Every ‘Monkees’ Episode: “Monkees a la Carte” (S1E11)
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: “Monkees a la Carte” (Season 1, Episode 11)
Air date: November 21, 1966
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q01icVsJKhI
We open to find the boys sharing a sub sandwich made for four at Pop’s Italian Restaurant, where they double as waiters and the house band. If the set appears familiar, it’s because we’ve seen it as the Ritz Swank Hotel Ballroom in “Royal Flush” and the discotheque in “The Spy Who Came In From The Cool,” and we’ll see it again in future episodes.
Suddenly, Bad Guy Fuselli arrives with his sidekick Rocco. Micky, thinking the two thugs are customers, asks if he can show them to their table. When he is told to “blow,” Micky blows up a balloon (of course he does).
Fuselli informs restaurant owner Pop that he owns the restaurant now. Davy attempts to confront Rocco by telling him he’s “pretty tough with a gun in [his] hand.” As gangsters do, Rocco’s response is to punch Davy, forcing all four Monkees to the floor. Davy astutely observes, “You’re pretty tough with a fist in your hand!”
The boys, distressed over this turn of events, have a meeting back at the Pad, where they resolve to get the restuarant back for Pop.
Meanwhile, at Fuselli’s office, the gangster informs Rocco that when he’s through, he’ll own a chain of restaurants in every major city in the west. The Monkees barge in requesting to work for him (as part of their plan). Fuselli wishes to test their
Fuselli wishes to test their waiting skills at the restaurant, so the boys elect Peter for the task. He manages to carry a tray piled with plates from a table to the kitchen and is successful until his band mates congratulate him. Cheering for himself, he lets go of the tray, sending everything crashing to the floor.
Poor Peter continues to be the brunt of the jokes. He gets slapped by Rocco when Fuselli wants to show the boys how they treat people they don’t like. Micky, in turn, shows Fuselli how they treat people they don’t like, and he also slaps Peter. “What did I do?” Peter asks Mike, who replies, ”I don’t know, man, but don’t do it again.”
The boys are hired, and Fuselli runs down the long list of tasks and duties. “I’m Not Your Steppin’ Stone” plays during a montage of the boys in various stages of chaos and mayhem in the kitchen.
The Monkees seek help at the police station and are informed by the inspector (portrayed by character actor Dort Clark, known for his work in stage productions of South Pacific and Harvey) that Fuselli is a dangerous mobster connected to the “Syndicate” which includes the equally dangerous Purple Flower Gang — who is fortunately behind bars. (The Purple Flower Gang was loosely inspired by a group of bank robbers seen in the Dick Tracy comic strip.)
Fuselli informs the boys that the restaurant is closed for the evening so he can have a meeting with colorful characters “Red” O’Leary, Big Flora, Paddy the Fix, and Benny the Book who are also part of the Syndicate. The purpose of the meeting is to show how he’ll share his chain takeover with his fellow mobsters, complete with a chart of the city.
For security reasons, no one in the Syndicate has ever met, so the Monkees disguise themselves as the Purple Flower Gang. They don four matching outfits complete with white carnations because “it’s tough to get purple flowers,” explains Micky.
Peter is elected to inform the inspector of the meeting while the remaining members take turns running in and out of the kitchen changing back and forth from their waiter uniforms and gang member outfits.
Davy and Micky take over the meeting by dividing the city chart a la tic-tac-toe. Meanwhile, Peter is mistaken as an actual Purple Flower Gang member and is held under suspicion. “My flower’s white,” Peter cries. “I know how tough it is to find purple flowers,” says the inspector, echoing Micky’s earlier statement.
Realizing Fuselli is a crook, the members of the Syndicate have a good old-fashioned shoot-out, only to be interrupted by a pretty girl — courtesy of the director — while Mike and Davy continue to play tic-tac-toe on the floor.
Fuselli and the Syndicate are disposed of one by one. The inspector barges in and falsely arrests the Monkees as the Purple Flower Gang — only to clear them during the commercial break, we assume.
After a brief reprise of “Steppin’ Stone,” Pop, who now owns the restaurant once again, asks the boys to play like they used to (although Pop had been originally written to order them to stop playing and resume their duties as cooks). The Monkees save the day again!
They celebrate by performing “She,” which appears in several episodes and makes its debut here. This Boyce/Hart favorite from their sophomore album, More of the Monkees, has an edge, suggesting that while the boys remain true to their roots, they’re not afraid to grow musically.
“I’m A Believer” b/w “I’m Not Your Steppin’ Stone” was released simultaneously with the episode’s premiere. It would become their second #1 single and their first B-side to chart, at #20.
