Backstage at Cardiff

 

The picture

 

For as long as I have been a Beatles fan, I swear I have been trying to figure out information about this picture that hung near Derek Taylor's desk at the Apple offices on Savile Row.   Sure this is a nice enough photo of Peter Brown, but it is the picture above him that I care about.   

I have never seen this photo outside of being in the background of photos taken inside of Apple offices.  This is the best version I have seen.    It appears to have been taken backstage during the 1965 U.K. tour in the Winter of 1965.   People have speculated that the girl is Maureen Cleeve, but I really don't think it is.    Again I will ask -- does anyone know anything about who is the photo, where it was taken and why it was hanging in Derek Taylor's office?    

Backstage with Ringo

 

December 5, 1965 -  Backstage in Liverpool during the last UK tour 

More from Hammersmith Odeon 1965

As you all know, photos from the 1965 UK are few and far between.  These two were new to me and popped up on eBay. 

Protecting themselves --head of their time

Interview around the Christmas tree

Photo op

A cup with Freda

Jump for joy!

Sing along

The crazy side of Beatlemania

From what I can tell, these photos were taken December 10, 1965 in London.    So we are not talking early Beatlemania here, but Beatlemania in London during one of the last concerts the Beatles did in their home country.    Look how wild it was!   You have girls laying (I guess fainted) in front of the stage and I see legs coming out of the stage in one of the photos.   It appears that a girl fainted (or pretended to do so) and was being attended to, but when the helpers left her to attend to another fan, she got under the stage and was trying to do something sneaky.     And meanwhile, the Beatles played on.  

Liverpudlian fan and Ringo

The last concert from a UK tour

The last concert from a UK tour was given 50 years ago today:  December 12, 1965 in Cardiff.   Sadly only one photo (the strange one above) from this day has ever been  published.    Very little is even known about this particular concert.  However one thing was reported:  a man wearing a pink sweater somehow found his way from the audience and into the wings at the Capitol Theater.   While John was doing the introduction to "Day Tripper" this guy ran from the wings and onto the stage where he grabbed Paul and George and started wrestling with them.  Someone from security came onto the stage and the pink sweater guy ran off and disappeared into the crowd.   His antics stopped the show momentarily and Mal Evans was quoted as telling that press that "these things happen now and again."   No one was hurt and the concert continued.  

The most Fantastic game of billards ever!

More photos from BBM of that interesting game of pool between the Beatles and the Moody Blues.

Hammersmith memories

Note:  When I first found these photos online (from a photo agency), the date listed for them was December 10, 1965.   Since then I have seen these same photos listed as just about every other venue from the 1965 UK tour.   I am keeping them as London, although I am not sure where they are.  But look at the Gonk on the stage!

More concert memories from Creasy's book, Beatlemania,

When they came on the crowds just went wild.  I remember Paul singing "Yesterday" in the spotlight and when it came to the end the curtain came down and they ran right past me out to leave and John Lennon said to me, "See you later."  -- Gary Leeds who watched both shows from the wings.

I saw the Beatles 10 times in all and this was the only time I ever had to queue for tickets.  We queued for about two hours and they weren't great seats.  What made it special was that after the first show we saw Mal Evans outside and I went up to him and got his autograph.  The girls were demented, as usual, but they just ignored him, but I recognized him.  He was a nice guy.  I was 21 at the time.  --Paul G. 

London backstage

December 10, 1965 and the Beatles were back home for a pair of concerts at the Hammersmith in London.   Many local celebrities went backstage to hang out with the lads.  Here is a story Gary Leeds tells in Creasy's book:

John Maus, Kathy and I were ushered in and the Beatles said hello to the two of us, but they didn't say anything to Kathy.  It wasn't until John said, "And this is my wife, Kathy" that it all changed instantly.  They were very polite, how do you do and all of that, but up until that point if they didn't know you and you weren't in the loop they wouldn't talk to you.    They were all watching Get Smart on the telly until somebody whispered something in John Lennon's ear.  He suddenly turned to me and said, "Gary, come with me to the toilet."  So I had to go.  So we got there and I said, "Nice toilet, John."  He said, "Yes, yes, they're not bad."  I didn't know what to say.  I said we'd better get back to the dressing room and he said, "no, we can't go yet."  Eventually, George Harrison turned up and said, "OK, you can come back now."  John said that a girl had been chasing him.  It was some time after when I found out it was Helen Shapiro he was trying to keep away from.

Birmingham backstage

The Beatles are supposedly watching themselves on "Top of the Pops" on the television backstage between shows in Birmingham.  Don't they look thrilled?

Birmingham memory '65

There aren't any photos of the Beatles playing in Birmingham that I am aware of.  All there seems to be are a few things from the day fans bought tickets to the concert.    However, thanks to Mr. Creasy and his amazing book Beatlemania, there is this account of the evening show:

It was pretty scary for a 16 year old to be in the middle of all that--the girls screaming and jumping and waving their arms around.  The funny thing is I was more of a Stones fan, but I got a free ticket.  One of the two girls next door couldn't go so I went instead.  You couldn't even make out what they were playing from where we were.  The Moody Blues were a local band and I'd probably already seen them by then.  They were good.  We had got the bus in and it was the second show because I remember them announcing at the end that The Beatles had left so there was no point in hanging around.   The girls were still screaming on the bus back, but it's something I'll never forget--the night I saw The Beatles.  --Alan

Dinner with the Moodies

This is what Alf Bicknell had to say about this days concert as well as the dinner with the Moody Blues:

A smashing day in Sheffield today.  A really good show by the boys, and I got a quick look around before the show.  There are lots of tales about the North, but I really like seeing how people enjoy their daily lives.  They are a nice lot up here.  The boys played at the Gaumont Cinema here, and we finished the night with a really good dinner in the hotel after.  It was a bit cramped around the table, as there were so many of us, what with the Moody Blues, as well.  They are a good bunch, that lot and they got on well with the boys.  Had a few problems at one of the doors with a few fans who wouldn't take no for an answer.  They wanted to see the boys, of course, but some of them do get a bit too frantic.  A good day, anyway.

On stage at Sheffield

Thanks again to the Beatles Book Monthly for taking these photos of the Beatles on stage at Sheffield on December 8, 1965!    These are really some of the best photos from this brief tour and without them, it would have been so hard to date other photos.

We were very excited at going to see them, but all I can remember is the continuous screaming and thinking that Paul had looked at me!  We were in the stalls, but really you couldn't hear anything other than the screams.  When we came out, we went round to Pinstone Street where there was a narrow passage behind the Gaumont.  It was filled with screaming girls looking up to a small window, believing the Beatles were there."  -Janet (from Beatlemania by Creasy)