“The Son Of A Gypsy” (prod. #4724) first aired @ 7:30 p.m. Eastern on NBC as the 16th episode of The Monkees.

This episode was sponsored by Slicker and Black Label by Yardley Of London™ and featured "I'm A Believer", written by Neil Diamond and produced by Jeff Barry. For those of you who tuned in and turned on this week, these are the original commercials you would've seen: Eyelighter by Yardley, Kellogg's Rice Krispies, Kellogg's Special K, Slicker Lip Polish by Yardley, Oh! De London by Yardley, and The Monkees for Yardley Black Label Aftershave.

Trivia Footnote: As this episode made its first-run telecast over NBC, The Monkees played their first gig on their 12-city U.S. tour at The Denver Coliseum in Colorado.

With another Christmas now behind us, there remains only 6 days left of The Year 2023 Anno Domini. As a result, The Monkees Film & TV Vault's New Year's page is now up, with an indication of the forthcoming year's centennial of Columbia Pictures Industries, Incorporated, the ingenius creation of brothers Jacob and Harry Cohn and their business partner Joseph Brandt, in 1924. Screen Gems, supplier of the 1966-1968 NBC situation comedy The Monkees, was the television subsidary of Columbia Pictures, which also distributed The Monkees' 1968 cinematic series finale, HEAD. (Abraham Schneider, father of series Producer/Executive Producer Bert Schneider, was Studio Head at the time.) In fact, the very ersatz version of the Columbia Pictures logo which appears at the tail end of HEAD is fittingly used to mark the milestone.

The Featured Monkees Episode is still No. 47, "The Monkees Christmas Show" (a.k.a. "The Christmas Story") (prod. #4746, aired on NBC December 25, 1967), though.

"The Monkees Christmas Show" (a.k.a. "The Christmas Story") (prod. #4746) first aired @ 7:30 p.m. Eastern on NBC as the 47th episode of The Monkees.

The sponsor was Yardley Of London, and the show featured Peter, Michael, David and Micky sing an a capella rendition of the Spanish villancico Christmas Carol, "Ríu, Chíu", composed by Mateo Flecha (1481–1553) and arranged and adapted by Henry Diltz, Chip Douglas, Cyrus Faryar and Jerry Yester.

Interesting Note: this one Monkees Christmas episode was shot in the week of Thanksgiving!