The Cowsills

I just watched FAMILY BAND, the recent documentary on The Cowsills, the sixties pop family rock group best-remembered as the inspiration for TV's PARTRIDGE FAMILY. Back in the day, they were THE picture of wholesomeness for several years but, like most things if you look too close, that was an illusion. The kids' father turns out to have been the Big Bad--domineering, manipulative, violent and otherwise abusive. He ruined their lives and then their career, after he stole all the money they'd earned. He was an alcoholic and possibly bi-polar. The mother drank just to be able to put up with him. And everyone did exactly what he said...or else. That is, until they were old enough to say no. Then they were one by one ostracized from the act...and the family. So sad and tragic and yet the documentary ends on a positive note as the remaining siblings rebond with perhaps a better understanding of everything that happened along the way. I liked The Cowsills back then but it turns out what the public saw--as in in the 1968 TV special with Buddy Ebsen that I've linked to below--was as much fiction as The Partridge Family! But after watching FAMILY BAND...I find myself genuinely liking the REAL Cowsills as well!