i wanna be free, like the warm september wind babe, say you'll always be my friend babe, we can make it to the end babe

I feel so terrible about this, because I only just found out a few moments ago. Phyllis Nesmith, the former wife of Monkee Mike Nesmith, passed away the day before Valentine's Day this year. She was 63 years old.

How was this unknown to me for two-and-a-half months? I adored Phyllis - I wrote a post about her a little over a year ago. She was beautiful both inside and out. She was an admirable woman not just for her years as a Monkee wife and for being a wonderful mother, but for everything she did in public service in her later years. Apparently at the time of her death, she had been fighting Lou Gehrig's disease for quite some time, but it was never publicized. That, I feel, can sum up a lot about her. Not that I ever knew her, or came close to knowing her. But she did touch my life in some small way that I felt almost connected to her.

She was a quiet sufferer, I suppose you could say (though that's not the best way to phrase it) - a woman that did not publicly confess her pain or misfortune. She did not want public attention steered toward her, which is rare to find in someone who was touched by celebrity for so much of their life. There was a reason that she was considered the favorite Monkee girl by female fans - she was admirable in her strength, beauty, intelligence, and quiet grace.

Phyllis and her family will be in my thoughts tonight, and I hope that her loved ones have begun to find their way to live without this truly wonderful woman in their life.

you didn't care to know who else may have been you before

I was talking to one of my friends about Samantha Juste (who I just posted on the other day) and told her that my post on her came about because I had been watching something about the Monkees and felt inspired. She was practically appalled that I hadn't done a post on her (and apparently many Monkee-crazed peoples) favorite Monkee-wifee Phyllis Nesmith (w. Mike Nesmith).
Phyllis Ann Barbour was born into a military family in 1946 Manhattan. She and her three younger siblings (two brothers and a sister) moved around a lot as a child, living in Los Angeles, Germany, and eventually living in Texas three separate times. By her sixteenth birthday, Phyllis was already in college in San Antonio, majoring in Journalism and English. While at school, she met Mike Nesmith who was three years her senior. Nesmith later claimed love-at-first-sight, saying, "when I met Phyllis, I had a feeling that I had never experienced before...I was so sure she was the girl for me that I asked her to marry me before I ever asked her for a date," though unfortunately for Mike, Phyllis was already seeing someone else. They later crossed paths again and began seeing each other quietly. When she was seventeen and Mike was twenty, she discovered that she was pregnant, and she and Mike were soon after married in March 1963. Phyllis had a son, Christian, that next January. Of married life, Mike said (in 1968) "since I've been married I have been a complete person. Before I think I was a half-person. Phyllis now makes up my other hald and makes me whole."

In 1964 the newlyweds left San Antonio for Los Angeles, where Mike was working as one-half of a folk duo with John London. For about a year, the family lived with hardly any money to spare, up until Mike was cast as 'the guitarist in the wool cap' in "The Monkees" in early 1966 and experienced practically overnight success. Of her husband's newfound fame, Phyllis said "I was along for the ride; I happened to be married to someone who was in that position... I think it was very tough... I think it was hard to have a normal life and maintain some stable values. You have a loss of privacy and a distortion of personal identity."

By early the next year, the Nesmiths were both truly celebrities and living like ones. They lived in a Hollywood Hills mansion and dipped their toes in the crazy (i.e. drug-fueled, wild, fast-paced, generally awesome) atmosphere that was available to them with fame, whereas the others seemed to dive head first. "Naturally," of fame, Phyllis said, "there was some interesting byproduct - the fame and money... none of which were particularly important to me." Unlike the other Monkee wives and girlfriends, fans were not envious or hateful of Phyllis - they actually celebrated her, calling her the ideal wife and mother to her family. A regular in magazines like "16," which featured her latest wardrobe choices, 'exclusive' beauty tips, and cast her as a role model to young girls, Phyllis became famous in her own right (though still for being wife to a Monkee). Mike and Phyllis went to London in early 1967, being invited to stay at the home of John and Cynthia Lennon (it was during this time John was recording Sgt. Pepper, where the Monkees would occasionally pop in at sessions). They would go to England again during that summer when the Monkees were on tour, and it was during this trip that she became pregnant with their second child, Jonathan, born early February of the next year. In lte '67, Phyllis got into an awful car accident in the Hollywood Hills off of Mulholland Drive, crashing one of Mike's cars (some report it was a Mercedes, other say it was Mike's new Lamborghini). She was rushed to her home after sustaining serious injuries. Despite this, she never went to the hospital. Her faith in Christian Science did not allow her to seek medical attention, instead using her faith in God for recovery. Today, the only physical thing that remains from the accident is a scar that runs across her right cheek.

It was during this time that Mike had an affair with Israeli-born, Californian-based rock music photographer Nurit Wilde (who also appeared in two episodes of "the Monkees"), who gave birth to his third son, Jason, in August of 1968. Despite his infidelity, Mike and Phyllis stayed together (in the legal sense). She moved with Christian and Jonathan back to Texas for nearly a year before going back to Mike, but their marriage remained rocky. She had a third child (Mike's fourth), a daughter Jessica, in 1970, but this did not keep them from divorcing in 1975/1976. After their marriage ended, Phyllis had to adjust to being a single mother and in need of a job for the first time. She has been involved in political public relations (working for various senators and other public politicians) since the mid-1970s.

she's a wonderful lady and she's all mine, and there doesn't seem a way that she won't come and lose my mind

Happy Easter ev'rybody! In honor of this glorious day, the Easter bunny left a little treat for me on my TiVo -- two back-to-back episodes of "Biography" on A&E channel. I love the biography programs, but today it was extra special because the programs were first about Davy Jones, and then about the Monkees! Because I am essentially a fourteen-year-old girl on the inside, I couldn't help but get extremely excited and feel inspired to post. I am posting about Samantha Juste, the first wife of Monkee Micky Dolenz from 1968 until 1975. Though only my second favorite Monkee (behind Davy...remember that I have the emotional capacity of a tween), I always really liked Micky and Samantha together.

Samantha was born Sandra Slater in 1944 in Manchester, England. As a teenager, she became a model and changed her name to Samantha -- a still uncommon name in England at the time, though gaining popularity due to Grace Kelly's role as Samantha Lord in "High Society" and Elizabeth Montgomery's role as Samantha Stephens in "Bewitched." It is said that during the 1960s, Samantha Juste was one of the most popular Samanthas in Britain. As a model, she was popular because of her thin frame, long long legs, and blonde hair. She also made some of her clothing on the side after studying textiles and dress design at college. She favored minidresses with somewhat simple neckline and at times with long sleeves.
In the mid-60s, she became known as the "disc girl" on the popular Top of the Pops program, and released her own album. She appeared in the now-rare photobook, John D. Green's "Birds of Britain," a 1967 coffee table book highlighting the bright young things in England at that time (including Marianne Faithfull, Jane Asher, Pattie Boyd, Julie Christie, Lulu, and more!) In early 1967 she met Dolenz when the Monkees performed on Top of the Pops. He recalled that Samantha "was tall, blonde, beautiful, and wearing an emerald green outfit that ends up in a short skirt (very short) which tops off her unbelievably gorgeous legs." Micky said that all during their performance on TotP, "she hold his glance briefly then looks quickly away with that haughty sophistication that only the British can do so well."
Dolenz and Juste soon began dating, which caused media frenzy and fan upset during the time known as 'Monkeemania.' Samantha received a lot of the flack for their relationship, and had to endure female fans cruelty and newspaper headlines like "Pops girl goes ape" and "Samantha traps Monkee." The couple split their time between Samantha's flat in London and Micky's place in Laurel Canyon, with Samantha eventually moving in with him and leaving Top of the Pops. They wed in the summer of 1968, and their daughter Ami Bluebell was born in January of the next year. Dolenz wrote at least one song inspired in part by Samantha, "Randy Scouse Git," referring to her as the "girl in the yellow dress." During their marriage, the Dolenzes socialize with some of the top names in the music industry, including Harry Nilsson and Ringo Starr, who dubbed Samantha "Earth Mother." During the 70s, Micky's admittedly self-indulgent nature took a toll on the marriage, leading to Juste filing for divorce in 1975. She now runs an online boutique with her daughter Ami (an actress) called Bluebell Boutique.

(thanks to psycho-jello.com and wikipedia for info)