FORGOTTEN HITS: A Mid-Week Recap

Wednesday, July 27, 2022

A Mid-Week Recap

I got the first report around 11:30 yesterday morning …

Beloved TV Actor Tony Dow, who we all grew up with as Wally Cleaver on the hit television series “Leave It To Beaver,” was dead.

It wasn’t shocking news … we had reported a couple of months back that Dow was in failing health … so I can’t say it came as any great surprise.

What DID come as a surprise, however, was the announcement four hours later that Dow was NOT dead!!! (Who does this guy think he is … Tanya Roberts?!?!)

I’m not quite sure how this keeps happening (and because it does there’s a good chance that by the time you read this this morning, he very well may be dead again!) … but it’s such a shame to put the family thru this … and then have to face it again when the inevitable happens.

THIS misinformation, however, seems to have COME from the family.

In a post on Dow’s Facebook page Tuesday afternoon, they reported:

“This morning Tony’s wife Lauren, who was very distraught, had notified us that Tony had passed and asked that we notify all his fans. As we are sure you can understand, this has been a very trying time for her. We have since received a call from Tony’s daughter-in-law saying that while Tony is not doing well, he has not yet passed. Tony’s son Christopher and his daughter-in-law Melissa have also been by his side comforting him, and we will keep you posted on any future updates.”

Jerry Mathers, who starred alongside Dow in the hit series as “The Beav,” even posted his condolences on his own Facebook page …

“It is with the utmost sadness I learned this morning of my co-star and lifelong friend Tony Dow’s passing. He was not only my brother on TV, but in many ways in life as well. Tony leaves an empty place in my heart that won’t be filled. He was always the kindest, most generous, gentle, loving, sincere, and humble man, that it was my honor and privilege to be able to share memories together with for 65 years. Tony was so grateful for all of the love and support from our fans across the world. My wife Teresa and I send our deepest condolences to his wife Lauren, his family and to all of those who knew and loved him. The world may have lost a star today, but the heavens gained another.”

More info as the story develops. (kk)

The Newport Folk Festival hosted a couple of VERY Surprise Guests this past weekend … Paul Simon (who retired from touring a few years ago) on Saturday … and then Joni Mitchell on Sunday, appearing there for the first time in 53 years … and even more amazingly, after a brain aneurism that nearly killed her a few years ago. (Incredibly, it was Simon’s first appearance there EVER!!!)
It’s an emotional viewing experience for sure: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53amY2stAbk

Elton John has reportedly recorded a new updated version of “Tiny Dancer” as a duet …

With Britney Spears!!!

Sources say it was at Elton’s urging and Britney, a huge fan, was onboard immediately. (It will be interesting to see and hear some new music from Ms. Spears now that she’s back in control of her own career.)

Stay tuned for more details. (kk)

Bob Rafelson, one of the creators of “The Monkees” television series (and would go on to make the film classic “Easy Rider” with young upstart Jack Nicholson) passed away over the weekend

One day in the spring of 1966, I cut my classes in architecture at LA Trade Tech to take an audition for a new TV show called, “The Monkees.” The co-creator / producer of the show was Bob Rafelson. At first, I mistook him for another actor there for the audition. Needless-to-say, I got the part, and it completely altered my life.

Regrettably, Bob passed away last night, but I did get a chance to send him a message telling him how eternally grateful I was that he saw something in me.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart, my friend.

Micky Dolenz

FH Reader Gary Strobl, who has been supplying us with Magical Monkees Moments all year, send along a copy of this email that he received from Bob Rafelson upon hearing about the death of Michael Nesmith …

I live somewhat alone. Haven’t been out to dinner in a year and a half. I'm still in Aspen. I've never regarded solitude as an enemy. The news has come from every conceivable corner of the planet. I received it in tears, memories. The best was from a woman: "I finally lost my childhood."

Bob

And this from Harvey Kubernik, who literally has “family ties” to the series …

My brother Kenneth and my mother Hilda just called me with the news of Bob Rafelson's passing.

I first encountered maverick television / film producer and writer Bob Rafelson in very late 1965 in Hollywood at Gower Gulch inside the Columbia Pictures studios. My bio-regional relationship began with Rafelson, his partner Bert Schneider of Raybert Productions, and their TV series, The Monkees.

My mother Hilda was employed at Columbia Pictures on Sunset Blvd. from 1962 - 1972, and primarily during 1965 - 1968 for Raybert Productions, helmed by producers Bob and Bert. Paul Mazursky and Larry Tucker had developed it for TV adaptation.

Hilda helped type the television scripts for The Monkees, was in the stenography pool on the lot and did dictation for author and screenwriter Lillian Hellman. She worked for Marty Erlichman, who managed Barbra Streisand and Peter Guber in his first job in 1968 at Columbia as a management trainee.

I encountered Rafelson, Schneider and the four members of the Monkees just before they held their first press conference in 1966, before the series was broadcast. I remember two events introducing The Monkees, one in Hollywood at the Columbia Pictures Studio and the other in Burbank at the Columbia Pictures ranch.

During 1966, my brother Kenny and I, along with our mom, assembled the first-ever yellow colored press kits introducing The Monkees on our 5^th Street kitchen table that unit publicist Howard Brandy created. Howard had worked on the Beatles’ movies A Hard Day’s Night and Help! Artist Nick LoBianco designed the guitar logo of the Monkees.

I was age 14. Our family saw the original pilot screening at The Preview House on Sunset Blvd. I have a fond memory of talking about drummers with Bob, who played skins years earlier in sort of a jazz group. At that time, I briefly was a drummer with a surf band called The Riptides that lasted a couple of months. I was in the Beginning Percussion class in junior high school.

I also recall an office visit at Raybert and the topic of astrology came up. I thought it was really cool that Bob, Micky Dolenz and myself all volunteered we were born under the sign of Pisces.

I saw Stan Freberg, Godfrey Cambridge, Dick Kiel, Paul Mazursky, and Rupert Cross on The Monkees’ production and met Frank Zappa, booked as a guest along with Tim Buckley and Charlie Smalls. Smalls was in a local group with drummer Jim Keltner before finding success on Broadway with The Wiz.

The Columbia studio had a massive wardrobe department, assorted props and costumes previously used for The Three Stooges shorts in the 1930s and ‘40s.

Jack Nicholson and Dennis Hopper occasionally were in the studio’s coffee shop. Jack co-wrote HEAD, the Monkees’ feature-length film. He was into Bob Dylan and caught his 1963 and 1965 Hollywood Bowl concerts. I spoke with Larry “The Mole” Taylor, the bass player in of Canned Heat and guitarist Gerry McGee, who both played on The Monkees’ albums. Composer and conductor Stu Phillips provided the background music for the 1966 - 1968 programs.

THe Monkees shooting schedule was high energy. We were politely instructed not to speak with the directors toiling on the clock. James Frawley did half of them. One frame-changing aspect of The Monkees’ ongoing telegenic success was employing many first-time directors and the implementation of quirky interstitial editing techniques that drove the visual momentum.

In 1967, The Monkees won two Emmy awards for Outstanding Comedy Series and Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Comedy.

The Monkees recorded for Colgems, distributed via RCA Victor. It was a joint 1966 - 1971 venture between Screen Gems, the television division of Columbia Pictures, and RCA Victor.

The energy and the vibe around the Raybert office was enthralling. The impact of "The Monkees" TV series changed our world.

Last decade Bert Schneider told me "The money from The Monkees helped us make Easy Rider. Don't even start me on their BBS Films and the monumental celluloid gems they delivered.

Even as a teenager, I witnessed the merger of comedy, music, fashion, art, social commentary and commerce from Bob and Bert's collective telegenic vision. It's informed my own work the last half century. Can you not feel the percussive and cinematic influences on my music journalism, books and documentary endeavors?

This past decade I've been working with Monkees' scholar / expert and archivist Gary Strobl, photographer Henry Diltz, and brother Kenneth on a book about "The Monkees." Our projected 496-page manuscript is at the publisher.

Here is the email Bob Rafelson sent Gary Strobl after hearing the news of Michael's death on December 10, 2021.

BOB RAFELSON: I live somewhat alone. Haven’t been out to dinner in a year and a half. I'm still in Aspen. I've never regarded solitude as an enemy. The news has come from every conceivable corner of the planet. I received it in tears, memories. The best was from a woman: "I finally lost my childhood."

In an interview I conducted with Micky Dolenz, filmed by Gary Strobl earlier this decade, Micky and I reminisced about his legendary group.

"I’ve often thought the Monkees often hit pop music. Dr. Timothy Leary said in that book, Politics of Ecstasy, “The Monkees brought long hair into the living room.” And I think that may be the legacy. It made it OK to be a hippie, have long hair, and wear bell bottoms. It did not mean you were a criminal, a dope smoking fiend commie pervert. That’s what happened. A kid says, “Hey mom, the Monkees have long hair and wear paisley bell bottoms.”

“You know, let’s not forget that The Monkees were a TV show about a band. An imaginary band that lived in this beach house and had these imaginary adventures. It was theater. It was probably the closest thing to musical theater in television. It was about this band that wanted to be famous, wanted to be the Beatles, and it represented in that sense all those garage bands around the country and the world.

“On The Monkees show, the Monkees were never famous, it was all about the struggle for success that made it so endearing I think to the public, anyway.

“In fact, one of the most important things, I think The Monkees’ show contributed to the culture was the idea that you could have longhair and wear bell bottoms and you weren’t committing crimes against nature. At the time, the only time you saw people with longhair on television they were being arrested or treated as second class citizens."

Grateful Bob Rafelson graced our world.

Harvey Kubernik

Bob Rafelson and Burt Schneider (in Chicago, 1967)

FORGOTTEN HITS

Wednesday, July 27, 2022

A Mid-Week Recap

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