SECRET MONKEE MISSION EXPOSED AFTER 60 YEARS — CHIMPANZEES FIRING AT PILOTS?!
November 1965, San Diego — The fog rolled in thick that night over Hotel del Coronado, known for its ghost stories and Gilded Age glamour. But hidden behind one of its candlelit conference rooms was something even stranger than a haunted hallway or creaky floorboard. It wasn’t a séance. It wasn’t a press event.
It was the beginning of a top-secret mission.
Inside that smoke-filled room stood four young men — Michael Nesmith, Micky Dolenz, Peter Tork, and Davy Jones — not yet icons, not yet legends, but on the edge of something no one could quite define. The air reeked of cigarettes and reel-to-reel tape. And behind them? Absolute chaos.
According to newly uncovered documents and a rare photo unearthed by Beatland Books’ upcoming release Smoky Dreams, that very night marked the first-ever screen test for what would become The Monkees — but it wasn’t just about pop music or slapstick. Oh no.
In the background of the photo, blurred but unmistakable, a group of chimpanzees in military helmets appear to be seated at a mock aircraft console. One is pointing — or possibly firing — a toy pistol in the direction of a cardboard pilot’s seat. Another holds a banana like a radio transmitter. Smoke machines, stage lights, and what looks like a malfunctioning wind turbine complete the scene.
Was this the original concept? A band of time-traveling musicians foiling simian airstrikes? A Cold War satire gone off the rails? Or was it something far more unexplainable — a fever dream cooked up between screenwriters, studio execs, and four kids from different corners of the country who were about to change television history?
Insiders have remained quiet for decades — until now.
A surviving production assistant, listed only as “M.L.” in recovered call sheets, recalls the night vividly:
“It wasn’t supposed to be filmed. That whole shoot was off-book. The chimps weren’t trained, and one of them definitely bit a lighting guy. But when Mike grabbed that wool hat and Davy said, ‘Hey fellas, let’s roll,’ we all felt it. Something shifted. You could see it in the air.”
What began as a disjointed, possibly abandoned pilot concept morphed into a cultural phenomenon. But if this footage — rumored to still exist in private archives — ever sees the light of day, it might redefine The Monkees’ origin story entirely.
Fans have already taken to forums and fan pages speculating about “Operation Monkey Wrench,” a possible working title scrawled on a recovered clapboard from the same shoot. Some believe it was a jab at The Beatles’ Help!. Others think it was a failed variety show pitch involving Cold War espionage, live music, and — yes — misbehaving chimps.
Whatever the truth may be, this long-buried night at the haunted Hotel del Coronado reminds us that legends are rarely born clean. Sometimes they crawl out of cigar smoke, broken set pieces, and monkey fur — armed with charm, chaos, and a little bit of fate.
And sometimes… they sing.