The Cowsills In Magazines

Don't tell a soul, but we think John's doing a little daydreaming! Could he be thinking about cars, boats, travel, money - or perhaps a certin girl?!

Sink it in the outside pocket, Bill! With a steady eye and an even steadier hand, Bill practices his pool shots. Care to challenge him to a game?

THE COWSILL house is always jumping – no matter how late it is! Somebody’s always awake doing something very private or unexpected! Here are the very dark doing of the swinging C’s …

… Bob takes showers! His fav time is around three in the morning! There’s only one shower in the whole huge Cowsill house and in the daytime there’s never enough hot water – or somebody’s always in the bathroom! So that’s about the only time Bob can bathe. The only trouble is that his brothers wish he wouldn’t sing quite so loudly while he’s at it!

… Bill works on his novel! He’s very secretive about it. He teases his family by saying they can find out what it’s all about when they buy a copy at the book shop. The only time he can work in absolute privacy is late at night. Then he’s sure nobody will peek or try to snatch away the papers and try to read it!

… Barry practices football tackles! Like any good football player, he keeps his best moves a secret – until he uses them! That way he’s bound to win almost every game he plays!

… John sneaks down for midnight snacks! During the day there’s not enough room at the table and The C’s eat in shifts! If John is on the second shift, most of the food’s gone by the time he gets there. So he keeps one step ahead of the others – by getting there a day ahead!

… Paul strolls along the widows’ walk on top of the house! It’s exciting to stand way up there on the roof looking out toward the sea and up at millions of stars. He has fun imagining he’s a watchman looking out for ships or pirates or he tries to identify the different patterns, like the big dipper or the milky way!

… Bob and Captain McCormick, the family ghost, go haunting! Bob says he’s found his best hideaways around the house that way. Sometimes Bob just likes to disappear and be alone to think and dream. So at night he explores the house for secret corners. He knows it better than anybody else by now – which is why nobody can find him when he pulls a disappearing act! And if any chains clank in the middle of the night or a ghostly figure appears, The C’s know by now that it isn’t the Captain – it’s Bob teasing them!

… Bill studies! The C house is never completely quiet, but at night it’s the quietest it ever gets! So Bill has a chance to concentrate on his school work without voices or music or the sounds of people running all around him in the background! He keeps those high marks of his by hitting the books at odd hours like that!

… Barry chooses his clothes for the next day! If he waited till the morning, whatever he wanted to wear would be gone – on somebody else’s back! Susan loves to wear his shirts and John digs his jeans. So Barry gets his clothes together and puts them near his bed – before anyone can grab them!

… John works on his moon ship! During the day, he’d get too much teasing about that kind of project! So when everyone else is in bed, he takes out his tools and works away to his heart’s content. By the next morning, he’s hidden all the traces of his work. If John ever disappears – look up first, ‘cause he may be more successful than you’d expect!

… Paul practices his trumpet! He’s the newest family addition to the group and he wants to sound as great as he possibly can. So he takes his trumpet out into the yard, sits down beneath a tree, leans back comfortably and plays away! The only person who really encourages that (if the others are in bed, they want to sleep) is Susan. She says it’s romantic to be serenaded beneath her window!

… Sometimes all The C’s including Papa Bud and Barbara, stay awake – to play hide-and-seek! It’s a lot of fun in a dark house that has twenty-seven rooms with all the lights turned off! That way, the game is really a challenge! And the first person to be found is the first person to get up the next morning and put in the toast and coffee and pour out the juice for breakfast – while the others get some extra sleep! Needless to say, everybody tries his hardest to keep from being found!

Future housewives and homemakers need some "boning up," too! Susie does her cooking when nobody's around - so she can reap the yummy benefits herself!

And Bob? Well, when he's all alone, he gets ideas about everything! Like songs, and future plans or past experiences. Now, he looks as though he's "prankish!"