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 The Me-Too Movement -- My David Cassidy
Encounter
By:
Debra J.M. Smith
David Cassidy (with me)
1990
Photo: © Debra J.M.
Smith |
We all knew him as Keith Partridge, the sweet (Come on
Get Happy) guy, Lady Shirley's stepson. Turned out, as per her tell-all
book, Shirley was no lady. And that stepson, he was no
gentleman.
I was 29. David Cassidy was 40. I had
never had any kind of crush on him. I was a Donny Osmond girl. When I was
in love with Donny Osmond at 12 years old, David Cassidy was an
adult.
So, here I was all grown up, with a
three-year-old and a newborn baby, and David Cassidy was coming to do an
autograph signing at a local bar/dance place. So, off my husband Tim and I
went for me to meet David Cassidy.
Well, I was absolutely star-struck, not in
love, just star-struck. That's me in the picture with him, asking him a
few questions. I'm a talker and anything but a shy person.
I asked him about his stepmother. He did
not seem so interested in that topic. I asked him if he was doing
commercial songs, because some sounded like his voice. Well, he really did
not like that. I suppose that was an insult to him. But in all fairness,
he was a has-been at the time. Then I asked him if he ever helps people
get into the singing business, because I sing and wanted to send him a
demo tape. Has-beens help young people. Right? He had me write my name and
phone number down. So, I was really excited
now.
I made a friend with another star-struck
gal at the place. Tim held both of our purses, while she and I danced the
night away. David Cassidy was still there when Tim and I left. But as we
were going around the back of the building, in our car, I saw David and
this guy that was with him (his manager, I assumed), exiting the back
door. So, I told Tim to stop the car and let me see him one last time.
There were about five other gals out there, and we all shouted his name,
and David saw me. He did this gun thing with his fingers to me, as he had
done a few times inside, when I would call out his name after having met
him. Oh, I had hugged him inside too. But I asked
first.
So, here we were outside, these other gals
and me, and David got into his limo with the other guy. Just then the door
opens up a little bit and David yells out, "Debbie!" Well, I was not about
to embarrass myself, thinking he was calling me, and I assumed he knew one
of those other gals and that her name was also Debbie. After a little bit
of silence, one of those gals waved her hand and said, "I'm Debbie," and
she got into the limo. My hand to heaven, that happened over and over till
the last of those gals entered his limo, and I was the only one out there
with this man who appeared to be a bouncer from the place we were
at.
Then the door to the limo opened
wide enough for me to see David. And he looked right at me and pointed his
finger and said, "Debbie!" So, what could I do? I got in the limo. My part
in this is funny, kind of innocent, too innocent, a bit naive, to say the
least. I thought he wanted to talk about my singing and maybe set
something up for me to get a demo tape to him.
So, here I was sitting in that limo. Tim's out in our
car next to the limo, and I'm looking at those other gals thinking, "I
know what they are here for." Then a light went on over my head, ding! And
I thought, "Oh, no, that's what he wants with me!!!"
That’s when the star-struck crashed and reality set in,
and I spoke up. I said, "um... My husband is right outside here in our car
waiting for me. And we have to go pick up my babies." That's when David
gave that gun finger thing again at me and said really nicely, "Then you'd
better go." David held his hand out to me to help me across the limo floor
to the door. As I made my way across from where I had sat, with David
holding my hand, his manager looked so proud of me. I will never forget
the look on that man's face. He probably never saw a gal get out.
There was
one more thing that I said to David before getting out. While he was
holding my hand, helping me to get to the door of the limo, I stopped and
said to him, "I'll understand if you don't call." --Hello, save face. And
honestly, I didn't want his help after what I realized he wanted.
The driver must have been able to hear,
because he was right there opening the door from the outside. I got out of
the limo and looked at the bouncer guy who was still standing there, and I
said, "What's he going to do with those girls?" I guess I was holding out
hope that he was not really going to do what I thought he was going to do.
Well, that bouncer guy said to me, "What do you THINK he's going to do
with those girls! --Sweet Keith Partridge, David Cassidy was very naughty.
And get this, he had someone at home. His son was born about a year
later.
So, should I be part of the me-too
movement over this? Sorry, but nobody forced me into that limo. When I
realized what was going on, I got out of the situation before anything
could happen. Other women, like Ashley Judd, the one who started the
me-too movement over her encounter with Harvey Weinstein,
also decades ago, could have gotten out soon enough, as well. Women
like her chose to stay too long, because they wanted a career boost. The
men are pigs, no doubt. But women who willingly stayed past when the light went
on really messed up.
Extra:
Here is a link to a video that appears to have been recorded the day
he came to Rochester, New York, where and when I saw him. He's
wearing the same outfit and mentions that he will be in Rochester later
that day. And it was recorded in 1990: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKIF0zKoyss
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