The Monkees On The Wheel
Written by Coslough Johnson
Directed by Jerry Shepard
Produced by Robert Rafelson & Bert Schneider
Songs: “The Door Into Summer” by Chip Douglas & Bill Martin, “Cuddly Toy” by Harry Nilsson
Guest Appearances
The Boss David Astor
Biggy Pepper Davis
Manager Rip Taylor
Policeman Dort Clark
Zelda Joy Harmon
Della Sharyn Hillyer
Premiered on December 11, 1967
Summary
The Monkees are in Las Vegas for a gig and head for the casino while somewhere a crooked gambler and mob boss known as The Boss tells his henchman Biggy about a roulette wheel in the casino that is rigged to land on sixteen red for five minutes starting at 8:00. At the slot machine, Micky hands coins to Zelda, a pretty girl he tries to pick up but when she doesn’t win anything, she rebuffs him. Angered by her rejection, he pushes the handle on the slot machine and winds up winning a large amount of coins which impresses Zelda who claims he has magic fingers.
While Micky is trying to explain to Mike about what happened, he mistakenly puts the bag of coins he won on the roulette wheel on sixteen red where Biggy is bidding and ends up winning in his place. The angry thug tries to warn Micky not to bid on sixteen red since it's an unlucky number but Micky ends up winning again. Then Peter gets him to bid again since you should never quit when you’re ahead. Micky keeps on winning until he breaks the bank and soon the guys carry off the bags of money into their hotel room on a stretcher and luscious in their fortune. After informing his boss of the misfortune, The Boss orders Biggy to get Della as a decoy in order to get the money back. Soon Biggy shows up at their suite disguised as a maintenance man dragging a vacuum cleaner while Della shows up as a gorgeous maid in a sexy uniform and in no time has the guys fawning all over her. While distracted by Della, Biggy manages to swipe all the money inside the vacuum cleaner before they both depart and then the guys realize they’ve been robbed. Meanwhile at the casino, the manager discovers that the roulette wheel has been rigged and distraught, he summons the police. When the cops arrive at the Monkees' suite, they think they came about their robbery and unknowingly sign a confession that they stole the money and they all end up arrested. At police headquarters, the foursome claim their innocence when they realize the wheel was rigged but the policeman doesn’t believe them and Micky is distress when realizing he doesn’t have magic fingers after all. The Manager strikes a deal with the guys that if they find the cash in 24 hours he won’t press charges or else they get twenty years.
Then the guys come up with a plan and pose as mobsters in sunglasses with Micky as the Insidious Strangler, Mike as Vicious Killer, Davy as Muscles the Mauler and Peter (wearing normal eyeglasses) as The Professor and they for the roulette wheel in the casino where they run into Biggy. They tell him of their plans to take over the city and win all the money by a system using the roulette table that the Professor has invented. Biggy takes them to his boss where Micky and the Boss square off with a hilarious James Cagney impression. Then the Boss makes Peter explain the system they while get them drunk until they pass out. The guys search the place for the stolen money but that’s cut short when they accidentally cause an alarm to go off that wakes the Boss who then orders them to use the system to gamble for cash. Back at the roulette table, the cop tells Micky they need proof that the money is the stolen cash and warns him to lose on the wheel or else. The Monkees try to lose but end up winning every time while Micky keeps fending off Zelda who swears that she knows him. Finally, they do lose all the money but Zelda rips off Micky’s sunglasses and remembers him as magic fingers giving them away to the crooks. The Boss figures out their plans to steal back the money they stole from them and orders his henchman to get them. Soon there's a mad chase to the song “The Door Into Summer” which ends with the mobsters on the table covered in cash by the Monkees.
After the episode, Mike introduces a Here We Go Again tag that Peter and Davy do involving Micky before the guys dressed in vaudeville perform “Cuddly Toy”.
Mike and Micky do six outtakes from the future episode “The Monstrous Monkee Mash.
Trivia Notes
This was the first episode that showed some changes in the Monkees off-the-wall
humor.
There was an alternate ending for the episode in which Micky swears off gambling
forever, then Davy discovers that Peter now has the gambling bug and is at the
slot machine with Zelda.
A different take of the song “Cuddly Toy” appears in show. The first appeared in
the episode “Everywhere A Sheik Sheik”.
Monkees stand-ins David Pearl and David Price also cameos in this episode with
Pearl as a casino patron who pops Mike in the nose calling him Wizard Glick and
Price playing a craps during the “Door Into Summer” romp.
Rip Taylor (Manager) also appeared in the final Monkees episode “Mijacogeo”
as the villain just happen to named Wizard Glick! He would also portray Sheldon
the genie in the Kroff’s “Sigmund And The Sea Monsters”, Sydney Laskin in NBC’s
daytime soap opera “Santa Barbara” and as the voice of Uncle Fester in the 1992’s
animated version of “The Addams Family”.
