Retro TV

[steelclaw]

Sad news Davy Jones from the Monkees has died.

[Digifiend]

Heard on the BBC1 8pm news bulletin. Heart attack, aged just 66. R.I.P.

[alanultron5]

Very surprised as Davy always looked the healthiest of the Four!

I much preferred the second series of their show as it veered more towards "Off the Wall" humour, especially in the last ten eps!

The most elusive of the TV/Film work is the late 1968 US TV special titled (I think!) "33.3 Revolutions Per Monkee" It was produced by Jack Good and also starred Julie Driscoll with Brian Augur. Only ever seen clips from it!

I have Davy's book "They Made A Monkee Out of Me" (Came out in the 80s) Sadly, he obviously felt very sour towards the whole `Monkee` experience when compiling the book as there is little `Joy` in it at all. Many of Davy's observations (especially Mickey Dolenz eating habits) are made sort-of enjoyable by his superb sense of literary humour!

[ISPYSHHHGUY]

A really good 60s group, who were clearly 'manufactured' but who obviously had some real songwriting talent backing them up----the opening credits influenced the Goodies later on, I always thought.


The Monkees always remind me of a silly conversation I had with a brawny ex-Paratrooper back in the 80s:


me:



......... 'If Nuclear Weapons manage to wipe Man off the face of the Earth, then I am all for them'.



ex-Para:

............ 'have you ever seen Mike Nesmith in an apesuit?'

[stevezodiac]

So popular was Davy Jones in the Monkees that the Star Trek producers added Davy Jones lookalike Walter Koenig (Chekov) to the cast to appeal to young girls.

[Raven]

Very surprised as Davy always looked the healthiest of the Four!
I much preferred the second series of their show as it veered more towards "Off the Wall" humour, especially in the last ten eps!

Yes, the later season 2 episodes are certainly the most interesting!

The most elusive of the TV/Film work is the late 1968 US TV special titled (I think!) "33.3 Revolutions Per Monkee" It was produced by Jack Good and also starred Julie Driscoll with Brian Augur. Only ever seen clips from it!

It's not that elusive - it had a UK VHS release a few years back; I ended up returning mine to the shop as the picture quality was so poor. Then I think it was on the end of the UK season 2 DVD set. Now the whole thing is on YouTube.

I have Davy's book "They Made A Monkee Out of Me" (Came out in the 80s) Sadly, he obviously felt very sour towards the whole `Monkee` experience when compiling the book as there is little `Joy` in it at all. Many of Davy's observations (especially Mickey Dolenz eating habits) are made sort-of enjoyable by his superb sense of literary humour!

I looked all over for this when it came out in those pre-home internet days and couldn't find it anywhere.

Does it concentrate much on his pre-Monkees success as the Artful Dodger in Oliver! (which I think he did for longer than The Monkees ran)? I'd heard the story there - or at least one version of it - was that the US version of Oliver! was having problems because the audience couldn't understand some of the English kids, especially Michael Goodman who played the Dodger (though he's very good - and very Cockney - on the original cast album). So Jones was brought in from the West End run to replace him for Broadway, but found the cast initially quite hostile to him as they hadn't wanted to lose the original Dodger. Sounds like an interesting situation, and can't have been very comfortable for a boy, in a different country for the first time, performing every night with a cast who'd just seen their friend sent home, and were unhappy about it.

is there anything much about this period and situation in the book, or does it mainly just focus on The Monkees?

[Raven]

Network fans may be interested to hear of a site:

http://www.ukdvdsonline.com


who are somehow selling the Network website "exclusive" DVDS at a much cheaper price than Network.

For example, Tightrope and Pardon My Genie series 2 are only £9.47 from them, and £15 from the Network website, and there are bigger savings on some of the box sets.

[alanultron5]

Raven! yes! Davey does go into detail about his time in "Picwick" Its the part of the book where he comes across happiest! He got on superbly with Harry Secombe and I reckon for him it was his happiest working experience.

Davey is really cynical about his `Monkees` time and doesn't spend a lot of the book on it. He devotes a good 50% of the book on his `post monkee` career! Davey does lace the text with many very funny anecdotes & observations! I laughed loud when he described the `crummy` diner that he and fellow Monkees eat in "Murderer's Eat at this place!!"

[alanultron5]

Oh! Forgot to say, my favourite Monkees LP is their fourth, "Pisces, Aquarious, Capricorn & Jones" It really is `Good!`

[Raven]

Raven! yes! Davey does go into detail about his time in "Picwick" Its the part of the book where he comes across happiest! He got on superbly with Harry Secombe and I reckon for him it was his happiest working experience.

Ah, but I asked about his experiences in Oliver! on Broadway. Pickwick was the later musical he did, by the same producer David Merrick. He only did that one for three months -so he'd have a showcase for interested parties in Los Angeles - after three and a half years in Oliver! But I had wondered if he said much about that one, too.

Did you ever get any of those 'Missing Links' CDs of Monkees outtakes? There's some very nice material on them.

Yes, 'Pisces' is one of the strongest Monkees albums; maybe the best. 'Headquarters' is the other strong one. 'The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees' is a good one for Mike Nesmith material.

[alanultron5]

Oh Sorry Raven! Gosh what a sausage I am! Davey does mention `Oliver` in the book but not as much detail as "Pickwick". I really must dig the book out again.

Thank you for the info re the CD stuff Raven. I must see if I can get some of those!

The Monkees final TWO albums were never released in the UK. They were "The Monkees Present: Davey, Mickey & Mike" when they were down to a trio; and "Changes" when it was just Davey & Mickey. I have their final single, its "Oh My, My" on the Yellow RCA label from 1970.

[stevezodiac]

Some of the newspapers referred to the Monkees as the Prefab Four, I don't remember this term being used in the Monkees' lifetime and am pretty sure it first turned up as a reference to The Rutles in the film of the same name. Can anyone verify this?

[Raven]

Some of the newspapers referred to the Monkees as the Prefab Four, I don't remember this term being used in the Monkees' lifetime and am pretty sure it first turned up as a reference to The Rutles in the film of the same name. Can anyone verify this?

Yes, you're right, it's one of Eric Idle's gags from The Rutles and I've been thinking about that misappropriation of it every time I've read it in the recent Monkees features.

[alanultron5]

Just watched both series of "Pardon My Genie" Brought back some great memories - especially the `Coughing Fish in the Doll's House` I prefer series one more as I feel that Arthur White (David Jason's brother) overdoes it a bit for me! High Paddick (Genie 1) gave more pathos to the role -especially in the "Fired With Enthusiasm" Final ep S1.

You really feel for the Genie -when Hal discharges him - High Paddick plays the desolate character quite superbly; especially those Fairground scenes when he suffers the indignity of having plastic balls thrown at him! I wonder why he didn't do the second season?

Interestingly - now this is pure specualation - but the series just might have given someone at the `Dr Who` Production office a Idea for naming a certain process!

This is when on the first ep of Season 2 the Genie (now Arthur White) explains his changed appearance using the term "Regeneration" That particular word had still not been used in "Dr Who" until the Pertwee/Baker change in 1974. Season two of `Pardon My Genie` began in Jan 1973 and was fimed in late 1972. I'm speculating of course-but you never know!

[Raven]

Oh Sorry Raven! Gosh what a sausage I am! Davey does mention `Oliver` in the book but not as much detail as "Pickwick". I really must dig the book out again.

Well, holler if you do! There's a couple of questions I wouldn't mind asking, with the book so hard to find. It's the Fiftieth anniversary this year of Oliver! wowing America so quite a good time to ponder on it.