Monkees – Page 36 – On Screenwriting and Media with Dr. Rosanne Welch

From The Research Vault: Dolenz, Jones, Boyce & Hart on The Dinah Shore Show 1976

On this 1976 episode of The Dinah Shore Show Micky and Davy introduce their new group – Dolenz, Jones, Boyce and Hart. They begin by singing a medley of Monkees tunes with Dinah, then move to the couch and chat about Micky and Davy’s participation in a recent charity tennis tournament in Africa where they played tennis with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton and Dean Paul (Dino) Martin Jr. Finally the guests participate in an impromptu spelling bee in honor of the other young guest on the show who had won that year’s spelling bee.

The conversation is vintage Hollywood celebrity of the 1970s. It wraps up with DJB&H admittedly lip synching to their new song – so that sound quality is low since the onstage microphones could not pick up the music that was piping in to the audience. It’s interesting to see that the more impromptu singing of the earlier medley – with Micky playing guitar for Pleasant Valley Sunday – was live and the full song at the end was not. Micky makes several jokes about how Hollywood works, again representing the fact that he was a child of the town moreso than any of the others.

Why The Monkees Matter: Teenagers, Television and American Pop Culture

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Previously in Out of Research Vault:

Quotes from “Why The Monkees Matter” by Dr. Rosanne Welch – 41 in a series – Ethnic Studies

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It was not possible to look at The Monkees through the prism of Ethnic Studies during its initial run on television, but it is possible – and is also enlightening – to do so now.

The Monkees run on NBC came at the tail end of the Civil Rights Movement that urged the expansion of Ethnic Studies and in the midst of the Red Power Movement that would culminate in the occupation of Alcatraz Island in 1969.

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From the Index… The T’s & U’s – “Why The Monkees Matter”

Wonder what and who I mentioned in “Why The Monkees Matter”? Check out these index entries!

Tayback, Vic 21, 70, 73

Taylor, Rip 92

Teen Wolf 114

Television Parts 155

Temple, Shirley 13

Ten Little Indians 113

That Girl 13, 55

That Was The Week That Was 46, 113

30 Rock 109

Thriller 117

Tick, The 155

Tiger Beat 124

Tinker, Grant 96

Tolkien, J.R.R. 31

“Too Many Girls” 77, 88, 98, 116, 132

Tootsie 111

Top of the Pops 66

Tork, Peter 2, 3, 6-7, 10, 14, 21-22, 24-27, 29-37, 39-41, 45, 47, 50, 52, 55, 59-63, 65, 69-70, 72-76, 78, 80-81, 87-93, 95-100, 103-104, 107-109, 111-112, 115, 118, 120-121, 123-129, 132, 134-138, 140, 142-145, 148-149, 151-152, 154-156

Transcendental Meditation 32

Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The 91

Trillin, Calvin 113

Truffaut, Francois 43

Tubor, Morton 96

Tucker, Larry 27, 44, 46, 57, 84

Tuesdays with Morrie 133

Turteltaub, Saul 113

Turtles, The 152

TV Guide 17, 83, 89, 144

Twain, Mark 112

26th Amendment 156

Twilight Zone, The 84

Two and a Half Men 53

Ullrich, Lars 152

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Why The Monkees Matter: Teenagers, Television and American Pop Culture

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Fans and The Monkees and Conclusion from An Interview with Dr. Rosanne Welch, Author of “Why The Monkees Matter” on the Zilch Podcast [Audio]

A clip of an interview with Dr. Rosanne Welch, author of “Why The Monkees Matter” from Zilch: A Monkee’s Podcast: Episode 48.

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Quotes from “Why The Monkees Matter” by Dr. Rosanne Welch – 40 in a series – Gender Bending

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The overall feminist discourse nurtured by the creative team on the show continued in the second season. “Wild Monkees” offers a look at both feminism and masculinity with a side order of gender-bending when a pack of female bikers arrives at a broken down old hotel where the band is playing, while also working as bell hops and waiters to earn the right to play. Upon their arrival, swathed in sunglasses, helmets and scarves, the female bikers are assumed to be men until one of them kisses Davy, revealing herself to be a female to the audience and to Davy.

from Why The Monkees Mattered by Dr. Rosanne Welch — Buy your Copy today!

Why The Monkees Matter: Teenagers, Television and American Pop Culture

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The overall feminist discourse nurtured by the creative team on the show continued in the second season. “Wild Monkees” offers a look at both feminism and masculinity with a side order of gender-bending when a pack of female bikers arrives at a broken down old hotel where the band is playing, while also working as bell hops and waiters to earn the right to play. Upon their arrival, swathed in sunglasses, helmets and scarves, the female bikers are assumed to be men until one of them kisses Davy, revealing herself to be a female to the audience and to Davy.

From the Index… The S’s – “Why The Monkees Matter”

Wonder what and who I mentioned in “Why The Monkees Matter”? Check out these index entries!

Sager, Carole Bayer 53

“Salesman” 30

Sandoval, Andrew 7, 40

Sammy Davis Jr. Show, The 68

Sanford and Son 53, 117

Sanford, Lee 115

Sargent, Herbert 113

Saturday Night Live 113

“Saturday’s Child” 79

Sawyer, Diane 130-131

Schlitt, Robert (Bob) 20, 29, 50, 58, 63, 65, 86-87, 89, 126

Schisgal, Murray 112

Schneider, Bert 24, 44-47, 84, 94, 97, 104, 115, 127, 146

Schultz, Charles 69

Scooby Doo 49

Secret Life of the American Teenager, The 22

Seeger, Pete 34, 40

Seinfeld, Jerry 121, 145

Selleck, Tom 119

Seneca Falls Convention 56

Sergeant Bilko 72

Seventh Heaven 155

77 Sunset Strip 15-16, 105

Sex and the City 65

Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band 7, 19, 24, 135

Shaw, Reta 77-78

“She Hangs Out” 148

Shepherd, Gerald 97-98

Sherman, Bobby 130-132, 151

Shindell, Richard 149

Shindig 19, 122, 132

Silverman, Treva 40, 50-52, 56, 70, 78-80, 91, 101-102, 113, 126, 135, 137

Simpsons, The 154

Sinatra, Frank 8, 49

Singer, Alex 98

16Magazine 136

Smalls, Charlie 69

Smith, Will 8

Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, The 6, 20, 34

“So You Want To Be A Rock ‘n’ Roll Star” 148, 151

Solid Gold Cadillac 105

Some Like It Hot 87, 111

“Some Like It Lukewarm” 63, 65, 66, 69, 110-112,

“Sometime in the Morning” 21, 39, 63

“The Son of a Gypsy” 78, 132, 136

Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour, The 20

Soprano’s The 72

Sotomayor, Sonya 6

Spencer, Alfred E. 105

Spitting Image 154

Splendor in the Grass 17

Spongebob Squarepants 155

“The Spy Who Came In From The Cool” 38, 78, 86, 90, 114, 126

Smith, Roger 15

Star Trek 68, 79, 114, 131, 139, 152-153

Star Trek: The Next Generation 107

Starr, Ringo 125, 154

Steinbeck, John 115

Steinem, Gloria 113

Stevens, Connie 15

Stills, Stephen 36, 123, 148

Stipe, Michael 149

Stone Poneys 89

Stonewall Riots 26

Streets of San Francisco, The 105

“Success Story” 20, 35, 54, 98, 109, 117, 137

Summer Stock 105

Sunset Boulevard Riots 13, 36, 39, 69

Swan Lake 91

Switch 119

Sylvester, Ward 47, 51, 91, 118, 124, 135, 139

from Why The Monkees Mattered by Dr. Rosanne Welch — Buy your Copy today!

Why The Monkees Matter: Teenagers, Television and American Pop Culture

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Timeless Themes and The Monkees from An Interview with Dr. Rosanne Welch, Author of “Why The Monkees Matter” on the Zilch Podcast [Audio]

A clip of an interview with Dr. Rosanne Welch, author of “Why The Monkees Matter” from Zilch: A Monkee’s Podcast: Episode 48.

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Why The Monkees Matter: Teenagers, Television and American Pop Culture

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Timothy Leary & The Monkees from 1960’s TV Censorship and The Monkees with Dr. Rosanne Welch [Video] (1:04)

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“1960s TV Censorship and The Monkees” gives a brief overview of where censorship standards were in the era – and how The Monkees pushed the envelope with its mentions of the Vietnam War – and Sunset Strip riots – and even with the outrageous storytelling behind “Frodis Caper”, the episode that celebrated the saving of an alien plant that very closely resembled a marijuana plant…

Writer Treva Silverman said the staff got away with such jokes because the network executives were just old enough not to understand any of the references.
Presented at Stephens College MFA in Screenwriting classes on Friday, August 5, 2016

Transcript:

Timothy Leary back in the day actually wrote about them in one of his books and he wrote — I think this is very funny — “An early Christian electronic satire” or “a jolly Buddha laugh at hypocrisy.” so he saw right through what they were doing while other people were missing it. it’s in “The Politics of Ecstasy” and I like the particular phrase down here, they “use the new energies to sing the new songs and pass on a new message” and the message is really important because this show was being aired and was being watched by 13, 14 and 15 year olds. Their older brothers and sisters were already into The Beatles, right, but these younger kids move into the 70’s — these are the kids that are protesting the Vietnam War. So they got this message early on in their life. Micky Dolenz, this is line he gave in one of the episodes after he ranted about something and then he looked at the screen and said that. One of the things I love about the show is its metatextuality and that is something that I wrote about in the book, which not all shows do, but when you break the 4th wall and you address the audience, they did that all the time. Which is a very older style thing. Of course, it’s a Shakespearean thing. George Burns and Gracie Allen did it all the time. They did it all the time which I think is very funny.

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About Dr. Rosanne Welch

Dr. Rosanne Welch is a professor in the Low Residency MFA in Screenwriting Program from Stephens College, California State University, Fullerton, Mount San Antonio Community College and Cal Poly Pomona. In 2007, she graduated with her Ph.D. in 20th Century U.S./Film History from Claremont Graduate University. She graduated with her M.A. in 20th Century United States History from California State University, Northridge in 2004.

Welch is also a television writer/producer with credits for Beverly Hills 90210 , CBS’s Emmy winning Picket Fences and Touched By An Angel . She also writes and hosts her own podcasts on 3rdPass.media, her first one titled “Mindful(I) Media with Dr. Rosanne Welch.”

Three Ring Circus: How Real Couples Balance Marriage, Work and Kids and The Encyclopedia of Women in Aviation and Space are two books she has written. Los Angeles Times and the Journal of Screenwriting hold some of her published articles.

Dr. Rosanne Welch Web Site and Blog

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Quotes from “Why The Monkees Matter” by Dr. Rosanne Welch – 39 in a series – No Love For Mike

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It is interesting to note that the writers never created an episode around a love interest for Mike’s character, possibly because the audience knew from reading popular magazines that Nesmith was the only married actor in The Monkees. It was standard practice in this era not to make married actors into ladies men when possible. Producers felt the audience did not want to feel guilty when watching their favorite stars.

from Why The Monkees Mattered by Dr. Rosanne Welch — Buy your Copy today!

Why The Monkees Matter: Teenagers, Television and American Pop Culture

McFarland (Direct from Publisher) | Amazon | Kindle Edition | Nook Edition

From the Index… The T’s – “Why The Monkees Matter”

Wonder what and who I mentioned in “Why The Monkees Matter”? Check out these index entries!

Tayback, Vic 21, 70, 73

Taylor, Rip 92

Teen Wolf 114

Television Parts 155

Temple, Shirley 13

Ten Little Indians 113

That Girl 13, 55

That Was The Week That Was 46, 113

30 Rock 109

Thriller 117

Tick, The 155

Tiger Beat 124

Tinker, Grant 96

Tolkien, J.R.R. 31

“Too Many Girls” 77, 88, 98, 116, 132

Tootsie 111

Top of the Pops 66

Transcendental Meditation 32

Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The 91

Trillin, Calvin 113

Truffaut, Francois 43

Tubor, Morton 96

Tucker, Larry 27, 44, 46, 57, 84

Tuesdays with Morrie 133

Turteltaub, Saul 113

Turtles, The 152

TV Guide 17, 83, 89, 144

Twain, Mark 112

26th Amendment 156

Twilight Zone, The 84

Two and a Half Men 53

from Why The Monkees Mattered by Dr. Rosanne Welch — Buy your Copy today!

Why The Monkees Matter: Teenagers, Television and American Pop Culture

McFarland (Direct from Publisher) | Amazon | Kindle Edition | Nook Edition