All This

August 11th, 1966 was John Lennon's day of reckoning. Even before the Beatles boarded their flight to America, a BBC-TV reporter at London Airport tried to gauge John's state of mind about what might lie ahead. As soon as John stepped off the plane at Chicago's O'Hare Airport, American journalists tried to get a scoop by shouting questions across the tarmac.

Upon arrival at the Astor Towers Hotel, John had only an hour or two to gather his thoughts (and shed some stressful tears) before his moment of reckoning. Tony Barrow had arranged to ease the group into the limelight by scheduling two press conferences; the first was for local newspapers and various DJs and reporters covering the whole tour, with no national media or moving picture cameras present. The full 17-minute audio recording captures John's repeated attempts to clarify or explain his remark, culminating in a halfhearted apology to Tommy Charles.

The second press conference was held in front of cameras from the major TV networks as well as newsreel film crews from around the globe. The more well-known soundbites originate from this conference, which doesn't seem to exist in a continuous state. Here is a 5-minute composite from several sources.

They're Gonna Crucify Me

"Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink. I needn't argue about that; I'm right and I will be proved right. We're more popular than Jesus now. I don't know which will go first, rock 'n' roll or Christianity. Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. It's them twisting it that ruins it for me."

This John Lennon quote, lying dormant in Maureen Cleave's March 4th, 1966 Evening Standard profile, sprang back to life in the first week of August, just in time to potentially derail the Beatles' North American tour.

The backlash was largely fomented by one radio station, WAQY in Birmingham, Alabama. WAQY's morning men, Tommy Charles and Doug Layton, leapt upon the opportunity to promote their show and station by boycotting Beatles music and organizing a bonfire in which teenagers could "burn their Beatle paraphernalia".

As the story took hold, particularly in the southeastern US, Maureen Cleave and others weighed in to defend John, but it was clear that some official response from the Beatles' camp would be needed. Brian Epstein flew to New York and held a press conference on the 6th, reading a prepared statement vetted by John.

Still, the American press were eager to hear an explanation, if not an outright apology, from Lennon himself. On August 10th, ITV News got a word or two out of Paul on a London street, but the world would have to wait until the following day, when the group flew to Chicago, to hear John face the music.

When The Rain Comes

During their month off in July 1966, the Beatles tried to put the horrors of Manila behind them and recoup their energy for another American tour. George continued to practice the sitar, and visited his new in-laws. Paul appeared on BBC Radio with David Frost, and he and John sat down with Keith Fordyce to explore their songwriting partnership.

Meanwhile in the States, radio stations were ramping up the hype machine yet again for the impending tour. WTRY in Albany held a contest to send fans to Shea Stadium, and KBTR in Denver sponsored a trip to the St. Louis concert.

On July 29th, a John Lennon quote on the cover of Datebook magazine set off a series of events that had the potential to make Manila look like a polite misunderstanding.

Thrilla In Manila

On July 4th, 1966, The Beatles played to their largest-ever single day crowds (80,000 total) in two performances at Manila's Rizal Memorial Football Stadium. The accomplishment was quickly spoiled by events at the Presidential Palace:

"On July 3rd, the day prior to the show, The Manila Sunday Times reported that the Beatles were invited to join the President and Mrs. Marcos (with their 3 children) to their Malacañang Palace at 11am. The Beatles knew nothing of this appointment, hearing only of a request for a short "pop-in" at the palace at 4pm which they respectfully declined due to the fact that their first show started at 4pm! The Beatles claimed they never received the earlier 11am invitation.

Much to the Beatles' surprise, the palatial tyrants were extremely angered at the Beatles neglect and the morning after the concert, The Manila Times ran the headline "Imelda Stood Up!!". The ramifications were to become serious. Philippine promoter Ramon Ramos refused to pay the Beatles for their performance! Bomb and death threats were telephoned to the deluged British Embassy and to the boys hotel suite. Brian Epstein was so distressed with the situation he arranged for a press conference from the hotel to apologize for the misunderstanding. BUT... as fate would have it, some unforeseen static blipped out his interview from most all TV screens in the country! (more than a few thought it was probably more shenanigans by the Marcos clan).

Pulling more strings the next day when the Beatles were scheduled to depart the country, Misael Vera, Philippine Tax Authority, insisted the group could not leave the country until every penny of the taxes owed them was paid! Of course, they never got paid anything but Brian hurriedly forked over a bond out his own funds for P.74,450 (around $18,000) to settle the matter.

To make matters worse, all security detail assigned to the boys were withdrawn leaving them extremely vulnerable. They were literally kicked and jostled as they left their hotel and totally harassed all the way to the airport. Things were no better there where the airport manager has also removed all security for the Beatles. They went so far as to shut down the power to stop the escalators, forcing the boys to scale several flights of stairs with their own luggage, only to face an angry mob of 200 Filipinos brutally manhandling them! Ringo was literally floored by an uppercut and kicked on the ground. He suffered a sprained ankle as well and had to be helped to the customs area. Mal Evans and Brian Epstein were injured as well. Alf Bicknell suffered a cracked rib and a spinal injury.

When they finally approached the plane, a large booing crowd jeered and mocked them chanting "Beatles Alis Dayan!" (Go Home Beatles!) Once in the plane, some scraping government officials "decided" the Beatles were NOT authorized to leave the country due to inaccurate "check in" procedures days earlier... This led to another 40 minute wait on the tarmac while Mal & Tony Barrow went back to the terminal to clean up the necessary paperwork. Only minutes after the Beatles angrily departed, did the press run a statement by President Marcos stating "There was no intention on the part of the Beatles to slight the first lady or the government of the Republic Of The Philippines". Obviously a bit too late to do the Beatles any good."

Source: http://www.rarebeatles.com/photopg7/nonusa/php7466.htm

Bewildered and extremely embittered, the Beatles cooled their jets in New Delhi for a couple of days before finally returning to London Airport early on July 8th. There, they explained their side of the imbroglio to ITV News reporter John Edwards and an interviewer for Reuters.

Nowhere Men

As noted in a previous blog post, the Beatles' June 26th, 1966 Hamburg press conference was a contentious affair, although the concerts and reunions with old friends went off well.

But the tour was fated to go from bad to worse to nightmare. Flying out of Hamburg on the afternoon of the 27th , the band were due to fly via London to Tokyo for a couple days of rest before their Budokan concerts. Mother Nature had other ideas, and a typhoon rerouted their flight to Anchorage, Alaska for an unscheduled overnight stay.

They finally arrived in Tokyo around 3:30 am on the 30th. Their plane-weary and jet lagged bodies grabbed some sleep in their Hilton Hotel suite before emerging for a TV interview mid-afternoon. This was followed by a press conference which dragged on for twice as long as usual due to the lengthy translation (and re-translation) process.

The Beatles' three-night stand at the Budokan had drawn protests from traditionalists offended at the use of a martial arts arena for a Western rock spectacle. The first two shows were videotaped for Japanese TV, preserving for eternity the dreadful state of their sloppy and unenthusiastic performing efforts:

All things considered, the Beatles were probably glad to put Japan behind them and head to Manila, the last stop on the tour... Whoops!

Private Mans

The Beatles spent the first half of June, 1966 ensconced in EMI Studios finishing up the Revolver LP. On the 16th, they made a surprise live TV appearance on Top Of The Pops, miming both sides of their new single (as with most of their TOTP performances, the videotape no longer exists).

Meanwhile in the States, Capitol was recalling thousands of copies of the "Yesterday"... and Today LP, to replace (or paste-over) the offending "Butcher" cover photo. Press officer Tony Barrow spoke about the controversy with Cleveland DJ Jerry G. Bishop.

Recording for Revolver was wrapped up on June 21st, and after a single day off, the Beatles flew to West Germany to begin their final World Tour. The first stop was Munich, for two concerts on the 24th, followed by a pair of shows in Essen the next day.

In Essen, they held a press conference between shows, and spoke to a reporter from WDR Radio as well as Camie McKay of Radio Canadian Army Europe.

Cooking With Dylan

Rather than make the usual rounds of pop music TV shows to plug the "Paperback Writer"/"Rain" single, the Beatles opted to film a series of promotional clips of both songs for worldwide distribution.

On May 19th, 1966, they videotaped at least seven clips inside EMI Studio 1, as well as a special greeting to Ed Sullivan, whose show would air two of them in color on June 5th. The following day, they spent the morning at Chiswick House and Gardens, filming more promos for both songs, to be broadcast on Top Of The Pops in the UK.

The Beatles had the next five days off, meeting up again on the 26th to tape the basic tracks for a new song, "Yellow Submarine". After the session ended at 1am, John apparently stayed up all night at his home in Weybridge indulging in certain substances with Bob Dylan, who was in London to perform at the Royal Albert Hall.

By 7am, it was time for the party to end, and John and Bob were driven to the Mayfair Hotel where Dylan was staying. Also in the limo was filmmaker D. A. Pennebaker, who was shooting a documentary on the tour. The result was 20 minutes of footage showing Lennon and Dylan at their least inspired, with the latter growing increasingly ill as the limo approaches the hotel. Only a very brief portion of the footage was used in the completed film, Eat The Document.

Quiet, Rural Characters

With a new single to promote ("Paperback Writer"/"Rain"), the Beatles recorded a chat segment for BBC Radio's Saturday Club. On May 2nd, 1966, they spoke with Brian Matthew (their final group interview with him) about the album in progress, and their summer touring plans. The conversation was included on the 400th edition of Saturday Club, aired June 4th.

Matthew then interviewed Ringo and Paul individually for Pop Profile. This unidentified recording of Paul talking about "Michelle" may originate from this date, or the later Lennon And McCartney Songbook special.

Mayday!

After spending most of April inside EMI's Abbey Road Studios recording a new single and tracks for Revolver, the Beatles made their first public appearance of 1966 on May 1st, headlining the annual New Musical Express Poll Winners' Concert at the Empire Pool, Wembley. The mind-bogging lineup of performers included the Rolling Stones, the Who, the Spencer Davis Group, Roy Orbison, the Yardbirds, Dusty Springfield, the Small Faces, and Cliff Richard and the Shadows, among others.

It also turned out to be their final performance before a paying audience in their home country, albeit a truncated set: "I Feel Fine", "Nowhere Man", "Day Tripper", "If I Needed Someone" (seen above), and "I'm Down". Unfortunately, ABC-TV's cameras were shut off during the Beatles' numbers, due to contractual issues. But they were filmed receiving their awards at the end of the event:

Meat City

March 25th, 1966 was a bizarre day for the Beatles. They had attended the premiere of Alfie the previous night, a film in which Jane Asher had a small role. That may have been the first time in 1966 all four Beatles were together, apart from a January 5th overdubbing session for the Shea Stadium concert film.

Their first business-related task of the year was a photo session in Chelsea the following day. Robert Whitaker shot a series of surrealistic photos, most notoriously the "butcher" images, one of which ended up briefly on the cover of Capitol's "Yesterday"... And Today LP.

A less welcome task that day was an interview with Tom Lodge, disc jockey for the pirate station Radio Caroline. Lodge managed to record 21 minutes of material with the group, ostensibly for use on a flexi-disc to promote the new Disc and Music Echo music paper. Unfortunately, the group was in no mood to cooperate, and the "witty banter" was beyond forced, with less than two minutes being usable.

Beatles '66

From the moment they stepped offstage at Cardiff on December 12th, 1965, until they convened at EMI Studios on April 6th, 1966, the Beatles enjoyed the longest stretch of free time since their rise to fame. Other than writing new songs and the occasional photo session, they had no group commitments.

Brian Epstein began 1966 with a business trip to New York City, and on January 8th, he spoke via telephone with Bruce Bradley of Boston's WBZ-AM, keeping Americans up to date on the Beatles' plans for the new year.

John and Ringo, accompanied by their wives, flew to Trinidad on January 12th for a winter holiday in the sun, returning on the 23rd. This meant they missed out on George's January 21st wedding to Patricia Boyd; the newlyweds would honeymoon in Barbados beginning February 8th.

Sometime that winter, George recorded a brief message for Bravo, a German magazine that would be sponsoring the Beatles' tour in June. The recording was included on a flexi-disc with the March 21st issue of Bravo.

It's Ten O'clock On A Saturday!

The final Rubber Soul session stretched into the early morning of November 12th, 1965. From then until their final UK tour kicked off on December 3rd, the Beatles had few commitments.

On November 23rd, they spent the day at Twickenham Film Studios videotaping promotional clips for both sides of their new single, "Day Tripper" and "We Can Work It Out", along with their three prior A-sides.

On the 29th, they sat down with Brian Matthew for a chat-only appearance on BBC Radio's Saturday Club, to be broadcast on Christmas day. The uncut tape of this recording was discovered in 1988, and portions have been aired in various BBC retrospectives since then.

The following day, Matthew also interviewed George and John in-depth for Pop Profile.

Why Such Fury?

By November, 1965, deadlines for Rubber Soul and the annual Fan Club Christmas flexi were imminent. After an aborted attempt at the latter in October, George Martin and the Beatles decided to kill two birds with one stone.

On the 8th, they recorded George Harrison's second contribution to the LP, "Think For Yourself". During the vocal overdub portion of the session, Martin rolled a separate tape to capture the group's rehearsal, banter, and bad jokes, hoping to capture some spontaneous magic for the Christmas flexi.

None of the nineteen minutes recorded proved useful, apart from a few seconds exhumed in 1967-8 for the Yellow Submarine film soundtrack. The finished message was edited together from three takes of speech and singing, taped after "Think For Yourself" had been completed. Earlier this year, an Arena profile of George Martin provided a brief outtake from one of these takes.

The Wonderful and Talented... Thingy

Rubber Soul sessions continued apace throughout October, 1965, interrupted only by a visit to Buckingham Palace on the 26th.

The first two days of November were taken up with rehearsals and videotaping of a 50-minute special for Granada TV. The Music Of Lennon & McCartney featured a number of acts performing John and Paul's compositions, including the Beatles' mimed renditions of "Day Tripper" and "We Can Work It Out", already slated for their next single. John and Paul were given the task of "hosting" the show, introducing most of the guests with rather stilted dialogue.

One Bird A-Hummin'

Apart from composing material for their next LP and single, the Beatles had little to do in September, 1965. Ringo did get to greet his first child, Zak, into the world on the 13th, and the group made a quick visit back to Liverpool.

Sessions for Rubber Soul began back at EMI Studios in October 12th. In addition to having a new album and single out for the holidays, publicist Tony Barrow was insisting upon another "Christmas Message" flexi-disc specifically for members of the Beatles Fan Club. To this end, a session was held at London's Marquee Studio on October 19th.

As the surviving 25-minute recording attests, the atmosphere was miserable. George was absent, John hated Barrow's script, and Paul was unable to rally the others into a spirited performance. Things only picked up towards the end of the evening when they ad-libbed around a piano. None of this session was used, and the flexi-disc material would be recorded under George Martin's supervision at Abbey Road in November.

Paul McCartney: Killer

Cleveland disc jockey Jerry G. Bishop (real name Jerry Ghan) toured with the Beatles on their entire August 1965 North American tour, interviewing them in-depth at most stops. His recordings were compiled on an LP considered for release on Capitol in 1966, which only made it as far as the acetate stage.

In the early 1980s, two picture disc albums of Jerry's interviews were issued; unfortunately most of the material is difficult to pin down to any specific date, but here is a 41-minute composite of all the undated material presumed to be from 1965.

Another reporter who asked intelligent questions was newsman Larry Kane, and he supplied interview tapes for the TV special The Beatles At Shea Stadium. The recordings date from both the 1964 and 1965 tours, and can be heard over documentary footage of the concert.

Another Brand New Day

The Beatles' Summer 1965 tour wrapped up in San Francisco with two riotous concerts at the Cow Palace on August 31st. An earlier blog post covered most of the day's events, but here are 21 minutes of vintage concert coverage from radio station KEWB-AM.

On September 1st, the Beatles' party flew back to London, arriving around 5am the following day to settle back in their homes for six weeks before reassembling to record Rubber Soul. Before they left San Francisco, Jerry G. Bishop taped their farewell messages to American fans, promising a return visit in 1966.

Bowl-out

The Beatles' Los Angeles visit concluded with two concerts at the Hollywood Bowl, on August 29th and 30th, 1965. On the first day, they held a press conference at the Capitol Tower in Hollywood, concluding with a local TV interview and the presentation of gold discs for the Help! soundtrack album.

The concerts were recorded professionally by Capitol, and bits of the August 30th show were released in 1977 on the LP The Beatles At The Hollywood Bowl (the recording of the 29th suffered from technical flaws). The latter show was partially filmed by a newsreel crew, and some short color home movie footage also exists:

And what were local fans doing during the band's week-long Los Angeles stay? Circling overhead in helicopters, of course!

I Forgot To Remember To Forget

Another highlight of the Beatles' 1965 Los Angeles trip was their summit with Elvis Presley, on the evening of August 27th. A thorough examination of that meeting can be found here:

http://www.elvisinfonet.com/spotlight_elvis_meets_the_beatles.html

In subsequent years, none of the Beatles would recall jamming with Elvis, however informally, but their memories were fresher the following day. Here they are in San Diego on August 28th describing the Elvis meeting to Larry Kane. They also spoke about Elvis with Jerry G. Bishop that day, in chats following the San Diego press conference.

California Dreaming

When asked which city they were looking forward to revisiting on the 1965 US tour, The Beatles invariably chose Los Angeles. As they had the previous summer, the group rented a Hollywood mansion for the duration of their stay, including five days off from August 23rd through the 27th.

Other than putting in an appearance at a party on the 24th, thrown by Capitol president Alan Livingston, the Beatles had no obligations, and spent most days lazing by the pool. One day, John, George, and Ringo shared an LSD trip with David Crosby and Roger McGuinn of the Byrds and actor Peter Fonda; they night, they had a private screening of the film Cat Ballou.

Disc jockey Jerry G. Bishop had been covering the tour for WKYC in Cleveland (and apparently for BBC Radio's Top Of The Pops), and he took advantage of the break to assemble and narrate several "reports from Los Angeles".

Bonus: We've heard Beatle farewells to Larry Kane, here are some greetings.

Capitol-ists

The Beatles played two shows at Memorial Coliseum in Portland, Oregon on August 22nd, 1965. The flight there from Minneapolis was terrifying, as an engine caught fire shortly before landing. Immediately afterwards, they had to answer inane questions at an airport press conference.

Between shows, they relaxed backstage, socializing with Carl Wilson and Mike Love of the Beach Boys, and chatted with disc jockey Jerry G. Bishop. John's throat was still in poor shape, but would heal over the subsequent five-day break in Los Angeles.

Jerk With A Badge

The Beatles' sole trip to Minneapolis on August 21st, 1965, started on a high note and rapidly went downhill.

Upon their late-afternoon arrival, they held a press conference at the venue, Metropolitan Stadium. Much to his delight and John's envy, George was presented with a brand-new 12-string Rickenbacker guitar at the end of the conference. The proceedings were broadcast live on WDGY radio, and filmed for local TV news.

During the concert, the usual opening number, "Twist And Shout", was cut from the setlist due to the rough state of John's throat. After the show, police enforced a midnight curfew at the Leamington Motor Inn, in particular evicting a girl from Paul's room, much to his dismay. Inspector Donald R. Dwyer was interviewed about the incident a couple of days later.

An Eloquence That Is Ineloquent

From Atlanta, the Beatles and company flew overnight to Houston, Texas, where their plane was swarmed by fans on the runway upon their 2 a.m. arrival. After a few hours of sleep at the Sheraton-Lincoln Hotel, they held a press conference, and then performed two shows at the Sam Houston Coliseum, with John's throat in rough shape.

The next city was Chicago, where John croaked his way through two more concerts at Comiskey Park. BBC Radio's Brian Matthew accompanied the group from New York through Chicago, accumulating material for a Light Programme special, The Beatles Abroad. In addition to interviewing the group at each stop, Matthew spoke with fans along the way. The raw tapes of his New York interviews can be found in an earlier blog post.

Live In Grabblebeebe

The second stop on the Beatles' 1965 North American tour was Toronto, a city they had visited in 1964. Once again, they were playing Maple Leaf Gardens, performing two shows on August 17th. Between the concerts, a press conference was held backstage.

From there it was on to Atlanta, a visit covered in an earlier blog post, where they played Atlanta Stadium on the 18th. As a bonus, here is a montage of farewells from Larry Kane's copious Beatle chats throughout the '64 and '65 tours, including one in Atlanta.

Shea You Love Me Too

The pinnacle of the Beatles' concert career, albeit a distant and lonely pinnacle, was their August 15th, 1965 performance at Shea Stadium in Queens, New York. Before they left the Warwick Hotel for Shea, the Beatles were interviewed by "Lord" Tim Hudson from KCBQ in San Diego.

Opening acts were King Curtis, Cannibal and the Headhunters, Brenda Holloway, and Sounds Incorporated, and the entire show was filmed for a TV special, The Beatles At Shea Stadium, broadcast on BBC-TV March 1st, 1966, and ABC-TV in America January 10th, 1967.

Acting as emcees were various "Good Guy" disc jockeys from local radio station WMCA, who kept the crowd of 55,600 busy with jingle singalongs between acts. Ed Sullivan was actually given the honor of introducing the Beatles' set, and the moments that followed were captured stage-side by WABC, as well as by Jerry G. Bishop, covering the entire tour for WKYC in Cleveland.

Re-raising Kane

As covered in a previous blog post, the Beatles arrived in New York City for their 1965 tour on August 13th, holding a press conference at the Warwick Hotel and appearing on WABC with "Cousin" Bruce Morrow.

As he had in 1964, Miami reporter Larry Kane joined the group on tour in 1965, and he interviewed Paul, Ringo, and George following the press conference. Kane also chatted with roadie Mal Evans, who reminisced fondly about his greatest fights.

August 14th saw the Beatles tape their final performance on The Ed Sullivan Show, at CBS Studio 50, for airing September 12th to kick off the new season:

Shortly afterwards, Larry Kane spoke with Paul in an attempt to quash the latest rumor of his secret marriage to Jane Asher.

Help! Is On The Way

On July 29th, 1965, the Beatles attended the Royal World Premiere of Help! at the London Pavilion. The next day, they were interviewed by Dibbs Mather during rehearsals for their live August 1st performance on Blackpool Night Out:

Meanwhile, America was ramping up for the opening of the film and the Beatles' imminent visit.

United Artists produced a series of radio commercials to promote Help!, with some ads targeting teenagers and others aimed at their parents.

The August 15th concert at Shea Stadium was being hyped by DJs such as Cousin Brucie on WABC and Lee Gray on WTRY, Albany.

Graham & Bernard Webb

From France, the Beatles flew to Italy, performing in Milan on June 24th, Genoa on the 25th, and in Rome on the 27th and 28th. An Italian reporter from RAI interviewed the group, possibly at a press conference in Rome on the 28th.

It was back to France on the 29th, for a concert in Nice on the 30th, then on to Spain on July 1st. They were interviewed by Australian reporter Graham Webb on July 2nd in Madrid, prior to their concert at the Plaza de Toros de Las Ventas. After one last show at a bullring in Barcelona the next night, the Beatles returned to London to rest up for their next big American tour in August.

Tres Bien Ensemble

Paul McCartney began June of 1965 on holiday with Jane Asher in Portugal (where he finished composing "Yesterday"). On the 11th, news of the Beatles being awarded MBEs broke, and Paul was summoned back to London a day early to join his bandmates in a press conference.

The subsequent week was spent at EMI Studios recording "Yesterday" and other numbers for the new single and LP, while John occupied much of his spare time promoting A Spaniard In The Works.

On June 20th, the group flew to France, where they would perform two shows in Paris and two in Lyon. During their stay at the Hôtel George V, they were interviewed by Jacques Ourevitch for French radio. Chris Denning also caught up with the Beatles in Paris, chatting with them about the MBE honors, and talking to a fan on the street. (NOTE: some of Denning's interviews in this blog post are actually from the Paris recording, namely record requests for "Do You Want To Know A Secret", "I'll Follow The Sun", and "Thank You Girl".)

The Walrus and the Gryphon

With principal photography on Help! completed, The Beatles had a chance to relax for a few weeks before setting out on a European tour.

On May 22nd, 1965, John and Cynthia Lennon accompanied Help! director Dick Lester and his wife to the Cannes Film Festival. On the 24th, just before they flew back to London, Lennon and Lester filmed an interview with Merv Griffin for his syndicated US TV show.

At some point during this hiatus, the band assembled (possibly at Twickenham during a post-sync session on May 18th) to record a rather silly interview to promote the movie. United Artists issued the result as an "open-end" recording on a promotional disc.

Lollysicles

Filming for Help! was completed over the first two weeks of May, 1965. From May 3rd-5th, the musical numbers "I Need You" and "The Night Before" were staged on Salisbury Plain. On the 9th, location shots were captured around London, after which the Beatles and producer Walter Shenson were interviewed by Sandy Lesberg.

While they had been in a silly mood during that interview, the Beatles appeared to be stoned out of their gourds on the final day of principal shooting, May 11th. During filming at Cliveden House (standing in for Buckingham Palace), The Beatles participated in a relay race around the grounds of the estate, beating out a team of film crew members.

Visiting the set that afternoon was Buddy McGregor, a DJ from KNUZ-AM in Houston. Buddy announced the race for the benefit of his listeners, prior to conducting a cannabis-laced chat with John, Paul, and Ringo.

Grandma Awards

From April 15th through 19th, The Beatles took a break from filming for Easter weekend, interrupted only by John and George's TV guest spot on Ready, Steady, Goes Live!

Shooting for Help! continued the following week, highlighted by the title song performance on the 22nd:

On the 28th, Peter Sellers stopped by the pub set (seen above) to film an insert for American television. The Beatles had won a Grammy Award for "A Hard Day's Night" (Best Performance by a Vocal Group), and Sellers presented the band with their trophies; the clip would be aired on NBC May 18th.

On the 29th, disc jockey Chris Denning was on hand to stockpile more interviews for his Radio Luxembourg series, The Beatles.

Relativity Cadenza

Capitol Records pressed the "Ticket To Ride" single in the US with label copy reading "from the United Artists release Eight Arms To Hold You". By the time it was released on April 19th, that working title had been scrapped, as George Harrison confirmed to Jerry G. Bishop a week earlier.

The new title song, "Help!", was recorded on the evening of April 13th, 1965, a busy day for the Beatles. It began with filming at Twickenham, shooting the "relativity cadenza" scene in the morning, and then being interviewed for Finnish radio as Victor Spinetti, Roy Kinnear, and Leo McKern performed their roles.

The interviews, conducted by Hilkka Kantelinen, were aired on Kaleidoskooppi, and included chats with director Dick Lester and hairdresser Betty Glasow, now becoming a minor celebrity in the world of Beatle radio interviews.

Around 1:45 in the afternoon, the group took a break and piled into a BBC Radio mobile vehicle to speak via telephone with Keith Fordyce for the 100th edition of Pop Inn. Around this time, they also plugged "Ticket To Ride" with Brian Matthew, on the overseas radio series Top Of The Pops.

Withered Heights

During the week of April 5th-9th, 1965, The Beatles spent their days filming Help! at Twickenham Studios. On the 6th, they received an award from Radio Caroline:

In addition to Caroline's Simon Dee, a DJ from Radio London interviewed the quartet on the film set; here is an interview excerpt with Paul from around this date, discussing the use of music in the movie.

The new Beatles single, "Ticket To Ride"/"Yes It Is", was released in the UK on April 9th, and the group spent the weekend promoting it. On the 10th, they videotaped an appearance on Top Of The Pops, miming to both sides of the disc. The original tape no longer exists, but half a minute was repurposed in a contemporary episode of Doctor Who:

On the 11th, The Beatles headlined the New Musical Express Poll-Winners' All-Star Concert at the Empire Pool, Wembley. The same night, they appeared live on ABC-TV's The Eamonn Andrews Show. In addition to lip-syncing both sides of the new single, they chatted for a full segment with Andrews and then appeared with panel guests Katharine Whitehorn and Wolf Mankowitz.

Acht Arms To Halten You

On March 10th, The Beatles left the sunny climes of the Bahamas, arriving back at London Airport early the next morning.

Two days later, they were back in the air, heading for Salzburg, Austria, to begin shooting ski slope and other snowbound scenes for Help! During their stay in Obertauern, they jammed with the house band during a late-night party at their hotel (see photo above), reportedly to celebrate Assistant Director Clive Reed's birthday.

By March 22nd, they were flying back to London, where the remainder of Help! would be shot over the next six weeks. Sometime around the start of April, Radio Luxembourg presenter Dieter Weidenfeld visited the set at Twickenham Film Studios. Together with his associates Monika and Norbert, Dieter chatted individually with all four Beatles, speaking in both English and German. George even sang and played a bit of a German pop song, while John crooned a line from "Komm Gib Mir Deine Hand"!

Do The Dog, Man!

The parade of American DJs continued to march through Nassau as filming for Help! continued into March, 1965. Murray the "K" hung around for a week or so, taping interviews and hoping for a cameo role.

Fred Robbins of Radio Luxembourg stopped by as shooting wound down on March 9th, recording a bit of audio-verité during a swimming scene. He also talked with George and Ringo at great length for his Assignment: Hollywood series.

Here is a bonus Murray the "K" interview with George, circa 1965 (date unknown), talking about his relationship with Pattie Boyd.

High-Heeled Knickers

After resigning at the end of the North American tour in September 1964, Beatles press officer Derek Taylor had moved to Los Angeles, where he would represent the Beach Boys, Byrds, and other American artists before returning to London to work at Apple in early 1968.

Taylor flew from Los Angeles to Nassau along with Dave Hull, and recorded interviews on the set of Help! for broadcast on KRLA-AM. He also taped a special introduction for his reports, to be used on other radio stations. His lengthy Beatle interviews were conducted around March 3rd; in addition to the band, Taylor spoke with hairdresser Betty Glasow and producer Walter Shenson.

Hullp!

Dave Hull of Pasadena radio station KRLA-AM had interviewed The Beatles extensively during their August 1964 visit to Los Angeles. At the start of March, 1965, Hull flew to the Bahamas to cover filming of Help!

His lengthy interviews (at least partially taped March 2nd) have been released, with all references to Dave's name spliced out, possibly because the interviews were syndicated to other stations for use by local DJs.

Happy BirthClay, George!

February 25th, 1965 was the second full day of filming for Help! in the Bahamas. It was also George Harrison's 22nd birthday, and he celebrated with a party at the Balmoral Club in Nassau.

You can imagine how thrilled he wasn't to have the festivities interrupted by a phone call from an American DJ. Tom Clay from KBLA-AM, Burbank (formerly with CKLW) went to a lot of trouble getting through, battling international operators and a polite but annoyed Brian Epstein. George graciously spoke to Tom and accepted birthday greetings for a couple of minutes before returning to his party.

As Well As Loving

From February 15th-20th, 1965, The Beatles were in EMI Studios recording eleven songs for potential use in their second movie.

On the 22nd, they flew to the Bahamas to begin filming, landing at Nassau Airport that evening where they mingled with American journalists, including familiar faces Larry Kane and Gene Loving of WGH-AM. Loving also spoke with Brian Epstein and a couple of fans.

February 24th was the first full day of shooting, as The Beatles were filmed riding bicycles along Interfield Road. Gene Loving chatted with John, Paul, and George between takes, and also recorded interviews with Brian Epstein, hairdresser Betty Glasow, director Richard Lester, and producer Walter Shenson.