Hey, Hey, They’re The Monkees
Writing Prompt: A TV series I’d watch again and again…?
“Hey, hey, we’re The Monkees, and people say we monkey around,
but we’re too busy singing to put anybody down.”
That iconic theme song first entered my life when I was 15 years old, and The Monkees, the television series that had debuted on September 12, 1966, was approaching its 20th anniversary.
Let’s hop in the Wayback Machine
The year was 1985 and MTV and Nickelodeon had begun airing the show and music videos from it, presumably in celebration of said upcoming anniversary. Within a year, it would be so popular that The Monkees, the band, would be touring the United States once again, filling arenas like Cleveland’s Blossom Music Center. (Weird Al Yankovic opened for them, by the way.)
My mom was just 22 at the time the show originally aired had watched and enjoyed it while taking care of my brother, who was born that summer. Nearly two decades later, she came home from work one afternoon and was treated to a stroll down memory lane when she found her daughter glue to TV, watching the familiar faces and antics of Davy, Peter, Micky and Mike. (Micky was mom’s favorite Monkee, and I remember her joking: “He’s always single when I’m married, and married when I’m single.”)
It took just ONE EPISODE, and I was hooked. I can even remember which episode it was as I sat memorized on the floor of our living room: “The Spy who came in from the Cool” (S1 E5). The episode starts with the very British Davy Jones repeating “I would like to buy a pair of red maracas” unknowingly acquiring a roll of microfilm as well.
While Davy was known in the series — and often in real life — as the dreamy one that all the girls loved, my 15-year-old self immediately swooned for Peter Tork, the shy, doe-eyed, naïve boy in the band…and in the television show…about a make-believe band that eventually had become a real band.
David “Davy” Jones, all the actors stage names were used as their character names, came to the show as “triple threat,” an actor from the Manchester stage who could sing, dance, and act — especially when he had to act flirty or over-the-top cheeky.
Peter H. Thorkelson, who went by Peter Tork, was a classically trained musician and a folk singer primarily in Greenwich Village, but really every where else the folk music scene was happening. The other two actors and bandmates were Micky Dolenz (formerly of Circle Boy fame) and Michael Nesmith, a singer-songwriter who’s mother invented white out (folks under 40 probably don’t know what that is, I’m guessing) and left him well-to-do regardless of any ups and downs in his acting or musical career took.
The four came together with the producer/writers Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider (aka the hippy, dippy Raybert Productions) when a casting call went out for a new kind of TV show. Inspired by the Beatles in “A Hard Day’s Night,” Raybert wanted to make an American phenomena to match the feel of it. This once in a lifetime combination was lightning in a bottle. (The New Monkees in the 80s contrived to cash in on the resurgence of the show and group’s popularity failed spectacularly.)
These relative newcomers to television and film making encouraged the actors to play and improvise. The boys “romped” through scenes, broke the fourth wall, created obvious taglines, and made music videos that were edited into the show or added at the end. The series would be nominated for three and win two Emmy Awards for its two season run, which included an impressive 58 episodes.
Initially the recorded tracks included in the series only used the actors’ voices. While all could sing, Davy and Micky needed time to learn to play instruments so the foursome could perform live concerts, and the actors weren’t yet trusted in the studio by record producer Don Kirshner. Also, included at the end of shows from time to time were casual conversations with the guys lounging behind the scenes and, most notably, a few of their audition reels. These strategies helped endear the boys to their fans. Despite being “long-haired weirdos,” the group hit a sweet spot with parents AND teens of the era.
When I saw that episode at 15, I already had a fondness for the past, especially the period from the 1930s to the 1960s, with both a fascination both for the actual history as well as the pop culture, fashion, architecture and general design aspects of those decades. I loved The Beatles, of course, and it was even easier to love The Monkees because (just like they did in 1966) they came into our living room for an hour — two back-to-back episodes — every night on cable. Plus, The Monkees music was fun “bubblegum” pop with great hooks, written by some of the best songwriters in the business (and or ever). The fashion, comedy, and cuteness combined with the music turned out to be the perfect recipe for a lifelong obsession.
I purchased their records, mostly on cassettes, and recorded the shows on VHS tapes so that I could watch them again and again whenever I wanted. That summer I saw them at the aforementioned Blossom Music Center concert and a year later attended another concert at the Front Row Theater.
My bedroom walls were dressed with posters of these television and movie stars who had been teen heart throbs four years before I was even born. (I still have the posters!) With another friend, and often my mom, I watched and memorized episode dialogue and song lyrics, and I always viewed the Pre-fab Four (as they were dubbed, Pre-fabricated compared to the original Fab Four) as only a few years older than myself…even though they were by the time I learned about them…my mom’s age.
AND, I never outgrew The Monkees or The Monkees.
Listen to the Band…and say Hello
As alluded to in other essays, I was lucky to have met Peter Tork, as well as Davy and Micky. I can say that I’ve seen all of them perform live, as two different threesomes, and even traveled out of town. Michael Nesmith, alas, was the one Monkee who never held a meet and greet connected to a concert I attended, and he never will now.
The most frequently seen, heard, and met was, of course, my life-long celebrity crush Peter. At one special fan event, I even received a hug goodnight thanks to my friendship with his friends. This made the 15-year-old heart skip a beat and squeal with giddy joy while the married 20-something woman on the outside played it cool, blushed and just smiled back.
Now, I’m not suggesting I knew him or that he would’ve ever recognized me. I was on the periphery of people who were true friends with him, including one who met him the weekend of that hug and went on to manage his tours for several years. I was about as shy and awkward around him as his TV character was around April Conquest, played by Julie Newmar, in “The Monkees Get Out the Dirt” (S1 E29).
Peter was first and foremost a musician, although he took gigs as a music teacher after the show was cancelled. So, he frequently toured away from “that group to which he used to belong,” as he joked on stage, supporting a solo album entitled “Stranger Things Have Happened.”
Frequently he hit the road with his long-time friend, singer-songwriter James Lee Stanley, an amazing storyteller who also did a little acting. They billed themselves as Two Man Band — two musicians and two guitars — and put out a few albums together. Peter also recorded and toured with his own band, Shoe Suede Blues, playing the music he, himself, grew up loving — primarily covers but some originals.
Over the years, I’ve made a number of friends across the country, including James Lee Stanley, simply because we were all Monkees fans at the time when the internet first started linking people of similar interests from all over the world. There was an email list at first, and now we’re all connected via various social media. As a result of this fandom, I also met and very briefly spoke with folk musician and photographer Henry Diltz.
The last time I saw The Monkees perform was when Peter, Micky, and Mike came to Lakewood, Ohio, on November 17, 2012. David Jones had already passed away. Since then, Peter and Mike also have gone. Micky remains and continues to tour, performing all the hits and some of his own favorite tunes as well.
And so, again, this is a very long answer to the short question put to me by Keeley’s May Challenge: The Monkees is the television series that I can, have, and will watch again and again…and again. Now available on DVD!
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© 2023 Leigh-Anne Dennison, writer/photographer. All Rights Reserved.
This story waiting to be told was written in response to the May Writing Challenge hosted by Keeley Schroder. There was no way I was even trying to keep this under 500 words. Sorry, Keeley.
Other participants in Keeley’s writing challenge and/or writers I enjoy include but aren’t limited to:
Adrienne Beaumont | Autistic Widower (“AJ”) | Lu Skerdoo | Bruce | Brett Jenae Tomlin | NancyO | Vidya Sury, Collecting Smiles | Randy Pulley | Pamela Oglesby | The Sturg | Karen Schwartz | Bernie Pullen | Ruby Noir | Paula Shablo | Katie Michaelson | Michelle Jimerson Morris | Amy Frances | Julia A. Keirns | Ravyne Hawke | Harry Hogg | Tina | Pat Romito LaPointe | Brandon Ellrich | Misty Rae | Karen Hoffman, Susie Winfield, Vincent Pisano | Ray Day | Marlene Samuels | Michael Rhodes | Lauren Alida | Pluto Wolnosci | Ellen Baker | Kelley Murphy | Jennifer Marla Pike | Carmen Ballesteros | Marlana, MSW | Denise Kendig | Trisha Faye | Patricia Timmermans | Amanda Weir-Gertzog | Keeley Schroder and, of course, me…Leigh-Anne Dennison.
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