Success Story

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“Success Story”
The Monkees episode
Episode no. Season 1
Episode 6
Guest stars Ben Wright,
Ray Ballard,
Ceil Cabot,
Donald Foster,
Charles Callas
Written by Gerald Gardner, Dee Caruso and Bernie Orenstein
Directed by James Frawley
Production no. 4710
Original airdate October 17, 1966 (NBC)
Episode chronology
← Previous Next →
"The Spy Who Came in From the Cool" "Monkees in a Ghost Town"

"The Success Story" is the 6th episode of The Monkees television series in its first season. It was telecast October 17, 1966 (first-run) and May 29, 1967 (repeat) on NBC. It was further rerun October 29, 1969 and June 13, 1970 on CBS; and January 3 and August 25, 1973 on ABC.

Contents

[edit] Plot Summary

David's grandfather is coming for a visit, so Monkee business begins. The Monkees conspire to make David a millionaire to impress him. When this proves to be a bust that provokes the grandpa to take David back to England with him and cut The Monkees down to a trio, Peter, Micky and Michael attempt to sabotage their trip home!

[edit] Interview Segment

David Jones is interviewed about his visit to England.

[edit] Dream Sequences/Quick-Change Costume Play

[edit] Featured Songs

[edit] Production Notes

  • A revised final draft of “The Success Story” was written on August 19, 1966.
  • Writers Gardner, Caruso and Orenstein and director Frawley return to craft Episode No. 11, "Monkees A La Carte."
  • The writing and directing credits appear at the very beginning of this segment's teaser.
  • “The Success Story” is yet another unsung episode of The Monkees TV series to miscredit a Monkees song in the end titles: here, "I Wanna Be Free" was billed as "I Want To Be Free." A correction was finally made, in the end titles of Episode No. 10, “Here Come The Monkees,” the second episode of The Monkees to feature the Boyce-Hart tune (in 2 different versions, yet!). The song itself appears here in an alternate version, with no zither section.
  • The May 29, 1967 repeat of "The Success Story" saw "Shades Of Grey" replacing "I Wanna Be Free" and CBS and ABC Saturday Afternoon repeats of the episode saw Bill Chadwick's "French Song", in turn, replacing "Shades Of Grey." Rhino has since restored the original first run edition of "The Success Story" with its original soundtrack, while the syndicated version still airs the summer 1967 repeat of the episode.
  • Continuity goof: in the scene where the owners of the uniforms and the Rolls Royce arrive to reclaim their property from Micky, Michael and Peter, the Ice Cream Man (Charles Callas) barges in and demands his jacket back from Peter, despite his already wearing another jacket!
  • At the end of the the one-minute short interview, Micky turns to the camera and says, "Tune in next week, ladies and gentlemen, when we're another minute short--!". Ironically, in the next episode, “The Monkees In A Ghost Town”, they were!
  • The Monkees finished its 6-year run on network television with a repeat of "The Success Story" on ABC Saturday Afternoon August 25, 1973.
  • The closing romp intersperses clips of The Monkees on the same stage from which they shot the videos to "Last Train To Clarksville" (used in both “Monkee See, Monkee Die” and “Monkee Versus Machine”) and the TV Theme used in the first season's intros. "Sweet Young Thing" was the final song whose video used that particular stage.
  • Stu Phillips cut musical cues for this episode on Monday, October 3, 1966 from 2:00-7:00 pm.

[edit] Trivia Notes

  • This is the first time David Jones flaunts his new Prince Valiant-esque hairdo throughout the entire length of a Monkees episode. David would also masquerade as a millionaire in Episode No. 30, “The Monkees In Manhattan” (a.k.a “The Monkees Manhattan Style”).
  • Also in the teaser, you may recognize those gnarly beach threads The Monkees are wearing...you guessed it! The boys donned this beach gear in Episode No. 31, "The Monkees At The Movies," which, naturally, was shot prior to "The Success Story."
  • The late Donald Foster (seen here as The Rolls Owner) portrayed Herbert Johnson on Hazel (NBC/CBS, 1961-66); he makes 2 other appearances on The Monkees: as the walking cane-breaking Courier in Episode No. 21, "The Prince And The Paupers," and as Mr. Thomas, the VP of The Ninth National Bank in Episode No. 34, "The Picture Frame."
  • The late Ben Wright (Grandfather) voiced several Disney movie characters, including Roger Radcliffe in 101 Dalmatians (Buena Vista, 1961), a Wolf in The Jungle Book (Buena Vista, 1967), and Grimsby in The Little Mermaid (Buena Vista, 1989). Wright was best known for playing many supporting and leading roles in radio, including Sherlock Holmes from Sept. 1949 to June 1960, and Tulku, faithful Tibetan aide to The Green Llama in summer 1949. Wright was also notable for a great many guest shots in both the 1958-60 CBS Radio and 1957-63 CBS-TV versions of the Western Have Gun Will Travel, and fans of Hogan's Heroes (CBS, 1965-71) will remember him as Major Feldcamp in the episodes "The Kommandant Dies At Dawn" (#5784-127, 10/31/69) and "The Big Gamble" (#5784-129, 11/21/69).
  • Ceil Cabot (seen here as The Old Woman) was previously seen as The Chambermaid in the premiere episode, "The Royal Flush."
  • A couple of brief snippets from the original unaired pilot of “Here Come The Monkees,” those which feature David sitting by the beach and Peter wearing a black wet-suit carrying his surfboard onto the beach, and a wide-angle shot of the “The Kind Of Girl I Could Love” discotheque sequence from the previous episode, “The Spy Who Came In From The Cool” (onto which its submain credit titles were superimposed), are adapted into “The Success Story”.
  • During the dinner scene, when David says, "I'm so hungry, I could eat a horse!," Michael replies "Well, why didn't you say so?!," and a clip from Episode No. 8, “Don't Look A Gift Horse In The Mouth”, wherein Micky, Michael and Peter try to tug Jeremy the black stallion, is seen.
  • In the kitchen of the Italian Restaurant, Michael is seen covered in spaghetti. This clip, of course is from Episode No. 11, “Monkees A La Carte.” A brief Italian musical cue heard during this sordid scene was reused twice: in the final seconds of the teaser sequence of Episode No. 37, "Art For Monkee's Sake", and in the scene where Micky himself gets deluged with spaghetti in Episode No. 51, "The Monkee's Paw".
  • David's grandfather is given mention in Episode No. 53, "The Monkees Race Again" (a.k.a. "Leave The Driving To Us").
  • The dummy Mr. Schneider, with Micky's pull of the string on his chest, utters his first words of dialogue on The Monkees TV series in this episode (courtesy of director Jim Frawley): "It's a shame to waste youth on children." Listen for Schneider to speak in Episode No. 9, “The Chaperone”, No. 26, “Monkee Chow Mein”, and No. 38, "I Was A 99-lb. Weakling".
  • Another episode of The Monkees to feature fictional Monkee relatives is No. 45, "The Monkees In Texas".
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