Questions and Answers

Micky Dolenz
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What is the greatest Christmas present you’ve ever received?

That’s hard. Maybe it was the gun shot I got a few years back. And remember, it’s the thought, not the gift. A gun shot, I mean how can you forget a thing like that. I’ve still got the scar.

What is the most difficult thing you’ve had to adjust to?

My shoe size.

What do you think really makes the world go ’round?

Gravity, I guess. Maybe there’s some big guy holding the earth up that we don’t know about, spinning it around in his hand. He’s part of this big circus and the world is just this big ball he’s juggling.

What is one thing you’ve never had the courage to do?

Do one of these interviews straight.

Why is your best friend your best friend?

Because he was my friend before I was what I am now.

Will you finish this sentence “Happiness is a thing called…”

Life.

What is your strangest possession and how did you acquire it?

I guess it would have to be my dog, You. She’s a pretty freaky dog. She’s super-hip. She knows what’s happening. Someone gave her to me.

Do you tell the truth or what you think people want to hear?

I used to tell people what I thought they wanted to hear, but I’m beginning to tell more of the truth all the time.

What exciting task would you like to undertake if you had more time?

I would try to get into Disneyland—they won’t let me in. I’d also like to make it so my best friend could get married in a church. They won’t let my all-time good buddy, Rick Klein, get married in a Catholic church with his fiancee because he has long hair. They put him down for it terribly.

What are your favorite names?

My favorite girls’ names are Debbie, that’s my sister’s name, and Dawn.

If you could be a kid again for one day, what would you like to do in that day?

I don’t think anybody should ever stop being a kid. You don’t have to. Everybody thinks a prerequisite for maturity is becoming cynical and somber and narrowminded and biased and established and junk like that, but you don’t have to! You can remain a child all your life in that you maintain innocence and awareness—all the things that children have.

If you wanted to give someone an original present, what would give them?

It would be something I made. Like a lamp or pins I make. I make peace pins from wire. Or maybe just a piece of Wambet carpet.

What in the world do you least desire?

Money.

What makes you laugh most?

Things that strike my fancy make me really laugh. See, I’ve got this “fancy” in the side of my hip here and every time anyone hits that fancy it just drives me crazy.

What were your first impressions of the other Monkees?

Davy was short. I met them at the interviews and the screen tests. I thought Peter was very—uh—loud. I thought Mike was stupid. But of course, they thought I was pretty dumb, too!

Mike Nesmith
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would love to get deeper into his music, if he had more time.

was so poor when he was a youngster that having a meal was like getting a Christmas present.

is happy even when he’s sad. “There’s an underlying thing in my thoughts that everything is going to work out okay regardless of how hard it gets.”

wouldn’t want to go anywhere that he couldn’t return.

says his motto is “If there’s no wind… row!”

admits he’s never ceased being 12 years old.

has many weird objects in his house, so many, that he has a hard time remembering what all of them are.

values “honesty” more than any other quality in a girl.

has always had the courage to do whatever he’s wanted to do.

would like to pretend that this was the sun “because I’m cold blooded by nature.”

now has a whole space on his dressing room wall reserved for large safety pins which originally marked the Monkees’ costumes.

usually gets more sleep than the other three boys on tour.

was paid a visit by his mother in January.

says that “poverty” is the thing he least desires in the world.

tells people his dog, Spotte, carries on a good conversation about Zen. And that she also drives a car. “She’s half nuts, very strange,” he says.

Davy Jones
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If you wanted to give someone an original present, what would you give them?

The signpost at Hollywood and Vine saying Vine Street.

Why do you think most girls date you?

Because they like my company.

What is the easiest way for someone to persuade you to do something you don’t want to do?

Tell me I’m afraid to do it.

What is the greatest Christmas present you’ve ever received?

I don’t know, because I figure all my presents, no matter how big or small they are, are all presents and they have the same meaning. The best Christmas present I got this year was that I must have received more Christmas presents this year than in the last 20 year of my life! Kids sent me cuff links and ties and shirts. They were so expensive, why do they spend their money on me? I feel badly that I might not have time to write them all back. But I loved them all.

What in the world do you least desire?

Power.

How many times have you fallen in love?

I fall in love every ten minutes, but I don’t think I’ve ever really been in love, because when I fall in love I’ll probably be in love for the rest of my life.

What happens when you fall in love?

Love is something beyond happiness. When you think you love somebody, you want to get married and have kids. You can go for months dating around and then you meet somebody and you feel like jumping for joy because you’ve found somebody to talk to and somebody you can hold in your arms. It’s hard to describe. It’s like sometimes you go to bed at night and you just wish she could be there so you could hold her and you could wake up in the morning and she’s still be there.

What is the most dangerous thing you do?

We do all out own stunts in the show, so many of the things we do on the set are dangerous. Like once we had to walk on a wire 15 feet above the ground. We ride horses and motorcycle and Monkeemobiles—things like that, that can be dangerous.

What makes you moody?

When somebody asks me a question or I argue with somebody and we come to a decision or we don’t settle it and I say “Okay, let’s not talk about it anymore.” And they keep going. I let ’em ask about three times and then all you can do is put your fists up, man. That really makes me angry.

Why is your best friend your best friend?

Because I like him. He’d do anything for me and I’d do anything for him. I’d cover for him on a date, anything like that.

What travel poster stirs up the gypsy in you?

I don’t know about that, but for my vacation this year I went to New York, home to England and then to the Bahamas. It was great!

What is one thing you’ve never had the courage to do?

When you see a chick on the street and you think you really like the way she looks, or you’d really like to ask her for a date, but I’ve never done that in my life. I always wanted to do it. Although you both might be thinking the same thing, you just won’t do it. But in Cleveland on tour I saw this girl in a restaurant where we were having dinner and I don’t think she knew who I was or what I did, but I went up to her and asked her out. It was great, but I’ll probably never have the courage to do it again.

Peter Tork
Info

says that “God Is Love” is not his motto, but his life!

believes the quality he likes most in a girl is “pazazz,” spark, character.

thinks his most admirable virtue is the fact that he’s always improving.

has never ridden on a full-sized roller coaster in his life.

says his dis-favorite names are Murton and Smedley and that Rumplestiltskin has always been a drag to him.

hates questions (from either fans or reporters) that are not for an insight, but merely for a fact.

describes himself as “5'10" tall with long, light-brown hair, a ski-slope nose, brown eyes and a dimple.”

would like to be President someday, even though he realizes it wouldn’t be a terribly happy job.

thinks that the words “gentleman” and “gentlewoman” should mean the same thing to people.

admits the best way to persuade him to do something he doesn’t want to do is to make it to his advantage.

had met Mike Nesmith before each of them auditioned for The Monkees. They met at the Troubadour during a hootenanny.

has a favorite gift from a fan which is a small piece of jewelry that looks like an ancient coin enclosed in a glass case. He wears it as a necklace.

says he’s also very interested in electronics.

admits his very first impression of Micky was that he has a big chin. “I still do, in fact.”

always wears socks that don’t match. “I’ve been doing it for months just for a laugh, but hardly anyone ever notices.”

Magazine: Monkee Spectacular
Editor: Ralph Benner
Published:
Volume: 1
Issue: 1
Publisher: New Asbury Ltd. Publishing Co.
Pages: 28–31