"Monkee Vs. Machine"

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According to Andrew Sandoval's The Monkees: The Day-by-Day Story of the 60s TV Pop Sensation, "Monkee Vs. Machine" - the third episode of The Monkees series - was broadcast fifty years ago to-day (26 September 1966).  It was written by David Panich, directed by Robert Rafelson, and featured the songs "Last Train to Clarksville" and "Saturday's Child."  Sandoval describes the plot as: "Stan Freberg stars as a headstrong company man, Daggart, who plans to automate an old-fashioned toy company." 

"Monkee See, Monkee Die"

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According to Andrew Sandoval's The Monkees: The Day-by-Day Story of the 60s TV Pop Sensation, "Monkee See, Monkee Die" - the second episode of The Monkees series - was broadcast fifty years ago to-day (19 September 1966).  It was written by Treva Silverman, directed by James Frawley, and featured the songs "Tomorrow's Gonna Be Another Day" and "Last Train to Clarksville."  Sandoval describes the plot as: "When an eccentric millionaire leaves The Monkees an unexpected legacy, the group must spend the night in the deceased's haunted mansion." 

"Monkee See, Monkee Die"

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This morning I watched Monkee See, Monkee Die, the second episode of the Monkees (which is the first episode of the Monkees I ever saw, something like a decade ago), and I noticed a couple things.

After Micky connects some elements of the telephone to the radio in order to get a signal out, he says, "Laugh will they."

I'm not sure about this, but I think that line is a reference to the Gershwins' "They All Laughed."  The song exhibits anaphora with the title line "they all laughed," and there's a line about radios: "They told Marconi wireless was a phony."

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During the "Tomorrow's Gonna Be Another Day" romp, there are two shots of the Monkees lying on the ground with their heads together:

This lookt familiar to me, and it wasn't too long before I remembered that there's a picture of the Beatles in this same configuration.  I think the reason I remembered is that it's also the cover image for Bob Spitz's biography of the Beatles:

[source]

I dug out my copy and lookt at the credits, which say this picture was taken by Bob Whitaker.  I couldn't find a specific date for it, but I did find a short biography of Whitaker that says he photographed the Beatles during 1964 to 1966.  So it's possible that those two shots in "Monkee See, Monkee Die" were inspired by this particular image.

"Let's Dance On"

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A couple days ago, I learned (most of) the guitar parts for the Beatles' version of "Twist and Shout."  The opening guitar phrase reminded me of "Let's Dance On," so I learned that guitar part in order to compare the two.  Both start with a four-note diatonic ascent (A B C# D in "Twist and Shout;" G A B C in "Let's Dance On"), then there's a considerable drop (a fifth in "Twist and Shout," down to G; a sixth in "Let's Dance On," to E), and then a bit of an ascent (up a second in "Twist and Shout" to A; two notes (F and then G) for a total interval of a third in "Let's Dance On").  Both songs also have rather lengthy chromatic phrases.  There's a six-note string (A to D) at the very end of "Twist and Shout" and an eight-note string (F to C) in the second and third phrases of the introductory figure in "Let's Dance On."

I checkt the credits on The Monkees album, and "Let's Dance On" was written by Boyce and Hart, so 1) there's precedence for that Beatle influence (I remember something about their writing "Last Train to Clarksville" based on "Paperback Writer," although that's a couple years after "Twist and Shout" in the Beatles' catalogue) and 2) it's likely that the song was written specifically for the Monkees and - because they were modeled on the Beatles - it's possible that the resemblance to "Twist and Shout" was intentional.

"Take a Giant Step"

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When I watched "Royal Flush" yester-day, I noticed what I think is a glockenspiel part in "Take a Giant Step" and figured it would be easy to learn.  It's only five notes (and only three pitches), so I'm not going to bother recording it, but I realized later that the same musical phrase (A B C# B A) is played by the bass during the "Come with me; leave yesterday behind…" sections and by both bass and guitar during the instrumental section, starting at about 1:28.  It's repeated with the A note linking the phrases though, so it's more like |: A B C# B :|.

"Royal Flush"

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Manufactured Monkees:

According to Andrew Sandoval's The Monkees: The Day-by-Day Story of the 60s TV Pop Sensation, "Royal Flush" - the first episode of The Monkees series - was broadcast fifty years ago to-day (12 September 1966).  It was written by Peter Meyerson and Robert Schlitt, directed by James Frawley, and featured the songs "Take a Giant Step," "This Just Doesn't Seem to Be My Day," and "Last Train to Clarksville."  Sandoval describes the plot as: "The Monkees foil a fiendish plot to assassinate Princess Bettina, the Duchess of Harmonica."

I watched this episode this morning (three times actually; once for the episode itself and then twice more for the commentaries by James Frawley and Davy Jones).  I found some things to write about.

I don't think I noticed this before, but at the beginning of the episode, Peter is wearing mis-matched socks:

After Otto explains his plan of poisoning Princess Bettina, there's a close-up of the bottle of poison, in which there's a continuity error.  The hand in the close-up has a ring:

but Otto isn't wearing one in the wider shot:

There are also a couple shots that match the lyrics of the songs playing during them.  When Sigmund is chasing Micky on the beach during "This Just Doesn't Seem to Be My Day," the camera turns upside down for the line "My whole world is upside down":

And during the party at the end, one of the extras stares at an-other during the line "You stare at me in disbelief" in "Take a Giant Step":

Those might just be coincidences, but I thought them interesting.

I read the trivia for the episode on the DVD menu, and apparently "Last Train to Clarksville" was in this episode only when it aired as a re-run.  It replaced the short interview at the end.

"Royal Flush"

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According to Andrew Sandoval's The Monkees: The Day-by-Day Story of the 60s TV Pop Sensation, "Royal Flush" - the first episode of The Monkees series - was broadcast fifty years ago to-day (12 September 1966).  It was written by Peter Meyerson and Robert Schlitt, directed by James Frawley, and featured the songs "Take a Giant Step," "This Just Doesn't Seem to Be My Day," and "Last Train to Clarksville."  Sandoval describes the plot as: "The Monkees foil a fiendish plot to assassinate Princess Bettina, the Duchess of Harmonica."