into smart ass Danny. This was no fault of Danny himself nor of the writers, as the type of lines he was being given were just the same as what he had always been given. The problem was that now that he was older, the lines were no longer funny and the character was now nothing more than obnoxious. Perhaps the writers should have spent more time developing Keith, Laurie, and especially Chris and Tracy into more interesting characters and not relied so heavily on Danny to pull the show through. Perhaps that would have saved the series. With the original charm gone, the series quickly fell apart. It wasn't long before the velvet suits were put in storage and the psychedelic bus was permanently parked. The formula that created the show had now killed it and the Partridges were put into reruns.

The next few years for Danny Bonaduce would be full of falls. Battles with drugs and poverty and a much publicized arrest for assaulting a transvestite prostitute led Danny into the ranks of the "washed up former child actors gone bad" club. Yet once Danny pulled himself back together he was able to use these pitfalls as part of his new schtick in a successful attempt at reinventing himself and his career. Now working as a Los Angeles disc jockey, the now gravely voiced Danny is still rather prolific on television and in the media. Danny is much more realistic than most former child stars about their five minutes of fame, once saying, "Most child actors were lucky enough to get the part in the first place. They cry and complain that now they are no longer little and cute Hollywood has no use for them. What we often fail to appreciate is that being little and cute may have been their only skill. Now that we are not so little anymore, and certainly not cute, some of us may have to face reality, stop whining, and get real jobs." Furthermore, Bonaduce is everywhere. From making appearances on "A Baby Story" to beating the crap out of Barry "Greg Brady" Williams in a celebrity boxing match, Danny is constantly present to share his gravely voiced, smart mouthed point of view.

However time has tended to forget the brilliance that was young Danny Bonaduce. He'll always be remembered as a child star that ended up being washed up and went bad, but why isn't he remembered as the child star that had brilliant comic timing and found a successful career as an adult? Danny Bonaduce might not have been as cute as Buffy and Jody, but he was far wittier. He might not have been as endearing as Wally and the Beaver but he was far more intelligent. Perhaps he wasn't as powerful as Eddie Munster or Tabitha Stevens but he was far wiser. It’s about time that both Danny Partridge and Danny Bonaduce get recognized as an important part of pop culture history as well as a legend in our collective subconscious. Until then Danny Bonaduce remains one of the least recognized, unsung heroes in television history.