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- Originally aired Sept. 12th, 1966.

- This was the only episode in the entire series to not have a reasonably full listing of songs in the end titles, which, in this case, were Boyce & Hart's "This Just Doesn't Seem To Be My Day" and Goffin & King's "Take a Giant Step". It showed the names of the composers (under an intricate "Songs by" credit), but not the titles of the songs they wrote.

- "This Just Doesn't Seem To Be My Day" appears here and in episode 9, "The Chaperone", in an alternate take, with an extra minute of music during the instrumental bridge not heard in the take on the Monkees' first album.

- The third Monkees episode to be filmed, "The Royal Flush" was the first to be helmed by James Frawley, an early member of innovative NYC comedy troupe The Premise, who would go on to direct the bulk of The Monkees' 58 half-hour segments (32 to be exact). Frawley would soon be greatly rewarded for his efforts on "The Royal Flush"; it won the Emmy for Outstanding Directorial Achievement In A Comedy Series for 1966-67.

- The concept of the litle tag sequence where David, Micky, Peter, and Michael sat and chatted (at the end of this and 11 more episodes of The Monkees) came about when director Jim Frawley found that "The Royal Flush" was very long in its original director's cut. He trimmed it very tightly to accomodate NBC, resulting in it being 2 minutes short. Instead of putting back those 2 minutes (6 frames at a time), Frawley opted to put The Monkees in front of the camera to improvise a little tag.

- The 309 Usurper throne, which "throne merchant" Micky pitches to Otto, was reused thrice: in episode 21 "The Prince and the Paupers", episode 43 "A Coffin Too Frequent", and episode 52 "The Devil and Peter Tork". The Usurper throne can also be seen in The Monkees' 1968 movie HEAD, immediately following the "Long Title: Do I Have To Do This All Over Again?" birthday party boogie sequence.

- The late Theodore Marcuse (Otto) had numerous villainous stints, including the diabolical Dr. Gamma on Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea (ABC, 1964-68 ). His appearance as Korob in the October 27, 1967 episode of Star Trek (NBC, 1966-69), "Catspaw" turned out to be his last, as it aired one month before his tragic death.

- An alternate ending to "The Royal Flush" has The Chambermaid (Ceil Cabot) forcing Michael and Micky to clean up the battle-scarred ballroom!

- A technique dubbed the "double-guitar iris" transition was first used here. It featured an outer guitar (shown in red, orange, light green, blue, or black) slanted at an approximate 180-degree angle, zooming into the screen (taking us out of the previous scene), followed by an inner guitar, which introduces the next scene. Other Monkees episodes to employ this technique were the next one, "Monkee See, Monkee Die", "Your Friendly Neighborhood Kidnappers", "The Spy Who Came In From The Cool", "Don't Look A Gift Horse In The Mouth", "The Chaperone", "Monkees A La Carte", and "One Man Shy".

- The end credits for "The Royal Flush" and all further Kellogg's-sponsored NBC-TV telecasts of The Monkees sported package faces of Kellogg's popular cereals: Corn Flakes, Rice Krispies, Sugar Frosted Flakes, Apple Jacks, Special K, Variety-Pak, and Pop Tarts.

- A close-up shot from this episode of David clad in his swordsman refinery a la Erroll Flynn with a sword (dueling with Otto next to the buffet table in the ballroom during the "Take A Giant Step" romp) is edited into the first season main title sequence for The Monkees.

- The 1986 Colex syndicated edition of "The Royal Flush" featured the soundtrack from its May 8, 1967 repeat on NBC (featuring the songs "You Told Me" and "The Girl I Knew Somewhere") and the end credits augmented from its February 13, 1971 (Peter Tork's 29th birthday!) repeat on CBS Saturday Afternoon (which lists the songs "Apples, Peaches, Bananas and Pears" and "Good Clean Fun"). Rhino set the record straight on both counts for its 1995 inclusion in The Monkees Video Box Set, and the syndication package now uses the upgraded print of the episode with the original songs (thought the CBS end credits remain intact!).

- In the interview, when told by Micky to stand up and show the audience how tall he is, David retorts jokingly, "I am standing up!" This occurance would be repeated in episode 16 "Son of a Gypsy", 23 "Captain Crocodile", 38 "I Was a 99-Pound Weakling", and 46 "Monkees on the Wheel".

- David renews his fencing prowess (first displayed here in the swordsman climax with Otto set to the tune of "Take A Giant Step") in episode 21 "The Prince and the Paupers" (in a fencing lesson with Max [Joe Higgins]), episode 44 "Hitting the High Seas" (engaging Micky, Peter and the crew in mad swordplay in the romp set to "Daydream Believer"), and in episode 55 "The Monkees Mind Their Manor" (in a duel with Sir Twiggly Toppin-Middlebottom [Bernard Fox], which he loses!).

- An alternate print of "The Royal Flush" features a clip of The Monkees performing "Last Train To Clarksville" replacing the tag interview segment.

- A distinct musical sting composed by Stu Phillips can be heard in the scene where David and Bettina converse with each other on the beach, just prior to the start of the "This Just Doesn't Seem To Be My Day" chase sequence. In the May 8, 1967 repeat of "The Royal Flush" on NBC (in which the song "You Told Me" replaces "This Just Doesn't Seem To Be My Day"), the cue is no longer heart.

- In Rhino's restoration of the original first-run edition of "The Royal Flush" for its final release as part of the 1995 Deluxe Limited Edition Box Set and the 1996 individual select release, its end credits has a beat missing where researcher Andrew Sandoval had to edit together 2 seperate sets of end credits to get the proper song listing. That "beat" was, in fact, the portion of the credits which features the caption "Music Supervision DON KIRSHNER"; this is a native of the NBC repeat of the episode from May 8, 1967 (Kirshner was long gone by that point).

- Both Otto and Bettina know David's name, despite never having heard it - Otto calls him Mr. Jones, while Bettina calls him Davy.

- In the scene where the Monkees rig the front door for the villains, Micky boasts, "They have about as much chance finding us here as I do becoming Miss America!" Sure enough, three loud knocks ring out, and Michael uses this oportunity to sing, "There she is, Miss America!" the first line of that popular Bernie Wayne-composed tune which has become an American institution, heard each and every year of the annual Miss America Pageant.

- Further royalty-themed Monkees episodes are episode 21 "The Prince and the Paupers", episode 35 "Everywhere a Sheik Sheik", and episode 48 "Fairy Tale".

- Prior to the airing of this debut episode, David Bordon of United Artists and David Yarnell of RKO sued Screen Gems to the tune of $6,850,000, claiming they unwittingly duplicated the idea of The Monkees from them (Liverpool U.S.A.). They tried unsucessfully to stop the series from being telecast until the suit was settled, and the case was resolved, out of court, for an undisclosed amount.

Pictures

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