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Around the turn of the century there was a phenomenon in show business called vaudeville. Performers traveled all over the country, called hotels ''home" got used to living out of suitcases and even raised their families "on the road."
Frequently the children would take up performing as soon as they could toddle out on stage and came to love the fast-paced, traveling life as much as their parents. Whole families would learn to sing, dance and do skits together. It was a trend then — not an exception.
Today few families perform as a group. People like the King family and the Osmond brothers are exceptions. So are the Cowsills — all nine of them.
It all started out as an everyday sort of family. Bud, the father, was a career navy man. Barbara, the mother, kept house. They had seven children: Bill, 20, Bob and Dick, the twins, 19, Paul, 17, Barry, 14, John, 12, and, last, Susan, nine. Dad would bring home souvenirs from his overseas tours. One was a guitar. One by one, Bill, Bob and Barry learned to play guitar. Harmonized group singing just came naturally. Then John learned drums. Barbara thought it was a nice way for them to amuse themselves, while Bud began to think they might be really good. So he started daydreaming of going professional. They performed for local clubs and churches. They had demonstration records and tapes made. Nothing really happened. They got a record contract, but their first efforts were far from chartbound. Dad, by now retired, was determined. Barbara thought it was all too far away to ever become real.
They got a new agent. They get themselves a new record company. They recorded "The Rain, The Park, and Other Things." Their luck changed. Pow!
Barbara, previously a housework hummer, joined the boys, as did Paul, and finally little Susan. Now there were seven .. .and they could all sing.
Since '67 and their first hit, there've been countless tours of the U.S. and Europe and more hit records. Needless to add, their whole way of life has changed. No longer are they the only Cowsill name listing in the Newport, Rhode Island, phone book. Although they still have their rambling old New England house there, they now call California home base. Home in the land of milk and honey is a sprawling estate in a Spanish style, original-show-biz type mansion with more rooms than you can count at first
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Paul Cowsill digs sports!
glance. But then, of course, they need the room.
When they started out they rehearsed in their living room and were heard all over the neighborhood! Now they have a rehearsal studio with instruments, mikes, hun-
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appears) as the average kid is on the funny papers or an entertainment magazine. Their interest is whether one of their songs has gone up on the charts, not the latest football scores. And even though some of the Cowsill boys say they don't want to be in show business when
Bob's one of the 1st four!
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Barbara and Susan, the only Cowsill girls, luv cuddling!
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dreds of electric cords, a mini bike and various other items (18 empty Coke bottles, extra furniture, luggage and costumes!) You wonder if an energetic family like the Cowsills will ever have enough space.
What's an average day for the Cowsills really like? In a word, FAST! All of the kids go to a school for show biz students. No sports are taught there — just classroom subjects and courses in dancing and acting and such. For the Cowsills, school is Monday thru Thursday. After school, there's homework to be done, pitching in and doing their own share of keeping the house going and rehearsal for two hours a day. It's not a slow, lazy-goin' household, but the Cowsills seem to thrive on the hectic schedule, Friday is takeoff day. They fly to public appearances all over the U.S., do a Friday and Saturday night show and return Sunday . . . to go back to school. So if anyone thinks show business is a breeze of dressing up for premieres, forget it! It just doesn't happen that way!
The Cowsill kids are as tuned in to the music "trade" magazines (where info on the music industry
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they grow up, it makes you wonder if any of them could ever give it up after being so successful at it. If you spend your growing up years being famous, can you ever really turn away from it?
Barry's really cute!
There's not a shy one in the batch. They all seem to really enjoy being in the limelight. One guy will say something, another will pick up on it and make a joke, another will jokingly put down the joke and temporarily there's a free-for-all. Reserved they're not. It's all kind of
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energetic, good-spirited chaos. All the time. And if they don't have as much time as an average teenager for social activities outside their own home, they probably don't miss it much. There's a whole lot of action going on just among themselves.
The Cowsills have a definite sense of being a unit: the Cowsills. Maybe it's because they're together so much. Or maybe because a navy family means you move a lot ... means you don't always get to know other people for a long time . . means you look to yourselves for amusement. Probably all of these facts explain their sense of Cowsill identity. They're a pop music group. But they're very much a family too.
Their flavor is pop rock and the sound is clean. Bud explains that
Can John see in that cut?
they have to consider the material they use appropriate for the kids to sing. Light hearted frolic and sentiment is their Cowsill scene. Not experimental, controversial or off-color. Their own favorites vary in choice from one member of the family to another, but all of them agree that the Beatles are No. One. You get the feeling that they're not awfully interested in protest-riot or sensationalistic material. They just like singing and making people happy. Period.
Despite the extraordinary pace they pursue, the Cowsills come across as clean-cut and natural as the family next door. A little louder — but natural.
So if you've got yearnings to go into show business, just find yourself six brothers and sisters who all sing on key and play instruments by ear and you too could find yourself in the wild, hectic world of show biz success — family style. And if the parents you choose are like Bud and Barbara, they'll just sit back watching and wonder how it all happened. So big and so fast.
And the Cowsill land of gags and gigs will be loud, fun and sort of strange.
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