Sixties
City presents
a wide-ranging series of
articles on all aspects of the Sixties, penned by the creator of the iconic
60s music paper Mersey
Beat
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Sixties
City presents
a wide-ranging series of
articles on all aspects of the Sixties, penned by the creator of the iconic
60s music paper Mersey
Beat
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The
British television company Associated-Rediffusion had expressed interest
in a Beatles television special and when Brian Epstein was in New York
with The Beatles in February 1964 he had a meeting with Jack Good and
suggested that Good produce the show. During negotiations with Vyvienne
Moynihan of Rediffusion, Epstein insisted that Good be the producer.
He also demanded that his own artists Cilla Black and Sounds Incorporated be included in the show, that Murray the K be hired as compere, that NEMS would retain world distribution rights and that he would be credited as co-producer. Rediffusion agreed to all his terms and the sixty minutes special, provisionally called ‘John, Paul, George and Ringo’, then had a name change to ‘Around the Beatles’ – possibly a reference to the fact that the audience sat in a semi-circle around The Beatles as they performed. The special was filmed at Rediffusion’s Studio 5 in Wembley on Thursday 28th April 1964 between 9pm and 10.15pm, following rehearsals on Monday April 18th, Monday 25th and Wednesday 27th and networked a week later on Wednesday 6th May. It was repeated the following month on Monday 8th June and ABC TV in America screened excerpts from the show on Sunday 24th May. The Beatles performed ‘She Loves You’, ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’, ‘Can’t Buy Me Love’, ‘Twist And Shout’, ‘Roll Over Beethoven’, ‘I Wanna Be Your Man’, ‘Long Tall Sally’ and ‘Shout’. They also sang a medley of ‘Love Me Do’, ‘Please Please Me’ and ‘From Me To You’ and presented an excerpt from Shakespeare’s ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’. |
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John, Paul and George first appear miming to a trumpet fanfare while Ringo
waves a flag with the wording ‘Around the Beatles’ before setting off a
cannon. All four are dressed in Shakespearian costume and the audience enter
the studio to the sound of the song ‘We Love You Beatles. Another
trumpet fanfare announces the first sketch which is based on Act V, Scene
1 from William Shakespeare’s ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream.’ Jack Good was
to comment, “The boys will be seen in the play-within-the-play that Bottom
and his friends perform”. This amusing sketch, in which the group appeared in costume, featured John as Thisbe, Paul as Pyramus, George as Moonshine and Ringo as the Lion, although the group were at first reluctant to appear in the sketch. Trevor Peacock also joined them as Wall. Peacock’s biggest claim to fame was to come some years later as a cast member of the popular TV series ‘Are You Being Served?’ Following the seven minute sketch, John announced “Enough of this rubbish! We’d like to bring on something good now – some girls! Hee-hee! We’d like to bring on the Vernons Girls and two of the girls from the film ‘West Side Story’, The Jets” (The Jets were an American dance troupe). The girls enter, initially also in medieval costume, before throwing off their outer garments to reveal Sixties fashion underneath as they dance to an instrumental by Sounds Incorporated. The next performers are Millie and Long John Baldry, then Paul, Ringo and John appear on a balcony while Paul announces P.J.Proby: “He’s a great lad, He’s a very good friend of ours…a big round of applause for P.J. Proby.” Proby performs ‘Walking the Dog’ and receives applause from all four Beatles. When Long John Baldry performs ‘I Got My Mojo Working’ the Beatles, still on the balcony, join in. Cilla Black then sings ‘Saved,’ next comes a medley of the skiffle songs ‘Rock Island Line’ and ‘Cumberland Gap’ by P.J. Proby and the Vernons Girls. Proby next sings ‘I Believe’. |
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Bill
Harry attended
the Liverpool College of Art with Stuart Sutcliffe and John Lennon and made
the arrangements for Brian Epstein to visit The Cavern, where he saw The
Beatles for the first time. Bill was a member of 'The Dissenters' and the
founder and editor of 'Mersey Beat', the iconic weekly music newspaper
that documented the early Sixties music scene in the Liverpool area and
is possibly best known for being the first periodical to feature a local
band called 'The Beatles'. He has worked as a high powered publicist, doing PR for acts such as Suzi Quatro, Free, The Arrows and Hot Chocolate and has managed press campaigns for record labels such as CBS, EMI, Polydor. Bill is the critically acclaimed author of a large number of books about The Beatles and the 60s era including 'The Beatles Who's Who', 'The Best Years of the Beatles' and the Fab Four's 'Encyclopedia' series. He has appeared on 'Good Morning America' and has received a Gold Award from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors. |
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