Monocled Alchemist

Article published in Monkees Monthly No. 31 | August 1969

Interview With Samantha Dolenz | SAMANTHA sat, toying with a king-size filter, smiling a lot—obviously very happy, if a bit tired. Enviable sun-tan, built up in the smilingly sunny climes of Hollywood.

Here, with baby Ami Bluebell, to meet up with her folks again, have the odd business chat—then back to her main duties these days as Mrs. Micky Dolenz.

Remember Sammy’s television image? Always there, on “Top Of The Pops’, at the shoulder of the disc-jockey of the week, but never saying a word. Some people even put it around that she couldn’t talk. Well, she can. She’s full of views and theories—and full of deep-rooted convictions about the big future ahead of the Monkees.

Boutique

She talked first about her own business interest—a boutique called One Of A Kind. “It’s still going well,” she said. “We make the patterns, design the clothes and have salesmen out selling them. Sometimes I serve there myself. But we switched in mid-stream in terms of the market we were catering for . . .

“We originally did the usual older teenager and early ‘twenties clothing. Then we got lots of letters from kids aged between 10 and 16 and they rightly pointed out that we were leaving them out of the main fashion ranges.“

“They had to go to the main department stores, where their sizes were available they had to go for the mass-produced lines. So we got right in on that younger market and it is working out fine.”

Engaging

Sammy switched to more personal news and views about the Monkees in general . . . and Micky Monkee in particular. She talks with an engaging mixture of American drawl and sharp North-country attack.

“One day Micky and I might go to live in Mexico,” she said. “Micky keeps saying he is fed up with California, but you know Micky—he changes his ideas round every other day or so. But Mexico is becoming more European all the time. It’s cheap to live there, and there are great labour forces.”

“People say it is a police state, but I don’t know about that. Maybe it is the only way they can do it to start off, but you can’t keep people down like that all the time.”

“To anyone who hasn’t seen ‘Head’ yet I’ll just say that I think you’ll like it. Now this is gonna sound like the proud wife talking but, really, Micky’s scene where he meets up with the Italian Army in the desert is really one of the biggest highlights.

“You know how you can feel kinda embarrassed when you’re watching someone you know up there on the screen — well, I didn’t feel one little bit embarrassed watching Micky.”

“I think he’s a natural in the acting business. I’ve felt bad, deep inside, seeing him in some things — like some of the television shows — because I felt it really wasn’t him, if you see what I mean. But now I’m convinced . . . he should be an actor.”

Interview With Samantha Dolenz

“He has all the talent he needs. One day, I’m sure, he’ll concentrate on being an actor.”

“But the boys, as a group, have really got into the recording scene these days. They’re really involved — in a way, for the first time since they hit it big. And they have their band, the Good-timers, which creates a really good show now.”

“I’ll tell you this —there are people who are always ready to write off the Monkees, but you should hear the reaction they’ve got on some of their shows on the recent tour.”

“Why, they had one big appearance at Forest Hills . . . and they were asked to make a return trip there even before they’d done the first engagement. That’s how big they were at the box-office. Surely that sort of thing is what really counts . . . not a few nasty comments in some of the newspapers.”

Great Show

“On stage now they don’t play instruments so much — though Mike still does a fair bit. But they do a great show. What really hurt them all, specially Micky, was when they were called Plastic People in the Daily Mirror here.”

“That really hurt. I mean, it’s just not true . . . people who know them, who see them work, know how unkind that is. You take Davy, he’s a real professional. I’ll tell you this: he’s never been late for a show in the whole of his life.”

“People forget so easily. Like I say that Micky should become an actor. Right —well, I’ve seen some of the things he did, in film clips, as a five-year-old. He was tremendous — really. Doing a Mexican accent at the age of five?”

“For rehearsals, Davy rented an old theatre, somewhere where he could get away from things. He just loves being up there on a stage. And they’ve rehearsed in the Red Velvet Club . . .”

“Micky was singing there every night before he even became a Monkee. And, of course, Mike was doing the same thing at the Troubadour. Plastic people? It’s just ridiculous . . . “

Friendly

“I’ve settled in well in America. I’m very friendly with Phyllis Nesmith and we do quite a lot of entertaining. But the Monkees, generally, don’t do much clubbing. It’s never really been the scene in Hollywood. More like the ‘out’ crowd get in the clubs.”

“But sometimes some tourists we know want to go, so we tag along. The Factory is okay, but people are always asking for autographs. The Daisy is the most exclusive . . . “

Samantha fingered her cross-over, entwined wedding ring and threw in a quick: “I really miss Micky right now.” And she went on: “The Monkees ended the television series simply because they felt stale at the way it was going.”

“But it should be remembered that the Monkees is rather like a trade name. That is the product—but each individual must feel free to do what he wants outside the group. That’s what they do, and it works out well.”

“Mike really is doing a lot of writing and he’s a very clever producer. ‘Listen To The Band’ is all his thing. And, of course, he has signed a production contract with Dot. He really is involved with new ideas in recording — techniques, that kind of thing.”

And what about Micky then?

Said Sammy: “Oh well, the acting thing first of all. But tell you what—he loves filming. Acting on film, yes . . . but I’ve an idea his real ultimate ambition is to become a director.”

“He did one of the television shows, you know, and considering it was his first time he did it very well indeed. People were there, trying to give him advice, but he said nope, it’s my job right now, and if it’s a flop then I want me to have all the blame.”

Interview With Samantha Dolenz

“He’s not really a stage actor. He is much more at home in the movie world—but then, of course, that’s where much of his experience has come from. Now Davy is different in that he’s just a natural for stage work. I never knew anybody who really works at his career the way he does. He’s rehearsing all the time. His dance sequence in ‘Head’ is another of the stand-out sections, a really big hit with the fans.”

“That’s how I see their future . . . but with all the action on the group side as well, of course. As for Micky and I . . . well, I’d like at least two more children. But an alternative is to adopt two—you know, give a good home to two kids who really needed it.”

“I know Micky’s talking to you on the transatlantic ‘phone for this issue, so I won’t cut too much across his ground. But we’re listening a lot to classical music these days at home. I don’t like Brahms or opera, for instance, but mostly the both of us have a pretty wide taste. That psychedelic stuff rather aggravates me . . . a lot of it is rubbish.”

Good Guitarist

“You know Micky was, and is, a good guitarist. But then he had to start drumming for the television series. At first he didn’t know much about.”

“Now people come up to him and say that he’s really becoming a drummer. That knocks him out. And it also goes to show that the Monkees, as a group and individually, are always going forwards, learning new things, trying to put on the best of all possible shows.”

Time for Sammy to go. A quick trip to Manchester where Ami Bluebell was waiting for her. And then back to America. Said Sammy, by way of stressing the point: “Sure do miss Micky. Yes, I do.”