"Monkees on Tour"

According to Andrew Sandoval's The Monkees: The Day-by-Day Story of the 60s TV Pop Sensation, "Monkees on Tour" - the thirty-second episode of The Monkees series - was broadcast fifty years ago to-day (24 April 1967).  It was written and directed by Robert Rafelson and featured the songs "The Girl I Knew Somewhere," "Last Train to Clarksville," "Sweet Young Thing," "Mary, Mary," "Cripple Creek," "You Can't Judge a Book by the Cover," "I Wanna Be Free," "I've Got a Woman," "(I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone," and "I'm a Believer."  Sandoval describes the plot as: "A mini-documentary showing a day in the life of The Monkees during their first concert tour."

"Monkees at the Movies"

When I watched "Monkees at the Movies" this morning, I noticed a pretty obvious Shakespeare reference.  I thought it would be mentioned in the trivia on the DVD, but since it wasn't, I thought I'd make a note of it here.  About five minutes into the episode, after the Monkees have discovered how much of a jerk Frankie Catalina is, Micky says, "No longer shall we suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous Catalina."  He appears in an older style of clothing and holding a skull:

Both of these are references to Hamlet.  In his famous "To be or not to be..." soliloquy, Hamlet wonders about "suffer[ing] / The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune" (III.i.65-66).  Much later in the play, he picks up the skull of the King's jester (which had been buried for twenty-three years) and says, "Alas, poor Yorick" (V.i.177).

For what it's worth: in "Monkees Get out More Dirt," two episodes before this one, Mike quotes from Hamlet too.

"Monkees at the Movies"

According to Andrew Sandoval's The Monkees: The Day-by-Day Story of the 60s TV Pop Sensation, "Monkees at the Movies" - the thirty-first episode of The Monkees series - was broadcast fifty years ago to-day (17 April 1967).  It was written by Gerald Gardner and Dee Caruso, directed by Russell Mayberry, and featured the songs "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You," "Valleri," and "Last Train to Clarksville."  Sandoval describes the plot as: "The group is cast as extras in a teen-exploitation beach part flick… until Davy is cast into the spotlight."

"Monkees in Manhattan"

According to Andrew Sandoval's The Monkees: The Day-by-Day Story of the 60s TV Pop Sensation, "Monkees in Manhattan" - the thirtieth episode of The Monkees series - was broadcast fifty years ago to-day (10 April 1967).  It was written by Gerald Gardner and Dee Caruso, directed by Russell Mayberry, and featured the songs "The Girl I Knew Somewhere," "Look Out (Here Comes Tomorrow)," and "Words."  Sandoval describes the plot as: "At the urging of a would-be producer The Monkees hit the Big Apple to star in his rock'n'roll musical."

"Monkees Get Out More Dirt"

When I watched "Monkees Get Out More Dirt" this morning, I noticed some literary allusions (which aren't pointed out in the DVD trivia).

At the end, after April announces her engagement to Freddy Fox III, Davy says, "April is the cruelest month."  This is the first line of T.S. Eliot's "The Waste Land."  Then Mike says, "Well, I guess it just goes to prove what Shakespeare said: 'To thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the-" at which point he's interrupted by Micky.  Specifically, this is from Shakespeare's Hamlet.  Polonius says to Laertes "This above all: to thine own self be true, / And it must follow, as the night the day, / Thou canst not then be false to any man" (I.iii.82-84).

"Monkees Get Out More Dirt"

According to Andrew Sandoval's The Monkees: The Day-by-Day Story of the 60s TV Pop Sensation, "Monkees Get Out More Dirt" - the twenty-ninth episode of The Monkees series - was broadcast fifty years ago to-day (3 April 1967).  It was written by Gerald Gardner and Dee Caruso, directed by Gerald Shepard, and featured the song "The Girl I Knew Somewhere."  Sandoval describes the plot as: "A soap opera develops when Mike, Micky, Davy, and Peter all fall for the same woman, a luscious laundromat owner (played by Julie Newmar)."