John, Paul, George & Ringo figuring out what's next

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Nothing much happening today.

On October 29th 1966, Fred Robbins met up with John Lennon in Carboneras, Spain for an interview conducted between takes, on-location during the filming of 'How I Won The War.'

John Lennon was chosen for the role by director Richard Lester who had directed Lennon previously in the Beatles' first two films, 'A Hard Day's Night' in 1964 and 'Help!' in 1965. Lennon makes it clear that he would not have taken on a movie role with any other director.

In this outdoor interview, with the sound of the wind in the microphone, Fred Robbins chatted with Lennon about songwriting, the darker side of the Beatles 1966 Tour, and cutting his hair short for the film role.

John Lennon would write the song 'Strawberry Fields Forever' in Spain during the filming of this movie. In addition to Carboneras, other Spanish locations chosen by Lester for shooting the film included Almeria and Andalucia.

Robbins was originally a television emcee in the 1950's, moving to work with Radio Luxembourg in the 1960's. He later would work for CNN before passing away in 1992.

Q: "Well, so our good friend John Lennon has been shorn. How does it feel?"

JOHN: "It feels quite comfortable out here, you know. It's not too short."

Q: "You look a little like Bob Dylan this way. Have you noticed it? Anybody else say that?"

JOHN: "I dunno. About two people have said it. It's because me hair's standing on end." (laughs)

Q: "It's very becoming, John. Honestly. I think it's easy to get used to, eh?"

JOHN: "It's quite easy to get used to. It's full of sand and old rubbish, you know."

Q: "Do you think it'll take long to grow it back?"

JOHN: "No. It looks quite normal at night when I comb it, if I can get my comb through it. You wouldn't know it wasn't just the back's short and no sideboards."

Q: "This surely must be one of the most unusual locations in the world. I wonder if you could describe it and tell us exactly where we are and what's going on here."

JOHN: "You're asking me where we are! (giggles) Well, as far as I know we're somewhere in Spain. It could be anywhere for all I know, actually. And it's just like, uhh... I dunno. It's like a dump, really. It's like the moon, you know -- just desert and sand and hills and mountains. They're not very nice to look at, but the weather is ok now and then."

Q: "Beautiful weather. What a perfect spot for this picture. This is supposed to represent what?"

JOHN: "North Africa, and I believe it's pretty similar."

Q: "First dramatic role, eh, John?"

JOHN: "Well, dramatic's a good word. (laughs) First ROLE, really. The others were just messing about.:

Q: "How do you take to it? How does it come to you?"

JOHN: "Well, sometimes it comes hard (laughs) and sometimes it comes easy. It depends on the day."

Q: "Do you like it? Do you find it's natural to be an actor?"

JOHN: "Some of it is natural. The most unnatural bits are hard, you know -- the ones that are REALLY out of character for me. It's alright, but it's not the be-all and end-all for me."

Q: "But you do like it? You'd like to do more of it?"

JOHN: "I think I'd do limited amounts of stuff, because I AM limited at what I could do."

Q: "You really don't know until you try."

JOHN: "No, I don't. But I don't want to be trying meself out in films. It's too public."

Q: "That's true. But did you know you could write before you wrote?"

JOHN: "I didn't think about it, because I was always writing, you see, just sort of naturally."

Q: "In other words, the acting thing is still a new thing for you... just trying your wings."

JOHN: "Yes, it's really trying me wings."

Q: "It'll be fascinating to see what happens. Can you tell me about your character? Who do you play?"

JOHN: "It's a Private soldier called Gripweed. He's not particularly nice. He's not TOO horrible, but he's just looking after himself all the time. That's the main thing."

Q: "And what relationship do you have to the other people in the film."

JOHN: "Well, none really. We don't really have much of a relationship. We're not fighting or anything. We don't, sort of, have a lot to say directly to each other. And... well, I'm Michael Crawford's batman. He's Officer Goodbody and I'm meant to look after him, you know. But I spend most of the time not looking after him and trying to dodge it."

Q: "Kind of mess things up a little bit."

JOHN: "Uhh, it's a bit like that."

Q: "That's a different connotation of the word batman. In America we have a television series..."

JOHN: (giggling) "Oh, I know. We got it in Britain, too."

Q: "But it really means an 'aid' here, or 'helper.'"

JOHN: "Oh yeah. That's just the usual Army term for the fella that crawls about, looking after the officer. You know, 'Yes sir, no sir, certainly sir.'"

Q: "And you're right here with your old buddy Dick Lester again."

JOHN: "Yes, yes. He's alright." (laughs)

Q: "He certainly established a style, with you fellas."

JOHN: "Yes, hasn't he."

Q: "I mean, the individuality of you guys, as well as his uniqueness as a director, it was a great marriage in both pictures so far, you know. I think it's exciting that he's directing you in your first role awway from the group."

JOHN: "Well, I wouldn't have accepted, probably, if it hadn't been him. I would've been too nervous. (giggling) You know, I can make a fool of meself in front of him because I know him. If it had been some other director saying 'Do this, and do that,' I would have fallen apart."

Q: "What does this character give you a chance to do, and in what light does it show you, as opposed to anything you've done in the past?"

JOHN: "It just IS completely opposed to anything I've done in the past. I'm just a different person in it, and I'm nothing like people have seen me before, really."

Q: "Is that why you took the part?"

JOHN: "I took it because I was interested in the film, and interested in trying me wings at something else. I felt like doing something for a change, and this just happened to come up at a time when I felt in that mood."

Q: "What generally does the film deal with... without giving away any of the plot."

JOHN: "It's very hard to generalize. (giggles) It's a strange film. It's just about these people in the war, together and not together."

Q: "A British squadron."

JOHN: "Yes. It could be ANY squadron. It could be any soldiers, anywhere."

Q: "Where have you been filming so far?"

JOHN: "We've been to Germany. We were there two weeks, filming on the NATO grounds. (monotone) Whoopie."

Q: (giggles)

JOHN: (giggling) "And then we came out here."

Q: "Does this mean that all of the boys are going to be trying different things as you go along, John?"

JOHN: "Well, I can't speak for the others, you know, but George has just got back from India -- TRYING India." (giggles)

Q: "I saw a picture of him with a mustache the other day, picking up that teacher of the sitar (Ravi Shankar) at London Airport."

JOHN: "Oh yeah. He traveled with him from India. That's his teacher."

Q: "He flipped over that instrument, didn't he."

JOHN: "Yeah. Well, that fellow that teaches him is one of the all-time greats, so he's lucky that the fella would accept him as a pupil. He doesn't just have anybody, you know."

Q: "Will you be using the sitar as a regular sound?"

JOHN: "The sitar just happens to have come in useful on a couple of tracks, but it's really nothing to do with it. That's George's own scene."

Q: "It won't be a part of the regular albums or records?"

JOHN: "No, unless it's called for."

Q: "When is it called for?"

JOHN: "I don't know. When you suddenly think, 'A sitar would be nice here.' George will obviously write more numbers with the sitars involved if he feels like it."

Q: "Where does the inspiration come from, or is it just craftsmanship? Can you just sit down at a given time and say 'We have to write now,' and out it comes?"

JOHN: "Well, sometimes it comes like that. Sometimes they say, 'Now you must write,' and now we write. But it doesn't come some days. We sit there for days just talking to each other, messing 'round not doing anything."

Q: "How was 'Michelle' written?"

JOHN: "Paul has had this idea about writing a bit with some other language, with French in it. And he just sort of had a bit of a verse, and a couple of words, and the idea. I think he had some other name or something. He used to talk Double-Dutch French, you see, just to sing the bit." (imitates singing mock-French)

Q: (giggles)

JOHN: "He just brought it along and just sort of started fiddling around trying to get a middle-eight. We pinched a little bit from somewhere and stuck it in the middle-eight, and off we went. Q: "What about 'Yesterday?'"

JOHN: "'Yesterday' is Paul completely on his own, really. We just helped finishing off the ribbons 'round it, you know -- tying it up."

Q: "I'm delighted to see that your last tour was such a smash, in view of the pressure you were under. I was thrilled that it came out as good as it did."

JOHN: (giggling) "I was pleased, meself."

Q: "It was such a ridiculous thing that happened on this experience that you had. I want to know, just to wrap this thing up, what kind of reflections you had on that whole thing, John."

JOHN: "Well, now it's just like a bad dream. It's just way in the back of my mind somewhere, and it just comes back when you read things, just odd things that crop up now and then -- 'Cardinal So-and-so says it's OK,' (laughs) or things like that. But it's really WAY in the back of my mind."

Q: "What frightening implications, a thing like that. It could happen to anybody, you know, not just famous people."

JOHN: "Yeah."

Q: "But what a frightening implication, when things like that can be used to hurt a person."

JOHN: "Yes, a pretty amazing scene, that was. It was VERY frightening."

Q: "It's really, you know, like the McCarthy era..."

JOHN: "Mmm. It's just certain things seem to whip up certain emotions, and at certain times as well."

Q: "When are you going to be doing another tour? Do you know?"

JOHN: "No idea. I know we got music to write, soon as we get back. And Paul's just signed us up to write the music for a film. So I suppose it's off the plane and into bed -- Knock knock knock, 'Get up and write some songs.'"

Q: "A film that's not your own?"

JOHN: "Yes."

Q: "Very exciting. So Burt Bacharach is going to have a little competition."

JOHN: (sighs comically) "It's about time, you know."

Q: (laughs) "I think you're right, John. Just finally now, what do you think the audience can expect from 'How I Won The War?' What have we got to look forward to? Aside from seeing John Lennon in his first dramatic role?"

JOHN: "Well, I mean, I'm incidental. The thing you've got to look forward to is seeing a great film, I hope. The way it's going it seems to be fine. And if it gets out and on the road, you know, it should be a great film."

Q: "One thing, they'll be able to see you with a peeled nose for the first time."

JOHN: (giggling) "Yeah, they'll get to see a lot of things for the first time."

Q: "It's exciting, John, and I'm delighted to talk to you again, in such a place that really does look like the moon. They told us it was dusty, and it IS dusty."

JOHN: "It is. You've come on a good day."

Q: "John, this new guise of yours, with the shorter hair... has it given you some kind of joy, some sadistic joy in the privacy you've been able to enjoy?"

JOHN: "Well you know, I went 'round the flea market and did all things I haven't done for a long time. It was great."

Q: "Nobody recognized you?"

JOHN: "Uhh, one or two people did double-takes, you know, but nobody knew at all. It was shorter than this, then."

Q: "They thought, 'What's Bob Dylan doing over here?'"

JOHN: "No, it didn't look like him, 'cuz I had it plastered down."

Q: "That's a sweet joy, isn't it, to be able to have a little privacy once in a while?"

JOHN: "Yeah, it was great. I was knocked out."

Q: "Have any of the guys ever resorted to disguises to be able to go someplace?"

JOHN: "Well, I just heard the other day that Paul was at someplace in London disguised as an Arab."

(laughter)

JOHN: (giggling) "I don't know whether it's true or not. But he used to say that was the only way he could really disguise himself, was as an Arab. But if he did, he got caught."

Q: "I don't think anybody will recognize George with his mustache now."

JOHN: "No, they got him, because they got him in India. There's one of those shots you can see -- they caught it going out of a door, and he had a mustache. And it just said, 'George Harrison In Disguise.' They still know your face. People that do know, spot your face even if you're wearing a pith helmet."

Q: "That's what happens I guess."

JOHN: "Mmm."

Q: "You'll never get away from it, John."

JOHN: "I'll smash me face in."

John Lennon: I'm trying to do something else. I have tried to paint and write. Now I'm having a bash at a straight acting rôle. It's fun.

The Beatles doin' their own thing

The Beatles doing their own thing again.

Nothing noteworthy happened. Unless anyone can think of something?

The Beatles making music somewhere.

Just doing their own thing again.

George and Pattie Harrison leave India

George Harrison and his wife Pattie had flown to India on September 14, 1966 to study yoga and the sitar in Bombay (Mumbai).

On this day they returned to England, arriving at London Airport.

Almería, Spain 

On location…The Beatles’ John Lennon (left) chats with fellow Beatle Ringo Starr during a break on the set of his new movie here. Lennon is appearing in How I Won the War, in his first straight acting role.

Britain's Top 50, 20th October 1966

The Beatles just doing their own thing....

Jimi Hendrix in London - and the Beatles

No news on this day 50 years ago.

The Beatles doing their own thing

October 15, 1966 - "Brian Epstein" flies to "America" with "Georgia Fame" to find a co-star for "Fame's Christmas Show" at "London", produced by "Brian Epstein".

The Beatles doing their own thing.

The Beatles were doing their own thing

Nothing much happening in the news today.

John Lennon still filming "How I Won" The War in various locations in Carboneras, Spain.

The Beatles were probably just doing their own thing.....

John Lennon celebrates his 26th birthday in Spain

 John Lennon and Cynthia spent much of September and October 1966 in Almería, Spain, where he acted in Richard Lester's film How I Won The War.

The couple settled in a villa named Santa Isabel, where they were joined by Ringo Starr and his wife Maureen Starkey. Also staying at the villa were actor Michael Crawford, his wife Gabrielle, their baby and its nanny.

On this day Lennon celebrated his 26th birthday. Close to a beach named El Zapillo was a restaurant, El Manzanilla. It was here that Lennon and his friends celebrated his birthday. 

Cynthia, Maureen & Ringo watch as John films scenes of ''How I Won the War''

On the evening of Saturday, October 8, 1966, John Lennon celebrated his 26th birthday in an apartment in Almeria, Spain. Officially, he was 26 on Sunday, October 9th, but the party took place the night before because John was about to move to a new location. At the time, we had been in Spain just over three weeks for location work on the Richard Lester movie, How I Won The War, in which John plays the part of Corporal Gripweed—a faithful, slovenly and slightly cowardly servant/“batman” of Lieutenant Goodbody (Michael Crawford) of the British Army.

The entire production unit for the movie got an open initiation to the birthday shindig and, believe me, it was quite a wild night! Almeria is a pretty remote spot—minus most forms of conventional night life, so that party was one of the few really successful social occasions of the month.

John and Cyn had become very friendly with Michael Crawford and his wife, who were renting an apartment nearby. Already the Crawfords were finding themselves a bit cramped, because they had their lovely little six-months-old baby with them and a nanny. And Ringo had arrived with Maureen for a holiday three days before the birthday party!

“You know what we ought to do?” John suggested one evening, just after we’d heard that Ringo and Maureen were coming to Spain. “We should all get together and rent one of those fantastic old villas outside the town.”

The Crawfords loved the idea and the move was organized without delay. The apartments were very attractive and comfortable—with a wonderful view looking out over the sea. But everyone wanted more space to move around in and larger “get-together” rooms for entertaining. So, on the Sunday of John’s birthday, we moved into the Villa Corjo-Romera, a magnificent, rambling old Spanish villa standing on a hill outside the town.

“It’ll take days just to explore this place,” John declared, as we walked from room to room on the initial tour of the villa. We admired all the heavy woodwork, the superbly decorated ceilings and the majestic main hall.

“Just like something out of a film,” Ringo decided. “You expect all kinds of heroes with swords to come swinging ’round the corner on a chandelier! And what a great place for parties!”

“That’s it,” replied John. “A party! It’s my birthday. We should have one.”

“We did that last night,” I put in weakly.

“Well we’ll do it again tonight,” John said. “It can be called a villa warming if you like.”

“Hey you’ve got a game room,” Ringo said. Let’s have a go at table tennis later.”

That night’s “villa warming” party coincided with one of the worst storms Almeria had ever experienced in living memory. Normally, the locals expected no more than about five days of rain each year. This storm took everybody by surprise. The rain was torrential and it was accompanied by a fierce wind. The party was just getting underway when the all the lights went out, so we rushed ’round trying to find where the fuses were located. We needn’t have bothered. The electricity supply cables for the entire area had been damaged by the storm. And the telephone lines were down, too. Finally, we found enough candles to light the place. In the end, the candlelight added to definitely romantic atmosphere to the party, and the power cut had turned out to be a novel advantage rather than a disaster.

It goes without saying that there was no film work done on Monday. The location set had been washed away by the rain. (After all, this was the desert sequence—and floods just don’t happen in deserts!) The water supply for the villa came from a well, but the pump was worked buy electricity. It wasn’t until late Tuesday afternoon that electric power was restored. So we spent Monday devising ways of eating and existing comfortably without the use of water or electricity.

The restoration of the power coincided with the arrival of our cook. So at about three o’clock Tuesday afternoon we all sat down to a late breakfast of sausages and eggs.

“This, I am really looking forward to,” said John, and the girls put on a look of mock annoyance. “Not that I’m saying a word against your cooking, but even you two can’t work wonders without water.”

John and I had left for Germany to begin work on How I Won The War less than a week after the Beatles’ American tour. By now it must be a matter of well-known historical fact that John’s ceremonial haircutting took place at the unearthly hour of 7:30 a.m. on the morning of Tuesday, September 6, 1966! The “operation” was supervised by the film’s producer/director, Richard Lester, and carried out by 28-year-old German hairdresser Klaus Baruch, of Hamburg. He came to our small vacation-type hotel in the forest of Luneberg Heath to perform his grave task. John’s familiar fringe was swept back and greased down a bit to transform him into Corporal Gripweed. The addition of the grubby old army greatcoat plus a pair of very plain specs completed the change from Beatle to “batman.”

Don’t believe any claims people might make about possessing some of John’s clipped off hair. I watched the famous locks of hair burning away to nothing while we were at Luneberg!

We got one completely free day in Germany and John took the opportunity of re-visiting some of his favorite haunts in Hamburg. We couldn’t make the rounds of the Hamburg club scene because we had to be up so early the following morning. Instead, John went on a shopping spree and picked up an assortment of shirts, shoes, jeans and other accessories from stores he knew well from the Beatles’ days in Hamburg five and six years ago. It was a fascinating day for John since many of the places familiar to him had greatly changed since 1960.

We finished filming in Germany on Wednesday, September 14. By coincidence, that was the day that a “Mr. And Mrs. Sam Wells” flew from London Airport on a BOAC plane bound for Bombay. At Bombay’s Taj Mahal Hotel, it wasn’t long before Mr. And Mrs. Wells were recognized, and Mr. Wells, alias George Harrison, let himself be pressured into admitting his true identity and explaining to the local press his motives for that extended Indian vacation trip: to study the sitar and everything to do with Asian music.

Meanwhile, back at How I Won The War, John and I left Hamburg by the night train to Paris in the small hours of Friday, September 16th. And at the same time (or a few hours later), Brian Epstein left London for Paris accompanied by Paul McCartney. We all met in Paris—just for the weekend, because filming in Spain was due to start early the following week. The flight from Paris to the Spain was fast—and the longest and most tedious part of our journey was yet to come. From the airport at Malaga, we faced a five hour drive to Almeria, which is, as I said earlier, a bit of remote spot. We drove along what the Spanish fondly imagine are highways but are, in fact, more like dirt tracks with superficial tarmac coating. For most of the way, the “road” runs alongside the sea—I mean alongside, because I reckoned we would plunge straight down into the waves at any second.

The living in Spain was a bit rough, but nobody minded. By now, most of the cast had become firm friends. Although John and I had made a particular mate of John Crawford, we were equally close with all the other actors. Like Ronald Lacy, who is Spool in the picture; Lee Montague, who is Transom (“Corporal of Musket and Troop Sergeant”); Roy Kinnear, who is Clapper; and Michael Hordern, who plays out Lt. Col. Grapple. Each morning we would be up by 7:30 to leave no later than 8 a.m. John had his own driver and Rolls with him. The Almeria inhabitants were thoroughly impressed with this vehicle, and John caused a great stir each day as we drove out of the town. The local people described the Rolls as the “Royal Hearse.”

Once we’d left the town each morning, that was it for the whole day. At the actual film location, we spent most of our spare time watching what was happening or sitting around on the floor of an old bus (no seats) which was used as the company wardrobe and the cast’s the dressing room. Between 8:30 a.m. and 9, John went through the makeup process of becoming Corporal Gripweed, and the next four hours were spent in front of the cameras. The lunch break was from twelve to one. We were well looked after, despite the lack of facilities on the location. We all sat ’round in a big and very hot tent eating excellent lunches, with things like melon, filet steak and and fruit.

Most of our evenings were spent quietly. Sometimes, John would go through his lines for the following day, with me correcting him and filling in all the other parts. Just for laughs, we would rewrite whole scenes for ourselves, which got a bit confusing. So sooner or later, we’d call each other to order and get back to the script-learning bit. I’m not sure exactly where Corporal Gripweed was born and raised, but John has given him a definitely Liverpool origin.

When Ringo and Maureen joined us at Almeria on Wednesday, October 5th, only one of the boys remained in England. That was Paul, who was still in the process of putting the final interior furnishing touches to his new house at St. John’s Wood in North London. In any case, he wasn’t ready to take an overseas vacation at that stage, because he had started work on the soundtrack musical score for the Hayley Mills’ film, All In Good Time.

So, by the final week of October, the all-around situation on the Beatle-front was this: George, with yoga experience, sitar lessons and a mustache, was located in a picturesque house beside a lake not too far from Bombay, India; Paul was in London, watching different bits of the Boulting Brothers’ film and writing the background music for each scene; and Ringo was taking it easy in Spain and watching John working on the final segments of How I Won The War. Now there was an interesting dispersal of talents and occupations, if there ever was one!

Nothing much happening today - that we know of.

The Beatles taking a break.

The Beatles doing their own thing...............