John & Bill", and he had studied drama in college. Of the final three, Nesmith was the only one who actually saw the ad in Daily Variety and The Hollywood Reporter. Tork, the last to be chosen, had been working the Greenwich Village scene as a musician and had shared the stage with Pete Seeger; he learned of The Monkees from Stephen Stills, whom Rafelson and Schneider had rejected as a songwriter. Dolenz was an actor (his father was veteran character actor George Dolenz) who had starred in the Screen Gems-produced TV series Circus Boy as a child, using the stage name Mickey Braddock. He had also played guitar and sung in a band called the Missing Links, which released one single, "Don't Do It". By that time he was using his real name; he found out about The Monkees through his agent. In a TV interview years later, Tork stated that the last condition in the ad referred to not being under the influence of illegal substances at the time of auditioning. During his audition, Tork was asked if he smoked (cigarettes), to which he replied, "Well, I don't smoke those." Early years (1966–1967) Developing the music for their debut album During the casting process, Don Kirshner, Screen Gems' head of music, was contacted to secure music for The Monkees pilot. Kirshner's Brill Building firm Aldon Music had an extensive portfolio of songwriters, many in need of work after the British Invasion had reorganized the American music scene; while several Aldon writers contributed songs to the Monkees during their existence, the bulk of the songwriting for the group fell upon Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart, two songwriters who were only beginning to break through to success at the time. Boyce and Hart contributed four demo recordings for the pilot. One of these recordings was "(Theme From) The Monkees" which helped get the series the green light. When The Monkees was picked up as a series, development of the musical side of the project accelerated. Columbia-Screen Gems and RCA Victor entered into a joint venture called Colgems Records primarily to distribute Monkees records. Raybert set up a rehearsal space and rented instruments for the group to practice playing in April 1966, but it quickly became apparent they would not be in shape in time for the series debut. The producers called upon Kirshner to recruit a producer for the Monkees