Phil McDonnell interview with Davy Jones, British lead singer with American pop band The Monkees for the Tyne Tees Television news magazine Late Look originally broadcast on 15 February 1967. [Mute – 25secs] Teaser trailer for an interview with Davy Jones, lead singer with pop band The Monkees. Davy Jones rides down a street on a racehorse covered in a blanket monogrammed with the singer’s initials. He passes the Middleham Post Office where a couple stand in the doorway. A child watches him...

Phil McDonnell interview with Davy Jones, British lead singer with American pop band The Monkees for the Tyne Tees Television news magazine Late Look originally broadcast on 15 February 1967. [Mute – 25secs] Teaser trailer for an interview with Davy Jones, lead singer with pop band The Monkees. Davy Jones rides down a street on a racehorse covered in a blanket monogrammed with the singer’s initials. He passes the Middleham Post Office where a couple stand in the doorway. A child watches him over a wall and several people watch from their doorsteps as he follows another rider up the street. General views follow of a group of riders racing their horses over a flat field. A group of press photographers take photographs of Davy Jones. He pulls up on his horse to pose for them. The press then begin to disperse. [3 mins 20 secs] Tyne Tees TV reporter Phil McDonnell interviews Davy Jones. [Start of the interview missing] A question asked was about his earnings in the past as a trainee jockey at Newmarket’s Holland House stables. He answers that he earned a little more than 55 shillings a week, whilst working in the stables, but it was kind of a drag having to pay rent. Phil McDonnell comments on the fantastic, “almost frightening” welcome The Monkees have received on this British visit, and yet Davy Jones had said that there was little interest when he visited Britain in December. Why was there a sudden upsurge in interest? Jones replies that the obvious reason was that the TV show only came out in January and was a hit with audiences. He would not say he didn’t get a welcome. He talks about his friend, Basil Foster [his trainer when training as a jockey], and his father. Family and friends are the people that count and he has all his mates at home. He was busy the whole time when here in December. McDonnell asks when he first teamed up with The Monkees. He talks about working in Hollywood on the musical ‘Pickwick’ with Harry Seacombe where he was spotted. He was visited by Paul Mazursky and Larry Tucker, who started to write the TV series, The Monkees. All they had to do was find three other ‘cats’ to form the fictional rock ‘n’ roll group. McDonnell asks if he ever thought it was going to be so successful. Jones replies that he did not, but that other people had. He talks about people saying he had made it overnight, but he had been touring for 12 years. And he had been in America for 5 years, on Broadway for two and a half years. Peter [Tork] had been part of the folk scene in The Village [New York City’s Greenwich Village] for years, playing his banjo. Mike [Nesmith] had toured all around Texas as a musician. Mickey Dolenz was a child star in a show called ‘Circus Boy’. McDonnell enquires about receiving his call-up papers to join the U.S. Army. Is he going to serve if drafted? And what will happen to The Monkees if he is in the army for two years? Davy Jones says yes, if need be, he will serve, but says there are get-out clauses in his contract. He doesn’t want to talk about it. But he won’t have to sign up. ‘It’s just bad publicity.’ McDonnell asks Jones how he would sum up the success of The Monkees. He answers that there are many brains behind the pop group, for one thing. He mentions the publicity about the pop group being an overnight success compared to bands like The Beatles, who spend years trying to make it. He talks about how The Monkees ‘happened’ in a very different way. Success arrived only 2 weeks after the TV show came on.  McDonnell hopes their success will continue and thanks him. [Mute - 29 secs] Davy Jones greets Phil McDonnell in the White Swan pub in Middleham. Jones takes off his jacket and plays a game of darts. A press photographer takes pictures as the pop star throws a few darts.