Fab Four Blog

Guildhall, Portsmouth

The concert re-arranged from Tuesday, November 12th. From December 4th to 6th, the Beatles enjoyed a break.

Studio C, Elstree Studio Centre, Eldon Ave, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire and Ballroom, Grosvenor House Hotel, Park Lane, London

The Beatles spent the period from mid-morning to late-afternoon at Associated TeleVision's Elstree Studio Centre (not to be confused with the nearby Elstree Film Studio), where feature films were made. The object, very successfully achieved - being to rehearse and shoot an appearance on "The Morecambe and Wise Show", hosted by the much loved British comedy double act Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise. It was networked by ATV on Saturday, April 18, 1964 (8:25-9:00 pm) and repeated on Saturday, July 24, 1965 (as "The Best of Morecambe and Wise, 9:20-10:00 pm).

Performing live before a minimal studio audience, the Beatles initially sang two numbers, "This Boy", and "All My Loving", and then returned after more Eric and Ernie comedy sketches to sing a third, "I Want to Hold your Hand".

After this last song, John, Paul and George put down their instruments and stepped forward to where Morecambe and Wise had walked on. (Ringo stayed at the back, on his drum podium.) What followed next was fine comedy, Morecambe calling the Beatles "The Kaye Sisters" (A British female trio of the late 1950's), shouting up to Ringo, "Heeelllo Bungo!", and then engaging in witty and apparently ad-lib (though scripted) repartee, including an espeically funny moment with John Lennon. Wise and the three Beatles next suggested they join forces for a number. While they kitted themselves out with boaters and striped jackets and launched into 44 seconds of "Moonlight Bay" (written in 1912 by Madden/Wenrich and poularized by Doris Day in the 1951 film "On Moonlight Bay"), Morecambe rushed on in a Beatles wig and collarless jacket, screaming "Yeah, Yeah Yeah" and , unforgettably, "I Like It". (Gerry and the Pacemakers's hit). This item closed the show, the end credits appearing over a vision of Ringo finally stepping down from his kit. Though the Beatles appeared on television with a number of comedians, the end result was never better than this.

The night's Grosvenor House concert appearance was a most unusual live booking, and not a part of the current package tour - a cabaret floor-show (in aid of a spastics charity) before an evening-dressed audience at the prestigious London hotel. THe Beatles were not altogether happy about it and never again booked this type of engagement.

The Beatles - De Montfort Hall, Leicester

After this date, the tour resumed on the 3rd.

The Beatles at Empire Theatre, in Sunderland

ABC Cinema, Market St. Huddersfield, Yorkshire

Between "Houses" at the ABC, the Beatles were visited in the dressing room by a representative from Huddersfield Tape Recording Society, there to obtain an interview with each of the group, and have them read record requests, for "Music Box", a monthly program the Society produced for closed-circuit broadcast within several local hospitals in the area.

The representative, meek and humble, was Gordon Kaye, 20 years later to achieve great popularity in Britain as Rene, the star of sitcom, "Allo, Allo!"

The Beatles at ABC Cinema, Saltergate, Lincoln, Lincolnshire

The Beatles at Rialto Theatre in York.......

Regal Cinema, Cambridge

Before their two "houses" this evening, the Beatles appeared live on the local BBE TV news magazine program, "East at Six Ten", broadcast , oddly, from 6:38 to 7:01 pm, being interviewed in their Regal dressing room by reporter Jean Goodman.

Studio Four, Granada TV Centre, Manchester

Re-arranged from an original booking for November 27th, the Beatles spent the afternoon at Granada Television taping a music sequence and interview for use partly on November 27th on the 11:45 to 12:00 pm local program, "Late Scene Extra (a production from the Scene at 6:30 team) and partly on Friday, December 20th in "Scene at 6:30 itself, 6:30-7:00 pm.

They taped two music sequences, miming to "I want to hold your hand", and it's B-Side "This Boy", performing on an unusual set comprising enlarged ficticious "Daily Echo" newspaper headlines. ("I want to hold your hand" was broadcast on the 27th, "This Boy" was held back to December 20th.)

For the interview (shot on the same set), with program host Gay Byrne, the Beatles were joined by comedian Ken Dodd. Dodd turned the proceedings into a ad-libber's delight. At one point, when he suggested inviting ideas for an earthy name, so that he might form a rock group, George quipped "sod". It wasn't edited from the November 27th broadcast nor from a repeat of the whole Beatles appearance, "This Boy" included, in the Boxing Day (Thursday, December 26th) edition on "Scene At 6:30", again 6:30-7:00 pm.

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".