As Bad As The Monkees

Being ensconced in EMI Studios throughout the first three months of 1967, the Beatles made few public appearances and gave few media interviews, apart from Paul's appearance in a Granada TV documentary.

An early clue to the new direction surfaced February 13th (in the US; February 17th in the UK) with the release of the single "Strawberry Fields Forever"/"Penny Lane". The recordings, together with the picture sleeve photo and psychedelic promotional films, represented a radical new sound and look for the Beatles.

Kenny Everett played an advance copy of the single on Radio London on February 4th, and fell instantly in love with "Strawberry Fields Forever". US teenagers were less convinced when viewing the promo clips on American Bandstand March 11th.

Capitol's promotional copies of the single sent to disc jockeys in the US and Canada used an early mix of "Penny Lane", highlighted by a seven-note piccolo trumpet coda. This version was commonly heard on the radio well after the single's release, as this March 26th aircheck on WFOM in Marietta, Georgia proves. During a trip to New York City in March, Brian Epstein explained to Murray the "K" that it was Paul's perfectionism which caused the last-minute switch.

The End Of Beatlemania?

The "studio years" phase of the Beatles' career began when they reassembled at EMI Abbey Road on November 24th, 1966. With no tour or film commitments booked, they were able to record at their leisure, utilising seven sessions over the next five weeks to perfect a single song, John's "Strawberry Fields Forever".

On November 25th at Dick James's London studio, they recorded their annual Christmas message for Beatles Fan Club members, this one more creative (and bizarre) than any previous:

Two pirate radio stations were also sent slightly saner Christmas greetings for 1966.

By December 20th, ITV News decided to send reporter John Edwards to Abbey Road to see just what the Beatles were up to. His interviews with each Beatle as they entered the studio were broadcast December 29th as part of Reporting '66: End of Beatlemania, a title which indicates his line of questioning to the now fuzzy-faced Fabs.

Misunderstanding All You See

Road-weary and shell-shocked after a harrowing summer of worldwide touring and controversy, the Beatles retreated to individual pursuits from September through November, 1966.

John Lennon flew to West Germany on September 5th, had his moptop cropped, and began filming How I Won The War under Richard Lester's familiar direction. John returned to London September 14th, the same day George and Pattie Harrison left for Bombay. They would spend the next five weeks in India, where George would receive sitar tutelage from Ravi Shankar.

On September 18th, John flew to Almeria, Spain, for a more extended location shoot for How I Won The War. While there, he composed "Strawberry Fields Forever", welcomed a visit from Ringo and Maureen Starkey, and gave a lengthy interview to Fred Robbins.

Paul McCartney busied himself composing music for the film The Family Way, arranging and recording the score with George Martin's assistance. He then took a sightseeing trip with Mal Evans to France and Spain, arriving a few days too late to meet up with John, whose part had wrapped on November 6th. Paul and Mal then spent a week on safari in Kenya, finally returning to London November 19th.

All of these separate activities caused rampant speculation in the press that the Beatles were on the verge of breaking up. Brian Epstein denied these rumors at every occasion - to Dieter Broer in September, during a German press conference for John's film, and again to Reuters on November 8th. But privately, Brian was terrified that the Beatles no longer needed him; after overdosing on pills, he checked himself into a clinic on September 27th to recuperate.

Meanwhile, John Lennon's life was about to take a sharp left turn, after his meeting with avant-garde artist Yoko Ono at the Indica Gallery on November 9th. His performance as a doorman on the Dudley Moore/Peter Cook TV sketch show Not Only... But Also, filmed November 27th, was the last public appearance of "Beatle John".

I'm Not A Beatle Anymore

The Beatles' concert career came shrieking to a halt in San Francisco just before 10pm on August 29th, 1966, as the group roared through "Long Tall Sally" one final time.

KYA radio plugged the performance, with no hint that it was anything other than "the last show of their biggest American tour". Nor did fans at Candlestick Park sense anything historic about the occasion. John, George, and Ringo gave no clues when speaking to WTRY's Lee Darling backstage.

But when they boarded a flight back to London on August 30th, George Harrison declared to nobody in particular, "Well, that's it. I'm no longer a Beatle". When they landed on the 31st, their only declaration was that it was time to rest, but the Beatles would never set off on tour again.

Ho Ho Ho

The Beatles flew to Seattle on August 25th, 1966, for two concerts at the Seattle Coliseum. Vancouver's CFUN radio kept fans abreast of the ticket sales and a rumor that Paul would be marrying Jane Asher that very day. A local TV reporter grabbed a few words from Ringo as he deplaned at Sea-Tac Airport.

Between concerts, Dusty Adams interviewed all four Fabs backstage, and a press conference (most likely the final ever held by the group on tour) occurred just prior to the second show. Rather than staying in Seattle, The Beatles flew back to Los Angeles immediately after the last concert.

When The Bubble Bursts

Kenny Everett switched on his tape recorder as the Beatles' flight from New York approached the Los Angeles airport in the pre-dawn hours of August 24th, 1966.

Rather than play in Los Angeles right away, the city (a rented private home in Beverly Hills) was used as a base for the final week of West Coast concerts. Their only task on the evening of the 24th was a press conference at the Capitol Records Tower, with more humorous moments than any previous 1966 conference. At the end, a reporter representing Dick Clark's ABC-TV show Where The Action Is tried to film exclusive interviews with George and Paul, but as you can hear, the result was unusable.

Nothing To Shea But It's OK

The Beatles' final concert in New York would be at Shea Stadium, but compared to the previous year's record-setting sellout, the 1966 performance was only about 80% full.

The group arrived at LaGuardia Airport on August 22nd, flying direct from St. Louis and landing around 3:50 in the morning. As they slept into the afternoon at the Warwick Hotel, an Associated Press reporter interviewed a devoted fan outside.

The Beatles eventually emerged for an early evening press conference, followed by a special "junior" press conference, with contest-winning fans asking the questions, which were both more interesting and more inane than those posed by the "real" journalists. They also spoke with "Cousin" Bruce Morrow live on WABC radio following the two conferences. That night, Brian Epstein appeared on NBC's Tonight Show, with guest host Hugh Downs filling in for Johnny Carson.

On the 23rd, George chatted with Kenny Everett prior to the concert at Shea. Covering the concert were a somewhat cynical Leonard Harris from WCBS-TV and an enterprising reporter for the Audio Journal company, who released an audio-verite souvenir LP called Beatles at Shea Stadium Described by Erupting Fans.

Doubleheader

Heavy downpours and a lack of protection over the stage cancelled The Beatles' scheduled concert in Cincinnati on August 20th, 1966, forcing them to "play" a doubleheader in two cities the following day.

They began in the afternoon with the rain check show at Crosley Field in Cincinnati, then flew to St. Louis for another rainy show (this time under a canopy) at Busch Stadium. Bess Coleman kept the fans up to date with on-the-spot reports from both Cincinnati and St. Louis.

St. Louis was disc jockey Ken Douglas's final stop on the tour; here are some of his undated Beatle interviews and a quick chat with Brian Epstein. The Beatles' next stop would be New York City, where WMCA-AM had been cranking up the hype machine as usual all week long.

Doped With Religion

From the time John Lennon's "more popular than Jesus" remarks made headlines, the backlash was largely concentrated in America's southern "bible belt".

England's ITV News sent reporter Richard Lindley to the US to assemble a package for the news program Reporting '66. He began in Birmingham, Alabama, interviewing local teenagers as well as disc jockey Tommy Charles. On August 19th, Lindley was present in Memphis to cover the Beatles' concerts at Mid-South Coliseum, where a cherry bomb tossed during the second house was the only real disruption.

Eventually, Tommy Charles decided WAQY had milked all the publicity it could from the tempest and decided to accept John's apology.

Cornflakes, Mini Minor, Blue, Blonde...

The Beatles' August 18th, 1966 concert at Suffolk Downs in Boston was highlighted by a fan jumping onstage during "Long Tall Sally", a moment captured by Kenny Everett.

Elsewhere, Jim Stagg got a few words from George as he deplaned at Logan Airport, and talked with Paul and George at the Somerset Hotel. Bess Coleman had lengthy chats with each Beatle at the hotel, and filed another brief tour report describing the previous day's Toronto concerts.

We're Not Allowed To Have Opinions

The Beatles' final performances in Canada were at Toronto's Maple Leaf Gardens on August 17th, 1966. The between-shows press conference here was one of the better not only of the '66 tour, but of their career, and fortunately a complete and excellent-quality recording exists.

To balance that out, here are two horrendous-sounding Toronto interviews conducted by Jim Stagg and Bess Coleman, along with another of Bess's tour updates.

How To Crash

August 16th, 1966 saw the Beatles playing a single concert at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia. Prior to the show, in lieu of a press conference, the band members granted individual interviews to journalists.

Ken Douglas chatted with Paul about Paul's new home in London; Jerry Leighton and Bess Coleman talked to Ringo about the chaotic Cleveland concert; and Jim Stagg spoke with George about the perils of flying.

Bess Coleman also filed a report about the trip from Washington to Philadelphia.

That's Why It's Terrible

The August 1966 tour carried on with concerts in Detroit on the 13th, Cleveland on the 14th, and Washington, DC on the 15th. In the latter city, George was interviewed by Kenny Everett about the gradual deterioration of the Beatles' live performances.

At some point during this first week of the tour, Ringo and Paul recorded spots for WMCA-AM in New York to promote an upcoming "junior press conference", exclusively for fans to ask questions of their heroes.

Elsewhere, Ken Douglas interviewed fellow disc jockey/tourmate Jim Stagg about his experiences on the last two US tours, and promoter Ira Sidelle about the logistics of a Beatles tour. And while I'm at it, here is a Larry Kane interview with Sidelle from the 1965 tour which I neglected to post earlier.

Weird Effects

The Beatles' final tour kicked off with a pair of concerts at the Chicago International Amphitheater on August 12th, 1966. Media coverage was understandably high at this show, with John's "apology" fresh in the news.

Local station WCFL broadcast live coverage from the venue, and WCFL disc jockey Jim Stagg teamed up with Bess Coleman to interview the Beatles between shows. Coleman was the band's American press officer, and would file reports for radio syndication as well as Teen Life magazine throughout the tour. Also chatting with the group between concerts was Ken Douglas, a British DJ working in Louisville, Kentucky.

Standing beside Douglas as he interviewed Paul was Kenny Everett, another British DJ who was covering the tour for the pirate station Radio London. Kenny spoke with fans in the audience, and filed this report on the first day's events. Not to be outdone, rival pirate station Radio Caroline had Jerry "Super" Leighton following the tour, and his secondhand reporting was used to compile a news bulletin on the Chicago date.

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.