CONTINUED...

GH: David seemed to grow tired of the role and his grueling schedule. What was his attitude like on the set?

BF: David was very professional. You could sense, maybe towards the end, that things weren't so great, but as soon as they said "action", he pretty much got into it. I remember whenever we did the tag at the end, it always ended with some cute little line. In rehearsals, or maybe even sometimes during filming if he was in a chair, he'd exaggerate a laugh and fall over backwards. Obviously sarcasm was heavy. It actually added to the humor for us. It made it funnier for us. Even I was getting to the point where I'd think, "How many cute lines can they come up with!?"

GH: Were you ready for it to end when it did?

BF: I thought of it as a job so I guess I would have kept going. I was getting bored of being stared at and pointed at and the whole "public" part of it. Plus, my friends were going on and joining Little League and doing the normal stuff that kids do and I think I wanted to get into that world a little bit. But other than that I would have been fine with it continuing.

GH: In the fourth season, producers added Ricky Segall to the cast, creating even less screen time for you and Suzanne. Was that a problem?

BF: No, I didn't have a problem with it. In fact in some ways it helped Suzanne and me because now we had this little sidekick and they ended up bringing us into the scenes a little bit more. Now we weren't the bottom kids on the totem pole. So it didn't really diminish our presence.

GH: Most viewers consider that addition of Ricky Segall to be when the series "jumped the shark" - or when the quality diminished.

BF: I knew the quality of the writing on the show was going down hill. Maybe I am saying this more as an adult looking back on it, but I think I knew as a kid. The writing wasn't as good and the plots were getting kind of stupid.

GH: How did you find out the show was cancelled?

BF: I donŐt really remember. But I know Danny made up his "The Partridge Family doesn't live here anymore" story. We knew it was coming to an end. We had a wrap party for the series and everything. Like I've said, I had done 21 commercials and all these other things, and knew that everything had a beginning and everything had an end. I was obviously more sad than usual because I had been with these people for a long time.

GH: Do you think the series was cancelled because of bad ratings or because David Cassidy decided to leave?

BF: I think we all knew that last year. The writing wasn't what it should have been, and then bringing in Ricky Segall as a last ditch effort to make it happen.

GH: Do you remember any efforts to continue the series with Rick Springfield after David quit?

BF: No. I never heard of anything like that. I remember thinking we were up against "All In The Family" and we were doomed. The feeling was the writing had gone downhill and the show was not what it used to be anyway. David's unhappiness was unknown to me. He was always so professional.

GH: Before the series ended, you voiced the role of Chris Partridge in two animated TV series: "Goober and the Ghost Chasers" and "The Partridge Family: 2200 A.D." What do you remember about that?

BF: Very little, actually. I mean, I remember doing it and going to Hanna-Barbera and doing some of that stuff. But it definitely wasn't the same. We were just in a studio doing voices. I remember somebody else did Shirley's voice. I have an animation cel of my character, but other than that I don't have anything.

GH: Some fans seem to think that because people are family on a series that they are still together, 30 years after cancellation. When was the last time you actually saw the cast members?

BF: We've done a lot of these reunion shows lately so sometimes you see them there. Not all at once because we may have filmed on different days. But I remember seeing Suzanne and Danny recently at one. I think the last time I saw David was in 1993 for the People Magazine photo shoot. After that photo shoot, I was doing an interview in San Francisco on the radio and David was coming into town the next week, so the producer got backstage passes. So we go to the show and I'm out in the audience with all these 40-something year old women waving their Partridge Family lunch pails and screaming for David. It was funny because little did they realize I was on the show too and I'm standing right next to them. Of course, I'm not David Cassidy. But then we go backstage and he ends his set, running backstage and I tapped him on the shoulder, and said "surprise!" He recognized me right away and asked if I was going to be there for a while, saying it "gets kind of crazy back here." So he goes back out on stage and does his encore, then comes running backstage, then out the door and into a limo and he was gone. He said it gets crazy back stage but there was nobody there but me and the producer and a couple of roadies. So, I went to a little party with the roadies thinking, "This is kind of weird." I was looking forward to talking to him and catching up, too.

GH: Have you kept in touch with anybody else?

BF: I talked to Dave Madden recently. I love Dave Madden. He was always one of my favorites. Funny and smart and all that. I have Shirley's phone number and talk to her every once in a while. Actually, a couple of years ago I was thinking about going back into the business. I talked to Marty [Ingels] for a while about it. The only person I have not talked to at all is Susan, who wants nothing to do with it.

GH: Why do you think that is?

BF: I don't know. I guess it's the same thing as David went through for a while. Perhaps she wants to be taken as a serious actress now. But every time I think of that, I think of Shirley Jones. Shirley has far more credibility and credits than they do, yet she's fine with it. She looks at is as another part of her acting career.

GH: Fortunately for the fans, David seems to have embraced his past.

BF: He seems to go in cycles. Some of the time he gets into it and other times he's not. I don't know if it's financial or what. My analogy is it's like the Beach Boys. The Beach Boys have probably played "Surfin' Safari" for a million times and they've got to be bored with it. But that is part of who they are. But the thing is, they'll also do modern stuff. So they play their obligatory "Surfin' Safari" and everybody has a great time, then they do their new stuff. So at times I wonder why David couldn't do that.

GH: Tell us about life after "The Partridge Family". What did you do when the show was over?

BF: I just wanted to go back to being normal. So I went off to my public junior high for the remainder of that year and just wanted to get far away from it and be normal again. I mean, I think I was pretty normal but I'm sure the people around me didn't. It's funny. I went to this public junior high that my Mom thought was really rough and tough and she thought I would get my ass kicked. So the first day, the leader of one gang comes up to me and says, "Hey man, my name is so-and-so and if you have any trouble you just come calling." You know, that kind of thing. I thought, "Hey, that's kind of cool." Then the next day, the leader of another gang come up to me and says the same thing! So I thought my Mom was totally wrong on that one!

GH: Did you ever try and act after that?

BF: A few years later I went and got some photos made up and went on a few auditions. I was actually up for a part on "Eight Is Enough" and some other show but nothing happened, so I let it go.

GH: Tell us the first thing that comes to mind when I mention the following people. Shirley Jones?

BF: Shirley was wonderful. She was very much a Mom to us. She was very sweet and very professional. I still love taking to her. Wonderful!

GH: David Cassidy.

BF: David was very much like an older brother. I remember at one point I wanted to take up singing and he gave me a few impromptu lessons. One year he gave out Christmas presents, and us kids got a bottle of Scotch! Obviously with his schedule, he had to have an assistant help him out. So, my Mom went over to him and asked, "Do you realize what you gave the kids for Christmas?" And I guess he thought for a second and went, "Oh No!" [Laughs] So I guess he went out personally and got us all gifts that were more appropriate and I got this nice swiss army knife, which was perfect for me! I had it for many years and finally lost it. David was a really good guy. I really did like him a lot.

GH: Susan Dey.

BF: You know, out of all of them I have the least memories of her. She was sweet and I liked working with her but once the cameras stopped rolling, there wasn't too much we had in common or to talk about. No doubt you've seen the outtake footage of when she poured the milk on Danny's head. Well I remember the devious look on her face when she did that! But off the set, I don't seem to remember too much.

GH: Danny Bonaduce.

BF: Danny and I were buds. The three kids hung out together, so the most time spent was with them. When I first heard about him being on the radio I though it was perfect! The talk show too. Unfortunately he hit on it when everybody and their brother was doing a talk show [in 1995]. I think he would have been perfect if not for the timing because he is so quick and spontaneous.

GH: Suzanne Crough.

BF: Suzanne is the one I was closest to professionally and otherwise. We were on the set together and in the same scenes. Undoubtedly you've heard about our crush - even though she denies it and I don't know why. I mean, we're talking 12-year old romance so it wasn't any big deal. But I remember she came up with this idea for a "junior marriage." So, we had a "junior marriage!" I used to pine for her. On Fridays I'd be all upset because I wasn't going to see her till Monday. So, I had a personal interest in Suzanne. Even today, Suzanne and I have worked together on a couple things to try and get ourselves a little PR. Did you hear about the Arsenio Hall Show?

GH: Not in detail, and we wanted to ask you about that.

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