When did the Monkees actually begin?
Was it when Rafelson was dreaming of turning his adventures with his 3 young friends on a sailboat into a story? (Can we sing? Sure-we can do anything!)
Was it when the ad was placed? "4 Ben Frank's types. Must come down for interview"
Was it when the pilot was being shot? Or its first test flopping with audiences? And then recut and green-lighted? (Include the audition scenes, and then we can tell who is who)
Once upon a time, on May 31, 1966 to be exact, the cast and crew gathered at a farm to begin shooting "Don't Look a Gift Horse in the Mouth". The gate was locked & the farmer was nowhere to be found. Knock it down-they said, a new fence is a couple hundred dollars but shooting costs $100,000 a day!!
And so they got to filming, and they shot more shots than any other shoot ever shot. Thus began the legend. The wheels began to turn, the camera cranked and the machinery of 2 years swung into motion.
I still don't know what the VERY first shot of the day was, or what day they shot the "Early Morning Wakeup" scene-but there is genuine sunrise in the distance as the farmer gets the confused boys up to do the chores. The best lighting is natural lighting, the kind of dawn that money can't buy. Whatever rumors of artificial assembly were floating in the ether-were they a copy of the Boys from Liverpool, or the Boys of the Beach? They had to make it on their own. From here on in-it was up to them to make it happen.
For Bob Rafelson's memory on the Monkee's Live Almanac, go here: https://www.monkeeslivealmanac.com/blog/rafelson-on-filming-the-first-monkees-episode
Was it when Rafelson was dreaming of turning his adventures with his 3 young friends on a sailboat into a story? (Can we sing? Sure-we can do anything!)
Was it when the ad was placed? "4 Ben Frank's types. Must come down for interview"
Was it when the pilot was being shot? Or its first test flopping with audiences? And then recut and green-lighted? (Include the audition scenes, and then we can tell who is who)
Once upon a time, on May 31, 1966 to be exact, the cast and crew gathered at a farm to begin shooting "Don't Look a Gift Horse in the Mouth". The gate was locked & the farmer was nowhere to be found. Knock it down-they said, a new fence is a couple hundred dollars but shooting costs $100,000 a day!!
And so they got to filming, and they shot more shots than any other shoot ever shot. Thus began the legend. The wheels began to turn, the camera cranked and the machinery of 2 years swung into motion.
I still don't know what the VERY first shot of the day was, or what day they shot the "Early Morning Wakeup" scene-but there is genuine sunrise in the distance as the farmer gets the confused boys up to do the chores. The best lighting is natural lighting, the kind of dawn that money can't buy. Whatever rumors of artificial assembly were floating in the ether-were they a copy of the Boys from Liverpool, or the Boys of the Beach? They had to make it on their own. From here on in-it was up to them to make it happen.
For Bob Rafelson's memory on the Monkee's Live Almanac, go here: https://www.monkeeslivealmanac.com/blog/rafelson-on-filming-the-first-monkees-episode
