Winona Ryder Redux

"I was producing a movie called Square Dance in Texas. It was a starring part for Winona Ryder, who was fourteen or fifteen.

She said, "Aren't the Monkees gonna play in Arlington?" which was just up the road from where we were filming. I said, "Yeah." And she said, "Do you think you could get me tickets?" And I said, "Well, yeah, I probably could." And she said, "I'd really like to go -- would you take me?" And I said "No, I won't take you. I can't possibly do that." She said, "Why not?" I said, "Nonie, I am one of the Monkees. I can't show up in the crowd with you going to a Monkees concert." She said, "Well, I really want you to take me. That would be really fun for me."

I was madly in love with her -- she was such a wonderful, young girl. There's a certain age at which young women blossom; they have a puppy quality about them, very fetching. She was right at that age. I just couldn't say no to her.

I said, "Let me see what I can do."

I wrangled a couple of tickets, and they were real ordinary tickets. I didn't want box seats or anything. From the costume department I got a fat pad, and I grayed my hair and my beard. I put on a pair of old man's glasses and a baseball hat, and I took her to the show.

We sat there with 25,000 people, after a ball game. They came out, and I was in the middle of the crowd, watching a Monkees concert. ... I think Nonie liked it."

Mike Nesmith
Hey, Hey, We're the Monkees