This month’s guest interviewer is Miss Dagmar Zeman of St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada.
Peter Permalink
Q. Are you actually interviewed by reporters who represent those movie magazines?
A. Very rarely. At first we were pretty much open to almost any magazine that wanted to interview us. But after we’d give a good interview, expressing our views and being very open, we’d get some of those magazines back with exaggerated and made-up stories that were just not true, so we thought “What’s the use?”
Now we don’t have the extra time we used to to talk to all the reporters we’d like to, so we have to limit ourselves. More than anyone we see Ann Moses because she writes for our official magazine, Monkee Spec.
Q. If you had a choice between Italy and Germany, where would you go for a vacation? Why?
A. I think I would choose Germany, because I spent my early years there when my father was in the service and I’d like to go back and see how different it is from what I remember.
Q. I hope your show lasts forever, but how long do you think it will stay on the air?
A. Probably for one more year in its present form. I hope we can continue to do TV things for many years, but this is usually up to the sponsors and network television people. In future years I know we’d all like to try new things as the Monkees.
Q. What was your favorite subject in college?
A. Dorm. By this I mean the most I got out of college was when I sat around and talked with the other guys in the dormitory. During our long talk sessions you really had a chance to see the way other people thought and I think this is one of the best ways to learn there is.
Q. How did your hair change from red to blond?
A. Did it?
Mike Permalink
Q. How many other girlfriends did you have before you met Phyllis?
A. None. That’s true, because even though I’d ask girls out in high school and college they’d always tell me no.
Q. How long have you been married?
A. Phyllis and I were married on March 16, 1963. We just celebrated our fifth anniversary.
Q. If a fan wrote in to a magazine and said she didn’t like you and really put you down, would you take it seriously?
A. At first I did this and it really brought me down. But then I realized for every one letter like that there were thousands that seemed happy with what I was doing, so I couldn’t exactly change to make just a few people happy.
Q. I was so sure Peter sang “Don’t Call On Me” and now everyone says you do. Please set me straight on this. In any case, I love the song.
A. Thanks for your compliment. For a long time I wanted to do a really serious ballad on one of our albums, so I wrote “Don’t Call On Me” and I sang it. But Chip and I wanted a different sound than I usually get on record, so I just sang very softly into the studio microphone, where I usually sing out.
Q. Do you like your new house now that you’re moved in?
A. I love it. By the time we moved in all the furnishing had been done except the baby’s room and it’s such a comfortable house I just want to spend as much time as possible at home now.
Davy Permalink
Q. Do you sometimes wish you had become a jockey and not a Monkee? Why?
A. I guess I think about that sometimes, but as much as I loved riding and racing, I wouldn’t have given up this experience as a Monkee for anything in the world. It’s something that had to happen now, whereas I can return to the thrill of racing someday by owning my own line of racehorses.
Q. Did the children at your school used to kid you about your height?
A. Not too much. You see, when I was little I was about the same height as everyone else. It’s just that when I got older I didn’t grow anymore. Then when I was 15, which is just about the time boys really shoot up in height, I was training to be a jockey and all my mates were small boys too.
Q. Describe the following in one word each: Sally Field, Samantha Juste, Ann Moses.
A. Sally Field—bubbly, Samantha Juste—Micky’s, Ann Moses—friend.
Q. When do you think the fad of long hair will end? (For boys)
A. I really don’t think it’s a fad anymore. When the Beatles first came out with long hair and boys began to let their hair grow then it was a fad. But after five years, I think it’s just become a natural and comfortable and very groovy-looking cut, like it has been in Europe for years.
Q. What ever happened to your dog Susie?
A. I hate to say it, but Susie was stolen and never found. So I got a new German Shepard that’s brown and black and a living doll. He’s a male dog, but I called him Susie just the same.
Micky Permalink
Q. What is your favorite television show besides the Monkees?
A. The Smothers Brothers Show. I think they are really trying to get some good ideas across, only I wish they would have even more freedom than they do now, then they could really say something.
Q. Do you think you would enjoy visiting a fan’s home?
A. I’m sure I would. The reason? Fans are just like any other people and I always love a chance to get to know someone new.
Q. Which way do you enjoy having your hair—the way it is now or the way it was before?
A. Definitely the way it is now. All I have to do is wash it regularly and brush it now and then and it’s done. No worries about being at the studio hours early to have it straightened, which was a real drag. I love it this way.
Q. Are you and the Monkees nominated for Emmy’s again this year?
A. I don’t know. They don’t make those announcements this early in the year.
Q. Have you ever met James Brown?
A. The opportunity has never come up, though I’d love to because I admire him so. I’ve seen his stage show many times and the man is not to be believed. That’s why I do an imitation of him in our act—I admire his hard work so much that for those few moments on stage I feel like I am James Brown.
