Every ‘Monkees’ Episode: “Dance, Monkee, Dance” (S1E14)
This past summer, we celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Monkees as a band by counting down our top 50 Monkees songs. Now, we’re celebrating The Monkees TV show by profiling each and every episode — exactly 50 years after it first premiered.
Tonight’s episode: “Dance, Monkee, Dance”(Season 1, Episode 14)
Air date: December 12, 1966
Well into their first season run, “Dance, Monkee, Dance” is an excellent example of The Monkees as a show finding its legs. James Frawley, the brilliant comedic mind responsible for much of The Monkees finding its anarchic voice deftly directed this one. Also, strong writing from prolific sitcom writer Bernie Orenstein allows the boys ample room to play.
Their comedic chops in this episode are in full force. The Monkees function as a true comedic ensemble, sometimes resembling their significant influence the Marx Brothers but also channeling the Three Stooges as well. The only aspect that really mars this episode is some outdated racial humor that’s hard to get though as a modern viewer.
“Dance, Monkee, Dance” opens with Peter Tork getting suckered in by a phone scam for a free dance lesson by the funny and sexy Miss Buntwell, played by Karen James. This is Karen James’ only screen credit, which is surprising. Her turn as Miss Buntwell is a real treat and she convincingly seduces three of the four Monkees: quite the feat!
Unfortunately, Peter goes to claim his free lesson and ends up getting suckered into signing a punishingly binding lifetime contract by the evil proprietor of the dance studio, Mr. Renaldo (a figurative mustache-twirling Hal March).
Back at the beach house, Mike Nesmith tries to decipher the contract which leads to a fantasy sequence with the boys slippinf into an old-timey courtroom fantasy, gray wigs and all. Judge Mike keeps hitting the other three Monkees on the head with his gavel — a heavy reference to the Three Stooges.
Micky Dolenz then disguises himself as a lawyer to attempt to get Mr. Renaldo to rip up the contract but unsurprisingly gets suckered into signing one himself. Mike is the next one to get suckered, this time by Miss Buntwell in a kind of sexy, couch-makeout scene between both of them.
It’s interesting that the only Monkee to not fall for Miss Buntwell is Davy Jones, the most girl crazy one of the bunch. He ends up infiltrating the dance studio by trying out to be a dance instructor in an entertaining sequence in which he does a bunch of specific dances demanded of him… and kinda looks the same doing all of them?
Then, a team of old ladies is suckered into a dance lesson taught by Davy himself (lucky suckered ladies!). One of the women has been rumored to be Mike Nesmith’s mom, Bette Nesmith Graham (inventor of Liquid Paper), but Nesmith has denied she appeared dancing with him in the episode.
Davy’s dance lesson segues into our first romp of the episode: “I’ll Be Back Up On My Feet,” written by the songwriting team of Denny Randell and Sandy Linzer. This is one of the best, most uplifting Monkees songs and a great romp/proto-video.
The boys in their top hats and jackets dancing up stairs at the top of this number is iconic. They also don sombreros while doing a Mexican hat dance, grass skirts and Hawaiian shirts for the hula, and feathered headdresses and drumming for a rain dance, in the first of two insensitive, over-the-line moments in the episode that don’t quite play well for a modern audience. To counteract them, this romp also features great older footage of native dances from around the world that are relatively educational.
Unfortunately, the song break doesn’t solve the problem of these contracts, so Micky, in a stroke of break-the-fourth-wall-genius, walks off the set of his own TV show. He saunters past the cast and crew filming to ask the writers of the show to give him a “brilliant idea.”
This is an inspired moment of absurdist comedy, very unique for a sitcom and TV series in general at the time, and it shows how The Monkees camp was so dedicated to pushing the medium.
However, the whole bit is sadly sullied by its punchline: the writers are portrayed as a bunch of stereotypical Chinese men sitting around typewriters being threatened ominously by Roman slave driver. This is a second cringe-worthy moment in the episode that makes it a little hard to watch in the modern era, reminding us that 50 years ago was actually quite a long time indeed.
Not receiving a good idea from the writers, the boys take matters into their own hands: Mike chases Miss Buntwell around the office, allowing Peter and Micky time to dress in many amusing costumes to scare all the women assembled for a free dance lesson.
Finally, during the second romp (“I’m a Believer,” in its second of three appearances) the Monkees dress like “smoothies,” suave male dancers meant to seduce the old women and encourage them to dance around Mr. Renoldo in a circle and tie him up with his studio’s own banner. If that last sentence didn’t make a lot of sense to you, don’t sweat it: the plot descends into fairly incomprehensible Monkeeland chaos, and I’m doing my best here, folks! Bonus: watch for a cameo by Micky’s dog, You, during this sequence.
At last, due to their constant pestering, Renaldo tears up the Monkees’ permanent contracts. Success!
An interesting aspect of this episode is the parallel to the Monkees indebtedness to these dance contracts compared to what was happening to the pre-fab-four behind the camera. Wanting control over their own music careers, the four Monkees were about to break from the confines of their sitcom roots.
However, it wouldn’t be until season two that the results of the Monkees’ struggles to emancipate themselves would manifest in the show itself. Perhaps the plot of “Dance Monkee, Dance” was a battle cry of what was to come.
