OK, anyone reading this will be saying to themselves, what does Davy Jones have to do with a blog about family pets and their medical issues. The answer would be absolutely nothing, except Davy had cats. I've been grappling with the idea of posting about Davy since the announcement of his death this past Wednesday and I've decided to go with it.
To say that I am sad over Davy's passing would be understatement; I'm heartbroken. Davy was always a presence in my life and not because he was a Monkee. Davy and Mickey were the professional actors; Mike and Peter were musicians. The operative word here is "actor". Sure, he sang, danced, played guitar but I remember him as an actor first.
Davy's career started at about age 14 on the British soap opera "Coronation Street". From there he appeared in London's West End in the musical "Oliver" which crossed the pond to Broadway with Davy still in the roll of the Artful Dodger. The first time I saw Davy was as the Dodger with the rest of the Oliver cast on The Ed Sullivan Show. Everyone always watched Ed Sullivan but that particular night I was watching to see some other Brits I was interested in for it was the first of three evenings The Beatles performed.
The insanity of Beatlemania started but through it all I never forgot Davy. He appeared on "Ben Casey" a very popular doctor drama of the early sixties (Yvonne Craig also appeared in the same episode). All in all, I managed to catch him on whatever show he was on.
Colpix released (pre-Monkees) a solo album entitled, "David Jones" which was a mix of pop tunes and British music hall songs! To this day, I catch myself humming or singing songs from this album (most of the cuts are on You Tube).
Like so many of us, Davy started out pursuing one career course but wound up doing something entirely different. Davy originally intended to be a jockey but the entertainment field beckoned. Even so, Davy always kept a hand in by raising, training and racing horses. And Davy was with his horses when his time came.
So here's to you, Davy. Thank you for all the good times and the great memories.
"Good-night, sweet prince;
And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest."
(William Shakespeare: Hamlet)
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