Every ‘Monkees’ Episode: “Your Friendly Neighborhood Kidnappers” (S1E4)

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: “Your Friendly Neighborhood Kidnappers” (Season 1, Episode 4)

Air date: October 3, 1966

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbIkNuvwr3U

With the release of the Monkees’ debut album a week away, the series continues to garner interest for the band. This is the first of seven Monkees episodes written by Dave Evans (Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In and Love, American Style) and the third directed by James Frawley. Watched by 9.8 million viewers, “Your Friendly Neighborhood Kidnappers” shows us once again that our heroes can overcome any villain or dastardly plot.

In the ninth episode shot but fourth to appear on TV, we see the Monkees getting ready to compete in a local contest, but the manager of the Four Swine – their rivals – has other plans, of course. Planning to sabotage the boys’ success from the get-go, he first instructs one of the Swine to play a record of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony just as the Monkees are getting ready to perform. Peter asks, “Is this how we rehearsed it?”

Back at the pad, the Four Swine’s manager introduces himself as Nick Trump [Ed. note: a timely name if there ever was one!] and convinces the boys that they need publicity in order to become famous. Trump (played with the right amount of sleaze by the handsome Andre Phillippe) declares, “You’re a shoe-in” to the boys, and someone off-screen throws a shoe to him, demonstrating the series’ love of puns and wordplay. We also see a very impressive Groucho Marx impersonation by Micky Dolenz, showcasing his physical comedy.

For the first publicity stunt, Trump arranges a group of girls to rip off Davy’s clothes at the new Vincent Van Go Go discotheque. “Be careful that you don’t bump into table number two,” he warns, which, of course, they do. The girls instead rip off the clothes of one Mr. Crabtree, a distributor for a local department store.

The next stunt involves the boys getting their handprints in cement in front of the Chinese Theatre. If you look closely, you’ll see the marquee announcing the Monkees as the Machie – Dourantse, Dork, Juhans, and Nazemize. Naturally, Trump has rigged this event with quick-drying cement. A still of the boys with their hands in cement can be seen on the back cover of their debut LP.

Somehow, the boys manage to get back to their apartment — with Peter on the side of the cement block? — and Trump frees them. When Micky laments that he’ll never play the guitar again, Davy reminds him he’s the drummer.

Now, time for the kidnapping. Trump tells the boys he’s going to hire some actors to stage a phony kidnapping. The “actors” in question are Horace, played by Louis Quinn, who would be featured in movies 77 Sunset Strip and Gypsy. His partner in crime, George, is played by Vic Tayback, who you might remember from the movie Papillon and as the character “Mel” from the long-running TV show Alice. Tayback clearly enjoyed himself on this episode The Monkees as he will appear in future episodes “Son of a Gypsy” and “Art for Monkees’ Sake.”

Being told this is a formal kidnapping, the boys change into tuxedos — because four struggling musicians can afford such attire. Naturally, Davy’s already out the door in his finest, on his way to the Vincent Van Go Go. When Mike gets nervous that the kidnappers are late, Micky suggests he give them a call, and the two of them share a classic example of the show’s impromptu silliness. Mike as customer and Micky as answering service is comedy gold.

George goes to the discotheque to retrieve Davy, who invites his beautiful girlfriend du jour back to the pad for the kidnapping. She, in turn, invites everyone in the club, making kidnapping look like so much fun. 1334 Beachwood (the Monkees’ address) transforms into a makeshift nightclub, and the jukebox plays “Let’s Dance On,” one of the tracks from the upcoming debut album, followed by “(I’m Not Your) Steppin’ Stone.” (Both songs were written by Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart, responsible for much of the band’s success, especially in the early days.)

[Read our exclusive interview with Bobby Hart!]

Davy declares a dance “the Kidnap,” but Mike is not seen dancing, nor do I believe he dances in any subsequent episodes. Davy is eventually persuaded to empty the apartment, and he selects an instrumental piece of music from the juke to do the trick.

When the boys realize the kidnapping is real and Trump is fake, they devise a plan to scare George and Horace with Micky playing mad scientist threatening to throw a vial of nitro-glycerin and blow them all to kingdom come. Trump has already left for the contest in hopes of seeing his own band win.

Another Monkee romp ensues to “Last Train to Clarksville” — a smart choice during the montage. This Boyce/Hart tune was featured in the previous episode and the repetition would secure its position as the Monkees’ first #1 single. The song was recorded on the first day of production for this episode and was #6 on the Billboard singles chart at the time of airing, climbing from #26 of the previous week.

At the last moment, the boys capture the kidnappers and make it to the stage just in time!

This early episode continues to cement (pun intended) the individual comedic talents of the Monkees while showcasing music to back up their talents. Micky is the jokester, Mike the straight man, Peter the fall guy, and Davy the loverboy. With strong writers and talented guest stars, the popularity of the show would continue to gain momentum.

But this was the just the beginning of Monkeemania…

Scott C. Forrest-Allen

Scott C. Forrest-Allen created broadwaybalcony.blogspot.com where he discusses theatre, music, restaurants, and his random thoughts. For the past twenty-five years, Scott has been acting, singing, dancing, being Master of Ceremonies, and writing. His short play And Then There Were Eight, aka The Pluto Play debuted at the Northwood School of Drama, and he is planning to stage a full-length musical that he has co-written. When not onstage, Scott is in the water swimming, playing water polo, doing synchronized swimming, or participating in/instructing aqua aerobics & aqua therapy. He listens to the Monkees, Fleetwood Mac, Blondie, the Beatles, and Journey.