User Reviews

John Astin guest-stars as a disguise-laden, reclusive millionaire named Sydney Rose who is apparently a big fan of The Partridge Family and brings them to his isolated private resort for a concert and dinner. Naturally, Shirley and company bring out the sympathetic side to this friendless man (who made a mint in Melba toast!) and help him to turn his sad life around. Strange episode with heavy pathos features a perplexing sequence wherein a television crew suddenly shows up at the house to interview the Partridges while Sydney Rose is there dressed like a TV repairman (why Rose doesn't hide out in the kitchen isn't explained...and neither is the fact the TV news-people somehow recognize Rose and feature him in their story!). The happy ending is highly contrived, but as usual the music and the bright personalities carry the day. Final song, "One Night Stand", is excitingly photographed, with keenly visual lighting cues and a sexy performance from David Cassidy as Keith.

"Diary of a Mad Millionaire" casts John Astin (THE ADDAMS FAMILY) as reclusive millionaire Sydney Rose, dubbed 'The Melba Toast Baron' by Danny, who knows everything about him. Like Howard Hughes, the shy, retiring type, 'Uncle Sydney' is reluctant to be seen in public without a disguise, attending The Partridge Family's next performance as a bearded hippie- an audience of one! (200 tables up front). A perceptive reporter finally gets the goods on the mystery man, who realizes that the public is far less inquisitive than he at first thought. John Astin, in his many guises, enjoys one of his finest roles, while Shirley's old friend Sari Price, making her fourth and final appearance, shows up as Sydney's date (lucky girl!). There are a record three songs featured in this episode: the unreleased "God Bless You Girl," composed by Irwin Levine and L. Russell Brown (the same footage previously seen in "This Male Chauvinist Piggy Went to Market"); "It Sounds Like You're Saying Hello" (heard only briefly), composed by Terry Cashman and T. P. West, from the just released seventh LP CROSSWORD PUZZLE; and the appropriate rocker "One Night Stand," taken from third LP SOUND MAGAZINE, composed by Wes Farrell and former hitmaker Paul Anka, soon to top the charts again with his comeback smash "(You're) Having My Baby."