Johnny Ray Miller has a lot to talk about.

Q - Johnny, where does your interest in The Partridge Family TV series come from? Did you watch the show as a kid?

A - Yeah, and that's where it came from. I was a little behind the time. So, I was pretty little when the show premiered. It premiered in 1970 and I was five. So, I didn't really find it until the third season. It's funny because I love to tell this story because it's got a little humor to it. I remember going to the bus stop and I always felt like I was three steps behind. I feel that way all the time in life. (laughs) I always have this thing where they say there's people that make things happen and then there's people that watch things happen, then there's people that go, "What just happened?" That's usually me. (laughs) So, I go to the bus stop and I'm hearing all about David Cassidy and The Partridge Family and I didn't really know what it was. It seemed like all the cool kids were talking about it. I came home and it's vague memories 'cause I was still little, and flipped the channel around. I think my mother turned it on and I think it was the third season. And the first episode I ever saw was the one about Laurie losing her diary. The impact was there immediately when I saw it because first of all it was this relatable family show and it was more relatable to me than The Brady Bunch because for the times the writing was more realistic to the way kids talked and sounded, and yet they were clean-cut and they were wholesome. But, for me it was a little bit more believable than The Brady Bunch, which seemed a little more '50s, like "Golly gee, Dad." The Partridge Family was not like that. They were a little bit more groovy, if you will. (laughs) So, I felt like I connected with the show, but it was the music that always grabbed me. You just couldn't miss that David Cassidy, even as a little kid when you don't know anything about music or much about life. I just had an ear that told me that I knew that this was good. And then the visual was so great because again they're appealing to the youth. So, I always found it so interesting. Through the years I listened to that music forever. All my whole life. I still love that music. To know what I know now, it was not Bubblegum music. It was marketed as Bubblegum because of the image of the TV show. That's how they sold it and unfortunately that label always stuck with it and probably still does. But, I find it sort of my mission to be the guy to point this music out and show to the world just how complex it was, what the magic that it is that came together. David Cassidy had a fantastic voice.

Q - Yes, he did.

A - He really, really did. It was complex. It was present. I always likened his voice to Karen Carpenter, where when you're listening to them they're right there in the room with you. He had that quality. The guy who was the vocalist arranger worked with everybody. All of the background vocalists were working all over the place in the business. The guys who were the musicians later became The Wrecking Crew, and they just had magic across the board. They just did, and I think that always stayed with me and still does to this day.

Q - I believe I watched the show on Friday nights at maybe 8 PM. What day and time slot were you watching the show?

A - Brady Bunch was on at 8 o'clock on ABC and Partridge Family was the follow-up at 8:30 on Friday night on ABC. I saw it initially as I said the third season probably in its first run and this was at a time in my life when my family was moving. So, I have this very vague memory of seeing it in this house we lived in, in Canton, Ohio and then we moved to a lake and lived rurally and my bigger memory is seeing it after school in re-runs three times a night. It would be on different channels and I'd flip around and watch every episode that was available on the networks. It was all over the place right at the end there when it was canceled. But, I saw all the episodes that way. I just remember absorbing it and swallowing it all at once is how I felt. I felt like I saw all the episodes in a blink of an eye.

Q - I know the screen credits on The Partridge Family say "Starring Shirley Jones" and "Starring David Cassidy". But I really think that Danny Bonaduce had the best lines of anybody on that TV show.

A - Yeah. (laughs)

Q - It is just too bad that Danny couldn't have extended his acting career.

A - Yeah. Actually the scene in the pilot between Dave Madden and Danny that takes place in the Men's Room, is the scene that really sold the pilot to the network. Executive Producer Bob Claver told me in an interview with him that they were told to come forward with two groups of final actors to go along with Shirley Jones. Shirley Jones was always the first pick for that. They were going to build this cast around her and they wanted two different groups of kids. The kid that they wanted for Danny in the group they chose included Susan Dey and the others. It wasn't the Danny, Bob Clever wanted. The Danny that Bob wanted was Danny Bonaduce, who was in the other group they were going to say no to. So, he had to go to the executives and say, "Listen, I want this group and I want that Danny." He had to fight for it. They finally said, "Okay, you can have it your way, but if it doesn't work it's your fault." (laughs) And he said, "That's absolutely fine with me. This kid is funny and this kid will make people laugh." He was absolutely right because the scripts, in the first season when David Cassidy had not yet been branded a star, they featured a lot of stories between Dave Madden and Danny Bonaduce. In fact, more stories were written about Danny Bonaduce than any other character in The Partridge Family. Then it was season two by the end of the shootings of season one, David Cassidy had become the most popular star on the planet, really. They knew they had to feature him more. So, a lot of the Dave Madden, Danny back and forth became Keith Partridge and Danny Partridge back and fourth. It was rewritten going into season two so that they could feature David a little more. And Dave Madden was a spirit about it. He always used to say, "I'll see you in the tag."

Q - This book of yours was published in what year?

A - It was published in 2016, but it was reprinted in a second printing in 2020. And, I'm almost out of that. I probably won't do a third printing of this version. I'm going to do a revised second edition at some point.

Q - Because there's more to add to the story?

A - There really is. Once the book launched and I got to really know all the people involved rather than just interview them, suddenly I learned more. I'm working on other projects now as a result of that book. So, I'd like to revise it and pile it with some new stuff.

Q - Did you get to interview David Cassidy, Danny Bonaduce and Shirley Jones for this book?

A - Yeah. I interviewed over a hundred people for this book. And that's part of what took so long. I started as a promoter and worked in a theatre. I was the Managing Director of a theatre in Franklin, Pennsylvania and part of my job was to promote concerts for the theatre as well as manage and oversee the community theatre aspect of it. And it was there that I booked David Cassidy for a concert. That concert went so well, it was actually the concert that turned this theatre out of a hole and into the black. I had really gone above and beyond to make this happen because I was such a big fan. So, everyone was happy in the end, the theatre board and David Cassidy. He said the nicest things to me and told me that he would work with me anytime. Shortly after that, I left that position and that's when I started to get the idea for a book, because there had never been a book that featured anything on the music. Nothing. I just thought, "Well, you know what? I've got David Cassidy now on my side. I wonder if I can get Shirley Jones. If I can, I'll just take that as an obvious sign to keep on going." So, I reached out to Shirley Jones' office and in no time I was talking to her. She said, "I can't believe that nobody has done this before now. I'll help you in any way I can." So, when you've got Shirley Jones and David Cassidy behind you from the beginning, I always describe it it as a snowball going down hill. It just got bigger and bigger. So, with each approach letter I sent for an interview, I had the blessing from Shirley Jones and David Cassidy to say, "Hey, you spoke with us and we encourage you to do this." So, that's how it got rolling. Then I interviewed Dave Madden and Danny Bonaduce, Jeremy Gelbwaks, Suzanne Crough. Then I moved into the producers. I interviewed three of the producers, including the Executive Producer. And it just kept going. I hunted down all of the surviving songwriters that wrote the songs for The Partridge Family and interviewed them about the individual songs. The vocal arranger spoke with me about the album design. I uncovered interviews with Wes Farrell and Tony Romeo that had never been revealed. They were all about The Partridge Family. The guy who did them gave me the interviews. Of course I credited him for the interviews. He said, "I'm thrilled that you're doing this. Just get this out there for the fans to have." Everything just kind of fell into place.

Q - Did you interview Susan Dey?

A - No. I did not get Susan Dey. Basically everybody tells me nobody gets Susan Dey. The closest I came to getting Susan Dey was Dave Madden, who told me that he was e-mailing with her at that time. Almost every day he said. He said he would ask her for me. Dave Madden had a great sense of humor. He was a prankster. He was funny. In fact, I printed most of the interview back and forth between the two of us because his humor was so funny. So, I want to say it was two days later at the most that he e-mailed me. He always called me "kid" and he was like, "Hey kid, talked to Susan and she's not interested, but don't feel bad. It was probably the part where I told her you wanted nude photos from the waist up. She wouldn't pose for me either." (laughs)

Q - Now, that's funny.

A - Isn't it? I think it was his humorous and kind way of letting me down, and it worked. It made me laugh. So, I didn't pursue her aggressively because I don't pursue people who don't want to talk. That's not my style.

Q - That you got to interview Shirley Jones is impressive. I wanted to speak with her after autobiography came out was told I could. Then she retired from show business and was no longer granting interviews.

A - It was amazing. This was in 2010. She was my first official interview actually. I just remember that once the book came out, she liked it so much. She was doing conventions at the time and they placed me right next to her and I was kind of nervous. What's she going to think of the book? And she was so warm and so welcoming. She said, "You are welcome to come sit next to me at any convention I do." So, I did. I went around with her and we probably did a half-a-dozen of them before COVID hit.

Q - I know someone who attended a David Cassidy concert at Turning Stone Casino in Verona, New York. David had a pre-show Meet-And-Greet with his fans. There were probably twelve people backstage. Someone asked him to sign some Partridge Family memorabilia and he refused. He said, "If I do it for you, I have to do it for everybody." Why wouldn't he sign Partridge Family memorabilia, Johnny? Have you heard of him doing this before?

A - So, there's an angle to that, that is true. I think he wasn't necessarily talking about the twelve people in the room. I was at a concert one time and people were in the front row, holding up things for him to sign and he did. He took one of the albums and signed it. Suddenly there were double the amount of people running down to the stage, holding up things for him to sign. He very gently said, "Okay. can either sing or I can sign. Which do you prefer?" So, he was real kind of gentle about that. Obviously the audience wanted him to sing. So, I understand what he meant. Then the Pre-Show Meet-And-Greets were usually pretty short. People would come backstage, whoever had the passes, and then after the show he was in a car and gone before anybody could walk out the door. He was always out of there very quickly.

Q - You were obviously a fan of David Cassidy and Davy Jones. When you got to meet these guys, what was going through your mind when you met them for the first time? Do you remember?

A - Oh, are you kidding? Well, the first time for David Cassidy that I met him was not at the concert. I had met him three or four times prior as a fan. Those moments were just like anyone else, whoever you are a fan of. That feeling of just being star struck and meeting your hero and kind of thinking you know what to say, but not really, not being sure of what to say and walking away analyzing everything you said, then wishing you would have said this or that. It was like that. I think the time that I met him that was the most special to me was, he was doing a comeback album in 1990 and had a hit on the album called "Lyin' To Myself". He was really kind of back in the world of Pop music and visible. He was doing an autograph signing in New York City and I took a midnight bus to meet him. So, I hopped on a bus from Canton, Ohio and went through the midnight hours to New York City, got off the bus and ran through the city to the venue. I had been up twenty-four hours at that point and met him and he signed his new album for me. That was probably my favorite time, other than the theatre experience, which I had worked nine months to prepare for that. So, I was a big fan. It wasn't like I was a promoter. When it came to David Cassidy, I wasn't just lining up a concert event. I was prepping for the concert of my life because I wanted to impress David Cassidy. So, we went above and beyond as a theatre board at my lead and just had the theatre sparkling and the whole town welcoming him. It was a small, little town and you know how at Christmas time these small towns will play Christmas music outside on the sidewalks? Well, I had them playing David Cassidy Partridge Family music all day outside on the sidewalks. So, it was very, very special. I had his old white jump suit hanging in the window of the theatre when you drove into town. There was a memorabilia exhibit. David recognized what I had done. He saw all of it. That's what really established my relationship, my working relationship with him.

Q - You only promoted him at that venue in Pennsylvania?

A - Yeah. That was it. And you asked about Davy Jones. The bummer for me is I booked that show and I actually had to leave the theatre before the concert, so I never got to meet him. I thought well, you know what? I'll get another chance to meet him and then, boom! He died. I wished that I could have seen that all the way through 'cause I heard from my Board, after I left, how wonderful he was. He went out with everybody down the street to a piano bar and closed the place down, hangin' out with the theatre board. Signed every autography for everybody who wanted one. He had a lot energy and was a lot of fun, is what I was told.

Q - Did you promote other singers, groups in that theatre?

A - What happened was, I was hired by this theatre to turn it around because it was in trouble. I had a reputation for being a turnaround guy. I had run another theatre for ten years. So, when I got the job it was new to me to be booking concerts. That was a new element to the job. I had not done that before and on the first day of work I was reading company e-mails to get familiar with the position. In the subject heading it was all these artists submitting, through their publicists, submitting them for booking gigs. In the heading of an e-mail I saw the name David Cassidy and I just had chills from head to toe. I thought, oh my gosh, how could we get David Cassidy to come here? This would be great. Well, the problem with our theatre was before I had come in there they were booking shows that were not very good because that's all they could afford. So, they were getting very small, unknown acts. I mean in the lines of Elvis impersonator kind of stuff. And nobody was coming. So, I had this idea. Of course it was too much of a budget for that theatre to do it. My plan was to fundraise a year ahead of time. And so I rallied together a committee of people who supported the theatre and also fans of David Cassidy, which there are plenty of, and we fund raised and raised the money to do it and the show itself turned the theatre around and became the most profitable show in theatre's history up to that point.

Q - Quite frankly, David Cassidy's schedule was out of control when he was doing The Partridge Family. He was working twelve to fourteen hours a day on the set, then going to the recording studio, and performing in concert on weekends. Why didn't someone step in and say, "Hey, you're killing this kid!" Where was his management?

A - You're right about that. Why didn't somebody step in and say, "You're killing this kid!". I agree. I don't know the answer to that to that, other than I think that the truth is people were making a lot of money on him. I think that was a big part of it. As far as the hours that it took to put a TV show together, that is not abnormal. Even in the early 2000s when I was involved to some degree, those shows, you would work really no less than twelve hour days. I'm sure in the early '70s the challenges they faced were even bigger than the early 2000s as far as how to do things and get things done. Plus, you're working with small children and there's more time involved with that because they need breaks by law and they have to go to school. The kids went to school outside the set of The Partridge Family. So, I think the time to do the show was pretty true to the times and probably true across the board for how much time it took. Why somebody didn't put the brakes on David when it came to going out on weekends and flying around, I don't know. But, David was very motivated to go out and do the concerts because that's where he made the big money from. He was not making much money on the first season of the show. Then it was renegotiated and he was making a lot more beginning the second season. But the bigger money than that even was the concert touring.

Q - I believe he was $10,000 for his first concert and that quickly escalated to $50,000.

A - He was, in 1972, the highest paid entertainer on the planet and he had the highest Q rating in show business. That's a like ability thing. I mean, he was so huge his fan club outsold The Beatles and Elvis fan clubs combined. That's how big he was.

Q - After selling millions of dollars worth of merchandise, he was given a check for $7,000. Once again, his management wasn't looking out for him.

A - Yeah. I agree with you. The interesting thing, if you read David's book, he absolutely loved his manager. Her name was Ruth Aarons. And he had a personal relationship with her which I think had a lot to do with why he was so loyal to her. He had known her since he was a little kid because she had managed Jack and Shirley and he knew her as Auntie Ruth. She did a lot of good things for him, but he even says in his book, even she wasn't prepared to deal with the explosion that was David Cassidy in the early '70s.

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