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THE BOOTLEG FILES: A SHAUN CASSIDY SPECIAL

By Phil Hall | June 13, 2014

BOOTLEG FILES 536: “A Shaun Cassidy Special” (1981 TV special starring the one-time Hardy Boy).

LAST SEEN: It is on YouTube.

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: Something that fell deep into the cracks.

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Utterly unlikely.

If you were reading Tiger Beat Magazine back in the late 1970s, you probably remember someone named Shaun Cassidy. Thanks to family connections – he was the son of Oscar-winner Shirley Jones and Tony-winner Jack Cassidy and half-brother to David Cassidy – the photogenic young actor/singer was fast-tracked for stardom via a number of bouncy pop recordings and a starring role on “The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries.”

By the early 1980s, however, Cassidy’s career began to show signs of tanking. His attempt to broaden and diversify his musical output failed to sell records, and he had the bad fortune to star on a poorly received TV series based on the hit film “Breaking Away.” However, Cassidy still had enough cred to warrant a primetime 1981 television special. Unfortunately, that endeavor wound up being something of a career killer.

“A Shaun Cassidy Special” tries to follow in the footsteps of The Monkees’ 1968 film “Head” by poking fun at the silliness that goes behind the manufacturing of pop star imagery. But whereas “Head” was a loud, splattery, often-brilliant and often-painful swirl of angry energy, “A Shaun Cassidy Special” was a bland and benign effort that never had the courage to take its ideas into bold territory. Even worse, the production offer a cruel magnification of Cassidy’s considerable limitations as a performer.

“A Shaun Cassidy Special” begins with the star and his entourage arriving via airplane for a concert gig at a rather large sized arena. Cassidy sings a tune of his own creation, “Right Before Your Skies,” on the soundtrack while workmen assemble the stage for his show. From there, Cassidy turns up in the bathroom of his hotel suite, wearing only a towel while attempting to shave. He turns and addresses the camera with mock annoyance while an off-screen voice insists that a near-naked Shaun Cassidy is what America wants to see. Cassidy then walks across his suite to take a phone call from an obstreperous sounding individual who is identified as his agent Sammy. Cassidy ultimately gets impatient with these shenanigans and smears shaving cream on the camera lens.

We then get to see Cassidy in concert, performing one of his hit tunes, a cover of Eric Carmen’s “That’s Rock ‘n’ Roll.” This is truly astonishing to watch – Cassidy’s voice was not powerful in a studio setting and it was considerably weaker in a concert venue. And despite his effort to come across as a tough dude, complete with tight clothing and a guitar strapped to his torso, he seems more like a poseur than a rocker. Still, the screaming masses of the arena aren’t all that picky, and their cheers encourage him on.

From here, we get to meet the real Cassidy – or at least that is what the creators of this special want. Cassidy is seen working on a song at his piano, with his trusty dog by his side. Cassidy confides to the camera that his canine pal stays with him while he is writing music. Oddly, there is no mention of Mrs. Cassidy, Playboy model Ann Pennington – perhaps her presence would not sit well with the pre-teen girls that made up Cassidy’s corre fan base?

Next up is an extended comedy sequence that takes place in Philadelphia, where Cassidy and his entourage are struggling with a set-up involving Jack Albertson as a hotel doorman. As part of a scene to be filmed, Cassidy is supposed to be flippant with Albertson’s doorman. But when he arrives at the hotel, a black man in a doorman’s uniform greets the star. The scene dribbles on with no real wind-up, eventually stopping for a return to Cassidy in concert performance.

From here, the comedy returns with Loni Anderson sitting by a pool in a tight bathing suit. She is on the phone with that awful agent Sammy, who is trying to get her to appear in Cassidy’s special. “I don’t want to wind up in some dumb skit wearing a bathing suit,” she tells Sammy – which, of course, she is doing.

We then get more footage of Cassidy in concert, where he shakes his tushy and points a shirtless arm skyward in an attempt to come across like a rock ‘n’ roll idol. Jack Albertson finally shows up, looking terribly frail in oversized eyeglasses and a conspicuous toupee. He joins Cassidy to talk about his adventures starting in show business during the 1930s. (Albertson died two months after the special aired.)

Cassidy is seen in more concert footage, doing an egregious cover of “You Lost That Lovin’ Feeling.” Loni Anderson returns for a pointless skit that is supposedly filmed in her kitchen – she is making cold slaw and detailing the idea for a cockamamie puppet show while Cassidy looks on aghast.

The special wraps up back at the concert venue, where Cassidy introduces The Crystals, whose hit “Da Doo Ron Ron” was covered by Cassidy for his first chart-topping tune. The Crystals offer professionalism and style in their singing, while Cassidy looks like a photogenic interloper wiggling around the classy ladies.

“A Shaun Cassidy Special” was broadcast on NBC on September 26, 1981. The special made no impact with audiences and, to a great extent, it signaled Cassidy’s retreat from the spotlight. As the 1980s progressed, Cassidy’s star diminished – he had no further records after the flop of his 1980 album “Wasp” and his high-profile TV acting was mostly limited to a brief stint on “General Hospital” along with guest appearances on “Murder She Wrote” and “Matlock.” He later gained respectable reviews for work in theater productions, including a Broadway gig with his half-brother David in the musical “Blood Brothers.” By the 1990s, Cassidy was mostly working behind the camera as a writer/producer/director; although he gave a few interviews over the years about his teen idol period, he wisely avoided trying to make a comeback.

“A Shaun Cassidy Special” dropped from sight as quickly as its star. It has never been made available for commercial home entertainment release, and a number of bootleg DVDs plus an unauthorized YouTube posting incorrectly identify it as a 1979 release.

Incredibly, there is no IMDb listing for this show, nor is there any Wikipedia article about it. In a way, that’s a good thing – the less that people know about this mess, the better it is for everyone.

IMPORTANT NOTICE: The unauthorized duplication and distribution of copyright-protected material, either for crass commercial purposes or profit-free s***s and giggles, is not something that the entertainment industry appreciates. On occasion, law enforcement personnel boost their arrest quotas by collaring cheery cinephiles engaged in such activities. So if you are going to copy and distribute bootleg material, a word to the wise: don’t get caught. Oddly, the purchase and ownership of bootleg DVDs is perfectly legal. Go figure!

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  1. William b. says:

    Anyone know where I can get a copy of this on DVD?have loved Shaun since age 11 in 77.loved his music and acting.such a super Fab guy.

  2. EVE J. FUHRMAN says:

    ANYONE WHO KNOWS SHAUN CASSIDY COULD NEVER EVER SAY THESE HORRID LIES. THEY ARE LIES TOO. I HAVE LOVED AND CHERISHED SHAUN CASSIDY SINCE THE AGE OF NINE. I CHERISH HIS BRILLIANT MIND AND HIS LOVING HEART MORE THAN ANY WORDS COULD EVER BEGIN TO SAY. HE IS THE MOST INCREDIBLY WONDERFUL ABD BEAUTIFUL HUMAN BEING THAT I HAVE EVER ENCOUNTERED ON FACEBOOK OR TWITTER. AS FAR AS HIS MUSIC GOES IT IS TIMELESS AND MEANS EVERYTHING TO MY HEART AND MY SOUL. THERE IS NOT ONE DAY I CAN GO WITHOUT HEARING IT AND WOULD PREFER SHAUN’S MUSIC MORE THAN THE SO CALLED CRAP THIS IS CALLED MUSIC TODAY. SHAUN’S SONGS GIVE MEANING AND LEAVE YOU FILLED WITH JOY AND LOVE. AS FOR HIS ACTING. I LOVE EVERY SINGLE PERFORMANCE I HAVE SEEN HIM DO FROM THE HARDY BOYS TO GENERAL HOSPITAL. WHAT ABOUT HIS BRILLIANT PERFORMACE IN LIKE NORMAL PEOPLE WHEN HE PORTRAYED ROGER MYERS BASED ON THE TRUE PERSON. THAT WAS A GREAT CHALLENGE TO MR. CASSIDY AND HE PASSED WITH FLYING COLORS. HE WAS AND STILL IS ANY AMAZING ACTOR AND WILL ALWAYS BE IN MY EYES. I TRULY ADMIRE HOW SHAUN TOOK HIS TRUE PASSION OF PRODUCING AND WRITING AND DIRECTING AND BROUGHT IT TO LIFE AND IS AS MAGNIFICENT IN THESE AREAS AS ANY OTHER HE HAS EVER PURSUED. SO INSTEAD OF BASHING MR. SHAUN CASSIDY, WHY DON’T THE ONES OF THIS DISGUSTING ARTICLE TRY AGAIN TO SEE WHO SHAUN REALLY IS AND GIVE THIS MAN THE TRUE CREDIT HE IS ENTITLED TOO AND AN APOLOGY WOULD ALSO BE ADVISED!!!

  3. Jane says:

    I love Shaun Cassidy. He is gorgeous, has a beautiful voice and I love his songs. He makes me happy. He is exciting, sweet and joyful. I don’t care what weaknesses there are in this video. I was thrilled to be able to see it; never saw it until recently. I also love his work since that time, but I think he should be proud of the early stuff too. He completely nailed the heartthrob thing, creating more love than most people ever will. Not a rocker? He sure rocks my world!

  4. Phil Hall says:

    I appreciate the clarification on the special’s history. Researching this was thorny, as there is almost no information on this production to be found online – as stated above, it is so obscure that it isn’t even in the IMDb, despite its starry cast. And while it was shot in 1979, it is still a 1981 release. Perhaps Shaun’s fans would like to get to the IMDb and Wikipedia and fill in that blank in his career?

  5. Linda Arnold says:

    First of all the Special was filmed in 1979. It just wasn’t aired until 1981. Second of all, Shaun Cassidy is a brilliant performer and and now writer and producer. He did it right. Not like so many other Teen Idols who ended up fading away or ruining their lives with drugs and or alcohol and nothing like these teens today who have no talent or ambition and just want their 15 minutes of fame.
    Youtube is full of obscure TV shows and videos that are not available on DVD, not sure why you picked this one to talk about but for those who are still fans of Shauns it is a treasure for us to be able to watch it.

  6. cherylcorwin says:

    The Special was recorded in 1979 & was to have been aired that fall, but kept being pushed back. He was dating but not married at the time. By the time it aired in 1981, he was doing theater, and away from concerts and recording. Shaun almost fought against it being release and thought it would be dated. Cheryl (president of the Shaun Cassidy fan club 1977-2001)

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