I’m a firm believer that inspiration can come from anywhere or anyone regardless of age, gender, race or culture. That being said, when you are a kid and you see another kid do something special, it can trigger a lifelong passion or fan the flames of a passion that was already there.
For those from my era (born in the 60’s), our childhood had the 70’s TV shows that not only entertained us but also planted musical seeds. There was one family TV show that was saturated with music: The Partridge Family. This iconic TV show loosely based on the Cowsills, only lasted four seasons and none of the children could sing or play instruments, but that didn’t stop the influence on young musicians. The drummer for the band was Chris Partridge who was played by two actors: Jeremy Gelbwaks who was in the first season and Brian Forster who was there for the last three seasons.
Now what got me here was my habit of always being on the lookout for drums, especially the stencils, and there were several drum sets that were used on the show, each season this poor struggling family found a way to get a different drum kit. Beginning in the pilot episode there was a 4-piece blue sparkle Ludwig and an orange sparkle mystery kit (played by an actual kid drummer Debra Pearce). For the rest of season one there was a 60’s red sparkle Slingerland 5-piece kit. Nice bunch of American made drums to start out with.
With a new season came a new Chris and a new kit that would be used for all of season two and part of season three: the light blue 4-piece Ludwig. Brian Forster actually took drum lessons and was coached for the musical numbers and therefore was seen much more on-screen during band performances. (I personally think he was the best musical actor of the bunch.)
Season three was where the stencil drums made their first appearance. For some unknown reason midway through season came another kit, a brand new Majestic De-Luxe 5-piece in white marine pearl. For those who don’t know the Majestic De-Luxe brand is one of the very few stencil brands that Star used the alternating lug pattern with the Slingerland style lugs. For most, the stencils are where you start, but for Chris he had to work his way up to them!
For season four yet a new drum set makes an appearance, a stencil branded Astro made by Star. This one was in blue sparkle, and they went back to the 4-piece setup. The cymbal looks brand new so most likely a Japanese made one that came with the kit. This last season began shooting in 1973, which was also the last full year of Star drums before they left the stencil market and became Tama in 74.
Just for kicks I found this Partridge Family promo picture with a Rogers set with a flower wrap. The set was never used on the show and was likely shot before the first season started.
If anyone wants to be snooty about the music on the show, just let them know that Hal Blaine was the real drummer and the rest of the Wrecking Crew were behind the music as well as many great songwriters.
Fun fact: after the fourth season David Cassidy was moving on with his career, so they were going to replace him with the future TV/rockstar Rick Springfield! Rick turned it down and season five was scrapped.
Chris Partridge was someone’s hero, I’m sure!
Come On Get Happy!