Video – Page 86 – On Screenwriting and Media with Dr. Rosanne Welch

12 : Women and The Monkees : “Why The Monkees Matter” Interview with Jean Power [Video] (1:04)

Rosanne Welch talks about “Why The Monkees Matter” with Jean Hopkins Power

Watch this entire presentation (45 mins)

Jean Powergirl takes the host reigns and welcomes her guest Rosanne Welch, PhD to the show! They’ll be discussing Roseanne’s book, “Why The Monkees Matter: Teenagers, Television and American Pop Culture.”

Transcript:

Rosanne: Even in the very first episode of the series, called “Royal Flush”, Davy, of course, falls in love with a princess from an unknown country and you think princes that’s silly and non-sensical, but near the end of the episode he asks her to stay in America with him and she says no because she has an obligation to her people. Of course, every girl’s dream was to have Davy Jones ask them to do that, but she didn’t pick the boy. She picked her — and she didn’t pick “I’m a princess . I want to wear pretty dresses and go do that.” She picked a duty. A job that had been given to her that she was going to do well.

Jean: Like Princess Leia from Star Wars. It ties back!

Rosanne: …or even The Crown is very big on Netflix now. You know that’s all what Queen Elizabeth was about. I have an obligation. So, I thought it was hilarious that I found no girl who was useless among all the girls that ended up guesting on the show so my theory, if you will, that as a 6-year-old and 8-year-old watching the show, learned that if I wanted to marry a Monkee I had to be a woman of substance.

Get your copy today!

A hit television show about a fictitious rock band, The Monkees (1966-1968) earned two Emmys–Outstanding Comedy Series and Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Comedy. Capitalizing on the show’s success, the actual band formed by the actors, at their peak, sold more albums than The Beatles and The Rolling Stones combined and set the stage for other musical TV characters from The Partridge Family to Hannah Montana. In the late 1980s, the Monkees began a series of reunion tours that continued into their 50th anniversary.

This book tells the story of The Monkees and how the show changed television, introducing a new generation to the fourth-wall-breaking slapstick created by Laurel and Hardy and the Marx Brothers. Its creators contributed to the innovative film and television of 1970s with projects like Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Laugh-In and Welcome Back, Kotter. Immense profits from the show, its music and its merchandising funded the producers’ move into films such as Head, Easy Rider and Five Easy Pieces.

Rosanne Welch, PhD has written for television (Touched by an Angel, Picket Fences) and print (Three Ring Circus: How Real Couples Balance Marriage, Work and Kids and The Encyclopedia of Women in Aviation and Space). In the documentary world she has written and produced Bill Clinton and the Boys Nation Class of 1963 for ABC NEWS/Nightline and consulted on PBS’s A Prince Among Slaves, the story of a prince from West Africa who was enslaved in the 1780s, freed by order of President John Quincy Adams in the 1820s and returned to his homeland.

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From The Research Vault: Feeling Italian: The Art of Ethnicity in America by Thomas J. Ferraro

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

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A History of Screenwriting – 30 in a series – The Eclipse: The Courtship of the Sun and Moon (George Méliès, 1905)

A professor of astronomy gives a lecture instructing on an impending solar eclipse. The class rushes to an observation tower to witness the event, which features an anthropomorphic Sun and Moon coming together. The Moon and the Sun lick their lips in anticipation as the eclipse arrives, culminating in a romantic encounter between the two celestial bodies. Various heavenly bodies, including planets and moons, hang in the night sky; a meteor shower is depicted using the ghostly figures of girls. The professor of astronomy, shocked by all he has witnessed, topples from the observation tower.

The Eclipse has been remarked upon for its overt sexual symbolism.^[1]^[2] Christine Cornea posits that the film’s primary theme, the clash of scientific logic with sexual desire, was also evident in Méliès’ earlier films A Trip to the Moon and The Impossible Voyage, and would become a prominent in many subsequent science-fiction films.^[1]

Some scholars, interpreting the Sun and the Moon to be both male, have described the erotic “eclipse” as an early depiction of homosexuality in cinema,^[2]^[3] with an “effeminate” Moon being seduced by an “devilishly masculine” Sun.^[1] By contrast, Méliès’s film catalogue describes the liaison in heterosexual terms, referring to the participants as “the man in the sun” and “dainty Diana” and using pronouns to match.^{[4] — Wikipedia}

* A portion of each sale from Amazon.com directly supports our blogs
** Many of these books may be available from your local library. Check it out!

I teach several classes for the Stephens College Low-Residency MFA in Screenwriting, including History of Screenwriting. In fact, I created the curriculum for that course from scratch and customized it to this particular MFA in that it covers ‘Screenwriting’ (not directors) and even more specifically, the class has a female-centric focus. As part History of Screenwriting I, the first course in the four-class series, we focus on the early women screenwriters of the silent film era who male historians have, for the most part, quietly forgotten in their books. In this series, I share with you some of the screenwriters and films that should be part of any screenwriters education. I believe that in order to become a great screenwriter, you need to understand the deep history of screenwriting and the amazing people who created the career. — Dr. Rosanne Welch

Personal Identity and The Monkees from Why The Monkees Matter Book Signing [Video] (0:37)

This book signing at Book Soup was wonderful – good people, good conversation (before and after the signing). Just another example of the kind of quality positive people who have been drawn to The Monkees across generations – I even met a former head of publicity for ScreenGems who had some fun stories to tell. — Rosanne

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Transcript:

So it was very interesting, by using their own names they actually caused a difficulty in anyone really understanding who they were. I always say that if you think about it Davy Jones was the Neil Patrick Harris of his day, because he had come off Broadway and a Tony nomination for Oliver! — he played the Artful Dodger. So, after The Monkees was over he should have been able to return to Broadway, but nobody made room for him because they thought , “Ah, he’s just a bubblegum singer.” They completely dismissed him and yet he had been part of them where as Neil Patrick Harris has gone form Doogie Howser to Broadway, back to television in How I Met Your Mother, back to Broadway and winning a Tony for Hedwig. So, the times weren’t sophisticated enough yet to understand that ability.

Buy “Why The Monkees Matter” Today!

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

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

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11 : Feminism and The Monkees : “Why The Monkees Matter” Interview with Jean Power [Video] (0:53)

Rosanne Welch talks about “Why The Monkees Matter” with Jean Hopkins Power

Watch this entire presentation (45 mins)

Transcript:

Rosanne: Treva Silverman was one of the first women to write comedy without a male partner on television and she worked on the The Monkees first and then she would move onto The Mary Tyler Moore Show and she would win 2 Emmys for that show. So I noted that if you were watching The Monkees, there is definitely the feminist perspective that she is going to bring to Mary Tyler Moore exists in The Monkees the best that it can in a show that doesn’t a female character.

Jean: Ok. So give us some examples of that. How is this feminist we’ll call is point of view or issue suggested.

Rosanne: When they met girls — again, I assume a group of rock and roll boys would go out with the cheerleaders, , airheads, groupies, the fan girls — and instead — as I clocked each episode — every time they liked a girl she was a girl with a purpose. There were girls who were going to college. There were girls who had jobs and were supporting themselves as young women. There were journalists.

Get your copy today!

A hit television show about a fictitious rock band, The Monkees (1966-1968) earned two Emmys–Outstanding Comedy Series and Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Comedy. Capitalizing on the show’s success, the actual band formed by the actors, at their peak, sold more albums than The Beatles and The Rolling Stones combined and set the stage for other musical TV characters from The Partridge Family to Hannah Montana. In the late 1980s, the Monkees began a series of reunion tours that continued into their 50th anniversary.

This book tells the story of The Monkees and how the show changed television, introducing a new generation to the fourth-wall-breaking slapstick created by Laurel and Hardy and the Marx Brothers. Its creators contributed to the innovative film and television of 1970s with projects like Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Laugh-In and Welcome Back, Kotter. Immense profits from the show, its music and its merchandising funded the producers’ move into films such as Head, Easy Rider and Five Easy Pieces.

Rosanne Welch, PhD has written for television (Touched by an Angel, Picket Fences) and print (Three Ring Circus: How Real Couples Balance Marriage, Work and Kids and The Encyclopedia of Women in Aviation and Space). In the documentary world she has written and produced Bill Clinton and the Boys Nation Class of 1963 for ABC NEWS/Nightline and consulted on PBS’s A Prince Among Slaves, the story of a prince from West Africa who was enslaved in the 1780s, freed by order of President John Quincy Adams in the 1820s and returned to his homeland.

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From The Research Vault: Rowan & Martin s Laugh In 2nd season Davy Jones, Robert Wagner, Greer Garson

In honor of the 50th Anniversary of Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In, here’s the full episode (2.19 – the Valentine’s Day Special from 1969) when Davy Jones guest starred. He first appears at 19:54, then in a sketch at 20:03 and 30:07, 34:46, and with Goldie Hawn at 41:16, and at 57:06 – but the whole episode is a hilarious time capsule of the era so watch when you can.

Another fun Monkees connection to make is that the Emmy Award-wining Laugh-In writing staff included The Monkees alumni Coslough Johnson and David Panich.

Final trivia fun, the writing staff also included a young writer who has done much for comedy since then….Lorne Michaels.

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

Order Your Copy Now!

Characters vs. Actors and The Monkees from Why The Monkees Matter Book Signing [Video] (1:10)

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Transcript:

The other thing that’s really interesting is they made a choice in the show for all the actors and musicians to use their own names as their characters. Any other show — The Partridge Family — they were The Partridge Family but that wasn’t their actual names in real life, but on The Monkees they were using their real names and this gets into a whole chapter i have on political ideology and identity. How we decide who’s who and how publicists had to decide how to present these people. Are they — first of all, when Davy got married they didn’t tell anybody because they thought all the girls would stop liking him, so how hard it is to be married in the real world and have to hide your wife and how much does she like not being able to tell people who she really is. They had to make choices about that and the idea that on concerts they were Micky Dolenz, Mike Nesmith, Davy Jones and Peter Tork and those were their names on the show. On the show they were a bunch of kids who couldn’t get a job to save their souls. So when the show was over that ability for Americans not be be able to separate out actors from characters was difficult. Because suddenly everyone thought that they were a couple of goofballs or they were famous rock stars who didn’t need to be actors anymore.

Buy “Why The Monkees Matter” Today!

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

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

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

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A History of Screenwriting – 29 in a series – Living Playing Cards (George Méliès, France, 1905)

A bearded magician holds up a large playing card and makes it larger. He tears up a card of a queen, burns the torn bits, and a life-size Queen of Hearts card appears; then, it becomes alive. The magician puts her back into the card. The same thing happens with the King of Clubs: the card becomes alive. The king removes his costume, and there’s something very familiar about him – A Room with a Past on YouTube

* A portion of each sale from Amazon.com directly supports our blogs
** Many of these books may be available from your local library. Check it out!

10 : Writers and The Monkees : “Why The Monkees Matter” Interview with Jean Power [Video] (0:44)

Rosanne Welch talks about “Why The Monkees Matter” with Jean Hopkins Power

Watch this entire presentation (45 mins)

Transcript:

Jean: So The Monkees are going strong now did they evolve in their message over these 52 episode?

Rosanne: 58 Episodes

Jean: 58 Episodes. All right. So they start out, did they change up what they were doing? I mean you’re the connoisseur of all the episodes.

Rosanne: They had a variety of messages and these come form the writers experiences. One of the things I push in my class is that we have to remember that we tend, in American, because the French taught us, to correlate the author of the piece with the director, but, in fact, the director can’t direct a bunch of blank pages. It’s the writer who comes up with the theme and the idea. The director enhances that through the visuals. So, for me, it was important to meet the various writers who I still could and it’s their thoughts and messages.

Get your copy today!

A hit television show about a fictitious rock band, The Monkees (1966-1968) earned two Emmys–Outstanding Comedy Series and Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Comedy. Capitalizing on the show’s success, the actual band formed by the actors, at their peak, sold more albums than The Beatles and The Rolling Stones combined and set the stage for other musical TV characters from The Partridge Family to Hannah Montana. In the late 1980s, the Monkees began a series of reunion tours that continued into their 50th anniversary.

This book tells the story of The Monkees and how the show changed television, introducing a new generation to the fourth-wall-breaking slapstick created by Laurel and Hardy and the Marx Brothers. Its creators contributed to the innovative film and television of 1970s with projects like Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Laugh-In and Welcome Back, Kotter. Immense profits from the show, its music and its merchandising funded the producers’ move into films such as Head, Easy Rider and Five Easy Pieces.

Rosanne Welch, PhD has written for television (Touched by an Angel, Picket Fences) and print (Three Ring Circus: How Real Couples Balance Marriage, Work and Kids and The Encyclopedia of Women in Aviation and Space). In the documentary world she has written and produced Bill Clinton and the Boys Nation Class of 1963 for ABC NEWS/Nightline and consulted on PBS’s A Prince Among Slaves, the story of a prince from West Africa who was enslaved in the 1780s, freed by order of President John Quincy Adams in the 1820s and returned to his homeland.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Commentary, Comedy, and The Monkees from Why The Monkees Matter Book Signing [Video] (1:01)

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Transcript:

When I talked to the writers about that they said it was because the censors didn’t get it. They had no ideas what they were actually saying.They just thought it was some sort goofy — I don’t know — you could have called it Italy for all anyone cared. They did not see the connection. That happened a lot. There are a lot of drug jokes on the show. They talk about taking trips a lot and that sort of thing. They talk about taking pills that will give you funny visions and they have a great moment in one of the episodes where they’re doing a little flashback — a fake fantasy — and Micky goes to visit Mike who is the “Middle Llama” because the High Llama is off sleeping it off out back. And it stayed on the air, but just a year after The Monkees went off the air The Smothers Brothers come on and they make the same jokes and they get canceled. They get canceled for being overtly political on television, but here were these guys doing the very thing for two years and nobody noticed. Partially because it was all slapstick humor — you’re talking about vaudeville — they were very much like The Marx Bros as we know and partially the censors just didn’t get it.