Love Is All That I Ever Needed, Chapter 24. Love, Love The Lady.
It’s hard to imagine that nightmare.
Losing a parent, especially at a young age, and David was
only 26, is always a traumatic experience. The circumstances were just horrible.
“The fire that caused the death of actor Jack Cassidy probably was started by a cigarette. The
49-year old singer-actor’s body, charred beyond recognition, was discovered by fire
fighters.(..) Friends and relatives of Cassidy spent almost all day Sunday awaiting word,
whether the body was, in fact, that of the genial, blond performer who is the father of pop
singer David Cassidy.’
The next Wednesday was a funeral: ‘The people who loved Jack came to sing, tell stories,
laugh and cry at the Pierce Mortuary. It was a real Irish wake (..) Three of Jack’s sons read
poems he had written for them last Christmas. Young David Cassidy didn’t speak - he was too
overcome.’
Jack ashes were scattered over the ocean. In the photograph from the funeral, we can see
David with his mother. His face was like a mask, and he was obviously in shock.
A lot was
written that his father didn't leave him any money. Nothing. Not much was left after all Jack’s
debts and taxes were paid. An auction of his clothes was organized. Before the auction started,
David bought for $1,000 his father’s pocket watch. He wanted to have something to remember
him by.
Unfortunately, the watch was stolen years later.
The same happened to the crest ring young
David got from his father. He always wore it. David Cassidy’s fans know this ring from
thousands of photographs and hundreds of tv interviews. He wore it on any tv or film set he
performed on. On stage. The ring traveled with him all over the world. The last physical
connection with his father. And it was stolen, in Las Vegas, in the late 90s. David offered the
reward of $50,000, but it wasn’t returned.
Jack’s death was a blow for all of them - his sons, his former wives and for Ruth Aarons. They
were close friends for many years. In 1977 Ruth managed to launch another Cassidy’s career,
and 19-year old Shaun became a global teen idol. It was her last success. Ruth was addicted
to pills and her health deteriorated very fast. In the end all her clients had left her.
David was always very loyal to her, for him, Ruth Aarons was a member of the family, a close
personal friend, and a mentor. She did everything for him, to the point that David had
no professional relationships and connections himself. He always concentrated only on working and paid her a lot of money to organize everything for him.
Ruth
made some mistakes as David’s manager, but it didn’t change David’s trust in her. They talked
many times every day and without her guidance he was lost and didn’t know what to do.
‘For a long time, I didn’t know how to function without her (..) We had started to set a lot of my
goals in motion - as an actor, as a recording artist, as a writer, a producer and all the rest of
it. Then she died and it all died with her.’
Ruth Aarons, David Cassidy’s manager, died on June 6, 1980.
In 1976 Shaun's first album, ‘Shaun Cassidy’ released in Europe and Australia, became a big
hit. Many times he was compared to David.
“Shaun said: ‘That got me a lot of publicity. Wherever
I went it was - meet David’s family..meet David’s young brother.’ There’s no resentment here.
‘David is my best friend’. Shaun asserts. He also added: ‘David had a career drive. Now he
goes through stages depending on his mood. He’s for and alternately against the business.
At the moment he’s breeding horses, although I think he wants to go back to acting”.
But Shaun still was unknown in America. Everything changed in 1977. He had a number 1 hit
and was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best New Artist. He also appeared in a very
successful TV series, ‘Hardy Boys’. Shaun was the first to cast and the producer, Arlene
Sidaris, didn’t hide the fact that they were looking for ‘a young David Cassidy’ for the role of
Joe.
David at the age of 26 was retired and felt old. Even music changed so much since he had hit
records, and he didn’t like disco.
But suddenly a very unexpected thing happened, and David did something he avoided all
those years.
He told the whole world that he was in love.
Everything came out on March 5, 1977, when David arrived in London with a fabulous silver
fox fur coat, worth £2000, for the woman he fell in love with, Kay Lenz. His visit, and the fur,
was a surprise birthday present for her.
That evening they appeared together at the premiere
of her new film, and David told journalists: ’We are very much in love.’ And they were. So
beautiful and happy together. They couldn’t take their eyes off each other. They had met just
a few weeks previously.
Kay Ann Lenz was three years younger than David. She was a popular actress from a show
business family. She started her career as a child actor. In 1973 Kay starred in a Clint
Eastwood movie, ‘Breezy’ and she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for her role. She
appeared in many popular TV series in the 70s, and her performance in ‘Rich Men, Poor Men’
brought her popularity and an Emmy nomination.
She was petite, just 5’1’, beautiful and very
dedicated to her work. Like David, she just lost her father.
David Cassidy, always so afraid of any serious commitment and seldom dating one girl more
than once, this time didn’t hesitate.
To everyone’s surprise, just 6 weeks after they met, David and Kay got married on April 3,
1977 in Las Vegas.
The wedding was wildly written about. The ceremony was delayed for 15
minutes because the marriage license was left in their hotel room. Shaun was David’s best
man. The groom wore a black suit and his bride a white, lace dress.
It was the real end of David Cassidy, a teen idol. He hadn’t played concerts since May 1974.
Not many old fans heard about his new music, but he was still written about in teen magazines.
Some people hoped that maybe he would change his mind and return.
For millions of girls all
over the world, it was a sad day. They were older, had boy friends, and listened to other music,
but they were sad. Some were crying. Darling David, the most beautiful boy ever, their
worshiped idol at last grew up and got married.
In May 1978 Kay said in an interview : ‘I’m really glad I got married. At first I was frightened,
and on the honeymoon night I kept thinking maybe I’d made a mistake. It all happened so
quickly.’
Kay and David were in love and wanted their marriage to be successful. David Cassidy was a
very private person, always very aware that people wanted to take his pictures, in every
situation. However, he was so in love that he stopped paying attention to cameras. There are
a lot of pics of David and Kay kissing and embracing. There was such a passion. Love. But
they didn’t really know each other and had completely different marriage models.
For Evelyn Ward, her career wasn’t the most important. She resigned from it in the 60s for her
second husband, Elliot Silverstein, and later for her son. Kay’s mother was a model but, first
of all, one of the first women engineers working in radio. Smart, strong and independent. For
Kay, work was very important.
She said in an interview published in summer of 1977:
“David can think about us working together more easily than I can. Work was always the one
place I had to myself, the one thing I never let boyfriends in on. I would never even let them
on the set. With David, it’s going to be different. I’m trying to learn that you don’t give something
up just because you share it with someone.’
It wasn’t easy for both of them to adjust to married life. Both were actors from show business
families. Both were only children, and David was brought up without a father. He didn’t really
know how marriage worked, and he had unrealistic ideas about it.
He was in love. He wanted
to have in Kay that one person for whom he would have been the whole world. He felt he gave
up a lot when he married her, which wasn’t the best attitude. Since he became a teen idol, he
has had sex with countless women. It was an addiction really. He got used to the fact that his
satisfaction was the most important, and he was the one who was lusted after.
When he was famous, he had a lot of work but In his free time, he did only what he wanted to
do, and hired people do things for him. He had no idea what the real, serious relationship
looked like. He was treated like a god. He also got used to the superstar lifestyle, had a lot of
famous friends, and especially after 1974 partied very hard.
David knew himself that fame changed him. He became self-indulgent, paranoid and skeptical.
He wanted to be a normal human being again and be loved for himself. He wanted
unconditional love.
It seems David at the time sold or rented his house in Encino, because there were notes in
the press that a newly married couple lived in a California horse ranch leased from the novelist
Thomas Sanchez and that David had 6 thoroughbred horses.
Together they took part in tv programs and social events. In October 1977 in a TV show called
“Celebrity Challenge Of the Sexes’, film premieres, charity events.
On November 27, 1977 David Cassidy was on a TV Show called ‘The Partridge Family/ My
Three Sons Reunions - Thanksgiving Day Special. The cast of those two popular programs
were present, except Susan Dey who sent a videotape instead.
The marriage suited David, he looked healthy, very handsome and mature. He sang Tim Moore’s ‘Strengthen My Love’,
and ‘As Time Goes By’, a song from David’s favorite film, ‘Casablanca’. His voice was deeper,
rich, and full of emotion. He gave a magical, unforgettable performance.
After they got married, Kay worked every day and David stayed at home. She was even asked
about it and explained: ‘Actually you have to realize that while David was starring on a TPF he
was doing three full-time jobs : acting, recording and touring. It’s no wonder he felt like taking
a rest. There’s a lot David wants to do. TPF didn’t show off his talent at all. David is a very
good actor. (..) He changed a lot and needs to do something different.’
David Cassidy :’Could It Be Forever?’, 2007, p.322
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