The Cowsills In Magazines

Here are the twins, Bob and Dick. This picture was taken in Portsmouth, Va., when they were about a year and a half old.

ONCE UPON A TIME (about 20 years ago, to be exact) in the U.S.A., Mr. Bud and Mrs. Barbara Cowsill decided to do their very best to promote the population explosion. So - one by one - they came along, until at last theree were seven little (and not so little) Cowsills! Just in case the world should ever care, Mrs. C. decided to keep a record of the progress of her adorable brood. Good thing she did - for now everybody knows and loves Susie, John, Barry, Paul, Dick, Bob and Bill. Here they are, for the first time anywhere - just as they looked from the very beginning!

Here's Bill (lovingly known as "Billy" in those days) at the age of two and a half. This picture was made especially for daddy Bud, who was away at sea at the time.

Ah - Bud made it home for Christmas back in '60. He gave Barry and John cowboy hats and corncob pipes. The boys gave him, well, er - their pet snakes!

'Round the table (starting at left): Barry, 6; John, 5; Dick, 10, Susie, 8 months; Bud; Bob, 10; Paul, 8; and Bill, 12. Shortly after this photo was snapped, the turkey in the middle was demolished!

John, Susie and Barry introduce you to 'The Unknown Cowsill". (His name is Snerffle-faffle and - actually - he does all the singing!).

Susie, at two, shows off her Easter bunny, while Barry demonstrates how to hold two Easter eggs! Brilliant, yes?

On Christmas Day of '61, the gang posed for this pic for Bud. It was taken at their home in Canton, Ohio.

John's first school picture - taken when he as six at Forest Avenue Primary School in Newport, Rhode Island.

Barry, pictured here at 9, went to the same school - where he was an "A" student.

More of some - 'cept Barry was 11 and this was taken at Howland Grammar School in Canton.

When Bob was 8 he got a crew cut, but -




- by the time he was 10, his hair had grown out quite nicely, thank you.

Looks like Mini Mom has her hands full. That's Paul, 14; John, 9; and Barry, 10.

Click here to continue on to Part 2 of this pictorial article.