Here is the letter that started it all:
I’m really getting sick and tired of hearing how much Davy loves his fans and wouldn’t do anything to hurt them. I know of about four girls who wrote in and said it breaks their hearts to see Davy with other girls. But just think how many beautiful girls you’ve seen Davy with in pictures!
Do you ever see Peter, Micky or Mike with girls in pictures? No, because they care if their fans get hurt or jealous. In my opinion Davy loves to see his fans get hurt and that’s why he probably just loves to have lots of pictures of him with girls in Tiger Beat! Down with Davy!
Georgia Palmer
Montgomery, Alabama
Last month the Tiger Talk mail was overloaded with protest letters defending Peter Tork and his divorce of several years ago. This month it was Davy’s turn to be in the spotlight.
When I first got a hold of Georgia’s letter I was very surprised. Knowing full well of all that Davy has done for his fans (knowing for sure because many, many times I have witnessed his good deeds) I wondered if other fans felt the way Georgia did.
I wasn’t sure how they’d feel, but I soon found out. Soon after the letter was printed another super-increase in mail resulted—all of the letters sticking up for Davy.
I know first hand all that Davy has done for friends and fans alike. I also know that Davy’s actions are not typical. Can you name many other faves who do as much as Davy? I can’t!
When Davy read Georgia’s letter he was, of course, hurt, but also worried that many other fans felt the same as she did. After much thought he came to me and asked if he could write an open letter in Tiger Beat. I thought it was the best idea ever since there would be no doubting the way Davy feels. So, on the opposite page is Davy’s letter to YOU.
Ann Moses, Editor
Dear Tiger Beat Readers,
I picked up the last Tiger Beat and I was reading the letters from all of you when I came across one from Georgia Palmer criticizing me for letting pictures run of me with some of the girls I date. Georgia felt that I was hurting my fans by doing this.
I was so upset that I decided the only thing I could possibly do was write a letter in reply. I thought about what I should say all day during filming and that night when I got home,
I wondered if maybe I WAS hurting my fans by being photographed with my girlfriends—and even those girls I don’t date. Finally, I just couldn’t decide what I should do or what I should say so I got on the phone and called two of my best friends and asked them what they thought I should do.
They were no help at all! One thought I should go ahead and continue letting fans know who I date and where I go, and the other thought that I should just withdraw from print where this part of my life is concerned.
That night I couldn’t sleep because I had visions of some of my fans standing at the foot of my bed, crying and saying I was hurting them, just like they sometimes do at concerts when we perform. It was awful! I felt terrible that I—Davy Jones—could hurt people so badly when I didn’t mean to at all. I’d almost made up my mind to quit being so open about my private life when the phone rang and it turned out to be a fan who had somehow gotten my number and wanted to talk.
Ordinarily, I would have been very upset that a fan—someone who thinks of themself as a friend—would call me in the middle of the night just to talk, when they know that I have to get up early to film.
But this night, I didn’t mind a bit. I don’t know what her name was or where she lived or what she looked like, but she helped me make my big decision and right now, I’d like to thank her.
You see, the first thing she asked me was what I was doing and what my house looked like and finally, after a while, she asked me who I was dating and what kind of girls I like and who I was going out with.
Well, I couldn’t keep it in and I started pouring out my story and my problem over what sort of a decision to make. I had almost decided to become a recluse about my private life.
“But Davy,” she said, “you’re one of the few people who let their fans know what they’re doing. I’d much rather know who you are dating and what you are doing than have to sit around and wonder whether you’re married or sitting home unhappily watching television every night because you are lonesome!”
Then she told me a story about how she watched the Monkees when we first came on television and how she used to lie awake nights because she thought I didn’t have anyone in the world who cared about me. All she had read said that my family was in England and that I lived alone or with friends like Mike sometimes and she really thought that I must be one of the loneliest people in the world. She said that sometimes she’d sit at the dinner table at her home and look around at her parents and her brothers and sisters and she’d almost break into tears because she wanted to invite me home so that I could share some of her happiness.
I forgot to ask her what she was doing talking on the phone at midnight, but I’m glad she called because I needed someone to talk to and she helped me make my decision.
You see, by the time I had hung up the telephone, I knew that what I’ve been doing—sharing my experiences with all of you—is right and that I should continue doing so.
I don’t mean to hurt anyone, but think how much it would be hurting me to have to quit going out with girls whose company I enjoy. There wouldn’t be any such thing as going out and not let pictures be printed, because some one is always there with a camera and a performer can’t say anything about whether the pictures get printed or not. That’s all part of freedom of the press.
And if I quit going out, I really would be unhappy because I don’t have any family and I don’t have time to make a lot of close friends and the few really close friends that I do have often make plans on their own. So I’d wind up spending a lot of time by myself.
But most importantly, if I quit having pictures taken of myself and my girlfriends, I’d feel that I was shutting you out of a big part of my life. I wouldn’t be honest and I don’t think it would be fair. I want you to share my life and my happiness; and I think that the mark of a mature fan is someone who can accept that I do have my own life to lead. I can’t be an actor both on and off the stage or the screen or the television set.
I hope this will help explain to all of you why I allow pictures to be taken of me with girls I date. After all, I think it would be fun to see pictures of you having a good time with someone you like. I want everyone to be happy!
With lots of love to all of you,
David Jones
