Monkees Monthly March 1968 CHANGES Shooting on their first big film, which has provisionally been entitled "Changes", started on February 19th and is due to last between 30 and 40 days. All the interior shots will be filmed in the Hollywood studios, but there will also be plenty of location work on the Pacific beach, in the desert and in many other places. Japan has been cancelled as a location and also for a concert tour for the time being. But the other tour dates are still pretty firm.

	unknown unknown WHAT A CRAZY FILM! I've had dozens of conversations with the boys about their film and they've told me about all sorts of incredible happenings, but I must confess that I still son't really know what it's all about! Mike tried to explain the story to me: "There's a kinda big black box, and we keep jumping out of it into the craziest situations. Well, not so crazy really. It's all very logical." "yes, of course", I agreed. "Well, it's a kinda anti-the-establishment film. We're all kicking at the guys in power and the things they do that bug us all." I understood what Mike was getting at but it still didn't reveal much about what the actual story was about. The boys have spent several days in the desert filming scenes. the rest of the film - with the exception of a few other short location scenes was all shot in the Hollywood studios. I asked Davy what it was like on the desert location. "Terrible!" he said, "we were filming in a place called Palm Desert. It's about 130 miles east of Los Angeles. It's the same spot they used to film that famous chase scene in 'It's A Mad Mad Mad Mad World'. We suddenly find ourselves in the desert when we pop out of the black box. Every-time we come out, we end up in a different place so there are all sorts of crazy scenes. In the desert we meet with Arabs, Indians, factory workers and the Italian army." "The what?" I asked him, weakly. "The Italian army", Davy repeated. "Complete with uniforms, everything ... Just like they wore in the last war. We have a tremendous battle in the desert. Everyone's tearing around. Grenades are going off and Micky blows up a coke machine with a tank." "How did he get a tank?" "Oh, he captured it from the Italian army. Good job they were there ...." Davy went on to describe the trials and tribulations they had filming in the desert. "It was terribly hot. The temperature went up to 105 degrees at times. On the third day, we had a sandstorm, which really caused a panic. Those desert storms can strip the paint off a new car within a few minutes. "We were O.K. though as everyone put on goggles and face masks until it blew itself out." The boys told me that usually they started shooting between 5.30 and 6 in the morning which meant they had to get up an hour before that. 110 CREW And they didn't stop work most days until 6:30 in the evening. During their location work in Palm Desert they stayed at the Erawane Arden Hotel. "They" included the director, Bob Raphleson [sic] and the rest of the crew - about 110 in all. From what they told me, I think they enjoyed most of their location work. Peter, who doesn't have to pretend he's as dumb as he usually does in the television show, told me about a fantastic race that you'll see in the film. Once again, it sounds crazy, but a giant Victor Mature 25 times as big as a normal man pursues four miniature Monkees. It's all done by trick photography. Most of the interior scenes were shot before the end of March in the studios. And this was when things got really mad.

	Monkees Monthly Date unknown FILM PROGRESS The Monkees' film is still not quite finished. Shooting was originally scheduled to last five to six weeks, but extra scenes have been written in and these were being filmed during May. One studio report was that each boy was going to appear in a special scene connected with a different season of the year.

	Monkees Monthly June 1968 HOLLYWOOD REPORT OUR MAN IN MONKEE LAND GIVES YOU ALL THE LATEST ON THE MICKY, MIKE, DAVY AND PETER HAPPENINGS Nobody can blame Screen Gems for hiding the Monkees' first major film behind a strict veil of secrecy. If they were to give all the details away months before the premier they would, obviously, ruin the impact of many of the very unusual incidents which it contains. But, here in Hollywood everyone agrees that it should be an outstanding movie. It is impossible for anyone to know exactly what a film will be even though they have seen most of the scenes being filmed because, as you probably know, they are not done in the same order as they appear in the finished picture. Only the script reveals exactly what the director is aiming at achieving. Let's make one thing quite clear right now - there is a script for the Monkees film! I've seen it, but only at a distance and I certainly haven't read it so I can't tell you exactly what it contains. One thing the boys have revealed and that is script changes have been made. As usual, all the Monkees have come up with suggestions and ideas which they think will help particular scenes. For example, as you were told last month, Micky dives off a bridge and the shot of him actually taking off from the bridge and splashing into the water was filmed at Long Beach. But, it was very difficult to shoot the bit of Micky underneath the water with mermaids which followed because the Long Beach water is not clear enough. So, a special crew flew to the Bahamas just to cavorting on the sea bed at a fabulous location on Paradise Island. UPSET But, just to prove how contrary she can be, Mother Nature upset things and gave the film crew bad weather for almost the whole week they were there - (it's not just in England, folks!) In between shooting the boys have been very busy in the studio recording songs for their next single release, "D. W. Washburn" and a new album. As usual, they have thought up some really weird and wonderful titles. I think that the Monkees are more original than any other group in the world in this respect, but funnily enough, there is usually a reason for their way-out titles - they're not just picked out of the sky. For example, Micky wrote one song recently called "Shorty Blackwell", It's an odd title but the explanation is simple. It's named after his cat, a black kitten which arrived in the post. An odd name for a cat? Well, this is a very odd kitten because it's never grown any bigger and it's still a tiny little kitten - hence the name "Shorty". Two more of Micky's titles are "French Song" and "There's A Way". And Peter's written one called "Can You Dig It". I'm sure we will, Peter! The Monkees don't on'y record their own songs though. They are quite happy to use any good number that comes up and Carol [sic] King and Gerry Goffin have written a great number for them called "Porpoise" which they expect to include in the film. Incidentally, Mike's "Wichita Train Whistle" is not being released under Warner's Reprise label now - it's being put out on the Dot label. BUDDIES Talking about kittens (which I was a few paragraphs ago), Davy also received one from a fan. It's a Siamese and is now great buddies with his black rabbit called Jonathan. The cat was sent by a fan through the post. But the boys did ask me particularly to point out that no one in this country shuld ever think of sending a live animal through the post as it is a terribly cruel thing to do and the poor animal would undoubtably suffer very badly and die en route. So, to quote Davy, "Please, please ask them NOT to send anything live to any of us. Anyone who thinks that Davy is just about to marry Lulu would probably be surprised to hear that his current girlfriend is called Linda Hanes. But it is only fair to both Davy and Lulu to point out that they have always insisted that they were just very good friends and had no intention of dashing up the aisle in the immediate future. Micky, when he's not messing about with those crazy machines of his, likes to show movies. He borrows them, of course, from the studio libraries. What sort of films does he show? Well, lots of newly released pictures. For example, last week he saw "A Patch of Blue", which is about a blind white girl who falls in love with Sidney Poiier - you remember he played the coloured school master in Lulu's film debut, "To Sir, With Love". All the boys are following their own special interests and there are certainly thousands of things to do in California. Mike is following up his special musical interests by backing a blues band with the odd title "Armadillo" which is the name for a large lizard-like animal with a horny back which inhabits Mexico. One thing the boys are all very firm about and that is if only they can get their present contracts successfully re-negotiated in time, they want to do a world tour and they are insisting that England must be included, although they, obviously, can't say how many towns they will be able negotiations are completed very soon so that the boys are able to visit all of you this summer!

	Monkees Monthly? date unknown Page 33 WAR! By Our Stateside Reporter As I told you last month, Davy, Micky, Mike and Peter plus the film crew made a special trip to the Rose Bowl, Pasadena to film sequences for their first major movie. Special costumes had been designed for the sequence. All the boys wore white slippers, white trousers and polo-necked jumpers. The first person I saw walking round the Bowl was Peter with a large 'A' on his chest. Then Mike turned up with a large exclamation mark. Even when Davy and Micky arrived with a 'W' and 'R' respectively emblazoned on their jumpers, I still didn't get it. Then, they all filed on to the green turf of the Football Pitch and lined up and there it was - a big W.A.R.! Davy, on the left, looks as though he is bowling one of the fastest balls delivered at Lords cricket ground - in actual fact, he just leapt into the air shaking his fist; over the page you can see that Peter is producing the most frantic leap of all. None of the Monkees realised that the film might be given an 'X' certificate in England until I pointed it out to them and I can tell you that when Davy realised what I was getting at, he said: "We'll make sure that it doesn't happen." So, it looks as though every Monkee fan will be able to see every second of the picture when it's finally released in this country.

	Monkees Monthly July 1968 MOVIE REVIEW Film companies usually produce what they call a "rough cut" before they actually release a new film. This rough cut is normally very near the finished version and it's put together so that the film company can get an audience reaction. A few hundred people are invited to see the film without being told first what it is. If the audience dislikes one or two scenes particularly, then these are usually chopped out before the film goes on general release. The Monkees movie, or rather "Movee Untitled" as it's being called now, was shown to 100 people at a small cinema in Los Angeles at one of these sneak previews two weeks ago. The audience reaction to this first showing was mixed. Some of them said that they didn't understand parts of the film - others thought it was great. Producer Bob Raphelson [sic] was reported to be quite satidfied with the reaction which, apparently, was just what he expected.

	Los Angeles Evening News 8th August 1968 Victor takes the Mickey with the Monkees from JERRY WATSON Where have all the old stars gone? In today's instalment of a five part series the spotlight is on Victor Mature. HOLLYWOOD. Victor Mature, whose bulging muscles and two-fisted film roles caused columnists of the 1940s to refer to him as "Hollywood's beautiful hunk of man," is on the verge of a picture comeback that just might turn him into a current-day hero in pop circles. After a decade of self-imposed exile from Hollywood, he has just finished a film - not yet released to the public - in which he stars himself, along with the Monkees. Mature said he hasn't been able to figure out what the film is about. It is called "Untitled" and will go to the cinemas this autumn with that name, the studio insists. "What the hell," Mature told me. "They paid me $60,000 for five days work. For all I care, they can call the picture 'Dandruff' and let the Monkees fall out of my hair. Epics "As a matter of fact, I think that's one of the things that happen. But I can't make any sense out of it." An executive at Screen Gems, the studio which made the film here in Hollywood, when asked what the film was about, stammered, "I really don't know, I mean, I've seen it and read the script, but I just don't know. Nobody does. Nobody." For costumes in the film, Mature wears clothes reminiscent of his old pictures - trench coats, safari jackets, Rhett Butler style hats and wide-lapel pin stripe suits. He also goes in for the bare-chested tan he displayed in "The Robe," "Demetrius and the Gladiators" and similar screen epics. It is something of a take-off on his younger self. Mature is 54 years old and stems to resent it a bit. But he heaps scorn on Hollywood and his own early-day screen image to an extent that has made many film executives angry with him. His refusal to take himself too seriously has cost him a lot of roles. The Mature Louse has sliding doors that open right onto the golf greens and there is a neat little fire station next door. Funerals "Actually," said Mature, whose hair is touched with grey and whose face seems with age to slightly caricature the Mature of yesteryear, "I am a golfer. That is my real occupation. I never was an actor; ask anybody, particularly the critics. This is my first Hollywood picture in ten years and I only did it because I was getting bored. "Hollywood to me is mostly a place where I go to funerals. Whenever one of my old friends dies, I go to Hollywood."

	Monkees Monthly September 1968 FILM JINGLE The Monkees went into the RCA studios in Hollywood on Friday, August 2nd, to record an hour-long jingle especially for their film. It was described by those who have heard it as being a take-off on all the people who have knocked the Monkees over the past two years saying that they were: "Ignorant"; "Plastic pop stars"; "Never-going-to-make-it"; etc. Incidentally, the latest title being bandied around Hollywood for the boys' film is, "Head".

Note: Most of the articles on this page have been typed up from scans already available on Psycho Jello's Monkees site. Gwan, pay her a visit. It's nice.

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