My main reaction is sadness. I got really wrapped up in this memoir but felt really...sad after I read it. David Cassidy did not enjoy fame. He was miserable. He had deep-seated trust and insecurity issues relating to shoddy treatment by father Jack Cassidy (a real piece of work just in this narrative alone) and never recovered, succumbing to his demons and dying at 67 without ever finding contentment.
Here are some things you don't get in this book: Any mention of daughter Katie (They apparently reconciled just before his death, but in this 1994 book, she is nowhere to be found even though she was about 10 at that point). You also won't get details on The Partridge Family as a TV show. David talks a little bit about the cast members (Very little about all other than Shirley, Danny, and Susan) and the general production, but his real focus is on his musical career. The show made it all happen, but you don't get notes on specific episodes or anything like that here or info about which directors he favored. Don't come looking for anecdotes about sharing scenes with Richard Pryor, for example.
He was ambivalent at best about the series,
which we discussed this season, for many years, but I don't think he is deliberate in snubbing it here. He just saw it as a job. I do believe he was genuine in embracing the series years later and appreciating the love the fans had for it. I just don't think he had all that much to say about it.
Another odd omission is his 1978 NBC series David Cassidy: Man Undercover. OK, that one didn't set the world on fire, but it's strange that the text sets up an explanation and then walks away. Cassidy writes about unretiring from acting, appearing in an acclaimed Police Story episode, and Screen Gems pondering whether or not to take a chance on him with an actual series. And then--nothing! He goes back into talking about finances and his second marriage to actress Kay Lenz. it's like someone came in and just plucked multiple paragraphs right out of the text. I haven't seen anyone else comment on this.
Here is what you do get in the book: Details about his business arrangements and the money he made and was screwed out of. You read about the insane touring schedule. You get a bit about his attempts to guide the musical direction of his career.
He seems honest about early drug use (not so revealing about later substance issues, maybe) and his romantic life. I had no idea that Meredith Baxter was the one that got away.
Some of the stuff he dives into is tremendous. There is a lot about the fan magazines, specifically those spearheaded by publisher Chuck Laufer, who had an empire based on exploitation of teen stardom. Laufer was very calculating, and Cassidy relates a conversation they had about Cassidy's inevitable decline--while Cassidy was still at his peak.
Cassidy's negative attitude about his fame is understandable and does not come off as whiny to me. He was unable to live a normal life due to the fan obsessions, and he wasn't able to enjoy the experience--not just because of the logistics, but because so much of it was out of his artistic control. He grew up as a rock and blues hippie but was molded into a pop idol, and he never felt right in the role. He does seem to have enjoyed performing, though.
The book really rushes after Cassidy leaves the show and retires from acting. He was a huge success overseas and continued to make music, but much of the rest of his life gets short shrift. There's a passing mention of his 1990 comeback hit, "Lyin' to Myself." I would have loved to read more about that. The man got MTV airplay, for crying out loud. Yet the 15 years or so before this book's publication are a blur.
On the podcast, we expressed our confusion about what happened between him and Susan Dey. Years after this book was released, it was said that Dey was irritated by the account of their relationship. However, even in the book itself--maybe it was edited later--Cassidy says he will always treasure her but has no idea why she wants nothing to do with him now. This is after he talks about a massive crush she had on him and how he had been clueless.
He had treated her as a sister, or maybe more like a pal, telling her all about his life and exploits, never catching on about her feelings until Shirley Jones (who he really seems to admire) clued him in on it. David and Susan had an awkward encounter in which she confessed her love, he didn't feel the same but was afraid to turn her away and hurt her, and nobody ended up happy.
No one gets happy in this book except maybe the Screen Gems executives who made tons of money in the Seventies. It's a sad read. Cassidy does not get into all the details of his decline, but he seems honest enough about his issues that you don't have reason to doubt his accounts. He doesn't seem to have a ton of anger at specific individuals, though he doesn't have great feelings for Don Johnson and Elliot Mintz (!), and he even still seems to care for his dad. Overall, though, it was a rocky life up till 1994.
If you can handle the sadness and even bitterness, then you will be enthralled by his story.
(Apparently, Could It Be Forever?, another Cassidy memoir, is a "sanitized" version of this book. Despite the later publication date, it doesn't seem to be worth getting, but I am not certain of the differences.)
