Fans of the ‘80s Still Go Bananas Over the Monkees

Hey, hey, they’re the Monkees. And, believe it or not, they’ve still got a lot of fans.

Twenty-three years after television gave birth to the group, the Monkees managed to attract several hundred fans--some reportedly from as far away as Japan--to a three-day convention and nostalgia-fest in Universal City.

And in what is certainly a tribute to (or indictment of) the power of television, many of these fans were too young to have been alive when the show originally aired. They have come to know the goofy quartet, whose members specialized as much in slapstick as in music, through MTV, reruns and a much ballyhooed reunion and tour that began in 1986.

At Sunday’s session, in a ballroom of the Sheraton Universal, the crowd watched Monkee videotapes. They squealed as each Monkee appeared on the big-screen TV and sang along to the group’s theme song. Most wore Monkees T-shirts.

Three of the Monkees--Mickey Dolenz, Peter Tork and Davy Jones--reunited in 1986 and have been touring. Michael Nesmith has stayed away from the fun but joined the others in concert at the Universal Amphitheatre on Sunday night, an event that organizer Marla Martinez called “historic.”

‘Once-in-a-Lifetime’

Dana Porter, 15, said she and her mother, who live in North Muskegon, Mich., have traveled nationwide to Monkees events. They came here this week because the Monkees are being honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime thing,” the high school student said.

Dana says she learned about the Monkees from her mother.

“My mother tapes them (reruns) and we watch them together,” Dana said. “They’re a real great group of guys. They’re spunky and energetic. They make the show fun.”

Monkees Over Beatles

Michael Macaluso, 39, a Woodland Hills T-shirt merchandiser, confided that the Monkees aren’t his favorites; he grew up a Beatles’ fan. But he has collected enough Monkee memorabilia to work conventions in five cities in the last two years. The Monkees’ following is small, he said, but dedicated.

Macaluso’s children, however, would take the Monkees over the Beatles any day. The Beatles, 7-year-old Leah said, are “so stupid. They don’t even have a (TV) show!”

For Monkee memorabilia collectors, the convention had a lot to offer: For $8 you could buy a T-shirt, with the trademark MONKEES in psychedelic letters shaped into a guitar; the “official” Monkees jigsaw puzzle (some pieces missing) for $30; old albums ranging in price from $8 to $25; a Monkees Thermos for $40, and for just $185, an original, 1967 box of Monkees bubble gum cards.

For a really special souvenir, however, you could buy a dollar raffle ticket for a piece of Monkees clothing: Dolenz’s silver silk trousers, for example, or Nesmith’s embroidered cowboy shirt.

Henry Diltz, 50, has been photographing the Monkees since 1967, and he says their old pictures are still his biggest sellers. He displayed some from the late ‘60s, with the Monkees in love beads and long hair, and more recent photos that showed them on the Pat Sajak show or playing polo.

Diltz, like others, attributed the Monkees’ longevity to television.

“I have a 4-year-old son who watches the shows,” Diltz said. “He loves it. He doesn’t know they’re reruns. He doesn’t know it’s 20 years old.”