In The Beginning

The Monkees were the made-for-televsion music group that came into our homes every week from 1966 - 1968. Producer/director Bob Rafelson got together with Bert Schneider (Screen Gems), who was trying to find a show that would utilize the pop music division that was established under Columbia Pictures. Bob Rafelson originally had the idea for the show. It would center around a struggling rock band, their music and the unbelievable incidents the group would find themselves in. The next step was to find the four young men who would be The Monkees.

In September 1965, television producers Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider (later known as Raybert Productions) took out ads in the Daily Variety. The ad invited actors and musicians for auditions. Some of the applicants included Stephen Stills, Danny Hutton (later of Three Dog Night) and Paul Williams.

They wanted four unique characters to portray the four young musicians. By having four distinct characters, the teen audience would be able to identify with at least one of the characters. The four "models" they came up with were a country and western type singer/character who would be the leader of the band; a young English character because of the British Invasion going on at the time; the comic or clown character to perform most of the slapstick; and the sensitive, shy, "dummy" character.

The final choice paired two musicians Michael Nesmith (guitar/vocals) and folk singer Peter Tork (bass/vocals) with two former child stars; Davy Jones (vocals) and former Circus Boy star Micky Dolenz (drums/vocals). Davy was already managed by Ward Sylvester. Ward and Davy went to various clubs looking for likely members for the television show.

We saw Mike first, hosting The Talent Night at The Troubadour, a folk rock club that still exists. The job required a great deal of grace because the quality of the acts was very uneven. They more or less let anybody who wanted to come up and perform. He did it with a marvelous amount of poise and wit and was able to walk that very narrow line between allowing the audience to understand the humor of it without really putting down the performers. Michael has always had a lot of class, and a maturity, even at that age, in his very early twenties. He also had a wife and child, so he grew up faster. I first saw Micky performing in a bowling alley with a group called The Missing Links. Micky did seem to me to be the Jerry Lewis-like clown we were looking for. He was always on. He was very inventive and clever with a wonderful mind twist. And he was the only one who had episodic television experience, with Circus Boy, which we thought would be a plus. Peter was the most interesting one in the sense that the character he played was the least like himself. I think that the other guys played characters very close to who they really were. Peter's character had a gentle innocence and a little slow-wittedness about him. Peter has the gentle innocence, but he is not at all slow-witted. It's interesting, even though Huntz Hall was the prototype for Peter, what most reminds me of his character is Norman Drabble of the Kevin Fagen comic strip. It's called Drabble and is about a college student who is well meaning but a little fumbling. He's always embarrassed and always says the wrong thing. And Peter was able to play that. Peter is very intellegent and very well-educated. He always surprises me with allusions to classical music and to classical literature. He's very spiritual and very insightful. He had to suppress an awful lot of that to be the Peter that we know from television.

Raybert's efforts to create a new and unconventional program that would fill the gap between kiddie shows and adult dramas nearly backfired. The original pilot episode received such a low score from a confused sample audience that Screen Gems threatened to pull the plug on the project. Desperate to save their show, Schneider and Rafelson recut the episode during an all-night editing session. Guided by the audience survey report, they fine-tuned the show by trimming, altering, or eliminating scenes. The final cut ran short, so the screen tests of Mike and Davy were added. The new version was viewed by another sample audience, this time scoring extremely high, and Screen Gems gave the show a green light for the NBC fall 1966 schedule. Although the show went up against ABC's Gilligan's Island, it became an instant success. Not all markets ran the show due to overly conservative station programmers being unsure about the show's merits. Concerns aside, The Monkees was critically acclaimed and the debut episode won Emmy Awards in 1967 for Outstanding Comedy Series and Direction.

Davy, Micky and I were with a group of fans who won a contest to watch us film the show. Davy pulled out a breadstick and broke it over my head. Micky said, "I dare you to do that again." So Davy pulled out another breadstick and broke it over my head. Micky said, "Let me see you do that again." Davy pulled out another breadstick and broke it over my head. Micky said to me, "Are you gonna put up with that?" So I took out a breadstick and I broke it over Micky's head. We turned it around, that's the secret.

~ Peter Tork ~

The Monkees debut espisode "Royal Flush", aired on Monday night, September 12, 1966 in color on NBC. Boyce And Hart, authors of "Last Train To Clarksville", were requested by Raybert to compose and perform songs for the pilot. The songs included "(Theme From) The Monkees", "I Wanna Be Free" and "Let's Dance On." Raybert realized that the songs would be key to the show's success. In the spring of 1966 Peter, Micky, Davy and Mike were able to have a rehearsal room and started to rehearse before the show started filming. Peter and Mike were already accomplished musicians. Micky was cast as the drummer in the band. He started to practice immediately and learned to play the drums in a very short time. Davy was to be the lead singer, playing maracas and tamborine. During this time, he also learned to play bass. They continued to rehearse, despite the slow progress. Because they had to get the show on the air, they had to pre-record the songs.

Peter and Mike play guitar very well, and Davy cleary was supposed to be the front man, the cute lead singer with maracas and tambourine. So I became the drummer. I'd never played the drums as a professional musician; I'd played rhythm guitar in my previous groups. So, I was being cast as a drummer and I said, "Fine." Like, when ten years before they'd said, "You're a kid in the circus at the turn of the century - here's your elephant." I had no problem with it at all. I was excited about it. I thought it would be great fun. I started practicing immediately and I'm sure they were all curious if I would be able to cut it. And I managed.

~ Micky Dolenz ~

The Monkees

Screen Gems executive, Don Kirshner was brought in when the producers realized how much music material was required for a weekly show. Kirshner then called in staff songwriters Gerry Goffin and Carole King, Neil Diamond and Jeff Barry to contribute material for the show. "Take A Giant Step" and "Saturday's Child" were two of the 20 songs that were to be recorded in Los Angeles during June and July 1966.

Mike was permitted to produce his own material ("Papa Gene's Blues" and Sweet Young Thing"). He also did his best to include Peter, Davy and Micky in his material. Under Kirshner's control, they were forbidden to participate in recordings other than lead vocals. At this time, The Monkees had yet to release a single or be seen outside the audience survey.

After the album release of The Monkees on October 10, 1966, the album sold more than four million copies. The Monkees first single, "Last Train To Clarksville" was written by Boyce and Hart. It hit number one on November 5, 1966. "I'm A Believer'" soon followed with B-side "Take A Giant Step." This single also hit number one. "Steppin' Stone" was the B-side of "I'm A Believer" and received plenty of air play. These two singles along with their million-selling debut album, confirmed that the band was the latest teenage phenomenon. The public and media were now drawing comparisons between The Monkees and The Beatles.

More Of The Monkees

When The Monkees went on a short concert tour during December 1966, they discovered that they were capable of being a real live group. During this time their second album More Of The Monkees was released in January 1967. There was no attempt to consult the band about it's contents, cover design or release date. This upset the Monkees, especially Mike and Peter. The album was not the group effort that they were hoping for. Mike had a confrontation with Kirshner that eventually brought about results. Raybert sided with The Monkees about them playing together as a band.

Even though Raybert sided with the Monkees, Kirshner had already made a promise to Neil Diamond regarding the release of The Monkees next single. He said if "I'm A Believer" made it to number one, he would make a Diamond song the next single. Diamond gave him "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You." The Monkees were demanding that Nesmith's song that they had recorded on their own, "The Girl I Knew Somewhere," to be released as the B-side of their next single. Raybert insisted that Kirshner release the song as the B-side of their next single. Kirshner did not agree with the decision stating he had a contract that gave him creative control. Ultimately, Kirshner was fired. "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You" (with "The Girl I Knew Somewhere" on the B-side) made it to number two in April 1967.

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