David Cassidy: From Pretty Boy Pinup To Rice Krispies Ads, How The ’70s Superstar Became A Merchandising Giant


David Cassidy was known as many things: the original 1970s teen idol, a Broadway veteran, a Vegas headliner, and even an Emmy-nominated actor. But Cassidy, who passed away Nov. 21 at age 67, was much more than that. David Cassidy was one of the first stars to ever become merchandized.

While he fought Bobby Sherman and Donny Osmond for space on the covers of teen magazines, David Cassidy’s face was also regularly featured on posters, paper dolls, and paperbacks geared for his pre-teen fan base.

The Partridge Family star, who once asked to never be referred to as “a former teen idol,” previously told Yahoo that the lines were blurred between his real life and his Keith Partridge persona. But David/Keith sold a lot of merch.

“When they make bubblegum cards and comic books of you and you’re on the back of cereal boxes, and they own your name and likeness, as they did, they can make anything they want,” David said. “David Cassidy guitars, lunchboxes, magazines, pillowcases, dresses, Colorforms, books, anything they could sell to kids. And they made $500 million!”

Cassidy said he only saw $15,000 of the $500 million his likeness generated. As a consolation prize, the ’70s teen heartthrob will always be known as the star who broke through in celebrity merchandising.

“I was the breakthrough person in merchandising,” Cassidy said in 1998.

“I busted through the gate, and the rest of them just stormed through. But I was the first person to renegotiate and get a piece of the show, the first person to get anything from these people. It’s little in comparison to today, but it was a lot then.”

David Cassidy told the Hollywood Reporter that his massive fame forced him to live a sheltered life during his heyday in the early 1970s as his likeness generated millions.

“I worked 18 hours a day and rarely took a day off,” Cassidy told THR. “I traveled with my friend, who handled merchandising. I might be the first star to be merchandised – with a poster, lunchbox, cereal.”

Speaking of cereal, Cassidy was even a Rice Krispies pitchman. In another blurred lines moment, David and his real-life stepmom, Shirley Jones, starred in an early ’70s Rice Krispies ad as their Partridge Family alter egos, Keith and Shirley. The corny commercial featured a sleepy Keith as his mom roused him awake with a bowl of the cereal that snaps, crackles, and pops. You can see David Cassidy’s Rice Krispies commercial below.

In 2001, long after his stadium sell-outs but in the thick of his successful Vegas career, David Cassidy got commercial again, this time singing his half-brother Shaun’s signature hit, “Do You believe in Magic,” in an ad for the Mervyn’s department store chain. The commercial included a shout out to one of Cassidy’s biggest Partridge Family hits, “I Think I Love You.” You can see Cassidy’s Mervyn’s ad below.

In 2011, David Cassidy sued Sony over profits from The Partridge Family merchandise. According to CNN, under his 1971 contract with Screen Gems, David was supposed to get 15 percent of net merchandising revenues for the use of his image, voice, or likeness, and no more than half of that for items in which other Partridge Family cast members appeared.

The lawsuit, which alleged fraud and breach of contract, demanded “in excess of millions of dollars.” The suit also said the Partridge Family show, which aired from 1970 to 1974, was the first TV show to become merchandized on a worldwide scale with items that included board games, coloring books, pillow cases, toy guitars, lunch boxes, beach towels, pencil cases, comic books, and even children’s clothing. New merchandise from the show continued to be produced for years after The Partridge Family went off the air.

[Image by Evening Standard/Getty Images]

David Cassidy waited nearly four decades to file the lawsuit because he was unaware that he was owed profits from the merchandise. David told CNN he didn’t have a copy of his contract until he found it in a box that he hadn’t opened since the 1970s, and when he found it he took action. Three years after he filed the lawsuit, David Cassidy won his legal battle with Sony, albeit for a fraction of the amount he had been hoping for. Cassidy was awarded $157,964.84, according to the Daily Mail.

While David Cassidy didn’t get rich from merchandising, the Partridge Family star told Yahoo he had “no regrets” about his paper doll past.

“I did it when I did it, and I have no regrets about doing it,” David said. “I got to do something that three or four, maybe 10 people in the history of the world — let’s see, the Beatles, Elvis, Michael Jackson, Frank Sinatra, Valentino got to do. Maybe nine or 10 people in the history of the planet.”

[Featured Image by Ian Dickson/MediaPunch/IPX/AP Images]

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