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Army of the Republic of Vietnam

The Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN; ; Armée de la république du Viêt Nam) composed the ground forces of the South Vietnamese military from its inception in 1955 to the Fall of Saigon in April 1975. At the ARVN's peak, an estimated 1 in 9 citizens of South Vietnam were enlisted, composed of Regular Forces and the more voluntary Regional Forces and the Popular Force militias. It is estimated to have suffered 1,394,000 casualties (killed and wounded) during the Vietnam War.

The ARVN began as a post-colonial army that was trained by and closely affiliated with the United States and had engaged in conflict since its inception. Several changes occurred throughout its lifetime, initially from a 'blocking-force' to a more modern conventional force using helicopter deployment in combat. During the American intervention in Vietnam, the ARVN was reduced to playing a defensive role with an incomplete modernisation, and transformed again following Vietnamization, it was upgeared, expanded, and reconstructed to fulfill the role of the departing American forces. By 1974, it had become much more effective with foremost counterinsurgency expert and Nixon adviser Robert Thompson noting that Regular Forces were very well-trained and second only to the American and Israeli forces in the Free World and with General Creighton Abrams remarking that 70% of units were on par with the United States Army.

However, the withdrawal of American forces by Vietnamization meant the armed forces could not effectively fulfill all of the aims of the program and had become completely dependent on U.S. equipment since it was meant to fulfill the departing role of the United States. Unique in serving a dual military-civilian administrative purpose, in direct competition with the Viet Cong, the ARVN had also become a component of political power and suffered from continual issues of political loyalty appointments, corruption in leadership, factional infighting, and occasional open internal conflict.

After the fall of Saigon to North Vietnam's People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN), the ARVN was dissolved. While some high-ranking officers had fled the country to the United States or elsewhere, thousands of former ARVN officers were sent to re-education camps by the communist government of the unified Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Five ARVN generals died by suicide to avoid capture.

Vietnamese National Army (VNA) 1949–55

On 8 March 1949, after the Élysée Accords, the State of Vietnam was recognized by France as an independent country ruled by the Vietnamese Emperor Bảo Đại, and the Vietnamese National Army (VNA) was soon created. The VNA fought in joint operations with the French Union's French Far East Expeditionary Corps against the Viet Minh forces led by Ho Chi Minh. The VNA fought in a wide range of campaigns including the Battle of Nà Sản (1952), Operation Atlas (1953) and the Battle of Dien Bien Phu (1954).

Benefiting from French assistance, the VNA quickly became a modern army modeled after the Expeditionary Corps. It included infantry, artillery, signals, armored cavalry, airborne, airforce, navy and a national military academy. By 1953, troopers as well as officers were all Vietnamese, the latter having been trained in Ecoles des Cadres such as Da Lat, including Chief of Staff General Nguyễn Văn Hinh who was a French Union airforce veteran.

After the 1954 Geneva agreements, French Indochina ceased to exist and by 1956 all French Union troops had withdrawn from Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. In 1955, by the order of Prime Minister Diệm, the VNA crushed the armed forces of the Bình Xuyên.

Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) 1955–75

On 26 October 1955, the military was reorganized by the administration of President Ngô Đình Diệm who then formally established the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) on 30 December 1955. The air force was established as a separate service known as the Republic of Vietnam Air Force (RVNAF). Early on, the focus of the army was the guerrilla fighters of the Viet Cong (VC), formed to oppose the Diệm administration. The United States, under President John F. Kennedy sent advisors and a great deal of financial support to aid the ARVN in combating the insurgents. A major campaign, developed by Ngô Đình Nhu and later resurrected under another name was the "Strategic Hamlet Program" which was regarded as unsuccessful by Western media because it was "inhumane" to move villagers from the countryside to fortified villages. ARVN leaders and Diệm were criticized by the foreign press when the troops were used to crush armed anti-government religious groups like the Cao Đài and Hòa Hảo as well as to raid Buddhist temples, which according to Diệm, were harboring VC guerrillas. The most notorious of these attacks occurred on the night of August 21, 1963, during the Xá Lợi Pagoda raids conducted by the ARVN Special Forces, which caused a death toll estimated to range into the hundreds.

In 1963, Diệm was killed in a coup d'état carried out by ARVN officers and encouraged by American officials such as Henry Lodge. In the confusion that followed, General Dương Văn Minh took control, but he was only the first in a succession of ARVN generals to assume the presidency of South Vietnam. During these years, the United States began taking more control of the war against the VC and the role of the ARVN became less and less significant. They were also plagued by continuing problems of severe corruption amongst the officer corps. Although the United States was highly critical of the ARVN, it continued to be entirely U.S.-armed and funded.

Although the American news media has often portrayed the Vietnam War as a primarily American and North Vietnamese conflict, the ARVN carried the brunt of the fight before and after large-scale American involvement, and participated in many major operations with American troops. ARVN troops pioneered the use of the M113 armored personnel carrier as an infantry fighting vehicle by fighting mounted rather than as a "battle taxi" as originally designed, and the armored cavalry (ACAV) modifications were adopted based on ARVN experience. One notable ARVN unit equipped with M113s, the 3d Armored Cavalry Squadron, used the new tactic so proficiently and with such extraordinary heroism against hostile forces that they earned the United States Presidential Unit Citation. The ARVN suffered 254,256 recorded deaths between 1960 and 1974, with the highest number of recorded deaths being in 1972, with 39,587 combat deaths, while approximately 58,000 U.S. troops died during the war.

United States experience with the ARVN generated a catalog of complaints about its performance, with various officials saying 'it did not pull its weight,' 'content to let the Americans do the fighting and dying,' and 'weak in dedication, direction, and discipline.' The President remained prone to issue instructions directly to field units, cutting across the entire chain of command. Major shortcomings identified by U.S. officers included a general lack of motivation, indicated, for example, by officers having an inclination for rear area jobs rather than combat command, and a continuing desertion problem.

Final campaigns
Starting in 1969, President Richard Nixon started the process of "Vietnamization", pulling out American forces and rendering the ARVN capable of fighting an effective war against the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) and VC. Slowly, the ARVN began to expand from its counter-insurgency role to become the primary ground defense against the PAVN/VC. From 1969 to 1971, there were about 22,000 ARVN combat deaths per year. Starting in 1968, South Vietnam began calling up every available man for service in the ARVN, reaching a strength of one million soldiers by 1972. In 1970, they performed well in the Cambodian Incursion and were executing three times as many operations as they had during the American-led war period. However, the ARVN equipment continued to be of lower standards than their American and other allies, even as the U.S. tried to upgrade ARVN technology. The officer corps was still the biggest problem. Leaders were too often inept, being poorly trained, corrupt and lacking morale. Still, Sir Robert Thompson, a British military officer widely regarded as the worlds foremost expert in counterinsurgency warfare during the Vietnam War, thought that by 1972, the ARVN had developed into one of the best fighting forces in the world, comparing them favorably with the Israeli Defence Forces. Forced to carry the burden left by the Americans, the ARVN started to perform well, though with continued American air support.

In 1972, the PAVN launched the Easter Offensive, an all-out attack against South Vietnam across the Vietnamese Demilitarized Zone and from its sanctuaries in Laos and Cambodia. The assault combined infantry wave assaults, artillery and the first massive use of armored forces by the PAVN. Although the T-54 tanks proved vulnerable to LAW rockets, the ARVN took heavy losses. The PAVN forces took Quảng Trị Province and some areas along the Laos and Cambodian borders.

President Nixon dispatched bombers in Operation Linebacker to provide air support for the ARVN when it seemed that South Vietnam was about to be lost. In desperation, President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu fired the incompetent General Hoàng Xuân Lãm and replaced him with General Ngô Quang Trưởng. He gave the order that all deserters would be executed and pulled enough forces together in order to prevent the PAVN from taking Huế. Finally, with considerable US air and naval support, as well as hard fighting by the ARVN soldiers, the Easter Offensive was halted. ARVN forces counter-attacked and succeeded in driving some of the PAVN out of South Vietnam, though they did retain control of northern Quảng Trị Province near the DMZ.

At the end of 1972, Operation Linebacker II helped achieve a negotiated end to the war between the U.S. and the Hanoi government. By March 1973, in accordance with the Paris Peace Accords the United States had completely pulled its troops out of Vietnam. The ARVN was left to fight alone, but with all the weapons and technologies that their allies left behind. With massive technological support they had roughly four times as many heavy weapons as their enemies. The U.S. left the ARVN with over one thousand aircraft, making the RVNAF the fourth largest air force in the world. These figures are deceptive, however, as the U.S. began to curtail military aid. The same situation happened to the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, since their allies, the Soviet Union, and China has also cut down military support, forcing them to use obsolete T-34 tanks and SU-100 tank destroyers in battle.

In the summer of 1974, Nixon resigned under the pressure of the Watergate scandal and was succeeded by Gerald Ford. With the war growing incredibly unpopular at home, combined with a severe economic recession and mounting budget deficits, Congress cut funding to South Vietnam for the upcoming fiscal year from 1 billion to 700 million dollars. Historians have attributed the fall of Saigon in 1975 to the cessation of American aid along with the growing disenchantment of the South Vietnamese people and the rampant corruption and incompetence of South Vietnam political leaders and ARVN general staff.

Without the necessary funds and facing a collapse in South Vietnamese troop and civilian morale, it was becoming increasingly difficult for the ARVN to achieve a victory against the PAVN. Moreover, the withdrawal of U.S. aid encouraged North Vietnam to begin a new military offensive against South Vietnam. This resolve was strengthened when the new American administration did not think itself bound to this promise Nixon made to Thieu of a "severe retaliation" if Hanoi broke the 1973 Paris Peace Accords.

The fall of Huế to PAVN forces on 26 March 1975 began an organized rout of the ARVN that culminated in the complete disintegration of the South Vietnamese government. Withdrawing ARVN forces found the roads choked with refugees making troop movement almost impossible. North Vietnamese forces took advantage of the growing instability, and with the abandoned equipment of the routing ARVN, they mounted heavy attacks on all fronts. With collapse all but inevitable, many ARVN generals abandoned their troops to fend for themselves and ARVN soldiers deserted en masse. The 18th Division held out at Xuân Lộc from 9 to 21 April before being forced to withdraw. President Thiệu resigned his office on 21 April and left the country. At Bien Hoa, ARVN soldiers made a strong resistance against PAVN forces, however, ARVN defenses at Cu Chi and Hoc Mon start to collapse under the overwhelming PAVN attacks. In the Mekong Delta and Phu Quoc Island, many of ARVN soldiers were aggressive and intact to prevent VC taking over any provincial capitals. Less than a month after Huế, Saigon fell and South Vietnam ceased to exist as a political entity. The sudden and complete destruction of the ARVN shocked the world. Even their opponents were surprised at how quickly South Vietnam collapsed.

Five ARVN generals died by suicide during late April to avoid capture by the PAVN/VC and potential reeducation camps. General Le Nguyen Vy died via suicide in Lai Khe shortly after hearing Duong Van Minh surrender from the radio. Both ARVN generals in Can Tho, Le Van Hung and Nguyen Khoa Nam, took his own life after deciding not to prolong resistance against outnumbered PAVN/VC soldiers in Mekong Region. Brigadier General Tran Van Hai took his own life by poison at Dong Tam Base Camp. General Pham Van Phu died by suicide at a hospital in Saigon.

The U.S. had provided the ARVN with 793,994 M1 carbines, 220,300 M1 Garands and 520 M1C/M1D rifles, 640,000 M-16 rifles, 34,000 M79 grenade launchers, 40,000 radios, 20,000 quarter-ton trucks, 214 M41 Walker Bulldog light tanks, 77 M577 Command tracks (command version of the M113 APC), 930 M113 (APC/ACAVs), 120 V-100s (wheeled armored cars), and 190 M48 tanks. Operations Enhance and Enhance Plus an American effort in November 1972 managed to transfer 59 more M48A3 Patton tanks, 100 additional M-113A1 ACAVs (Armored Cavalry Assault Vehicles), and over 500 extra aircraft to South Vietnam. Despite such impressive figures, the Vietnamese were not as well equipped as the American infantrymen they replaced. The 1972 offensive had been driven back only with a massive American bombing campaign against North Vietnam.

The Case–Church Amendment had effectively nullified the Paris Peace Accords, and as a result the United States had cut aid to South Vietnam drastically in 1974, just months before the final enemy offensive, allowing North Vietnam to invade South Vietnam without fear of U.S. military action. As a result, only a little fuel and ammunition were being sent to South Vietnam. South Vietnamese air and ground vehicles were immobilized by lack of spare parts. Troops went into battle without batteries for their radios, and their medics lacked basic supplies. South Vietnamese rifles and artillery pieces were rationed to three rounds of ammunition per day in the last months of the war. Without enough supplies and ammunition, ARVN forces were quickly thrown into chaos and defeated by the well-supplied PAVN, no longer having to worry about U.S. bombing.

The victorious Communists sent over 250,000 ARVN soldiers to prison camps. Prisoners were incarcerated for periods ranging from weeks to 18 years. The communists called these prison camps "reeducation camps". The Americans and South Vietnamese had laid large minefields during the war, and former ARVN soldiers were made to clear them. Thousands died from sickness and starvation and were buried in unmarked graves. The South Vietnamese national military cemetery was vandalized and abandoned, and a mass grave of ARVN soldiers was made nearby. The charity "The Returning Casualty" in the early 2000s attempted to excavate and identify remains from some camp graves and restore the cemetery. Reporter Morley Safer who returned in 1989 and saw the poverty of a former soldier described the ARVN as "that wretched army that was damned by the victors, abandoned by its allies, and royally and continuously screwed by its commanders".

Formations and units
The 1956 army structure of four conventional infantry divisions (8,100 each) and six light divisions (5,800 each) were reorganised according to American advice as seven full infantry divisions (10,450 each) and three corps headquarters by September 1959. The three armed services together numbered around 137,000 in 1960. In face of the communist threat, the army was expanded to 192,000 with four corps, nine divisions, one airborne brigade, one SF group, three separate regiments, one territorial regiment, 86 ranger companies, and 19 separate battalions, as well as support units in 1963, and a force strength of 355,135 in 1970. Meanwhile, the supporting militia forces grew from a combined initial size of 116,000 in 1956, declined to 86,000 in 1959, and then were pushed up to 218,687 RF & 179,015 PF in 1970. The effect of expanding the total land force from about 220,000 in 1960 to around 750,000 in 1970 can be imagined, along with the troop quality issues that resulted.

Corps

 * I Corps/CTZ
 * II Corps/CTZ
 * III Corps/CTZ
 * IV Corps/CTZ
 * 44th Special Tactical Zone

Divisions

 * 1st Infantry Division – The French formed the 21st Mobile Group in 1953, renamed 21st Division in January 1955, the 1st Division later that year. Both the 1st and 2nd Divisions were established, Gordon Rottman writes, on January 1, 1959. Considered "one of the best South Vietnamese combat units". Based in Huế, it had four rather than three regiments. Component units:
 * 1st, 3rd, 51st and 54th Infantry Regiments
 * 10th, 11th, 12th and 13th Artillery Battalions
 * 7th Armoured Cavalry Squadron
 * US Advisory Teams 3 and 4 (renumbered 18 and 19 in 1968)
 * 2nd Infantry Division – The French formed the 32nd Mobile Group in 1953, renamed 32nd Division in January 1955, then the 2nd Division later that year. Based in Quảng Ngãi, it was considered a "fairly good" division. Component units:
 * 4th, 5th and 6th Infantry Regiments
 * 20th, 21st, 22nd and 23rd Artillery Battalions
 * 4th Armoured Cavalry Squadron
 * US Advisory Team 2 (renumbered 17 in 1968).
 * 3rd Infantry Division – Raised in October 1971 in Quảng Trị. One regiment was from the 1st Division (the 2nd Inf Regt). Based at Da Nang. It collapsed in the 1972 Easter Offensive, was reconstituted, and was destroyed at Da Nang in 1975. Component units:
 * 2nd, 56th and 57th Infantry Regiments
 * 30th, 31st, 32nd and 33rd Artillery Battalions
 * 20th Armoured Cavalry Squadron
 * US Advisory Team 155
 * 5th Infantry Division – Originally formed in North Vietnam as the 6th Division (commonly known as the "Nung" division), and renamed the 3rd Field Division after its move to Song Mao then to the 5th Division in 1959. Many Nungs originally were in its ranks. It was at Biên Hòa in 1963 and was involved in the overthrow of Diệm. It then operated north of Saigon. It entered Cambodia in 1970 and defended An Lộc in 1972. Component units:
 * 7th, 8th and 9th Infantry Regiments
 * 50th, 51st, 52nd and 53rd Artillery Battalions
 * 1st Armoured Cavalry Squadron
 * US Advisory Team 70
 * 7th Infantry Division – Formed as the 7th Mobile Group by the French, it became the 7th Division in 1959. Served in Mekong Delta 1961–75. Component units:
 * 10th, 11th and 12th Infantry Regiments
 * 70th, 71st, 72nd and 73rd Artillery Battalions
 * 6th Armoured Cavalry Squadron
 * US Advisory Team 75
 * 9th Infantry Division – Formed in 1962, northern Mekong Delta. Component units:
 * 14th, 15th and 16th Infantry Regiments
 * 90th, 91st, 92nd and 93rd Artillery Battalions
 * 2nd Armoured Cavalry Squadron
 * US Advisory Team 60
 * 18th Infantry Division – Formed as the 10th Division in 1965. Renamed the 18th Division in 1967 (number ten meant the worst in GI slang). Based at Xuân Lộc. Made famous for its defence of that town for a month in March–April 1975. Component units:
 * 43rd, 48th and 52nd Infantry Regiments
 * 180th, 181st, 182nd and 183rd Artillery Battalions
 * 5th Armoured Cavalry Squadron
 * US Advisory Team 87
 * 21st Infantry Division – The ARVN 1st and 3rd Light Divisions were formed in 1955, then renamed the 11th and 13th Light Divisions in 1956. They were combined to form the 21st Division in 1959. Served mainly near Saigon and in the Mekong Delta. Component units:
 * 31st, 32nd and 33rd Infantry Regiments
 * 210th, 211st, 212nd and 213rd Artillery Battalions
 * 9th Armoured Cavalry Squadron
 * US Advisory Team 51
 * 22nd Infantry Division – Initially raised as the 4th Infantry Division, which existed briefly in the 1950s, but was renamed the 22nd Division as four is considered an unlucky number in Vietnam (sounds in Vietnamese like the word for death). The ARVN 2nd and 4th Light Divisions were formed in 1955; the 4th was renamed the 14th Light Division in 1956. They were combined to form the 22nd Division in 1959. It served near Kon Tum and elsewhere in the Central Highlands. It collapsed in 1972, and in 1975 was in Bình Định province. It was evacuated south of Saigon as Central Highlands front fell, and was one of the last ARVN units to surrender. Component units:
 * 40th, 41st, 42nd and 47th Infantry Regiments
 * 220th, 221st, 222nd and 223rd Artillery Battalions
 * 19th Armoured Cavalry Squadron
 * US Advisory Team 22
 * 23rd Infantry Division – Originally the 5th Light Division, it was renamed 23rd in 1959. It operated in central Vietnam, and entered Cambodia in 1970. It fought well in 1972, successfully defending Kon Tum, but was shattered in 1975 while defending Ban Me Thout. Component units:
 * 43rd, 44th, 45th and 53rd Infantry Regiments
 * 230th, 231st, 232nd and 233rd Artillery Battalions
 * 8th Armoured Cavalry Squadron
 * US Advisory Team 33
 * 25th Infantry Division – Formed in Quảng Ngãi in 1962, it moved to south west of Saigon in 1964. It entered Parrot's Break, Cambodia in 1970, and defended the western approaches of Saigon in 1972 and 1975. Component units:
 * 46th, 49th and 50th Infantry Regiments
 * 250th, 251st, 252nd and 253rd Artillery Battalions
 * 10th Armoured Cavalry Squadron
 * US Advisory Team 99
 * Airborne Division – originally formed by the French as the Airborne Group in 1955. Brigade strength by 1959, it was formed as division in 1965. Based at Tan Son Nhut Air Base, it was used as a fire brigade throughout South Vietnam. It included 9 Airborne Battalions and 3 Airborne Ranger Battalions. It fought in Cambodia in 1970 and Laos in 1971. It was used as brigade Groups in 1975, the 1st at Xuân Lộc, the 2nd at Phan Rang, and the 3rd at Nha Trang. A 4th Brigade was added in 1974. Component units:
 * 1st Airborne Brigade
 * 1st, 8th and 9th Airborne Battalions
 * 1st Airborne Artillery Battalion
 * 2nd Airborne Brigade
 * 5th, 7th and 11th Airborne Battalions
 * 2nd Airborne Artillery Battalion
 * 3rd Airborne Brigade
 * 2nd, 3rd and 6th Airborne Battalions
 * 3rd Airborne Artillery Battalion
 * 4th Airborne Brigade
 * 4th and 10th Airborne Battalions
 * US Airborne Advisory Team 162

Rangers, Special Forces, and Presidential Guard

 * ARVN Rangers (Biệt Động Quân)
 * 1st Ranger Group: 21st, 37th and 39th Ranger Battalions
 * 2nd Ranger Group: 11th, 22nd and 23rd Ranger Battalions
 * 3rd Ranger Group: 31st, 36th and 52nd Ranger Battalions
 * 4th Ranger Group: 42nd, 43rd and 44th Ranger Battalions
 * 5th Ranger Group: 33rd, 34th and 38th Ranger Battalions
 * 6th Ranger Group: 35th, 51st and 54th Ranger Battalions
 * 7th Ranger Group: 32nd and 85th Ranger Battalions
 * 8th Ranger Group: 84th and 87th Ranger Battalions
 * 9th Ranger Group: 91st and 92nd Ranger Battalions
 * 81st Ranger Group: 81st Ranger Battalion (Airborne)
 * ARVN Special Forces (Lực Lượng Đặc Biệt or LLDB)
 * Presidential Guard (Lữ đoàn Liên binh phòng vệ Tổng Thống Phủ)

Armored units

 * 3d Armored Cavalry Squadron, II Corps
 * 20th Tank Regiment, I Corps
 * 1st Armored Brigade
 * 1st Armored Cavalry Regiment
 * 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment
 * 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment
 * 4th Armored Cavalry Regiment
 * 2nd Armored Brigade
 * 5th Armored Cavalry Regiment
 * 6th Armored Cavalry Regiment
 * 8th Armored Cavalry Regiment
 * 9th Armored Cavalry Regiment
 * 3rd Armored Brigade
 * 10th Armored cavalry Regiment
 * 12th Armored Cavalry Regiment
 * 13th Armored Cavalry Regiment
 * 14th Armored Cavalry Regiment
 * 4th Armored Brigade
 * 15th Armored Cavalry Regiment
 * 16th Armored Cavalry Regiment
 * 17th Armored Cavalry Regiment
 * 18th Armored Cavalry Regiment
 * 7th Armored Cavalry Regiment (independent unit)
 * 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment (independent unit)
 * 315th Armored Brigade
 * 318th Armored Brigade
 * 322nd Armored Brigade

Generals

 * Cao Văn Viên, Chairman of the Joint General Staff
 * Đặng Văn Quang, National Security Adviser to President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu
 * Đỗ Cao Trí, Commander of ARVN's III Corps during 1968–71, known for his fighting prowess, but also his flamboyant lifestyle and allegations of corruption.
 * Dương Văn Minh, leader of the 1963 coup, later become the last President of South Vietnam
 * Lê Minh Đảo, Commander of the 18th Division that fought PAVN forces at Xuân Lộc in 1975
 * Lê Nguyên Khang, Marine Commander of the Republic of Vietnam Marine Corps
 * Lê Nguyên Vỹ, last commander of 5th Division, one of the 5 generals who died by suicide on April 30, 1975
 * Lê Văn Hưng, defender of An Lộc during the Easter Offensive in 1972, one of the five generals who died by suicide on April 30, 1975
 * Ngô Quang Trưởng, ARVN Corps commander renowned for his competence, tactical proficiency, forthrightness, and incorruptibility. Widely regarded by both American and Vietnamese contemporaries as the finest field commander the ARVN possessed.
 * Nguyễn Văn Hiếu
 * Nguyễn Khánh, Head-of-State 1964–65
 * Nguyễn Khoa Nam, last Commander of IV Corps, one of the five generals who died by suicide on April 30, 1975
 * Nguyễn Viết Thanh, commander of the 7th Division and later of IV Corps.
 * Nguyễn Chánh Thi, "Coup Specialist", Commander of I Corps during 1964–66
 * Nguyễn Văn Thiệu, President during 1967–71, 1971–75
 * Phạm Văn Đồng, Military Governor of Saigon 1965–1966, suppressed Buddhist movement
 * Phạm Văn Phú, last Commander of II Corps, one of the five generals who died by suicide on April 30, 1975
 * Trần Văn Minh, Ambassador of the Republic of Vietnam to Tunis, Tunisia 1969–75
 * Trần Văn Hai, last commander of 7th Division 1974–75, one of the five generals who died by suicide on April 30, 1975
 * Trần Quang Khôi, last commander of the ARVN III and III Corps Assault Task Force (ATF), he was captured at the end of the battle on April 30, 1975, and spent 17 years in a re-education camp

Equipment
The ARVN inherited the mix of French and American weaponry of the VNA, but was progressively reequipped originally with American World War II/Korean War era weapons and then from the mid-1960s with a range of more up to date American weaponry.

Hand combat weapons

 * M1905 bayonet – used on the M1 Garand.
 * M1 Bayonet – used on the M1 Garand.
 * M4 bayonet – used on the M1 and M2 Carbine.
 * M5 bayonet – used on the M1 Garand
 * M7 Bayonet – used on the M16
 * Crossbow – used by South Vietnamese Montagnards

Pistols and revolvers

 * Colt M1911A1 – standard ARVN sidearm
 * Colt Detective Special – .38 Special revolver, used by some ARVN officers
 * M1917 revolver – .45 ACP revolver used by the ARVN at the beginning of the war
 * Smith & Wesson Model 10 – .38 Special revolver

Infantry rifles

 * M1 Garand
 * M1, M1A1, & M2 Carbine
 * M16A1 – replaced M1 Garand and M1/2 Carbines from 1968
 * CAR-15 – carbine variant of the M16 produced in very limited numbers, fielded by special operations early on. Later supplemented by the improved XM177.
 * XM177 (Colt Commando)/GAU-5 – further development of the CAR-15
 * MAS-36 rifle – used by South Vietnamese militias
 * AK-47, AKM and Type 56 – Captured rifles were used by South Vietnamese

Submachine guns

 * Carl Gustaf m/45 – later replaced by the Smith & Wesson M76 in the late 1960s. Significant numbers were utilized by the South Vietnamese,
 * M3 Grease gun
 * Madsen M-50 – used by South Vietnamese forces, supplied by the CIA.
 * MAS-38 submachine gun – used by South Vietnamese militias.
 * MAT-49 submachine gun – used by South Vietnamese militias.
 * MP 40 submachine gun – supplied by the CIA
 * Thompson submachine gun
 * Uzi

Shotguns

 * Ithaca 37 – pump-action shotgun
 * Remington Model 31 – pump-action shotgun
 * Stevens Model 77E – pump-action shotgun

Machine guns

 * M60 machine gun – standard General-purpose machine gun throughout the war.
 * Colt Machine Gun – experimental light machine gun deployed by SEAL Team 2 in 1970.
 * M1918 Browning Automatic Rifle – used during the early stages of the war
 * FM 24/29 light machine gun – used by South Vietnamese militias
 * M1919 Browning machine gun (and variants such as M37)
 * Browning M2HB .50cal Heavy Machine Gun

Grenades and mines

 * AN-M8 – white smoke grenade
 * C4 explosive
 * Mark 2 fragmentation grenade
 * M1 smoke pot
 * M26 fragmentation grenade and many subvariants
 * M59 and M67 fragmentation grenade
 * AN/M14 TH3 thermite grenade – Incendiary grenade used to destroy equipment and as a fire-starting device
 * M15 and M34 smoke grenades – filled with white phosphorus which ignites on contact with air and creates thick white smoke. Used for signalling and screening purposes, as well as an anti-personnel weapon in enclosed spaces, as the burning white phosphorus would rapidly consume any oxygen, suffocating the victims.
 * M18 grenade Smoke Hand Grenade – Signaling/screening grenade available in red, yellow, green, and purple.
 * V40 Mini-Grenade
 * OF 37 grenade and DF 37 grenade, French grenades used by the ARVN in the 1950s
 * M18/M18A1 Claymore – command-detonated directional anti-personnel mine

Grenade and Rocket Launchers

 * M7 and M8 rifle grenade launcher – rifle grenade launcher used with respectively the M1 Garand and the M1 carbine, used by the South Vietnamese. Could fire the M9 and M17 rifle grenades.
 * M79 Grenade Launcher
 * M203 grenade launcher – single-shot 40mm underslung grenade launcher designed to attach to an M16 rifle (or XM177 carbine, with modifications to the launcher).
 * Mark 18 Mod 0 grenade launcher – Hand-cranked, belt-fed, 40x46mm grenade launcher
 * Bazooka – The M9 variant was supplied to the ARVN during the early years of the war, while the M20 "Super Bazooka" was used by the ARVN until the full introduction of the M67 90mm recoilless rifle and of the M72 LAW.
 * M72 LAW – 66mm anti-tank rocket launcher.
 * XM202 – experimental four-shot 66mm incendiary rocket launcher.
 * BGM-71 TOW – wire-guided anti-tank missile

Infantry support weapons

 * M18 recoilless rifle – 57mm shoulder-fired/tripod mounted recoilless rifle, used early in the war
 * M20 recoilless rifle – 75mm tripod/vehicle-mounted recoilless rifle, used early in the war.
 * M67 recoilless rifle – 90mm shoulder-fired anti-tank recoilless rifle, used by ARVN selected forces.
 * M40 recoilless rifle 106mm tripod/vehicle-mounted recoilless rifle.
 * M2 mortar – 60mm mortar, used in conjunction with the lighter but less accurate and lower-range M19 mortar
 * M19 mortar – 60mm mortar, used in conjunction with the older, heavier M2 mortar.
 * Brandt Mle 27/31
 * M1 mortar – 81mm mortar
 * M29 mortar – 81mm mortar
 * M30 mortar 107mm mortar

Artillery

 * 105 mm Howitzer M101A1/M2A1
 * 105 mm Howitzer M102
 * M107 Self-propelled 175mm gun

Tanks

 * M24 Chaffee – light tank; main ARVN tank early in the war, used at least as late as the Tet Offensive.
 * M41A3 Walker Bulldog – light tank, replaced the M24 Chaffee as the main ARVN tank from 1965.
 * M48 Patton medium tank – used by ARVN forces from 1971.

Other armored vehicles

 * C15TA Armoured Truck – used early in the war
 * Lynx Scout Car Mk II
 * M113 – APC (Armored Personnel Carrier)
 * M113 ACAV v Armored Cavalry Assault Vehicle
 * M3 Scout Car – used early in the war.
 * M3 Half-track – used early in the war.
 * Cadillac Gage V-100 Commando – replaced ARVN M8 armored cars in 1967.
 * M8 Greyhound Used early in the war.
 * M42 Duster – M41 based hull, with a twin 40 mm antiaircraft gun mounted on an open turret
 * M88 Recovery Vehicle – armored recovery vehicle based on M48 chassis.
 * M578 light recovery vehicle – armored recovery vehicle
 * Wickums armored draisine

Other vehicles

 * M151 – $1/4$ ton jeep.
 * Dodge M37 – 3/4 ton truck
 * M35 series 2½-ton 6x6 cargo truck
 * M135 2½-ton truck
 * M54 5-ton 6x6 truck

title: Army of the Republic of Vietnam


text:
Chapatsu

Chapatsu (茶髪/ちゃぱつ), literally "brown hair" in the Japanese language, is a style of bleaching (and occasionally dyeing) hair, found among Japanese teens. The style was once banned at Japanese schools and became a widespread topic of the civic right to self-expression, but discussion of the topic died down due to the ubiquity of the style.

Etymology
The word chapatsu is formed from two morphemes:, meaning "tea or brown, in this case, brown" and , meaning "hair". Chapatsu originally referred to a variety of colors of hair dye, including blonde, red, orange, and blue, it now refers to brown hue. In Japanese the word is also frequently written in hiragana syllabary.

Style
While the style itself began to show up in Tokyo streets during the early to mid-1990s, chapatsu was first described in Imidas, an annual publication of new words and concepts in the Japanese language, in 1997. Chapatsu did not appear in Kōjien, an authoritative dictionary of the Japanese language, until 1998. The style first gained popularity among adolescent girls, seeking to accentuate their tanned skin (rebelling against more traditional definitions of beauty), but quickly became mainstream. By the mid-2000s, however, trends seemed to indicate that the "chapatsu" as a mainstream style was on its way out. Although chapatsu died out as youth-centered fashion trend of rebellion, it came to be accepted not only on young people but also in certain business settings, and it was established before long as a Japanese fashion.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Chapatsu


text:
Suzanne Crough

Suzanne J. Crough (March 6, 1963 – April 27, 2015) was an American child actress best known for her role as Tracy Partridge on The Partridge Family.

Career
On The Partridge Family, a musical sitcom TV show which ran from 1970 to 1974, Crough played Tracy Partridge, the youngest Partridge sibling, who played the tambourine. After The Partridge Family, she made several TV movies and made guest appearances on television shows, including Mulligan's Stew. Her last credited on-screen role was as Kate in the 1980 TV movie Children of Divorce.

Post-acting life
Crough graduated from Los Angeles Pierce College and until 1993 owned and operated a bookstore. She married William Condray in July 1985; the couple had two daughters.

On March 2, 2010, during a reunion interview with several co-stars from The Partridge Family on The Today Show, she stated she was a manager at an OfficeMax in Bullhead City, Arizona.

Death
Crough died while sitting at her dining room table at her home in Laughlin, Nevada, on April 27, 2015, at the age of 52. The cause of death was not immediately reported, but Las Vegas police issued a statement that it was due to a "medical episode" and was "not suspicious". According to the coroner of Clark County, Nevada, Crough's cause of death was arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia, a rare form of cardiomyopathy.

Several of Crough's Partridge Family co-stars paid tribute to her, including Shirley Jones and Danny Bonaduce. Bonaduce lamented, "Everyone thought I'd be the first Partridge to go. Sadly it was little Tracy. Suzanne was a wonderful lady and a good mom. She will be missed."

title: Suzanne Crough


text:
Brian Forster

Brian A. Forster (born April 14, 1960) is an American former child actor and racing car driver. He is best known as the second actor to play the role of Chris Partridge in the television series The Partridge Family.

Biography
Forster was born in Los Angeles, the son of English-born actors Jennifer Raine and Peter Forster and, through his mother, a great-great-great-grandson of Charles Dickens. He is also the stepson of actor Whit Bissell and stepgrandson of actor Alan Napier, who portrayed Alfred the Butler in the Batman television series (1966–1968).

Forster joined The Partridge Family in 1971, replacing Jeremy Gelbwaks, and continued until the show ended in 1974. Chris Partridge was the drummer of the fictional family band. As of 2002/2003, Forster was a racing car driver in Northern California, and continued to act in community theater there.

title: Brian Forster


text:
Shirley Jones

Shirley Mae Jones (born March 31, 1934) is an American actress and singer. In her six decades in show business, she has starred as wholesome characters in a number of musical films, such as Oklahoma! (1955), Carousel (1956), and The Music Man (1962). She won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for playing a vengeful prostitute in Elmer Gantry (1960). She played the lead role of Shirley Partridge, the widowed mother of five children, in the musical situation-comedy television series The Partridge Family (1970–1974), which co-starred her real-life stepson, David Cassidy, son of Jack Cassidy.

Early life
Jones was born on March 31, 1934, in Charleroi, Pennsylvania, to Methodist parents Marjorie (née Williams), no profession, and Paul Jones, owner of the Jones Brewing Company. Jones' paternal grandfather came from Wales. She was named after child star Shirley Temple.

Jones says that many people have incorrectly assumed that her middle name was named after vaudeville and film legend Mae West, but Jones was actually named after her aunt. Coincidentally, the first star Jones ever met was West, who was performing at the Twin Coaches supper club in Rostraver around 1954.

The family later moved to the small nearby town of Smithton. Jones began singing at the age of six in the Methodist Church choir and took voice lessons from Ralph Lewando. While attending South Huntingdon High School in Ruffs Dale, she participated in school plays.

Jones won the Miss Pittsburgh contest in 1952.

Early stage career
Her first audition was for an open bi-weekly casting call held by John Fearnley, casting director for Rodgers and Hammerstein and their various musicals. At the time, Jones had never heard of Rodgers and Hammerstein. Fearnley was so impressed, he ran across the street to fetch Richard Rodgers, who was rehearsing with an orchestra for an upcoming musical. Rodgers then called Oscar Hammerstein at home. The two saw great potential in Jones. She became the first and only singer to be put under personal contract with the songwriters. They first cast her in a minor role in South Pacific. For her second Broadway show, Me and Juliet, she started as a chorus girl, and then an understudy for the lead role, earning rave reviews in Chicago.

Movie actress
Jones impressed Rodgers and Hammerstein with her musically trained voice, and was cast as the female lead in the film adaptation Oklahoma! in 1955. Other film musicals quickly followed, including Carousel (1956), April Love (1957), and The Music Man (1962), in which she was often typecast as a wholesome, kind character. However, she won a 1960 Academy Award for her performance in Elmer Gantry portraying a woman corrupted by the title character played by Burt Lancaster. Her character becomes a prostitute who encounters her seducer years later and reveals his true character. The director, Richard Brooks, had originally fought against her being in the movie, but after seeing her first scene, told her she would win an Oscar for her performance. She was reunited with Ron Howard (who had played her brother in The Music Man) in The Courtship of Eddie's Father (1963). Jones landed the role of a lady who fell in love with the professor in Fluffy (1965).

In her film career, she has worked with some of Hollywood's icons: Jimmy Stewart, Gene Kelly, Marlon Brando, James Cagney, Henry Fonda, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and director John Ford.

The Partridge Family
In 1970, after turning down the role of Carol Brady on The Brady Bunch, a role that ultimately went to her best friend, Florence Henderson, Jones was the producers' first choice to audition for the lead role of Shirley Partridge in The Partridge Family, an ABC musical sitcom based loosely on the real-life musical family The Cowsills. The series focused on a young widowed mother whose five children form a pop-rock group after the entire family painted its signature bus to travel. She was convinced that the combination of music and comedy would be a surefire hit. Jones realized, however, that:

"The problem with Partridge—though it was great for me and gave me an opportunity to stay home and raise my kids—when my agents came to me and presented it to me, they said if you do a series and it becomes a hit show, you will be that character for the rest of your life and your film career will go into the toilet, which is what happened. But I have no regrets."

During its first season, it became a hit and was screened in over 70 countries. Within months, Jones and her co-stars were pop culture television icons. Her real-life 20-year-old stepson David Cassidy, who was an unknown actor at the time, played Shirley Partridge's eldest son Keith and became a teen idol. The show also spawned a number of albums and singles by The Partridge Family, performed by David Cassidy and Shirley Jones. That same year, "I Think I Love You" reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 music chart, making Jones the second person, after Frank Sinatra, and the first woman to win an acting Oscar and also have a number-one hit on that chart, an achievement only matched by Cher and Barbra Streisand. The Partridge Family won a NARM award for the best-selling single of the year in 1970 for their hit "I Think I Love You". In 1971, The Partridge Family was nominated for a Grammy under the Best New Artist category.

The series' run ended in 1974.

Shirley Jones's friendship with David Cassidy had begun in the mid-to-late 1950s, when David was just six, after he learned about his father's divorce from his mother Evelyn Ward. Upon David's first meeting with Shirley before co-starring with her on The Partridge Family, he said, "The day he tells me that they're divorced, he tells me, 'We're remarried, and let me introduce you to my new wife.' He was thrilled when her first film, Oklahoma! (1955), had come out; and my dad took me to see it—I just see her, and I go, uh-oh, it doesn't really quite register with me, 'cause I'm in total shock, because I wanted to hate her, but the instant that I met her, I got the essence of her. She's a very warm, open, sweet, good human being. She couldn't have thawed it for me—the coldness and the ice—any more than she did." Shirley was shocked to hear her real-life stepson was going to audition for the role of Keith Partridge. David said, "At the auditions, they introduced me to the lead actress [Shirley Jones] 'cause they had no idea, they had no idea. So I said, 'What are you doing here?' She looked at me and said, 'What are you doing here?' And I said, 'Well, I'm reading for the lead guy.' I said, 'What are you doing here?' She said, 'I'm the mother!'" Cassidy discussed his relationship with his stepmother on the show: "She wasn't my mother, and I can be very open, and we can speak, and we became very close friends. She was a very good role model for me, watching the way, you know, she dealt with people on the set, and watching people revere her."

Cassidy appeared on many shows alongside his stepmother, including A&E Biography, TV Land Confidential, and The Today Show, and he was one of the presenters of his stepmother's Intimate Portrait on Lifetime Television, and the reality show pilot In Search of the Partridge Family, where he served as co-executive producer. The rest of the cast also celebrated the 25th, 30th, and 35th anniversaries of The Partridge Family (although Cassidy was unavailable to attend the 25th anniversary in 1995 owing to other commitments). In addition, Jack Cassidy's death in 1976 drew Jones and Cassidy closer as Shirley's three children and stepson mourned their father.

Shirley and other projects
In 1979, Jones tried her hand at television for the second time, starring in the NBC show Shirley, which, like The Partridge Family, featured a family headed by a widowed mother, but the show failed to win ratings and was cancelled toward the middle of the season. Jones also played the "older woman" girlfriend of Drew Carey's character in several episodes of The Drew Carey Show, and reprised Shirley Partridge in a cameo in a 2000 episode of That '70s Show.

She was also in the dramatic project There Were Times, Dear, in which she played a loyal wife whose husband is dying of Alzheimer's disease; she was nominated for an Emmy Award for this work.

In February 1986, Jones unveiled her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Vine Street just around the corner from Hollywood Boulevard. In 1983, she appeared in a rare revival of Noël Coward's operetta, Bitter Sweet. In 2004, she returned to Broadway in a revival of 42nd Street, portraying diva Dorothy Brock opposite Patrick Cassidy, the first time a mother and son were known to star together on Broadway. In July 2005, Jones revisited the musical Carousel onstage in Massachusetts, portraying "Cousin Nettie".

In July 2006, Jones received another Emmy Award nomination for her supporting performance in the television film Hidden Places. She was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild award for the same film but lost to Helen Mirren for Elizabeth I. She also appeared in Grandma's Boy (2006) as a nymphomaniac senior citizen. On November 16, 2007, she took the stage at the Ford Center in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, during the Oklahoma Centennial Spectacular concert that celebrated the state's 100th birthday. Jones sang the songs "Oklahoma!" and "People Will Say We're In Love" from the musical Oklahoma!.

In early 2008, it was announced that Jones would play Colleen Brady on the long-running NBC soap opera Days of Our Lives. Jones guest-starred on ABC Family's short-lived show Ruby & The Rockits as David and Patrick's mother.

In 2008, U.K. label Stage Door Records released the retrospective collection Then & Now featuring 24 songs from Jones's musical career, including songs from the films Oklahoma!, Carousel, and April Love. The album featured new recordings of songs including "Beauty and the Beast", "Memory", and a sentimental tribute to The Music Man. She had a recurring role as Burt Chance's mother in the Fox TV comedy series Raising Hope.

In mid-2012, Jones played Mrs. Paroo, when her son Patrick played Harold Hill, in a California Musical Theatre revival of The Music Man.

In 2014, Jones guest-starred on an episode of General Hospital as Mrs. McClain.

Personal life
On August 5, 1956, Jones married actor and singer Jack Cassidy. They had three sons, Shaun, Patrick, and Ryan. David Cassidy was Jack's son from his first marriage to actress Evelyn Ward and became her stepson. Jones divorced Cassidy in 1975. She married actor and comedian Marty Ingels on November 13, 1977. Jones and Ingels wrote an autobiography based on their relationship called Shirley & Marty: An Unlikely Love Story. Despite being what Ingels called having an “odd-couple relationship” and separations (she filed, then withdrew, a divorce petition in 2002), they remained married until Ingels' death on October 21, 2015, from a massive stroke. After his death, Jones said: "He often drove me crazy, but there's not a day I won't miss him and love him to my core."

On the evening of December 11, 1976, after Jones had refused an offer of reconciliation from Jack Cassidy, she received news that her ex-husband's penthouse apartment was on fire. Apparently, the fire started from his lit cigarette when he fell asleep on the couch; the following morning, firefighters found Cassidy's body inside the gutted apartment. Jack "wanted to come back (to me) right up to the day he died", Jones said in a 1983 newspaper interview. "And as I realized later, I wanted him. That's the terrible part. Much as I love Marty and have a wonderful relationship—I'd say this with Marty sitting here—I'm not sure if Jack were alive I'd be married to Marty." Jones was 20 years old when she met Cassidy, who was seven years her senior, and she refers to him as the most influential person in and the love of her life.

Jones is a supporter of PETA.

Jones was devastated when Suzanne Crough died on April 27, 2015; Crough played one of her TV daughters on The Partridge Family. She had a very close relationship with the younger actress and remained close friends long after the series was cancelled, and regularly would send cards and birthday presents for Crough and her children. Jones said of Crough's death on Hollywood Life:"I am so devastated to hear of the sad and sudden loss of Suzanne. I still remember her as my young daughter on The Partridge Family. She was the baby of the show. It's a rude awakening that we are all mortal. How fleeting life is. My heart goes out to her family and children. Suzanne will always be remembered and I will always treasure my memories of her. Suzanne Crough ... my sweet TV baby for 5 years ... only 52 ... never a sick day ... two adorable children ... a devoted husband ... everything to live for ... just fell asleep at the dining room table and left us forever. Dear God take care of my baby."

With regard to David Cassidy's alcohol abuse and legal problems, Jones once shared her family's related concerns:"We are just scared to death that we are going to wake up one morning and find out that he is dead on the floor. David has not had a relationship with anyone in the family for years. We are sick over it!" David Cassidy died on November 21, 2017. The day after his death, Jones commented publicly:"Long before he played my son on The Partridge Family, he was my stepson in real life. As a little boy, his sweet sensitivity, and wicked sense of humor were already on display, and I will treasure the years we spent working and growing together. I will also find solace knowing that David is now with his dad."

Television

 * 1950: Fireside Theatre (acting debut)
 * 1952: Gruen Guild Playhouse
 * 1956: Ford Star Jubilee
 * 1956: Playhouse 90
 * 1957: Lux Video Theatre
 * 1957: The Pat Boone Chevy Showroom (guest)
 * 1957: The United States Steel Hour
 * 1958: DuPont Show of the Month
 * 1959: Make Room for Daddy (as herself)
 * 1964: Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre
 * 1969: Silent Night, Lonely Night
 * 1969: The Carol Burnett Show
 * 1969: The Name of the Game
 * 1970–74: The Partridge Family
 * 1971: Curiosity Shop (Episode: The Curiosity Shop Special)
 * 1973: The Girls of Huntington House
 * 1975: The Family Nobody Wanted
 * 1975: The Lives of Jenny Dolan
 * 1975: Winner Take All
 * 1977: McMillan & Wife
 * 1977: Yesterday's Child
 * 1978: Evening in Byzantium
 * 1978: Who'll Save Our Children?
 * 1979: A Last Cry for Help
 * 1979–80: Shirley
 * 1980: The Children of An Lac
 * 1981: Inmates: A Love Story
 * 1982: The Adventures of Pollyanna
 * 1983/87: Hotel
 * 1983: Hotel (pilot)
 * 1983: The Love Boat
 * 1988/90: Murder, She Wrote
 * 1989: Charlie (unsold pilot)
 * 1997: Dog's Best Friend
 * 1998: Melrose Place
 * 1998: The Drew Carey Show
 * 1999: Sabrina the Teenage Witch
 * 2000: That '70s Show (cameo)
 * 2003: Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
 * 2006: Hidden Places
 * 2006: Monarch Cove
 * 2008: Days of Our Lives
 * 2009: Ruby & The Rockits
 * 2011/14: Raising Hope (3 episodes)
 * 2012: Good Luck Charlie (Episodes: "Welcome Home", "A Duncan Christmas")
 * 2012: Victorious (Episode: "Car, Rain, and Fire")
 * 2013: Cougar Town
 * 2013: Hot in Cleveland
 * 2014: General Hospital
 * 2014: Over the Garden Wall (voice)
 * 2016: Childrens Hospital (cameo as herself)

Stage

 * 1953: South Pacific (Broadway)
 * 1954: Me and Juliet (Chicago)
 * 1956: Oklahoma! (European tour with Jack Cassidy)
 * 1957: The Beggar's Opera (with Cassidy)
 * 1959: Wish You Were Here! (Dallas State Fair Theater, with Cassidy)
 * 1966: The Sound of Music (Westbury Music Fair)
 * 1967: Wait Until Dark (with Cassidy)
 * 1968: Maggie Flynn (Broadway, with Cassidy)
 * 1972: The Marriage Band (with Cassidy)
 * 1974: On a Clear Day You Can See Forever
 * 1976: Show Boat
 * 1977: The Sound of Music
 * 1982: Bitter Sweet
 * 1994: Love Letters (with Marty Ingels)
 * 1994: The King and I
 * 1994: A Christmas Carol
 * 1995: Love Letters (with Marty Ingels)
 * 2004: 42nd Street (Broadway, with Patrick Cassidy)
 * 2005: Carousel
 * 2012: The Music Man (Sacramento Music Circus, with Patrick Cassidy)

Shirley Jones and Jack Cassidy albums

 * Speaking of Love (1957) (Columbia Records)
 * Brigadoon (1957) (Columbia Records)
 * With Love from Hollywood (1958) (Columbia Records)
 * Marriage Type Love (1959) (RCA Records, unreleased)
 * Maggie Flynn (1968) (RCA Records)
 * Show Tunes (1995) (Sony Music)
 * Essential Masters (2011) (Master Classics Records)
 * Marriage Type Love (2014) (Columbia Masterworks)

The Partridge Family albums

 * The Partridge Family Album (1970) (Bell Records)
 * Up To Date (1971) (Bell Records)
 * Sound Magazine (1971) (Bell Records)
 * A Partridge Family Christmas Card (1971) (Bell Records)
 * Shopping Bag (1972) (Bell Records)
 * At Home With Their Greatest Hits (1972) (Bell Records)
 * Notebook (1972) (Bell Records)
 * Crossword Puzzle (1973) (Bell Records)
 * Bulletin Board (1973) (Bell Records)
 * The World of the Partridge Family (1974) (Bell Records)
 * Greatest Hits (1989) (Arista Records)
 * The Definitive Collection (2001) (Arista Records)
 * Come On Get Happy!: The Very Best of The Partridge Family (2005) (Arista Records)

The Partridge Family singles

 * "I Think I Love You" (1970) (Bell Records)
 * "Doesn't Somebody Want to Be Wanted" (1971) (Bell Records)
 * "I'll Meet You Halfway" (1971) (Bell Records)
 * "I Woke Up In Love This Morning" (1971) (Bell Records)
 * "It's One of Those Nights (Yes Love)" (1972) (Bell Records)
 * "Am I Losing You" (1972) (Bell Records)
 * "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do" (1972) (Bell Records)
 * "Looking Through the Eyes of Love" (1972) (Bell Records)
 * "Friend and a Lover" (1973) (Bell Records)
 * "Walking in the Rain" (1973) Bell Records
 * "Looking For a Good Time" (1973) (Bell Records)

Shirley Jones albums

 * Silent Strength (1989) (Diadem Records)
 * Shirley (1992) A & M Records
 * Shirley Jones (2000) (Ingels Ent. Records)
 * Then & Now (2008) (Stage Door Records)
 * A Touch of Christmas (2009) (Encore Music Presents Records)
 * A Tribute to Richard Rodgers (2010) (Encore Music Presents Records)

Shirley Jones singles

 * "Clover in the Meadow" b/w "Give me a Gentle Girl" (1957) (Dot Records) from April Love movie soundtrack
 * "Pepe" b/w "Lovely Day" (1960) (Colpix Records) from Pepe movie soundtrack (This record hit the top 5 in Spain, 1961, on the Discophon label)
 * "I've Still Got My Heart Joe" b/w "Everybody's Reachin' Out for Someone" (1971) (Bell Records 119)
 * "Ain't Love Easy" b/w "Roses in the Snow" (1972) (Bell Records 253)
 * "Walk in Silence" b/w "The World is a Circle" (1973) (Bell Records 350)

Soundtracks

 * Oklahoma! (1955) (Capitol Records) (songs: "The Surrey with the Fringe on Top", "Many a New Day", "People Will Say We're in Love", "Out of My Dreams", "Oklahoma")
 * Carousel (1956) (Capitol Records) (songs: "You're A Queer One, Julie Jordan", "If I Loved You", "What's The Use Of Wond'rin", "You'll Never Walk Alone")
 * April Love (1957) (Dot Records) (songs: "Give Me A Gentle Girl", "April Love" with Pat Boone, "Do It Yourself" with Pat Boone, "The Bentonville Fair" with Pat Boone, "Finale" with Pat Boone)
 * Never Steal Anything Small (1959) (song: "I Haven't Got a Thing to Wear")
 * Pepe (1960) Colpix Records (songs: "Pepe", "Lovely Day")
 * The Music Man (1962) (Warner Bros. Records) (songs: "Piano Lesson / If You Don't Mind My Saying So", "Goodnight, My Someone", "Being in Love", "Lida Rose/Will I Ever Tell You", "Till There Was You")
 * Endless Night (1972) (song: "Endless Night")
 * Manna from Heaven (2002) (song: "Just the Way You Look Tonight")
 * Christmas Is Here Again (2007) (songs: "Easy To Dream", "All Because of Me")
 * Over the Garden Wall (2014) (song: "One Is a Bird")

Album appearances

 * Free to Be... You and Me (1972) (Bell Records) (song: "Girl Land" with Jack Cassidy)
 * The Christmas Album.....A Gift of Hope (1991) Children's Hospital Benefit Album (song: "Silver Bells" with Shaun Cassidy)
 * An Evening with Rodgers & Hammerstein, The Sullivan Years (1993) TVT Records
 * Embraceable You – Broadway In Love (1993) (Sony Music)
 * George & Ira Gershwin, A Musical Celebration (1994) (MCA Records) (song: "Someone to watch over Me")
 * Lerner, Loewe, Lane & Friends (1998) Varèse Sarabande Records (song: "Before I Gaze at You Again")

title: Shirley Jones


text:
Susan Dey

Susan Hallock Dey (born December 10, 1952) is a retired American actress, known for her television roles as Laurie Partridge on the sitcom The Partridge Family from 1970 to 1974, and as Grace Van Owen on the drama series L.A. Law from 1986 to 1992. A three-time Emmy Award nominee and six-time Golden Globe Award nominee, she won the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Drama Series for L.A. Law in 1988.

Early life and education
Dey was born in Pekin, Illinois, to Ruth Pyle (née Doremus) Dey, a nurse. Ruth died in 1961, when Susan was eight.

Dey attended Columbus Elementary School in Thornwood, New York. She later moved to Mount Kisco, New York, where she graduated from Fox Lane High School in 1970.

Career
Dey began her professional life as a model. Her first modeling break was the cover photo of a booklet by Pursettes tampons on first facts of menstruation for young girls, "Getting to Know Yourself."

She was cast as Laurie Partridge in the television series The Partridge Family from 1970 to 1974. She was 17 when she won the part with no previous acting experience. She briefly reprised that role for the Hanna-Barbera animated series, Partridge Family 2200 A.D. for two episodes, before being replaced by Sherry Alberoni. She returned to weekly network television in 1977 as the co-star of the short-lived sitcom Loves Me, Loves Me Not.

Dey's first film role was as a passenger in the 1972 airline hijack movie Skyjacked, starring Charlton Heston. In a 1977 made-for-television movie, Mary Jane Harper Cried Last Night, she portrayed a disturbed young mother with serious psychological problems who begins to take them out on her toddler daughter. Also in 1977, Dey starred opposite William Katt in First Love, directed by Joan Darling and appeared in the Barnaby Jones episode "Testament of Power" (1977).

Dey co-starred with Albert Finney in the 1981 science-fiction film Looker, written and directed by Michael Crichton. She had a leading role in 1986's Echo Park as a struggling waitress-actress who takes a job as a stripper who delivers singing telegrams. She starred on L.A. Law from 1986 through 1992 as Los Angeles County deputy district attorney Grace Van Owen, who later became a judge. She won a Golden Globe Award as Actress in a Leading Role – Drama Series for the role in 1988. She was also nominated in each of the following four years. She was also nominated for the Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series in 1987, 1988, and 1989.

She hosted a 1992 episode of Saturday Night Live. Later that year, she co-starred in the sitcom Love & War. Although the show ran until 1995, Dey was replaced in 1993 by Annie Potts because producers reportedly felt she had "no chemistry" with co-star Jay Thomas. In 1993, Dey produced and starred in Lies & Lullabies (later released on DVD as Sad Inheritance), where she played a pregnant cocaine addict.

Dey was mentioned in Shirley Jones's memoir as the only cast member who "consistently refused" to take part in Partridge Family reunions.

In 1972, Dey was credited as the author of a book titled Susan Dey's Secrets on Boys, Beauty and Popularity.

Personal life
During the production of The Partridge Family, Dey had romantic feelings for co-star David Cassidy. They eventually pursued a relationship when the show ended, but Cassidy broke it off as he did not share her feelings. In 1994, Cassidy disclosed details of his relationship with Dey in his autobiography C'mon, Get Happy ... Fear and Loathing on the Partridge Family Bus; he presumed this led to her severing contact with him.

Dey was married to Leonard "Lenny" Hirshan from 1976 to 1981. They have one daughter. Dey has been married to television producer Bernard Sofronski since 1988.

She serves as a board member of the Rape Treatment Center at UCLA Medical Center, and co-narrated a documentary on campus rape with former L.A. Law co-star Corbin Bernsen. She suffered from anorexia during the run of The Partridge Family.

title: Susan Dey


text:
Danny Bonaduce

Dante Daniel Bonaduce (born August 13, 1959) is an American retired radio personality, actor, television personality, and professional wrestler. Bonaduce is the son of veteran TV writer and producer Joseph Bonaduce (The Dick Van Dyke Show, One Day at a Time, and others).

Bonaduce became famous as a child actor of the 1970s on the TV sitcom The Partridge Family. He co-starred as Danny Partridge, the wisecracking, redheaded middle son of the singing family band (headed by Shirley Jones), and he portrayed the fictional pop group's bass guitar player. Since then, Bonaduce has starred in several other TV series, including the VH1 reality show Breaking Bonaduce in 2005, radio shows in Los Angeles and Philadelphia, and hosted a morning talk/music show at Seattle radio station KZOK-FM from 2011 to 2023.

Early life
By his own account, Bonaduce grew up in a dysfunctional family and suffered severe physical and emotional abuse at the hands of his father, TV writer and producer Joseph Bonaduce. Joseph and his mother Betty divorced in 1972.

Acting
Bonaduce made a small appearance in the Bewitched season 5 episode "Going Ape", which aired on February 27, 1969, as a young boy in the park whose chimpanzee follows Samantha (Elizabeth Montgomery) and Tabitha (Erin Murphy) home.

Bonaduce had a substantial role on The Ghost & Mrs. Muir on the first-season episode Jonathan Tells It Like It Was, aired March 1, 1969. He played competitor Danny Shoemaker in a history essay contest with Mrs. Muir's son Jonathan. Danny's father Joseph Bonaduce wrote the episode.

In The Partridge Family Bonaduce played the role of Danny Partridge, a member of the musical Partridge family. In the show, the Partridges were a family band that toured the country in their hip, Mondrian-inspired, painted school bus. Danny Partridge played bass guitar for the band and his younger siblings, Tracy and Chris, contributed to the band as percussionists. The series ran for four seasons, from 1970 to 1974 and, in 2003, Bonaduce was honored by the Young Artist Foundation with its Former Child Star "Lifetime Achievement" Award for his role on the series.

Bonaduce made several movies during and after the run of The Partridge Family, including Corvette Summer (1978) starring Mark Hamill. Hamill and Bonaduce played high school students who went in search of a stolen customized Corvette Stingray. Bonaduce also made guest appearances on several TV shows, including the television action drama CHiPs. His career withered in the early 1980s.

Bonaduce and Partridge Family co-star Dave Madden made cameo appearances in a 1994 episode of Married... with Children. That same year, he appeared on an episode of Space Ghost Coast to Coast. He has also guest-starred in the first two episodes of the seventh season of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and as the son of Shirley Jones's character in the fourth season of The Drew Carey Show. Bonaduce has appeared as himself on the detective series Monk and on the show Girlfriends. Bonaduce guest-starred with J. D. Roth (with whom he would later reunite for Breaking Bonaduce) on a celebrity episode of Sex Wars. In 1999, Bonaduce appeared in the Christmas episode, "Sabrina, Nipping at Your Nose", of Sabrina, the Teenage Witch.

During his radio work, Bonaduce was the host of the segment "Bonaduce's Buzz" as part of WMAQ-TV's morning newscast First Thing in The Morning with Art Norman and Allison Rosati in 1994; but he left the station the following year to concentrate on his syndicated talk show.

During the 1995–96 TV season, Bonaduce was the host of Danny!, a syndicated talk show featuring the house band The Critics.

From 2001 to 2003, Bonaduce co-hosted The Other Half, a daytime talk show positioned as a complementary show to The View, on which he starred with Mario Lopez, Dick Clark, and cosmetic surgeon Dr. Jan Adams (who was later replaced by actor Dorian Gregory). During this time, he was also a Hollywood correspondent for the Australian morning show Today.

In 2005, Bonaduce starred in Breaking Bonaduce a VH1 reality show about his turbulent life with his wife Gretchen.

In 2006, he had a recurring role in the crime scene drama CSI as a character known as Izzy Delancy – a once great, but philandering, rock star, the victim of the infamous miniature killer. He also hosted the short-lived tabloid-themed game show Starface, on Game Show Network. In 2007, Bonaduce was both host and judge of the show I Know My Kid's a Star, a reality show on VH1 featuring parents and children trying to break into show business. He also appeared as a judge on the Australian version of the show, My Kid's a Star.

Bonaduce, admitting his own less-than-stellar track record, was a commentator for TruTV's TruTV Presents: World's Dumbest... from 2008 to 2013.

Radio and music
Bonaduce's self-titled debut LP was released in 1973 by Lion Records, a subsidiary label of MGM Records. The single from the album, "Dreamland" was a minor hit.

In the late 1980s, Bonaduce had become an on-air radio personality. He worked an overnight shift at Philadelphia's WEGX-FM. From 1994 to 1996, Bonaduce hosted his own radio show, The Danny Bonaduce Show on The Loop WLUP in Chicago. Between 1996 and 1998, Bonaduce hosted a morning radio show in Detroit on WKQI with comedian and Last Comic Standing winner John Heffron. In 1998 Bonaduce was the morning show host for New York City's Big 105 WBIX for a brief period.

Bonaduce was part of The Adam Carolla Show in 2007. In 2008 he was given a daily one-hour solo spot known as Broadcasting Bonaduce, which was broadcast locally on the L.A.-based KLSX station. In February 2009, it was announced that the station had changed its format from talk to Top 40, and the removal of Broadcasting Bonaduce from the KLSX schedule was confirmed.

Bonaduce is an ordained minister; he was ordained online in order to perform a wedding ceremony as part of a 94WYSP radio promotion in early 2011.

Bonaduce co-hosted the morning-drive show for Seattle radio station 102.5 KZOK beginning on November 14, 2011. Bonaduce came to Seattle from a radio stint at 94 WYSP in Philadelphia, following a format change from classic rock to all sports radio in September 2011. On April 29, 2022, Bonaduce announced that he was taking a temporary medical leave from his Seattle radio show to pursue treatment for an undisclosed illness. In December 2023, Bonaduce announced that December 15 would be his last day on the air.

Altercation with Jonny Fairplay
On October 2, 2007, Bonaduce was involved in an altercation with Survivor show participant Jonny Fairplay during the Fox Reality Awards. Toward the end of the awards show, Fairplay appeared onstage and was booed by the audience. Bonaduce walked on stage and explained that the audience reaction was "because they hate you." Bonaduce was walking off the stage as Fairplay called him back. Fairplay then jumped on Bonaduce to hug him and Bonaduce stated later that he was uncomfortable with Fairplay's hands near his throat. Bonaduce, a black belt in Tang Soo Do, adjusted his balance and grip, and threw Fairplay over his head. Fairplay fell to the floor, face first, unable to halt his fall with his hands due to the microphone he was holding. Fairplay stood up after a few moments and staggered before slowly walking off stage, his back to the audience. Bonaduce then smiled and proceeded to make faces and exaggerated shrugging motions at the audience before walking off stage.

Bonaduce later said the two had never had any negative interactions before that incident, but that they had met occasionally in the past. He said he had never liked Fairplay, mostly because Fairplay, true to his form, had lied about his grandmother's death during his first run on Survivor. While Bonaduce did not believe Fairplay was significantly hurt at the time, TMZ.com confirmed that Fairplay bled significantly, lost some teeth and suffered a broken toe. Fairplay pressed charges, and a felony battery investigation was opened by the police. On October 5, 2007, the L.A. District Attorney's office concluded that there was insufficient evidence to prove Bonaduce had committed battery, because the contact had been initiated by Fairplay and Bonaduce had acted in self-defense.

Boxing and wrestling
As an adult, Bonaduce boxed Donny Osmond and former Brady Barry Williams in separate charity events. Bonaduce won both fights, gaining a decision over Osmond and a TKO over Williams. On June 11, 2007, it was announced that Bonaduce would box attorney Robert Shapiro for a charitable event.

On September 13, 2008, Bonaduce defeated "Reverend" Bob Levy by a TKO in the second one-minute round of a planned three-round fight. Prior to the event, Levy had slapped Bonaduce while visiting Bonaduce's dressing room.

It was announced in early January 2009 that Bonaduce would box retired baseball player José Canseco at a charity event in the Philadelphia area. Bonaduce reportedly trained for the fight in Sacramento, California with boxer Angelo Núñez. On January 24, 2009, Bonaduce and Canseco fought to a majority draw.

In April 1994, it was announced that Bonaduce would be making his professional wrestling debut in a "dark match" at the Spring Stampede in Chicago. On April 17, 1994, Bonaduce stepped into the ring at the Rosemont Horizon. His opponent was another 1970s TV star, the Brady Bunch's Christopher Knight. Bonaduce won. Bonaduce had his second professional wrestling match at Total Nonstop Action Wrestling's pay-per-view event Lockdown 2009 against Eric Young, which he lost. Bonaduce was a key player in the series Hulk Hogan's Celebrity Championship Wrestling.

Writing
In 2002, Bonaduce released an autobiography, Random Acts of Badness.

Personal life
Bonaduce has a black belt in karate.

Bonaduce married his first wife, Setsuko Hattori in 1985, and they divorced in 1988.

On November 4, 1990, Bonaduce met second wife Gretchen Hillmer on a blind date and, on a whim, they married the same day. Despite the unusual start to the marriage, the two remained married for over sixteen years and had two children together. On April 9, 2007, the two divorced, citing irreconcilable differences.

Bonaduce began dating his current wife, Amy Railsback, in April 2007. They met at a Starbucks in the Los Angeles area. Railsback, who is 23 years his junior, is a former substitute school teacher. She now manages Bonaduce's career full-time, runs Gravel Tones Productions Inc, and is occasionally seen in sketches on The Smoking Gun Presents: World's Dumbest... on truTV. He proposed to Amy in March 2009, and the couple married on November 22, 2010, at the Four Seasons on Maui, Hawaii. They maintain homes in both Los Angeles and in Seattle.

Bonaduce and David Cassidy, his The Partridge Family costar, remained close friends until Cassidy's death on November 21, 2017. On January 20, 2018, Bonaduce attended Cassidy's memorial service in Los Angeles. Bonaduce also met actress Shirley Jones on the set of The Partridge Family. Jones often allowed Bonaduce to stay at her home in order to avoid his difficult home life. According to Jones, Bonaduce was "smart" and "talented" but a troublemaker off-camera, who "was still a kid and would do kid things like get a dish of food and throw it across the room or have a pillow fight". Bonaduce later commented that "Shirley Jones could not have been kinder to me".

Arrests
On March 9, 1990, he was arrested while attempting to buy cocaine in Daytona Beach, Florida. Bonaduce was there to host an event for D.A.R.E., an anti-drug campaign aimed at children. Bonaduce was eventually fired from WEGX. He later became the morning shift DJ at KKFR-FM in Phoenix, Arizona.

On March 31, 1991, Bonaduce was arrested in Phoenix for beating and robbing Darius Barney, a transgender sex worker; "authorities said the victim suffered a broken nose and a cut to his face." Soon after, he was fired from KKFR. In July of the same year, Bonaduce pleaded guilty to reduced charges. Amongst his punishments, he was required to pay Barney's medical bills. Later that same year, Bonaduce returned to WEGX in Philadelphia.

Political views
Bonaduce has expressed his mostly conservative political views during guest appearances. He is a strong supporter of capital punishment and a strong military. Several controversial statements have been made by Bonaduce regarding left-wing or liberal celebrities, such as his remarks that Jane Fonda should have been executed for treason for her support of North Vietnam during the Vietnam War. He also stated on MSNBC's Scarborough Country that "personally I think at this point if anyone had a rope thick enough, I think that Rosie should be strung up for treason", referring to Rosie O'Donnell.

Health
In June 2023, Bonaduce announced that he would be undergoing hydrocephalus-related surgery after experiencing difficulty walking and maintaining his balance.

Retirement
In December 2023, Bonaduce announced his retirement from Seattle radio, and his planned relocation to Palm Springs, California.

title: Danny Bonaduce


text:
Jeremy Gelbwaks

Jeremy Russell Gelbwaks (born May 22, 1961, in Los Angeles) is an American former child actor who starred in the television series The Partridge Family (1970–71).

Career
Gelbwaks was the first actor to play the role of Chris Partridge. He left the series after the first season, and was replaced by Brian Forster in the summer of 1971. According to his Partridge Family castmate David Cassidy, Gelbwaks "had a personality conflict with every person in the cast, and with the producers". In a 2005 interview with the Television Academy Foundation, Shirley Jones mentioned that Gelbwaks "was not happy doing [the show] ... his parents wanted him to do it, so we replaced him".

Gelbwaks retired from acting when his family moved from California to Reston, Virginia, a suburb of Washington, D.C., where they resided for a year-and-a-half before moving again to Connecticut, and later to Potsdam, New York. Gelbwaks graduated from Hermon Dekalb Central School (Hermon, NY) in 1978 and was a member of the National Honor Society. His father Norman taught computer science at the State University of New York at Potsdam.

Gelbwaks graduated from college in 1982, and became a computer analyst while studying chemistry at UC Berkeley. He worked in the computer industry until 1999, studied business at Columbia University, and became a management consultant. He married Patricia Polander, and moved to New Orleans, where he works as a business and technology planner.

title: Jeremy Gelbwaks


text:
At Home with Their Greatest Hits

At Home with Their Greatest Hits is a greatest hits album by The Partridge Family. Released in September 1972, it peaked at no. 21 on Billboard's Top LP's chart in early November 1972, and remained in the Top 200 for 23 weeks. The compilation features all six previously charted hits and four LP tracks from the previous albums, plus the album debut of the group's newest single. Released in June 1972, The Partridges' cover of Neil Sedaka's "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do" became their seventh charted hit (US no. 28/UK no. 3).

Track listing
All tracks from the album were featured on the TV show (Seasons 1-3)

Fictional personnel (television)

 * David Cassidy - electric and acoustic guitars, vocals
 * Shirley Jones - vocals
 * Susan Dey - Hammond organ, piano, vocals
 * Danny Bonaduce - electric bass guitar, backing vocals
 * Brian Forster - drums
 * Suzanne Crough - tambourine

Studio personnel
The actual musicians on the tracks included David Cassidy on lead vocals, Shirley Jones and the vocal group The Ron Hicklin Singers on backing vocals, and various prolific studio musicians such as Hal Blaine (drums), Larry Carlton (guitar), Joe Osborn (bass) and Larry Knechtel (keyboards) - arranged by Mike Melvoin.

title: At Home with Their Greatest Hits


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Boogie-woogie

Boogie-woogie is a genre of blues music that became popular during the late 1920s, developed in African-American communities since the 1870s. It was eventually extended from piano to piano duo and trio, guitar, big band, country and western music, and gospel. While standard blues traditionally expresses a variety of emotions, boogie-woogie is mainly dance music (although not usually played for the competitive dance known as boogie-woogie (dance), a term of convenience in that sport). The genre had a significant influence on rhythm and blues and rock and roll.

Boogie-woogie waned in popularity during the 1930s, but enjoyed a surge and its greatest popularity in the early 1940s, reaching wide audiences in the United States and Europe. Among its most famous acts was the "Boogie Woogie Trio" of Pete Johnson, Albert Ammons, and Meade "Lux" Lewis. Other famous boogie woogie pianists of this most popular era were Maurice Rocco and Freddie Slack. There were also many famous women boogie woogie pianists during this heyday, including Hadda Brooks, Winifred Atwell, Martha Davis, and Hazel Scott, as well as in later years, such as Katie Webster.

Musical features
Boogie-woogie is characterized by a regular left-hand bass figure, which is transposed following the chord changes.
 * Boogie-woogie-bassline.svg

Boogie-woogie is not strictly a solo piano style; it can accompany singers and be featured in orchestras and small combos. It is sometimes called "eight to the bar", as much of it is written in common time time using eighth notes (quavers) (see time signature). The chord progressions are typically based on I–IV–V–I (with many formal variations of it, such as I/i–IV/iv–v/I, as well as chords that lead into these ones).

For the most part, boogie-woogie tunes are twelve-bar blues, although the style has been applied to popular songs such as "Swanee River" and hymns such as "Just a Closer Walk with Thee".

Typical boogie-woogie bassline:
 * "Texas & Pacific" boogie woogie bass.svg

1870s–1930s
Several African terms have been suggested as having some interesting linguistic precursors to "boogie": Among them are the:
 * 1) Hausa word "Boog", and
 * 2) Mandingo word "Booga" (both of which mean "to beat", as in beating a drum)
 * 3) West African word "Bogi" (which means "to dance")
 * 4) Bantu term "Mbuki Mvuki" (Mbuki: "to take off in flight"; Mvuki: "to dance wildly, as if to shake off one's clothes").

The African origin of these terms is consistent with the African-American origin of the music.

In sheet music literature prior to 1900, there are at least three examples of the word "boogie" in music titles in the archives of the Library of Congress. In 1901, "Hoogie Boogie" appeared in the title of published sheet music, the first known instance where a redoubling of the word "Boogie" occurs in the title of published music. (In 1880, "The Boogie Man" had occurred as the title of published music.) The first use of "Boogie" in a recording title appears to be a "blue cylinder" recording made by Edison of the "American Quartet" performing "That Syncopated Boogie Boo" in 1913. The Oxford English Dictionary states that the word is a reduplication of boogie, which was used for "rent parties" as early as 1913.

"Boogie" next occurs in the title of Wilbur Sweatman's April 1917 recording of "Boogie Rag". None of these sheet music or audio recording examples contain the musical elements that would identify them as boogie-woogie. The 1919 recordings (two takes) of "Weary Blues" by the Louisiana Five contained the same boogie-woogie bass figure as appears in the 1915 "Weary Blues" sheet music by Artie Matthews. Tennison has recognized these 1919 recordings as the earliest sound recordings which contain a boogie-woogie bass figure.

Blind Lemon Jefferson used the term "Booga Rooga" to refer to a guitar bass figure that he used in "Match Box Blues". Jefferson may have heard the term from Huddie "Lead Belly" Ledbetter, who played frequently with Jefferson. Lead Belly, who was born in Mooringsport, La., and grew up in Harrison County, Texas, in the community of Leigh, said he first heard boogie-woogie piano in the Caddo Lake area of northeast Texas in 1899. He said it influenced his guitar-playing. Lead Belly also said he heard boogie-woogie piano in the Fannin Street district of Shreveport, Louisiana. Some of the players he heard were Dave Alexander, who recorded for Decca in 1937 as "Black Ivory King", and a piano player called Pine Top (not Pine Top Smith, who was not born until 1904, but possibly Pine Top Williams or Pine Top Hill). Lead Belly was among the first guitar-players to adapt the rolling bass of boogie-woogie piano.

Texas, as the state of origin, became reinforced by Jelly Roll Morton, who said he heard the boogie piano style there early in the 20th century, as did Leadbelly and Bunk Johnson, according to Rosetta Reitz.

The first time the modern-day spelling of "boogie-woogie" was used in a title of a published audio recording of music appears to be Pine Top Smith's December 1928 recording titled "Pine Top's Boogie Woogie", a song whose lyrics contain dance instructions to "boogie-woogie".

The earliest documented inquiries into the geographical origin of boogie-woogie occurred in the late 1930s when oral histories from the oldest living Americans of both African and European descent revealed a broad consensus that boogie-woogie piano was first played in Texas in the early 1870s. Additional citations place the origins of boogie-woogie in the Piney Woods of northeast Texas. "The first Negroes who played what is called boogie-woogie, or house-rent music, and attracted attention in city slums where other Negroes held jam sessions, were from Texas. And all the Old-time Texans, black or white, are agreed that boogie piano players were first heard in the lumber and turpentine camps, where nobody was at home at all. The style dates from the early 1870s."

"Fast Western" connection to Marshall and Harrison County, Texas
Max Harrison (in the book Jazz edited by Hentoff and McCarthy in 1959) and Mack McCormick (in the liner notes to his Treasury of Field Recordings, Vol. 2) concluded that "Fast Western" was the first term by which boogie-woogie was known. He stated that "in Houston, Dallas, and Galveston — all Negro piano players played that way. This style was often referred to as a 'fast western' or 'fast blues' as differentiated from the 'slow blues' of New Orleans and St. Louis. At these gatherings the ragtime and blues boys could easily tell from what section of the country a man came, even going so far as to name the town, by his interpretation of a piece."

According to Tennison, when he interviewed Lee Ree Sullivan in Texarkana in 1986, Sullivan told him that he was familiar with "Fast Western" and "Fast Texas" as terms to refer to boogie-woogie in general, but not to denote the use of any specific bass figure used in boogie-woogie. Sullivan said that "Fast Western" and "Fast Texas" were terms that derived from the Texas Western Railroad Company of Harrison County. The company was chartered on February 16, 1852, and changed its name to "Southern Pacific" in 1856. It built its first track from Marshall, Texas Swanson's Landing at Caddo Lake in 1857. (This Texas-based "Southern Pacific" was not connected to the more well known Southern Pacific originating in San Francisco, California.) The Southern Pacific of Texas was bought by the newly formed Texas and Pacific Railway on March 21, 1872.

Although the Texas Western Railroad Company changed its name to Southern Pacific, Sullivan said the name "Texas Western" stuck among the slaves who constructed the railroad.

Railroad connection to Marshall and Harrison County, Texas
A key to identifying the geographical area in which boogie-woogie originated is understanding the relationship of boogie-woogie music with the steam railroad, both in the sense of how the music might have been influenced by sounds associated with the arrival of steam locomotives as well as the cultural impact the sudden emergence of the railroad might have had.

The railroad did not arrive in northeast Texas as an extension of track from existing lines from the north or the east. Rather, the first railroad locomotives and iron rails were brought to northeast Texas via steamboats from New Orleans via the Mississippi and Red Rivers and Caddo Lake to Swanson's Landing, located on the Louisiana/Texas state line. Beginning with the formation of the Texas Western Railroad Company in Marshall, Texas, through the subsequent establishment in 1871 of the Texas and Pacific Railway company, which located its headquarters and shops there, Marshall was the only railroad hub in the Piney Woods of northeast Texas at the time the music developed. The sudden appearance of steam locomotives and the building of mainline tracks and tap lines to serve logging operations was pivotal to the creation of the music in terms of its sound and rhythm. It was also crucial to the rapid migration of the musical style from the rural barrel house camps to the cities and towns served by the Texas and Pacific Railway Company.

"Although the neighboring states of Arkansas, Louisiana, and Missouri would also produce boogie-woogie players and their boogie-woogie tunes, and despite the fact that Chicago would become known as the center for this music through such pianists as Jimmy Yancey, Albert Ammons, and Meade "Lux" Lewis, Texas was home to an environment that fostered creation of boogie-style: the lumber, cattle, turpentine, and oil industries, all served by an expanding railway system from the northern corner of East Texas to the Gulf Coast and from the Louisiana border to Dallas and West Texas." Alan Lomax wrote: "Anonymous black musicians, longing to grab a train and ride away from their troubles, incorporated the rhythms of the steam locomotive and the moan of their whistles into the new dance music they were playing in jukes and dance halls. Boogie-woogie forever changed piano playing, as ham-handed black piano players transformed the instrument into a polyrhythmic railroad train."

In the 1986 television broadcast of Britain's The South Bank Show about boogie-woogie, music historian Paul Oliver noted: "Now the conductors were used to the logging camp pianists clamoring aboard, telling them a few stories, jumping off the train, getting into another logging camp, and playing again for eight hours, barrel house. In this way the music got around—all through Texas—and eventually, of course, out of Texas. Now when this new form of piano music came from Texas, it moved out towards Louisiana. It was brought by people like George W. Thomas, an early pianist who was already living in New Orleans by about 1910 and writing "New Orleans Hop Scop Blues", which really has some of the characteristics of the music that we came to know as Boogie."

Paul Oliver also wrote that George W. Thomas "composed the theme of the New Orleans Hop Scop Blues — in spite of its title — based on the blues he had heard played by the pianists of East Texas." On February 12, 2007, Oliver confirmed to John Tennison that it was Sippie Wallace who told Oliver that performances by East Texas pianists had formed the basis for George Thomas's "Hop Scop Blues".

Brothers George Thomas and Hersal Thomas migrated from Texas to Chicago and brought boogie-woogie with them, influencing a number of pianists, including Jimmy Yancey, Meade Lux Lewis, and Albert Ammons. Many elements now recognized as foundational elements of boogie-woogie are present in their 1922 song "The Fives".

Texas and Pacific Railway stops associated with names for boogie-woogie left-hand bass lines
Early generation boogie-woogie players recognized basic boogie-woogie bass lines by geographical locations with which they associated them. Lee Ree Sullivan identified a number of these left hand bass lines for Tennison in 1986. From the primitive to the complex, those identifications indicate that the most primitive form of the music was associated with Marshall, Texas – and that the left-hand bass lines grew more complex as the distance from Marshall increased.

The most primitive of these left hand bass lines is the one that was called "the Marshall". It is a simple, four-beats-to-the-bar figure. The second-most primitive bass-line, called "the Jefferson", is also four-beats-to-the-bar, but goes down in pitch on the last note in each four-note cycle. It has been suggested that this downturn in pitch reveals a possible New Orleans influence. Jefferson, Texas, about 17 miles north of Marshall, was the westernmost port of a steamboat route that connected to New Orleans via Caddo Lake, the Red River, and the Mississippi River.

The remaining bass lines rise in complexity with distance from Marshall, Texas as one would expect variations and innovations would occur as the territory in which the music has been introduced expands.

Marshall and Harrison County, Texas, and the origin of boogie-woogie
In January 2010, John Tennison summarized his research into the origins of boogie-woogie with the conclusion that Marshall, Texas is "the municipality whose boundaries are most likely to encompass or be closest to the point on the map which is the geographic center of gravity for all instances of Boogie Woogie performance between 1870 and 1880".

Tennison states: "Given the account of Elliot Paul, and given that Lead Belly witnessed boogie-woogie in 1899 in the Arklatex; and given the North to South migration of the Thomas family; and given the Texas & Pacific headquarters in Marshall in the early 1870s; and given that Harrison County had the largest slave population in the state of Texas; and given the fact that the best-documented and largest-scale turpentine camps in Texas did not occur until after 1900 in Southeast Texas, it is most probable that boogie-woogie spread from Northeast to Southeast Texas, rather than from Southeast to Northeast Texas, or by having developed diffusely with an even density over all of the Piney Woods of East Texas. It would not be surprising if there was as yet undiscovered evidence of the earliest boogie-woogie performances buried (metaphorically or literally) in Northeast Texas."

On May 13, 2010, the Marshall City Commission enacted an official declaration naming Marshall as the "birthplace" of boogie-woogie music, and embarked on a program to encourage additional historical research and to stimulate interest in and appreciation for the early African-American culture in northeast Texas that played a vital role in creating boogie-woogie music. "Birthplace of Boogie Woogie" was registered by the Marshall Convention and Visitors on June 21, 2011.

Development of modern boogie-woogie
A song titled "Tin Roof Blues" was published in 1923 by the Clarence Williams Publishing Company. Compositional credit is given to Richard M. Jones. The Jones composition uses a boogie bass in the introduction with some variation throughout. In February 1923, Joseph Samuels' Tampa Blue Jazz Band recorded the George W. Thomas number "The Fives" for Okeh Records, considered the first example of jazz band boogie-woogie.

Jimmy Blythe's recording of "Chicago Stomps" from April 1924 is sometimes called the first complete boogie-woogie piano solo record.

The first boogie-woogie hit was "Pinetop's Boogie Woogie" by Pinetop Smith, recorded in 1928 and first released in 1929. Smith's record was the first boogie-woogie recording to be a commercial hit, and helped establish "boogie-woogie" as the name of the style. It was closely followed by another example of pure boogie-woogie, "Honky Tonk Train Blues" by Meade Lux Lewis, recorded by Paramount Records(1927), first released in March 1930. The performance emulated a railroad trip, perhaps lending credence to the "train theory".

1930s to 1940s: Carnegie Hall and swing
Boogie-woogie gained further public attention in 1938, thanks to the From Spirituals to Swing concert in Carnegie Hall promoted by record producer John Hammond. The concert featured Big Joe Turner and Pete Johnson performing Turner's tribute to Johnson, "Roll 'Em Pete", as well as Meade Lux Lewis performing "Honky Tonk Train Blues" and Albert Ammons playing "Swanee River Boogie". "Roll 'Em Pete" is now considered to be an early rock and roll song.

These three pianists, with Turner, took up residence in the Café Society night club in New York City where they were popular with the sophisticated set. They often played in combinations of two and even three pianos, creating a richly textured piano performance.

After the Carnegie Hall concert, it was only natural for swing bands to incorporate the boogie-woogie beat into some of their music. Tommy Dorsey's band recorded an updated version of "Pine Top's Boogie Woogie" in 1938, which (as "Boogie Woogie") became a hit in 1943 and 1945, and was to become the swing era's second best seller, only second to Glenn Miller's "In the Mood". In 1939, at the suggestion of Columbia Records producer John Hammond, Harry James recorded the singles Boo-Woo and Woo-Woo with Pete Johnson and Albert Ammons. Also from 1939, the Will Bradley orchestra had a string of boogie hits such as the original versions of "Beat Me Daddy (Eight To The Bar)" and "Down the Road a Piece", both 1940, and "Scrub Me Mamma With A Boogie Beat", in 1941. That same year, The Andrews Sisters had a top 10 hit single with their recording of "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy".

The popularity of the Carnegie Hall concert meant work for many of the fellow boogie players and also led to the adaptation of boogie-woogie sounds to many other forms of music. Tommy Dorsey's band had a hit with "T.D.'s Boogie Woogie" as arranged by Sy Oliver, and soon there were boogie-woogie songs, recorded and printed, of many different stripes. These included most famously, in the big-band genre, the ubiquitous "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy", which was revamped by Christina Aguilera as her 2006 hit, "Candyman".

Derivative forms
The boogie-woogie fad lasted from the late 1930s into the early 1950s, and made a major contribution to the development of jump blues and ultimately to rock and roll, epitomized by Fats Domino, Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis. Louis Jordan is a famous jump blues musician. Boogie-woogie is still to be heard in clubs and on records throughout Europe and North America. Big Joe Duskin displayed on his 1979 album, Cincinnati Stomp, a command of piano blues and boogie-woogie, which he had absorbed at first hand in the 1940s from Albert Ammons and Pete Johnson.

The trickle of what was initially called hillbilly boogie, or Okie boogie (later to be renamed country boogie), became a flood beginning around late 1945. One notable country boogie song from this period was the Delmore Brothers' "Freight Train Boogie". More representative examples can be found in some of the songs of Western swing pioneer Bob Wills. The hillbilly boogie period lasted into the 1950s, the last recordings of this era were made by Tennessee Ernie Ford with Cliffie Stone and his orchestra with the guitar duo Jimmy Bryant and Speedy West. Bill Haley and the Saddlemen recorded "Sundown Boogie" in 1952, which once again featured the guitar playing the boogie-woogie rhythm.

Boogie-woogie continued in country music through the end of the 20th century. The Charlie Daniels Band (whose earlier tune "The South's Gonna Do It Again" uses boogie-woogie influences) released "Boogie Woogie Fiddle Country Blues" in 1988, and three years later in 1991 Brooks & Dunn had a huge hit with "Boot Scootin' Boogie". In addition, some tradition-minded country artists, such as Asleep at the Wheel, Merle Haggard, and George Strait, incorporated boogie-woogie in their recordings.

In the many styles of blues, especially Chicago blues and (more recently) West Coast blues, some pianists and guitarists were influenced by, and employed, the traditional boogie-woogie styles. Some of the earliest and most influential were Big Maceo Merriweather and Sunnyland Slim. Otis Spann and Pinetop Perkins, two of the best-known blues pianists, are heavily boogie-woogie influenced, with the latter taking both his name and signature tune from Pinetop Smith.

In Western classical music, the composer Conlon Nancarrow was also deeply influenced by boogie-woogie, as many of his early works for player piano demonstrate. "A Wonderful Time Up There" is a boogie-woogie gospel song. In 1943, Morton Gould composed Boogie-Woogie Etude for classical pianist José Iturbi, who premiered and recorded it that year. Povel Ramel's first hit in 1944 was Johanssons boogie-woogie-vals where he mixed boogie-woogie with waltz. 21st-century commentators have also noted the characteristics of boogie-woogie in the third variation of the second movement of Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 32, written between 1821 and 1822 - 60 years prior to creation of the genre.

title: Boogie-woogie