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September 12, 2016: Monkee Business

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"Madness!! Auditions. Folk & Roll Musicians-Singers for acting roles in new TV series. Running Parts for 4 insane boys, age 17-21. Want spirited Ben Frank's types. Have courage to work. Must come down for interview." The Monkees debuted on NBC on this date 50 years ago.

33 thoughts on “September 12, 2016: Monkee Business”

  1. Apparently Stephen Stills was offered a role in the Monkees, but turned it down & recommended Peter Tork instead. And that's why we don't have CTN/Y.

    1. Other way around, according to the more official history. He tried out but was turned down (because producers thought his looks wouldn't work well on screen), then asked if he could recommend someone. And that someone turned out to be Tork.

      while I was at the Alma Mater, we had a "Peter Tork Game Room" in Sayles-Hill.

      November 1979

      A group calling itself the Gang of Three steals a portrait of Carleton’s first president, James Strong, from Laird and replaces it with a Day-Glo velvet painting of Elvis. In a ransom letter, they vow to return the Strong portrait only after their demands—which include establishing a fund for handicapped rock stars and appointing the coordinator of campus activities as ambassador to Norway—are met.

      For several months, a spirited exchange ensues between George Dehne, director of College relations, and the mysterious group, which comes to be known as the Gang of At Least Three and Not Over 1,600—and includes two members who reportedly serve on Carleton’s Board of Trustees in 2011. When Dehne refuses to negotiate, the group sends a Polaroid photograph of the portrait with a knife at Strong’s throat.

      Eventually the group returns the portrait, with the condition that Carleton administrators dedicate an area of Sayles-Hill to Monkees guitarist and Carleton alumnus Peter Tork ’64 (then known as Peter Thorkelson). In a final concession, Bob Cooper ’80 offers to work 20 hours for the Schiller Society if the Tork dedication takes place within a week. In March, with many of the conspirators present, the College officially dedicates the now-defunct Peter Tork Pinball Area in Sayles-Hill.

      1. Huh. I thought I'd read Stills say he was approached. Then again, who wants to say they tried out for the Monkees and were turned down? (I suppose he can console himself on being the weakest member of CSN/Y.)

  2. The very first conversation I ever had with my wife (at a college party) was about the Monkees. She brought home the new CD a few weeks ago and it's not too bad, all the songs still have that Monkees feel to them.

    1. The very first conversation I ever had with my wife (at a college party) was about the Monkees.

      Awesome. The first conversation Dr. Chop and I had was about The Clash (also at a college party...)

  3. Yesterday my family celebrated my grandmother's 90th birthday at the church hall in her hometown. In the kitchen I found this request from the church ladies, taped on a griddle:

      1. A friend of mine and I were going to start an entire tumblr devoted to people misusing quotation marks. This one isn't quite as entertaining as some of them (the best ones, of course, are the ones where the quotation marks imply the exact opposite meaning that the sign is trying to convey), but it would've made the cut.

        2. Beresford is now 12th all-time in hits in the MLB by those born in Australia. Glenn Williams is 8th with 17. Luke Hughes is 3rd with 69. Dave Nilsson is No. 1 with 789. Only 10 position players have every had a PA in the MLB.

  5. Looking at the signatures in my mom's old New Ulm Senior High yearbook, someone wrote something long and mentioned about how someday Pete would notice and marry her. I asked my mom whatever happened to that boy and she couldn't figure out who it was. Then she realized... No, that was Pete from the Monkees.

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