Interview with Long John Wade
Beatles Unlimited (Local Beatles Fan newsletter)
February 1965 - Volume 1 No 1
Hey Beatles fans! Here's an interview with the only radio personality to make the entire American tour with the Beatles, Long John Wade of WDRC Hartford, Connecticut.
Q: Which Beatles struck you as being the most quiet?
A: The quietest? George.
Q: Will you please describe the Beatles in your own words?
A: John's loud. Ringo's more or less quiet --usually sits in the background, except when he opens his mouth; it's usually something funny. George is quiet. Period. He doesn't laugh as much as the rest. Paul is the friendliest. He seems to be the most amiable. You know, not necessarily that the others are not friendly. He just outwardly acts like that.
Q: Did you attend all the press conferences?
A: Yes.
Q: Could you tell us offhand which was the most interesting one?
A: Well, there was an interesting one in Canada because in Vancouver, they televised the whole thing live. They had TV cameras all set up there, so that was interesting. The first ones were the most interesting because they asked all the questions. Then they got boring after a while because the same questions were asked over and over. The New York press conferences were exciting because there were more people there, and it was a bigger room and a bigger hotel. And of course, they all had the TV cameras set up there, but still the same questions.
Q: How many others besides yourself were with the official Beatles troupe?
A: Mainly entertainers, which included the Righteous Brothers, the Exciters, and one of the Exciters' mothers, who acted as a chaperone because one of the Exciters is under 18, and Jackie DeShannon. I think the plane averaged 38. This included the hostesses, the representative from the airline, Kappy Ditson, who arranged all our accommodations-- our travel arrangements, limousines, and whatnot. As far as radio or press people, there were five from England, all from newspapers, of course. One of them was a photographer, and then there were two freelance photographers who joined us in Las Vegas. One of them was Ron Joy, who I became very friendly with.
Q: Did you take any pictures yourself? Did you bring a camera?
A: I took some, but I had tape recorders and everything else with me. That was a mistake because I took them to too many places. That was bad because the Beatles don't like to see a microphone around. They're very wary of that sort of thing.
Q: Did having two Johns confuse matters any? That is John Lennon and yourself?
A: Well, there were little funny things like I'd say "Hi, John", and he'd say "Hi, John." I'd say "How are you John?" and he'd say "Fine John." It'd go back and forth like that, and so on.
Q: What did they call you, Long John or John Wade?
A. The Whisperer mainly.
Q: Oh, why was that?
A: Well, because I was always whispering in people's ears, you know, the interviews were going on and the microphones were on, and I didn't want to be heard, so I'd whisper, and somebody -- Ringo, usually--- would go, "Pssssssst, psssssst, pssssst. Here's Whisperer Wade. Psssssst Pssssst!" And then near the end of the trip in Kansas City, when Paul autographed that picture of me he drew, he signed it "John Fixer Wade."
Q: Why was that?
A: Well, for other reasons that I won't explain.
Q: Did you see the Beatles in between the shows backstage?
A: Yeah. Did you hear my tape of Paul doing opera in the shower? That was just fooling around between shows.
Q: How did they dress usually? When they weren't in the public eye that is.
A: Well, not sloppily, but casual. Ringo wore these big 16th-century puffed-sleeve shirts, very billowy and loose. And John would wear a turtleneck, usually black, sometimes a light color, with a sports jacket over it. He bought a red-and-white striped shirt one time. It was pretty loud.
Q: Do they like American styles, or would they rather wear English clothes?
A: Well, they're not too conservative.
Q. How did they compare in height to you? (Long John is well over six feet.)
A: Oh, short, a lot shorter than you'd imagine, except John.
Q. Really?
A: Oh yeah, they're about five foot seven or five foot eight. Really very short. Ringo is shorter than you are.
Q. He is?
A: Stand up........... Well, he's about your height.
Q. I thought John was about five foot 11 or six foot. They seem so tall.
A: That's with their boots on. They're really very short. You'd be surprised.
Q: Have you read John's book In His Own Write?
A: Yeah, parts of it, but you've got to stick with it and really think about it. It's better, of course, if you know, in the past, what he's reflecting upon.
Q. Do they quote from it at all?
A. No.
