For those of you who are not old enough to remember the Partridge Family, it was a 30-minute situation comedy television show that played on Friday night on the ABC network from September 25, 2970 until March 23, 1974. It was initially on for four seasons, but reappeared in reruns for years afterwards. The show was about a musical family that travelled around and got into trouble which was the basis of the comedy. The show was loosely based on the Cowsill Family who were a real-life family who recorded from about 1967 until 1969. The Cowsills never hit number one, but the Partridge Family did their first time out.

The cast of the Partridge Family consisted of Shirley Jones who played a widowed mother of five kids. The kids were David Cassidy, Susan Dey, Danny Bonaduce, Suzanne Crough and Jeremy Gelbwaks. There was always music in the show. It was a good thing that Shirley Jones could sing as could David Cassidy. The rest of the family didn’t really sing, they just went through the motions. On the actual record of “I Think I Love You” which was introduced on the show, the only two people actually singing are Shirley Jones and David Cassidy.

“I Think I Love You” was written by Tony Romeo in 1970 just for the show. David sings lead on the song with Shirley singing backup. It’s interesting to note that David Cassidy was Shirley Jones’ stepson in real life. David was born April 12, 1950 in New York City. His father was actor Jack Cassidy and his mother was Evelyn Ward. They eventually divorced and David went to live with his mother. His father Jack Cassidy then married Shirley Jones, but she didn’t really get to know David until they were both brought together to act in the television show. David was an adult by that time.

So, the role in the sitcom of mother and son was not that far from the truth. As they say, “Life imitates art.” David Cassidy died in 2017 at the age of 67. Shirley Jones, as far as I can tell is still alive and is 84 today.

“I Think I Love You” debuted on the pop charts on October 31, 1970. By November 21, it was number one where it stayed for three weeks. It was, unfortunately, the only number one the Partridge Family ever had. David Cassidy hit the Top 40 a few times in the Seventies as a solo act, but never made it to number one. Shirley and Jack Cassidy had a son together, Shaun Cassidy, who did hit number one in 1977 with the old Crystals song, “Da Doo Ron Ron.” We’ll talk about that when we get to 1977. It’s important to note, however, that Shaun and Shirley are the only mother and son to both have number ones in the history of the charts.

This is a terrible video, but I picked it because I think it’s a clip from the actual episode when the song was played: