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Zilch!
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Subject: Zilch! From: Jacob B Date: 18 May 00 - 05:35 PM Those of you who used to listen to the Monkees (admit it, some of you used to listen to the Monkees) probably remember a talking round that they did on one of their records. It was called Zilch, and the words were: Mister Dobolina, Mister Bob Dobolina. (x2) China Clipper calling Alameida. (x2) It isn't our opinion that the people are intending (x2) Never mind the furthermore, the plea is self defense (x2) The word Zilch was said on the upbeat, just before each part came in for the first time. My question is this: where did these lines come from? I ask because I've figured out where one of them comes from. In the last act of the musical Oklahoma, after Jud Fry dies, there is a quick trial of Curly, and in it someone says the line, "Never mind the 'furthermore'. The plea is self defense!" But what about the other three lines? Who is Bob Dobolina? Why was China Clipper calling Alameida? What were the people intending? And who wrote the talking round? Can someone look up the name on the album jacket? Is anyone willing to admit to still owning a Monkees album? |
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Subject: RE: Zilch! From: Chicky Date: 18 May 00 - 07:22 PM Hi Jacob My partner is a big monkees fan (oh dear!). All I can find out is that Bob Dobolina is a reference to J. R. (Bob) Dobbs, who was the original investor in and originator of The Monkees concept. Also, Davy owned a clothes boutique called "Zilch" - but I don't know if that was before or after the song.
Cheers |
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Subject: RE: Zilch! From: AndyG Date: 19 May 00 - 09:01 AM Quick search result: "China Clipper calling Alameida"
I think this a quote from the 1936 Bogart movie China Clipper
AndyG |
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Subject: RE: Zilch! From: Jacob B Date: 19 May 00 - 11:17 AM Now we're getting somewhere! We've got three-quarters of the sources figured out, probably. Chicky, does your partner have the album with Zilch, and does it give an author's credit? |
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Subject: RE: Zilch! From: JenEllen Date: 20 May 00 - 01:20 AM I have all the old LP's. (shuddup Leej :) There isn't any mention to exactly what the lyrics refer to. I had pretty much chalked up everything after 'Headquarters' to bad grass and Moog fetishes anyways....but I AM curious, if you find out, PM me and let me know! ~Elle |
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Subject: RE: Zilch! From: Billy the Bus Date: 20 May 00 - 04:04 AM G'day Jacob, 2d-worth from the south. Never having heard the Monkees song I'd take a punt that the lyric should be: "China Clipper calling Alameda" (No "i") Pan Am's base in California, from where November 11, 1935...Pan American Airway's China Clipper piloted by Captain Edwin C. Musick, made the first transpacific airmail flight from San Francisco to Honolulu, Midway Island, Wake Island, Guam, and Manila, The Philippines. Here's a link to the plae China Clipper and the California Historic Sites Alameda Plaque. AndyG - I never saw that Bogart movie - I guess it was about flying boats across the Pacific. It's just a wee tad early to have included Capt Musick's first visit to NZ (March 1937) when he brought a flying boat into Auckland - I'm pretty sure it was "China Clipper" here's a site to check Capt Musick in NZ. I'm still trying to track down which "Clipper" he was in when he ditched near Samoa in 1938. Aaaarrgghh - the "China Clipper" sites are getting confusing, as to aircraft make and year. Anyway.... As soon as I saw "China Clipper to Alameda", my first "flashback" was Cpt Musick trying to "raise base" when he was having problems in the air, and not getting a reply - ie "Zilch" - dunno what it means to you guys, but here in NZ it's "nothing" particularly "no response to a comment".
I'll come back to the "Oklahoma" reference later. It was "Annie's Paw" who made the quote, but cain't recall his name - jest his shotgun. I played "Judd" so have to be excused for the memory lapse - "I was dead just then"
Wlii come back with whaterever more I find on the "China Clipper/Musick line"
Cheers - Sam
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Subject: RE: Zilch! From: Billy the Bus Date: 20 May 00 - 04:55 AM G'day, The Auckland Adcock base was called Musick Point after Capt Edwin Musick, the pioneering Pan Am pilot lost when the Pan Am S-42B "Samoan Clipper" disappeared January 1938. [Gwynn-Jones P.215] [Parnell / Boughton P.122] So it wasn't China Clipper Sam |
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Subject: RE: Zilch! From: Billy the Bus Date: 20 May 00 - 09:34 PM It seems the original quote was "Alameda calling China Clipper", from the base Radio Operator, It was a "mock-up" for Movietone News - they used Morse to communicate with the flight. It's a grin of a story Cheers - Sam
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Subject: RE: Zilch! From: Jacob B Date: 22 May 00 - 10:47 AM I've found the official Monkees web site, which has the lyrics to all of their songs. Zilch is attributed to David Jones, Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork. I suppose each of them came up with one of the two-bar phrases. It is indeed Alameda, not Alameida. I was also wrong about one of the other phrases: "It is of my opinion that the people are intending", not "It isn't our opinion". (We still don't know what they were intending.)
Thanks for the link to the radio operator's China Clipper story. The fakery for the cameras is probably still business as usual today. I also got a kick of seeing that Postmaster Jim Farley was there, since he's something of a legendary character as well.
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Subject: RE: Zilch! From: Billy the Bus Date: 23 May 00 - 06:58 AM Jacob, Please give us the story of Postmaster Jim Farley. I hadn't checked Cpt Ed Musick on the web for a year or more, and was fascinated with what I found this time - thanks to your "China Clipper calling Alameda" - found some good updates on Brit Flying Boats like Sunderlands and Solents too. Thanks fro the reminder - Sam
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Subject: RE: Zilch! From: Jacob B Date: 23 May 00 - 09:42 AM As I understand it, Postmaster General Jim Farley had the reputation of being able to remember the name of every person he had ever met. It must have been very comforting to people using the postal service at the time. They could tell themselves that, if a letter for them ever went astray and ended up at the dead letter office, "Jim Farley will see it, and he knows who I am." Not true, of course, but comforting. I read a story that Jim Farley told about how he kept his reputation: a man came up to him and said, "I bet you can't remember who I am, Stretch." Farley said, "Well, hold on a minute", and frantically tried to remember who this guy was. The only people who had ever called him Stretch were from his home town, so he mentally went up and down every street in his home town, looking at the faces of everyone who lived there - and he found this guy's face. Only problem was, he couldn't remember this guy's name. He could remember the name of everyone else in the family, but not this guy. So he said, "How's your sister Sue?" The guy answered, "You knew who I was all along." |
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Subject: RE: Zilch! From: Peg Date: 23 May 00 - 10:48 AM a Monkees thread? somehow this made me day. Fascinating topic, too! Just heard a great report on NPR last week about the sensation "Oklahoma" made when it first opened in the 1940s, and the origins of its writing (Rodgers and Hammerstein's first collaboration and a very risky style and storyline, given the trend in musicals at the time)... My favorite Monkees' song is the only one actually written by a Monkee (Mike). I don't remember the title but the chorus goes: I have no more than I did before but now I've got all that I need For I love you and I know you love me.
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Subject: RE: Zilch! From: GUEST Date: 23 May 00 - 11:01 AM Papa Gene's Blues....strange title, considering the lyrics. |
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Subject: RE: Zilch! From: JenEllen Date: 23 May 00 - 04:44 PM Yeah, outside of an occasional need for bubblegum in my diet, I really like Mike Nesmiths song styles. He wrote quite a few songs that still hold up. |
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Subject: RE: Zilch! From: GUEST Date: 11 Jul 09 - 05:27 PM BOB Dovalina not Dobalina is a man the Monkees meet at an airport. |
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Subject: RE: Zilch! From: Lizzie Cornish 1 Date: 11 Jul 09 - 06:24 PM Oh BOY!! The MONKEES! :0) :0) I loved The Monkees! I used to rush home to watch them, and that's *not* sad, it's fun, and I am sooooo *not* going to apologise for loving them, or their music, because heck they were so funny, so silly and their songs were often pretty darn cool. Wasn't Davy Jones just gorgeous! And Mickey Dolenz! I used to watch him in Circus Boy, way back when... I still love their music to this day, it always cheers me up. The Monkees Story - Part 1 - Youtube The Monkees Story - Part 2 - Youtube Hey hey we're The Monkees - We're the Young Generation, we got something to say Last Train to Clarksville Day Dream Believer - 3 older Monkees and a lot of happy people |
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Subject: RE: Zilch! From: open mike Date: 12 Jul 09 - 12:55 AM michael nesmith is still actively in the entertainment business. check into his place http://www.videoranch.com to see what i mean. did you know that his mom might have invented white out correction fluid? one of the monkees...used to help their mom fill bottles of this to market. |
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Subject: RE: Zilch! From: GUEST,.gargoyle Date: 12 Jul 09 - 05:14 AM I flew as a passemger on the China Clipper - exact route noted by Billy the Bus.
An amazing plane; fold-out overhead beds (where carry-on is now stowed) and a lower "basement" cocktail-lounge in the belly. Our flight was on a Boeing Stratocruiser (civilian B-29) It needed the comforts - the entire flight took about 36 hours.
My first thought was of course this - Alameda is a U.S.Naval Air Station with beacon and weather reports.
Sincerely, |
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Subject: RE: Zilch! From: Lizzie Cornish 1 Date: 12 Jul 09 - 07:35 AM a href="http://www.videoranch.com/html/frhomepage.html">Mike Nesmith (link taken from open mike's post) |
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Subject: RE: Zilch! From: open mike Date: 12 Jul 09 - 08:56 PM yep i rememorized it correct Monkee Mike Nesmith's mother, Bette Nesmith Graham was the inventor of Liquid Paper correction fluid... http://www.snopes.com/music/artists/nesmith.asp http://www.epinions.com/review/Liquid_Liquid_Paper_Water_Base_Correction_Fluid_6_Fluid_Ounce_White/content_257296731780 see also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Monkees http://www.monkees.net/default.htm http://www.monkees.com/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Tork http://www.petertork.com/ http://www.mickydolenz.com/ http://www.davyjones.net/ |
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