The genesis of The Monkees started when Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider formed Raybert Productions in 1965. Their plan was to produce feature films. They had never produced a single movie prior to forming the company.
Bob Rafelson
Rafelson lived an adventurous life before making his way to Hollywood. Born in New York City in 1933, Rafelson ran away from home, and ended up playing with a jazz band in Acapulco, Mexico. As well as working at a rodeo in Arizona.
He eventually studied Philosophy at Dartmouth College before he was drafted into the Army, where he was stationed in Japan. In addition to his military duties, Rafelson worked as a disc jockey and a translator for Japanese movies. The latter got him interested in foreign films, especially Tokyo Story (1953) directed by Yasujiro Ozu.
In 1959, when he was stateside once more, Rafelson worked as a story editor on the TV series Play of the Week. This series was produced in New York City. In 1962, he moved to Hollywood and began working as an associate producer for companies that included Desilu and Screen Gems.
Photo of the music group The Monkees from their television series, circa 1967. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons via Public Domain.
Bert Schneider
Bert Schneider led a much less colorful life than Rafelson. Born to an affluent family in New York City (also in 1933) he had Hollywood connections. His father, Abraham Schneider, was the President of Columbia Pictures.
Bert began working for Columbia’s television division, Screen Gems, in 1953. Twelve years later, Schneider would meet Rafelson while working at Screen Gems. The pair became close friends and Raybert Productions was formed later that year.
Casting
Rafelson was inspired with the idea for what would become The Monkees in 1962. It was originally based on his own adventures as a musician in Mexico. When the Beatles’ movie A Hard Day’s Night (1964) was a hit at the box office, Rafelson updated the idea to a 1960s rock theme.
Raybert sold the idea to Screen Gems on April 16, 1965. They approached the New York City rock band The Lovin’ Spoonful. However, this was not successful as the rights to their music were owned by Kama Sutra Records and would not be permitted to be used for the show. The Lovin’ Spoonful’s hit “Do You Believe in Magic” would be released right after the TV deal fell through on July 20, 1965.
A week before “Do You Believe in Magic” was released, on July 14, 1965, it was announced in The Hollywood Reporter that Davy Jones had been cast in the then-unnamed pilot, which became The Monkees. Jones had been under contract to Screen Gems since the previous September, and an accomplished Broadway actor, starring in the musical Oliver!
Photo of The Monkees from a 1967 trade ad. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons via Public Domain.
Mike Nesmith
To fill in the rest of the cast, Raybert took out an ad in Variety and The Hollywood Reporter in order to arrange to cast the series on three consecutive days, September 8-10, 1965. Over 400 applicants were seen for the other roles. However, only one person was cast from these auditions – Mike Nesmith.
The things that set Nesmith apart from the other applicants was that he wore a wool hat during his audition. This stood out to Rafelson and Schneider. The aspiring actor and musician also had a very laid-back, nonchalant attitude and look.
One of the applicants that didn’t get picked for a role was Stephen Stills. The producers didn’t think Stills was photogenic enough to be on television. Still, they asked him if he could recommend any other musicians that had a similar look and vibe. Stills gave the name of a folk musician he knew in Greenwich Village, Peter Tork, who was ultimately cast.
The final role for the still unnamed show went to former child actor, Mickey Dolenz. He had starred in a television series, Circus Boy, in 1956. He heard about the show from his agent and was ultimately cast.
Characters
Rafelson and Schneider wanted each of the Monkees to have a personality similar to those of each of the Beatles. This ultimately played a factor in the casting. Nesmith was the “serious one” like George Harrison. Dolenz, the zany John Lennon type.
The ad that ran in Variety and The Hollywood Reporter for casting The Monkees.
Jones was the “cute one,” which left Tork to portray the Ringo-Esque loner. James Frawley (The Muppet Movie) was brought in to work with the actors on improvisational comedy. The director would go on to helm 29 of the series 58 episodes.
“‘…The Monkees’ was a TV show about an imaginary band, a band that wanted to be The Beatles. Bands all over the country wanted to be The Beatles. We were a band (as portrayed on the TV show) that was never successful. The Beatles were already The Beatles in ‘Hard Days Night,’ they already were successful…”
– Mickey Dolenz
Each member of the Monkees was assigned an instrument that their character would play in the series. However, the musical strengths of each person was not the main motivation for how this was determined.
Davey Jones was originally set to play the drums, However, due to his short stature, it was determined that he looked even smaller behind the kit. Nesmith and Tork, could both play the drums, but both refused, preferring to play guitar and bass respectively. Dolenz, also a guitarist, was chosen to be the drummer. He had never played drums before in his life but got by with some tutelage from Tork.
Mickey Dolenz with an elephant on the set of Circus Boy (1956). Photo courtesy of NBC/Creative Commons.
Filming
For the sets on The Monkees, many of the props, sets, and costumes were actually originally used in the production of The Three Stooges shorts in the 1930s and 40s. In some scenes the characters wore their own clothes. This was because not all of the costumes Screen Gems had in storage were suitable. Plus, the show was made on a shoestring budget.
The scripts for The Monkees were written in a very loose way. As such, some episodes were too short and needed to be padded. This was done with accomplished by including the Monkees’ original screen tests, and candid interviews with the group. The musical number vignettes on the series were essentially prototypes for music videos that MTV would be playing 15 years later.
Music
Screen Gems’ head of music Don Kirshner was tasked with securing songs for the series. A process that had began before casting was even completed. Kirschner had hired legendary songwriters Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart to get the ball rolling in this respect.
The original intention was that the Monkees would perform all the music on these song recordings. However, it soon became apparent that they were not up to the task. As a result, they would only provide vocals.
The famous and infamous Los Angeles-based session musicians known as The Wrecking Crew, provided the music for the recordings for the first two records, The Monkees (1966) and More of the Monkees (1967).
“…The first album shows up and I look at it with horror because it makes (us) appear as if we are a rock ‘n’ roll band. There’s no credit for the other musicians. I go completely ballistic, and I say, ‘What are you people thinking?’ (The powers that be say), ‘Well, you know, it’s the fantasy.’ I say, ‘It’s not the fantasy. You’ve crossed the line here! You are now duping the public. They know when they look at the television series that we’re not a rock ‘n’ roll band; it’s a show about a rock ‘n’ roll band…nobody for a minute believes that we are somehow this accomplished rock ‘n’ roll band that got their own television show…you putting the record out like this is just beyond the pale…”
– Mike Nesmith
Disagreement
A fight ensued, led by Nesmith, for the Monkees to play on the records and write the music as well. Eventually, Rafelson and Schneider backed the Monkees. This with the caveat that Kirschner would not release material directly created by the group with unrelated Kirshner-produced material. This was due to a backlash in the media when it was discovered that the characters on tv were not in fact a real band.
“…To me, these were the soundtrack albums to the show, and it wasn’t my job. My job was to be an actor and to come in and to sing the stuff when I was asked to do so. I had no problem with that . . . It wasn’t until Mike and Peter started getting so upset that Davy and I started defending them…they were upset because it wasn’t the way they were used to making music. The artist is the bottom line. The artist decides what songs are gonna go on and in what order and who writes ’em and who produces ’em…”
– Mickey Dolenz
On January 16, 1967, The Monkees held their first recording session as a fully functioning, autonomous band. Three weeks later Kirshner was fired when he violated the agreement and released “A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You.” A song composed and written by Neil Diamond, as a single with one of the band’s songs, “She Hangs Out”, as the B-side.
Peter Tork in pajamas previously worn by Curly Howard of The Three Stooges. Photo courtesy of NBC.
With Kirshner gone, Chip Douglas from The Turtles was hired to produce the third Monkees album, Headquarters (1967). Dolenz, an actor at heart, soon became bored by this entire recording process. He eventually just stopped showing up for the sessions.
The band released two more albums during the series, Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd. (1967), and The Birds, The Bees & the Monkees (1968). These albums all featured session musicians from The Wrecking Crew, as well as appearances from Stephen Stills and Neil Young. Additional songwriters were also used. The Birds, The Bees & the Monkeeswas the first record released by The Monkees to not reach number 1 on the Billboard Charts.
Reception
When The Monkees first aired on NBC in the Fall of 1966, it was a ratings hit. Bolstered by the hit records produced by Kirschner, The Monkees were a pop culture phenomenon. It won two Emmy Awards in 1967: Outstanding Comedy Series and Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Comedy.
“…As far as the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame I’ve never been one to chase awards or anything like that; it’s never been very important to me. I was very proud to win an Emmy for The Monkees, having come out of television as a kid. When we won the Emmy for best TV show in ’66 or ’67 that was a huge feather in my cap…”
– Mickey Dolenz
However, during the second season of the now hit series, it became known that the Monkees were in fact actors on a TV series, and not an actual band. A backlash began that reached a crescendo by the time Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd.was released in November 1967.
The Monkees in a scene from the 1967 episode “Monkees at the Movies” Photo courtesy of NBC.
“…Everybody in the press and in the hippie movement had got us into their target window as being illegitimate and not worthy of consideration as a musical force (or) certainly any kind of cultural force…We were under siege; wherever we went there was such resentment for us. We were constantly mocked and humiliated by the press…Really gettin’ beat up pretty good. We all knew what was going on inside. Kirshner had been purged. We’d gone to try to make Headquarters and found out that it was only marginally okay and that our better move was to just go back to the original songwriting and song-making strategy of the first albums except with a clear indication of how (the music) came to be…The rabid element and the hatred that was engendered is almost impossible to describe. It lingers to this day among people my own age…”
– Mike Nesmith
Because of the backlash, NBC declined on their option to renew The Monkees for a third season. The show went off the airwaves in 1968.
After The Monkees
After the series ended The Monkees released the movie Head (1968), which was not a commercial success. The most notable thing about the movie was that it was co-produced by Rafelson and an unknown actor named Jack Nicholson. Rafelson, Schneider, and Nicholson would continue to collaborate on such films as Easy Rider (1969) and Five Easy Pieces (1970).
The Monkees released an occasional album and toured intermittently over the years. Their careers received a revitalization in the mid-1980s, when reruns of the hit show were broadcast on the MTV network.
The Monkees in a scene from the film “Head” (1968). Photo courtesy of Columbia Pictures.
Jones appeared as himself in arguably the most popular Brady Bunch episode, 1971’s “Getting Davy Jones.” the actor and musician passed away in 2012 at the too-early age of 66. The sole living member of the quartet is Dolenz, as Peter Tork passed away in 2019 from cancer and Nesmith followed two years later from heart failure.
“…Even if the show never meant to be more than entertainment and a hit-single generator, we shouldn’t sell The Monkees short. It was far better TV than it had to be; during an era of formulaic domestic sitcoms and wacky comedies, it was a stylistically ambitious show, with a distinctive visual style, absurdist sense of humor and unusual story structure. Whatever Jones and The Monkees were meant to be, they became creative artists in their own right, and Jones’ chipper Brit-pop presence was a big reason they were able to produce work that was commercial, wholesome and yet impressively weird…”
– James Poniewozik, Time Magazine
Fifty-five years after The Monkees debuted on television screens their legacy lives on.
