Michael Nesmith aunts, and grandmother. Bette took temporary jobs ranging from clerical work to graphical design and developed very good secretarial skills, including shorthand and, auspiciously, touch typing. When Nesmith was 13, his mother invented the typewriter correction fluid later known commercially as Liquid Paper. Over the next 25 years she built the Liquid Paper Corporation into a multimillion-dollar international company, which she finally sold to Gillette in 1979 for US$48 million. She died a few months later, aged 56. Nesmith was enrolled in the Dallas public school system in 1949, aged 6. Describing himself as an indifferent student, he nevertheless participated
Michael Nesmith the famous press advertisement asking for "four insane boys" so he applied for the job. Nesmith won his role largely by appearing blasé when he auditioned. He rode his motorcycle to the audition, and wore a wool hat to keep his hair out of his eyes; producers Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider remembered "Wool Hat", and called Nesmith back. Once he was cast, Screen Gems bought his songs so they could be used in the show. Many of the songs Nesmith wrote for The Monkees, such as "The Girl I Knew Somewhere", "Mary, Mary" and "Listen to the Band", became