Fab Four Blog

The Beatles - ABC Cinema, Ferensway, Hull, Yorkshire

The Beatles - City Hall, Newcastle-upon-Tyne

The Beatles - Globe Cinema, High St. Stockton-On-Tees, Durham

The Beatles at ABC Cinema, Carlisle

ABC Cinema, Stockport Rd. Ardwick Green, Ardwick, Manchester, Lancashire

Trading their exclusive permission for a share of the proceeds, the Beatles permitted Pathe News to film two songs from their first "House" this evening. "She Loves You", and "Twist And Shout". (A disc recording of "From Me To You" played under other footage.)

Together with backstage sequences, scenes of the hysterical audience and typically pun-filled commentary, this combined to make an eight minute "Techniscope" color newsreel, "The Beatles Come To Town", distributed around selected British cinemas for a week from December 22nd. Two years later, Pathe incorporated the footage into a 70-minute feature film titled Pop Gear, released to British cinemas on April 18, 1965. Memorably, the US title of the release was Go Go Mania.

Granada TV also had a crew shooting backstage at the ABC Ardwick, covering much the same sequences as Pathe and also conducting an exclusive interview in which the Beatles talked of their first US visit set for the following February. These items were first transmitted in the Monday - January 6th 1964 edition of "Scene At 6:30". (6:30-7:00 pm).

BBC radio also was backstage at the Ardwick, a two minute interview with the Beatles by Michael Barton was broadcast this evening, November 20th, in the North Home Service program, "Voice of the North", 6:10-6:30 pm. Additionally, Barton taped a brief interview with George alone for Wacker, Mach Schau, a program about the relationship between the Liverpool and Hamburg rock scenes, broadcast on the North Home Service on November 27th, 8:00 to 8:30 pm.

Gaumont Cinema, Wolverhampton

Monday, November 18th had not been a day of rest for the Beatles as it had for the other acts on their package tour. Instead, they attended a ceremony at EMI House in London where they received a clutch of representation discs: silver LP's for "Please Please Me" and "With The Beatles", the latter in advance of release from EMI Ltd chairman Sir Joseph Lockwood, a minature silver EP each for "Twist And Shout" and "She Loves You", respectively from Gerald Marks, editor of weekly pop paper "Disc". They also stayed for a cocktail party and then a formal lunch in the boardroom, with company executives and privileged guests.

The Beatles were off today in history....

The Beatles - Coventry Theatre, Germany

Winter Gardens Theatre, Exeter Rd. Bournemouth, Hampshire

News of Beatlemania was beginning to spread abroad. Three different camera teams from the major North American television networks, NBC, ABC and CBS - filmed parts of this Beatles performance and the audience hysterics. Reports went into US television news programs on November 18, 19, and 21st and December 7th.

In the CBS item, reporter Alexander Kendrick was particularly condescending. Talking of the group's fans he declared, "Some of the girls can write" and spoke of the Beatle's "Dishmop hairstyles". The Beatles were seen entering the Winter Gardens Theatre and playing "She Loves You" on stage, (the disc version was overdubbed for TV). John and Paul also gave a short interview with another reporter, Josh Darsa. In punning, lofty fashion, Kendrick then concluded, "They symbolise the 20th century non-hero, as the make non-music, wear non-haircuts and give non-mersey".

The Beatles - Colston Hall, Bristol

The Beatles - ABC Cinema, Exeter

Westward Television Studios, Derry's Cross, Plymouth, Devonshire and ABC Cinema, George St. Plymouth, Devonshire

Being that they were in Plymouth, the Beatles consented to an approach from Westward Television (which then held the ITV franchise for programming south-west England) to give a brief interview to presenter Stuart Hutchinson for the local teenage program "Move Over, Dad" (billed as "A gay new show with the accent on the beat of the young"). It was included in the next edition of the series, Saturday, November 16th, (5:15 to 5:45 pm).

But such was the chaos outside the ABC Cinema, where the group was ensconced in their dressing room, that they had to be smuggled out of a side door and into a side door of the adjacent Athenaeum Theatre. Westward occasionally used the theatre as an annex studio, and direct access could be gained to the company's main studio block, in Derry's Cross, via a connecting tunnel. The Beatles followed this route in order to appear on "Move Over, Dad", and then repeated the exercise in the other direction, back to the ABC for the night's two "houses".

Guildhall, Portsmouth (postponed)

Hampshire's teenage population went into veritable mourning when a gastric flu virus hit Paul McCartney and caused postponement of the Beatle's Portsmouth shows this evening. They were soon re-scheduled for Tuesday, December 3rd.

Not postponed but cancelled (that is, never re-arranged) was a mimed musical appearance on the Southern Television magazine program "Day By Day", scheduled to have been taped during the early afternoon at the Company's Southhampton studios and transmitted this evening, 6:05 to 6:45 pm. Instead, in the Guildhall dressing room, they gave a short interview to Jeremy James which was broadcast in the same program.

The Beatles also appeared on this evening's local BBC TV magazine program, "South Today", 6:10 to 6:30, in an interview with reporter John Johnston taped earlier at their Southsea hotel, the Royal Beach.

The Beatles had a break today

The Beatles - Hippodrome Theatre, Birmingham

Granada Cinema, East Ham, London

Backstage before the show, with news hot from EMI, George Martin announced to the Beatles that their forthcoming single, "I Want To Hold Your Hand", looked likely to sell one million copies in advance of release. Later on, still before the release date, sales did actually top the million mark - the first time this feat had been acheived in Britain.

Studio 8, Broadcasting House, Ormeau Ave. Belfast and Ritz Cinema, Fisherwick Place, Belfast

En route from Dublin to Belfast, near to the Irish border, the Beatles stopped at a pre-arranged spot to be interviewed for Ulster Television (the ITV franchise for Northern Ireland) by reporter Jimmy Robninson. The item was included in this evening's edition of Ulster News, 6:25 to 6:35.

Then, on their 2:00 pm arrival in Belfast, the Beatles went to the BBC's local television studios, at Broadcasting House, where they taped an interview with Sally Ogle for the corporation's rival to Ulster News, the magazine program "Six Ten", broadcast, hardly surprisingly, at 6:10, until 6:31. The interview was taped at 3:00 pm. The Beatles had also been contracted to sing (mime) one song but this they did not do.

Dublin Airport, Dublin, Eire and Adelphi Cinema, Middle Abbey St. Dublin, Eire

The Beatles only appearance in Ireland. On their arrival at Dublin Airport they were interviewed by reporter Frank Hall for the RTE (Radio Telefis Eireann) news-magazine television program "In Town", transmitted this same evening, 7:55 to 8:00 pm.

The Beatle's first feature film, "A Hard Day's Night", though it was five months away from gaining that title, first took shape on this day, when screenwriter Alun Owen, appointed by the film's producer Walter Shenson at the group's suggestion, began a three-day observation of the Beatles and their increasingly chaotic lifestyle. He flew into Dublin wit the group from London Airport, and stayed with them up to and including the engagement at East Ham on the 9th.

The Beatles at ABC Cinema, Northampton

Adelphi Cinema, Slough

In the late-morning the Beatles had an engagement with a TV crew from Associated-Rediffusion, which had decided to dedicate half of the next edition of its 30-minute current affairs series This Week to the subject of the Beatles and Beatlemania.

The group consented to an interview, filmed in the back of a hire car driving around London. Owing to the cramped conditions it wasn't impossible for all four Beatles to be in camera at the same time, so George and Ringo filmed together, then John and Paul.

Exactly nine minutes of interview footage, cut from the 10 mins 40 secs that was shot, made it into the finished program and this was supplemented by more than 20 Beatles photo stills and also by a studio converation about (though not with) the group, inserted live into the Thursday November 7th transmission, 9:10 to 9:40 pm.

In the evening, the Beatles resumed their nationwide package tour with two "houses" at Slough. ("Oh, that's near us", the Queen Mother had remarked to the group when, during their presentation to Her Majesty after the Royal Command Performance the previous evening, she had asked them where they would next be playing. Slough is only two miles from Windsor).

Prince of Wales Theatre, Coventry St. London

The Beatles' famous Royal Command Performance, in the presence of the Queen Mother and Princess Margaret, with Lord Snowdon. Though appearing seventh on a 19-act bill, they were undoubtedly the night's main attraction.

As they had done on Val Parnell's Sunday Night At The London Palladium on October 13th, the group put all of their tried-and-trusted stage tricks into the performance. They began playing the opening number, "From Me To You", before the curtain parted, then John and Paul simultaneously moved their microphone stands closer to the audience at its end; they bowed at the close of the second song, "She Loves You", Paul, clearly nervous, cracked a joke about Sophie Tucker being their "Favorite American Group" before the third song, "Till There Was You", before the fourth and last number, John and Paul returned their mike stands for the applause to die away before uttering his notorious jewellery-rattling witticism as an introduction to "Twist And Shout", finally, Ringo came down from his drum podium to join John, Paul and George, the curtain closed behind them, they bowed to the audience, then to the royal box, and then to show exuberance, sprinted off the stage.

Historically, telivising of the Royal Command Performance has alternated between the BBC and ITV, this year it fell to the latter. Pictures were networked across Britain by ATV the following Sunday, November 10th, 7:28 to 10:30 pm, with the Beatle's entire four-song performance included. However, when the BBC radio Light Program transmitted hightlights from the show *also on November 10), it omitted "She Loves You".

Odeon Cinema, Leeds

A few minutes of one of the Beatles two "Houses" this evening was recorded for use in a court case involving the Performing Right Society. The tape no longer exists. After this night, the tour resumed on the 5th.

The Beatles at City Hall, Sheffield

Odeon Cinema, Winchcombe St. Cheltenham, Gloucestershire

The opening night of "The Beatles Autumn Tour", their 4th trek around Britain inside nine months, earning them £300 a night. Identical for every performance, the Beatles repertoire for this one comprised "I saw her standing there", "From me to you", "All my loving", "You really got a hold on me", "Roll over Beethoven", "Boys", "Till there was you", "She loves you", "Money (That's all I want)", and "Twist and Shout".

But the screaming was so loud that no one, not even the Beatles could hear more than a few notes of it.

Today, the Beatles were "Off".

Narren-teatern, Grona Lund, Stockholm, Sweden

Abbey Road activity this day saw the production of another stereo mix for "Money (That's what I want), overseen by George Martin in a 2:30-5:30 pm session. To avoid any further generational loss caused by more tape-to-tape copying, two separate two-track mono mixes were used for the stereo album, one for each channel.

This was the final item of preparation for "With the Beatles", and the album was issued on Friday, November 22, 1963, eight months before "Please Please Me", to astonishing British advance orders of 300,000. Domestic sales swiftly passed the half-million mark and in 1965 topped one million. The album even earned a brief placing in the singles actively few in number in the early 1960's - was calculated at that time on sales of any record, irrespective of diameter.

Meanwhile, in Sweden, the evening before flying home to England and their first "airport reception", the Beatles returned to Stockholm to tape an appearance on the Sveriges Television pop show "Drop In", broadcast from 7:00 to 7:30 pm on Sunday, November 3rd.

The recording was made before a live audience at Narrenteatern, a small theatre within the Stockholm amusement park Grona Lund, and it began at 7:00 pm, following afternoon rehearsals. Although intending to perform only two songs, "She loves you", and "Twist and Shout", presenter Klas Burling persuaded the Beatles to extend their repertoire to four, these two in the same order plus "I saw her standing there", and "Long tall Sally". Very clearly enjoying themselves, although they had not eaten all day, the Beatles also joined in with handclapping during the program's closing theme tune, named appropriately enough "Drop In".

On October 31, the group took the morning flight back to London Airport.

Sporthallen, Hamngatan, Eskilstuna, Sweden

A few hours before the Beatles concluded their concert tour of Sweden, with one final performance, George Martin - back at EMI Abbey Road was overseeing the entire set of stereo mixes, edits and banding for their second album, all done in a single three hour session, 10:00am to 1:00pm. The tracks were worked on in the order that George had devised for the finished disc: "It won't be long", "All I've got to do", "All my loving", "Don't bother me", "Little Child", "Till there was you", "Please Mister Postman", "Roll over Beethoven", "Hold me tight", "You really got a hold on me", "I wanna be your man", "(There's a) Devil in her heart", "Not a second time", and "Money (That's what I want)". Only this 14th and final track would require more, later attention.

Borashallen, Bockasjogatan, Boras, Sweden

The Beatles had one performance at 7:30 pm, preceded by a half-hour spot during the mid-afternoon signing records at the Waidele record shop in Boras.

Cirkus, Lorensbergsparken, Goteborg, Sweden

The Beatles gave three shows at 3:00, 5:00 and 8:00 pm, here in the city known to the English as Gothenburg.

Kungliga Tennishallen, Lidingovagen, Stockholm, Sweden

Two shows, at 5:00 and 8:00 pm, in which - theoretically at least, because the audience clearly demanded otherwise - the Beatles were second on the bill to Joey Dee and the Starliters.