Take my hand and fly with me back through the years when I was a sweet young thing with never a thought that one day I would be a mad, mad Monkee!
Chapter One
First in a series that you simply must save if you’re going to have a complete Peter Tork scrapbook
Info In the beginning there was me (at eight months) and my lovely mom, Virginia—but everyone calls her “Ginny.” I started walking at nine months, shortly after this picture was taken in Washington, D.C., where I was born 
Info Here’s a portrait of four generations. My mom, Virginia Hope Straus Thorkelson, is holding me, my grandad, Joseph Straus, is on the left. On the right is my great grandmother, Clementine K. Straus. 
Info Here I am, at just over a year old, in New York’s Central Park with my mom’s mom, Mrs. Catherine Straus.—whom I nicknamed “Grams”. 
Info At one and a half in our backyard in Detroit—where my dad, John Holsten Thorkelson, took a job as an economist. 
Info Now I am two years old and still in Detroit. My hair was pure white. In fact all the Thorkelsons had white hair during the early years of their lives. 
Info Meet the “tuffest” kid on the beach! “Grams” snapped this when I was three years old—when the family went to Long Island, N.Y., to spend the summer. Credit: Catherine McGuire Straus
Info When I was three and a half, my father went into the service and was stationed in Berlin. That’s me on the left, Nicky in the middle and dad on the right. 
Info Meet “Addie,” our Boxer dog. My family was still in Berlin, where we lived for one and a half years and where I learned to speak German fluently. 
Info How do you like this portrait of me taken by my maid when I was five years old—still in Berlin? Who would have guessed that this sweet kid would grow up to be a madcap Monkee!
Whoops—our trip has been unexpectedly interrupted by lack of space. Never fear. I’ll be right back here next month with the story of my life in exclusive pix. That’ll be in the June issue of 16, which will be on sale April 20. See ya’ then.
