Here you will find interesting tidbits that I've noticed and/or collected. A few are things that Aaron Handy III has also mentioned, but most, I think, are unique to this site. And we'll start with my favorite episode, Alias Micky Dolenz.
-This episode allows us to see Micky's best side. Despite the fact that he is in terrible danger posing as Baby Face, he is unselfish and does not want Mike and Peter to end up hurt as well. When they offer to assist him, he replies, "Hey, I can't take a chance on you guys getting hurt. I got myself into this, and I'll get myself out . . . I hope." It is a shame that in the second season, Micky's character sometimes deteriorated into a sniveling coward, such as in episode #50, Monstrous Monkee Mash. The Micky of Alias Micky Dolenz would be ashamed of his counterpart's actions.
-Micky is seen parking the Monkeemobile at the beginning. Other episodes in which he takes the wheel are #17, The Case of the Missing Monkee, #19, The Audition (Find the Monkees), and #33, It's a Nice Place to Visit.
-The gang's car is a tan Pontiac Bonneville with a black roof. It is quite possibly a convertible, like this one here: White Bonneville. The Bonneville was both one of the largest and the heaviest Pontiacs ever manufactured.
-Jimmy Murphy, who played Tony, appeared in five of the later Bowery Boys movies as Myron. According to the book Hey, Hey, We're the Monkees, Huntz Hall's Sach character from those films was the inspiration for the prototype of the Peter character when The Monkees TV show was being developed.
-We learn that Tony Ferano was once a police officer who committed "extortion, illegal entry, and headed up the numbers racket" in Detroit. He obviously is either not originally from Detroit or else is but spent a good deal of time in New York at some point, as he speaks with a New York (Brooklyn?) accent. His aliases include "Big Tony, Tony the Rock, Tony the Slasher, and Kissing Clyde."
-Not only does Tony hail from Detroit, but his actor Jimmy Murphy does as well. Was this deliberate in the script or a coincidence? The author would like to know!
-Mugsy Ruckyzer was tried in Detroit on charges of "arson, assault with a deadly weapon, and second-degree murder." He ended up convicted for contempt of court. His aliases include "Mugsy Ruck, Mugsy Reynolds, Mugsy Raymond, and Sherry Fingerhead."
-The police captain tells Micky that one of the gang members is named "Mugsy" and shows him a picture, yet when this person appears he is called "Vince" by the other characters without an explanation. The other gang member remains unnamed. This other gang member actually has only one line in the episode, "Right!" and is promptly slapped by Mugsy, who informs him that "Tony says 'Right'!" which is a running gag throughout the scene in the backroom.
-During the barroom brawl, several times we cut to Micky sitting on the floor under the bar. Ruby is slumped beside him. And yet, this clip does not make sense, as we first see it even before the events that resulted in Ruby being knocked out. Also, if one looks closely, Tony is always standing on Micky's other side when they cut to that shot, despite the fact that Tony is very much involved in the brawl from its start to its conclusion.
-Seaman’s bank job is referenced as a past caper of Baby Face and his gang. Steve Blauner drove their getaway car and hit a cop, which likely gave the case quite a bit of notoriety in the papers. In episode #11, Monkees a la Carte, Peter cites Seaman’s bank job as one of the crimes he supposedly was the mastermind of.
-The Captain decides to take control over the loot once it's recovered! He takes a lot of it to give to the three Monkees as their reward for their efforts. This is, of course, absurd. But it's The Monkees. Nonsense abounds! The only way it would make sense is if the DeWitts previously authorized the distribution of the jewels to whomever helped apprehend the thieves.
