The Prince And The Pauper

Written by Gerald Gardner, Dee Caruso&Peter Meyerson

Directed by James Komack

Produced by Robert Rafelson&Bert Schneider

Songs: "Mary, Mary" by Michael Nesmith

Guest Appearances

Count Myron                     Oscar Beregi

Max                                    Joe Higgins

Wendy                             Heather North

Courtier                           Donald Foster

Cardinal                    William Chapman

Jailer                                   Clegg Hoyt

Gloria                                    Linda Kirk

Premiered on February 6, 1967

Summary

In a rip-off of Mark Twain's "The Prince and the Pauper", this episode begins with the Monkees auditioning for a gig at the Embassy Ball when Count Myron's aide Max brings Davy inside the ballroom to confront him.  He mistakes Davy for the prince until the real prince enters who happens to be Davy's exact double!

Prince Ludlow of Peruvia tells Davy that if he isn't wed by his eighteenth birthday, the Peruvian throne will go to Count Myron but he's too shy around women.  Meanwhile, the scheming the Count and Max plot to keep women away from the prince by discrediting him and the ones who don't listen will be driven off by the prince's shyness.  The Count also mentions a young girl the prince met on the Rivera named Wendy Forsythe who was smitten with him and to whom he told that the prince is sly, malicious, a pathological liar and a sadist.  Micky, Mike and Peter enter the room and are also at first confused by Davy and his look-alike Prince Ludlow.  When the Courtier, an old man who has a habit of breaking his cane, announces Wendy Forsythe the prince is too shy to meet her.  Then the guys suggest Davy switch places with the prince to win the girl over since Davy's good with women.  After switching outfits, the other three hide the prince, when Wendy enters to break it off with him but Davy as the prince manages to woo her and win her over.  After she leaves, the Prince asks Davy to continue to impersonate him for a few more days until she agrees to marry him.  Max who overheard Davy as the Prince charming Wendy, phones the Count to tell him of his concerns the plan will backfire.  Meanwhile, Mike decides to stay on as Davy's guard since he doesn't trust the Count while Micky and Peter take the Prince back with them where they'll teach him the fine art of dating by using a pretty blonde named Gloria.  Later, Max reads a letter from Wendy to the Prince declaring her love and fearing their plot is be spoiled, the chemist convinces him to dispose of the Prince by using poison on the foil during the prince's fencing lessons.  During the fencing lessons, Davy and Max with the poison foil begin to fence until Davy and Max ends up dropping their foils.  When Davy takes the wrong foil, Max is scared off flees.  When a confused Davy sticks the foil into a plant, the plant shrivels and dies leaving Mike and Davy suspicious.

Convinced that he has to act fast, Davy proposes to Wendy when she arrives again and she accepts.   Davy tells the Count of their plans to marry and to hold a reception thenight before sending him off.  Mike then uses the phone to call Micky unaware that he's being overheard by the Count who's grown suspicious.  Later, Davy and Mike are waiting for the prince to arrive so they can switch back before the wedding but their plans are ruined when Count Myron and Max show up with Micky, Peter and Prince Ludlow.  The Count has the prince imprisoned in the dungeon and then orders the foursome off with threats to kil them which convinces them to storm off.  At the church as the wedding is about to begin, the Count arrives and is about to call the wedding off until Davy still disguised as the Prince arrives with Mike while Micky and Peter plan to rescue the Prince.  At the dungeon, the prince tries unsuccessfully to get the jailer to release him until Micky and Peter arrive and manage to subdue the jailer.  Meanwhile, Mike stalls the wedding with his drivels until Micky and Peter arrive with the real Prince who takes Davy's place.  Through the musical romp of "Mary, Mary", the Monkees fight off the Count and Max as Prince Ludlow marries Wendy and it ends with the guys roping the two villains cowboy style.  The the now married Prince then orders the two to be arrested.

Later back at the pad, the guys read about the Prince and Wendy's honeymoon in Greece in the newspaper while Davy sulks about losing Wendy whom he'd became smitten with to the Prince.  After the others leave, a female reporter from the Teen Tale arrives through the back door who happens to look exactly like Wendy and Davy is quickly over his depression as he and the reporter kiss.

Trivia Notes:

During the CBS Saturday Afternoon repeats, "Mary, Mary" is replaced

by Jeff Barry's "99 Pounds"

When the Prince's head is turned, future KROQ-F.M. DJ Rodney

Bingenheimer(who also auditioned for the Monkees) is actually is

doubling in for Davy. He also doubled for Davy during his lion's share

of personal appearances.

Monkee stunt double, David Price cameos as the chemist.

This episode's co-writer Peter Meyerson and director James Komack

teamed up again eight years later in the creation of the comedy sitcom

"Welcome Back Kotter".

Actress Heather North(Wendy) at the time as playing Sandy Horton on

NBC's daytime soap opera "Days Of Our Lives" and later provided the

voice of Daphne on the animated series "Scooby Doo".

The weekend following this episode's airing, the Monkees LP "More

Of The Monkees" displaced "The Monkees" as the #1LP on the Billboard

chart.