Category: Flashbacks

‘THE MONKEES’ SLATED TV PRIME-TIME ’66 . . . AUGUST 20, 1966

Motor City Radio Flashbacks logoFrom the MCRFB news archives:

MONKEES SWINGING PITCH SET

 

 

The Monkees (TV marquee)

 

NEW YORK — The Monkees, just signed by Colgem Records, distributed by RCA Victor Records, is set for a massive promotion campaign in publication print, radio and through television. The group stars in the new NBC-TV half-hour comedy series “The Monkees” which debuts September 12.

Don Kirschner, back in the 1960s
DON KIRSCHNER, back in the 1960s. (Click image for larger view)

First Colgems release by the group is slated for August 16. The title of the group’s first release is “Last Train To Clarksville,” flip-side is “Take A Giant Step,” according to an announcement by Don Kirschner, head of the new label, and Norman Rachusin, division-vice president and operations manager for RCA Victor.

The show centers around the antics of an unknown, long-haired rock ‘n’ roll group named the Monkees. The artists on-screen-and-off are Davey Jones, who appeared on Broadway in “Oliver!”; California folk-singer Michael Nesmith, Greenwich Village folk-singer Peter Tork, and Mickey Dolenz, who appeared in the “Circus Boy” TV series. Kirschner, also president of the Columbia Pictures-Screen Gems TV music division will supervise the Monkees musical activities and serve as musical consultant for the TV series.

The Monkees debut TV Guide 1966The group will introduce two new songs in each of the Monday night shows, which will be telecast in color.

The publicity campaign to promote the group’s first single was launched recently with teaser ads in the trade papers hinged on the idea “that Monkee business is big business.” This same teaser ad campaign is being kicked off in teen magazines at the time of the single release. A teaser ad campaign has also been initiated to the press and deejays. Ad materials, point-of-sales materials, four-color counterpiece display and streams are ready for use at retail level. END

 

Addendum: For an excellent,  highly-detailed and comprehensive review, synopsis of every episode of “The Monkees” television series aired from 1966 – 1968, go here. Davy Jones passed away on February 29, 2012. In the wake of his sudden passing, read Scott Westerman’s annotated and excellent review of Jones career on MCRFB, here. For all other references on the Monkees on MCRFB as to date, you’ll find several more here. For the official Davy Jones website, celebrating his life today, you will find it here as well.

(Information and news source: Billboard; August 20, 1966)

The Monkees, as they were, in 1967
THE MONKEES. As they were in 1967.

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SAM COOKE EULOGIZED; FUNERAL HELD IN CHICAGO . . . JANUARY 2, 1965

Motor City Radio Flashbacks logoFrom the MCRFB news archive: 1965

15,000 Attend Rites to Sam Cooke

 

 

 

 

A huge crowd gather outside Tabernacle Baptist Church during Sam Cooke's rites in Chicago, December 17, 1964
A huge crowd gather outside Tabernacle Baptist Church during Sam Cooke’s rites in Chicago, December 17, 1964.(Click image for larger view)

CHICAGO — A crowd estimated at 15,000 flocked to the Tabernacle Baptist Church on the South Side Thursday night, December 17, to pay last respects to the late Sam Cooke, who was shot and killed in Los Angeles on December 11 (last year).

Only a third of the crowd could be accommodated in the church and 50 policemen were called to shepherd the overflow which milled about in near zero weather for several hours until permitted to file past Cooke’s casket after the church emptied.

Earlier in the day heavyweight boxing champion Cassius Clay viewed Cooke’s body at the A. R. Leak Funeral Home, where he laid in an open coffin in three-quarter view, shielded under a protective glass cover.

The RCA recording artist was fatally shot in Los Angeles by a woman hotel manager who said Cooke had burst in her office threateningly and a scuffle ensued between the two. After the police conducted their investigation the shooting was ruled as justifiable homicide. The report concluded the hotel proprietor had acted accordingly in self-defense during an attack allegedly perpetrated by Cooke.

A newspaper account on the death of Sam Cooke, December 12, 1964 (Click image for larger view)
A newspaper account on the death of Sam Cooke, December 12, 1964. (Click image for larger view)

Tearful and poetic eulogies were intoned by several Negro ministers who knew Cooke from the days he and his seven brothers and sisters formed a gospel singing group called the Child Singers. This was shortly after the family moved to Chicago from Mississippi.

Cooke graduated to the Highway’s QC’s, winning a wide and divided and devoted gospel-mode following in the great Chicago ghetto. In 1949, he joine the Soul Stirrers, and led the troupe from the church circuit to the Copa.

“The world is better because Sam Cooke lived,” eulogized the Reverend Lewis Rawls. “He inspired many youths of all races and creeds.”

E. Rodney Jones, representing WVON radio station owner Leonard Chess, said: “As long as music exists, Sam Cooke will live.” WVON broadcast the entire memorial service.

Cooke was buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California. He was 33. END.

 

An earlier account detailing Sam Cooke's death. (Click image for larger view)
A January 1965 Jet magazine account detailing Sam Cooke’s death. (Click image for larger view. For a LARGER read, click here)

MCRFB Addendum: There has been several variations and accounts on what actually took place on December 11, 1964, the morning Sam Cooke died at the Hacienda Motel in Los Angeles.

For more on the career, untimely death of Sam Cooke, go here. For a detailed, comprehensive account of Cooke’s shooting, begin here. Here also, a Los Angeles police crime scene photo showing Sam Cooke as he was found at the motel. Below: Dick Clark interviews Sam Cooke on AB in 1964. And, the official Sam Cooke Facebook page today, here.

Sam Cooke
SAM COOKE 1931 – 1964

 (Information and news source: Billboard; January 2, 1965).

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