Too Many Girls

(aka Davy And Fern)

Written by Dave Evans, Gerald Gardner&Dee Caruso

Directed by James Frawley

Produced by Robert Rafelson&Bert Schneider

Song: "I'm A Believer" by Neil Diamond

Guest Appearences

                                    Mrs. Baddely                          Reta Shaw

                                    Fern                            Kelly Jean Peters

                                    Mr. Hack                         Jeff DeBenning

Premiered on December 19, 1966

Summary

While the Monkees are rehearing the song "I"m Not Your Stepping Stone" in the Monkees flat, for the third time they are disrupted by Davy's catonic state and realizing there must be a girl in the room they spot one staring lovestruck at Davy send her away.  After she leaves, Davy comes out of his trance and starts singing as if nothing has happened.  When he relizes what happened, he promises his bandmates he'll never look at another girl again.  The guys make him swear to it, another girl appears and soon they have to send her away.  But everywhere a girl appears, one holding Mike's guitar, another hiding in the fridge and one standing on a chair and the guys have to drag them out.  While searching for more girls in the room, Mike, Micky and Peter are surprised to see all the same girls surrounding Davy in a harem. 

Later that day while in town, they are spotted by Mrs. Badderly, a gypsy tea room owner who reads fortunes who's also a scheming stage mother plotting to use Davy to launch her daughter's show business career.  She hands her daughter Fern a nail and pepper and tells her she knows what to do.  Meanwhile she manages to lure the Monkees to her tea room where she's in the back talking on the phone to a Mr. Hack to let him know her daughter will be on the Amateur Hour TV show with a partner.  Then while the guys drink tea, she tells their forturne; first predicting Mike will get a flat tire and that Peter will come down with a 24-hour flu while Fern.  Then she predicts Davy will meet a girl, fall in love and leave the group but the Monkees are skeptical of her predictions.  When the head for the Monkeemobile, they find that the car has a flat tire and Peter starts sneezing(both courtesy to Fern) and before Davy can suggest his prediction will come true, the guys throw him in the back seat of the car while Mike inflates the flat tire by breathing into it and they speed off. 

Back at their flat, the guys decide to keep Davy locked in for 24 hours to make sure his prediction of falling and love and leaving the group doesn't come true while Mrs. Badderly makes her next plan.  When there's a knock on the door, the guys quickly hide Davy by disguising him as a chair using a table cloth.  They're relived when they think it's only a girl scout and Peter answers the door where Fern disguised as a girl scout pretends she's selling a bag of cookies.  But they aren't fooled and throw her out as fast as they can.  Then while playing a game of cards, there’s another knock at the door and when they realize that’s it’s another girl, Peter gets Davy upstairs in five seconds.  Fern now disguised as a photographer offers to take their picture for publicity.  As she’s about to take their picture she asks about the fourth member and when they tell her he’s upstairs she shoots the photo(literally) leaving smoke everywhere and the guys catch her just about to head upstairs and manage to rush her out the door.  Davy fed up tries to leave telling the others the only the way to keep him there is to chain him down and they end up chaining him to a chair leaving him alone to watch TV.  Then a telegram for Davy is slipped under the door selecting Davy to be a judge for a 15th Annual Beauty Contest which after he reads storms out the door still chained to the chair.  When the others find Davy gone, Mike reads the telegram he left behind and soon they all storm off after him.

While Davy heads for his destination dragging along the chair, the other guys search for him even mistaken another guy wearing the same wardrobe, same hair-do who’s also chained to a chair for him.  Davy makes it to the beauty contest which is supposedly held at Mrs. Badderly’s Tea Room(it was just another scheme to get Davy out) and discovers Fern wearing a long wig disguised as the only contestant.  Davy falls in love at sight and literally hears music whenever he touches her(due to the record player in the back).  The other Monkees show up but realize it’s too late as Mrs. Badderly enters and tells Davy and Fern of her prediction of Fern going on the Amateur hour talent show with a partner who’s Davy.  Davy’s reluctant but with Fern’s persuation he agrees.  When the other guys hear this, they try to stop Davy but sitting on the chair still chained to him but Davy picks up the chain and breaks it in half(a man in love has the strength of thousands).  After Davy and Fern leave to practice, Peter answers the phone where Mr. Hack from the TV’s Amateur Hour gives him a message to remind Mrs. Badderly that Davy and her daughter will appear last and the guys realize Mrs. Badderly’s scheme.  

At the TV Amateur Hour talent show, the guys set out to sabotage Davy and Fern’s act first by appearing on the show in disguises.  Peter appears first as the Astonishing Pietro, a lousy magician who ends is act literally crying over spilled milk.  Then Mike appears as Billy Roy Hodstetter, an untalented folk singer who does a fast rendition of “Different Drum” and finally Micky as Locksley Mendoza an untalented comic who tells unfunny jokes and does several impersonations which are all the same: James Cagney.  Meanwhile Mike and Peter put rocks in Davy’s jacket pockets, switch his cane with a rubber one and squirt breath lace in his mouth which makes his voice crack.  When Davy and Fern go on stage, Davy winds up messing up the act causing Fern to storm off stage crying in her mother’s arms.  Mrs. Badderly bulks at Davy for being such an untalented kid leaving Davy stunned(her daughter!).  The host, Mr. Hack then introduces his sponsor but the Mike, Micky and Peter correct him(our sponsor).  While on break, Mr. Hack does a commercial about for “The Amateur Hour”’ sponsor of a vitamin product called “Sdrawkcab”(backwards spelled backwards) which contains aluminum(a little iron is fine but remember iron can rust).  Then he introduces the Monkees as the next act who perform “I’m A Believer”. 

Afterwards, they guys explain to Davy about Mrs. Badderly's scheme but to everyone’s surprise Mr. Hack announces Davy and Fern as the winners.

Trivia Notes

The song Mike sings on the TV Amateur Hour “Different Drum” is

a song he’d written and was sung by a Linda Ronstadt of the Stone Ponies

launching her career.

This episode was based on a 1939 broadway musical “Too Many Girls”

which inspired a 1940 RKO musical comedy film that starred Lucille Ball.

Monkees stand-in David Price briefly appears as the guy on

the sidewalk that the Monkees mistake as Davy.

Mr. Hack's Amateur Hour was a spoof of Ted Mack's "Original Amateur Hour",

TV's most famous contest show.

Late actress Reta Shaw(Mrs. Badderly) appeared in the hit musical "Mary Poppins"

as Mrs. Brill.

In the original storyline, a glass of water laced with pills causes Davy's voice

to crack.

The song Davy and Fern sing in their act is called "Undecided" written by the

old Tin Pan Alley team Charles Shavers and Sid Robin and originally recorded

by legandary singer Ella Fitzgerald in 1939 and since been recorded over the years

by numerous performers including Nat "King" Cole, his daughter Natalie Cole, Benny

Goodman, the Ames Brothers etc.