Start writing today. Use the button below to create your Substack and connect your publication with Through the Gateway Some of you may remember “The Cowsills,” whose hilariously captivating version of “Hair” from the famed musical by the same name from the late Sixties, catapulted the family to fame, leading to an appearance on “The Ed Sullivan Show.” But behind the happy, silly, dancing and singing siblings was a story of cruelty, alcoholism and emotional and physical abuse by their tyrannical father.