April 12

David Bruce Cassidy's Birthday

The infamous photo of teen idol David Cassidy by Annie Liebowitz on the cover of the May 11, 1972 issue of Rolling Stone was an attempt by David to change his teenybopper image on the hit TV show The Partridge Family. In his Rolling Stone interview, David tried to paint himself as a Keith Richards wannabe rather than the squeaky clean Keith Partridge. To prove the point, he allowed the inside Rolling Stone pix to show his pubic hair with the headline "Naked Lunchbox."

David claimed he hated the Partridge Family scripts and music, and unlike his Keith Partridge character, Cassidy had actually been raised in the 1960s, had been to Haight-Ashbury, and had smoked marijuana, and done mescaline, speed, LSD, and heroin. David was also upset that he received none of the lucrative cash flow generated by Partridge Family lunch pails and other merchandise. "I sold a half billion dollars in licensed merchandise in the '70s that's probably worth $10 billion now", Cassidy said in 2004. "I got $5,000 from that because production companies and studios owned my likeness."

He soon began touring solo, performing Partridge songs and other pop music before huge crowds of screaming teens, earning more from touring than from the TV show. By the time he was 21, he was the music world's highest-paid solo performer. By the time he was 24, The Partridge Family was over. After it's demise, David starred on Broadway in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and Blood Brothers alongside his half-brother, Shaun Cassidy.

After he began appearing in the The Partridge Family, there were rumors about his exceptional endowment. In his autobiography, C'Mon Get Happy...Fear & Loathing On The Partridge Family Bus, David reported that "Women began to ask me, after they met me, if the rumor about my dick was true: that I happened to have been rather well endowed, they told me. My penis became sort of legendary, in an underground sort of way. My brothers call me "Donk"-- as in Donkey. People have talked about me being 'blessed' in my physique," He reveals. And that's just the start. "The first time I met her she looked me up and down and said 'I hear you're a monster. I want to meet the monster.' Well, I decided that if I had it, there wasn't any point in just keeping it in the holster all the time." It's kind of cheating to brag about your OWN package, but hey..."

So to celebrate David's birthday, enjoy Partridge and Red Cabbage Casserole followed by a DVD of Instant Karma (1990) one of his few films.

Partridge and Red Cabbage Casserole
Ingredients
2 young partridges (1&1/2 - 1&3/4 lbs each) salt and freshly ground pepper to taste 12 slices of bacon cut into 2" pieces 3 cloves garlic, minced 2 medium onions, chopped fine 2 carrots, sliced very thin	1 small head of red cabbage, shredded 1 TB flour 1 cup dry white wine 1/2 cup brandy 1 bouquet garni 1/2 cup glace de viande*
* See Appendix A Instructions
Salt and pepper partridges and set aside. Cook bacon in a flameproof casserole dish over medium heat until golden, but not crisp. Remove bacon pieces. Brown partridge halves on both sides in bacon drippings over medium heat. Remove and set aside. Add garlic and onions to casserole and cook over medium heat until soft and translucent (about 2 - 3 minutes). Add carrots and cabbage and cook for 3 - 4 minutes until softened, stirring constantly. Add wine, glace de viande, and bacon pieces. Cook over low heat for 8 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. Place partridges over cabbage mixture. Add bouquet garni. Cover casserole and cook over low heat for 50 - 60 minutes. A few minutes before serving, remove partridges. Remove cooked vegetables, discard bouquet garni, and strain remaining liquid. Add brandy and cook rapidly over high heat until reduced by 50%. Adjust for salt and pepper. Split partridges in half. Mound bacon/vegetable mixture on plate. Place partridges over mixture. Top with sauce and serve. Serves 2
© 2011 Gordon Nary and Tyler Stokes