Welcome to another Beatles press conference

Louise reports about George's wedding

This is the report Louise Harrison (sister) wrote for the Louise Harrison fan club newsletter in 1966:

George's wedding:  My piece of George's wedding cake is on its way; I should have it by the time you receive this letter.  I still can't make up my mind whether to eat it, frame it, or maybe just auction it off crumb by crumb!  I think you might enjoy reading Mum's description of the wedding:    George & Pattie were married in Epsom (which is a town outside of London) by a Justice of the Peace.  The ceremony took place at 10:45am. on the Friday morning.   There were no sightseers when the party arrived.  the weather was very, very cold and foggy.     

Pattie wore a reddish striped dress and red fox fur coat with a beige band around her hair and beige shoes.   Pattie carried a bouquet of white Gardenias, white carnations, cream roses, and lily of the valley.   The ring is broad and in a design of white, pink and ordinary gold. 

George wore a black Victorian suit with wide lapels and black overcoat with a fur collar.  Mum wore a winter-white suit with black fur collar and a small black velvet hat with black shoes, handbag and gloves.  Dad wore a charcoal gray suit and tie and gray shoes.

Mum & Dad only knew three days before the wedding what the exact day and time would be.  Unfortunately, at such short notice, my other brothers Peter and Harry and their wive were unable to make arrangements to attend.

The only other Beatle present was Paul - and as Jane was working, she was unable to accompany him.  As you probably heard, John and Ringo were on vacation in Tobago with Cynthia and Maureen.  Although they would like to be together for weddings, etc., they have found from experience that a secret is better kept if all four of them do not appear in one place at one time.

George particularly wanted his wedding to take place in a quiet and serious atmosphere rather than a frantic, hurried atmosphere as would be the case if too many people had known about it.  They decided against going away for their honeymoon at this time.  their ideas about a family are that they would like about three children, but George is a little reluctant to start his family whilst there is so much publicity.   I guess when he does have children, he wants t have the time to spend with them.  

 

 

 

         

From an old mate

Keeps you running

Photo scanned from the collection of Sara Schmidt

What 1965 venue do you think this is?  Hollywood Bowl maybe?

Beatlemania from both sides

Backstage at Shea

Not a lot of photos from the locker room at Shea Stadium-- I only know of these two that popped up last year (and I have been saving them for a full year and it has been killing me because look at John with that girl!).  

The Memphis press conference

There are a ton of photos from the Memphis press conference.   I think this is because a lot of teenage reporters (aka Beatle fans) were allowed into the press area and not as many actually press people.   I am glad that there are so many photographs from this press conference because I love how all four of them looked during this tour.

Photo by Sandra Cass

Memorable press conference in Toronto

Photo taken by Lynn Botirick

Photo taken by Lynn Botirick

Hard Day's Fright (part 2)

The Beatles had 60 pieces of luggage/instruments/gear to load into the cars without any assistance or security.   The were lucky that their drive hadn't abandoned them at this point.

The Beatles things that had to get on the plane in Manila 

John Lennon recalled that on the ride from the hotel to the airport, there were still fans screaming and joyful along with groups of people booing them.   Some of them were holding these signs:

When they finally made it to the airport they found out that the airport's general manager had announced that the Beatles would get no help or security.  He told one reporter, "They will get what they deserve."     The escalators had been turned off so everyone in the Beatles entourage had to work at lugging the luggage and gear up the escalators (which magically started to work again once the Beatles were finished with this hard task).   They had to go through all of the check points that all passengers go through.  All the while (as you see in these photos) there were fans wanting autographs and to talk to the guys.  It had to have been a lot of mixed emotions---one group adores you and the other is trying to hurt you.   They all were corralled into a lounge to wait to board the plane.

In there were men wearing the same clothes and held guns that were spitting and pushing the Beatles.  Paul stated that they were "pushed from one corner of the lounge to another."   Ringo and John decided to hide behind some nuns and George behind a monk, figuring that they would not harm these religious leaders.

Brian Epstein, Tony Barrow, Neil Aspinall, Mal Evans, Peter Brown, Alf Bicknell and Vic Lewis all banded together to make sure that the Beatles themselves were not harmed and took the most of the abuse.  Someone kicked Brian and he fell and sprained his ankle and was punched in the face.   Mal Evens was kicked many times in the ribs and was punched to the point where he was bleeding.   Ringo was almost punched at one point, but ducked and one of the Beatles crew took the punch instead.     Neil explained later that it could have been much worse if any of the Beatles crew decided to fight back, but because none of them chose to punch or kick those that were hurting them, the injuries were less than what they could have been.

Here we see Alf Bicknell has gone down--are those men help or hurting him?

Neil Aspinall seems to be avoiding a punch and we see the back of Mal Evans while John looks on in shock

Mal checks on the luggage 

Finally the Beatles are told that they could board the plane.  They moved quickly on the tarmac, praying that no one with a gun takes a shot at them.  

Once they get on the plane, the Beatles began to kiss the seats.  They finally felt safe.  However, the nightmare wasn't over quite yet.   Through a loudspeaker they heard, "Mr. Tony Barrow and Mr. Malcolm Evans must return to the departure building."    Tony and Mal had to go back into that mess and Mal though it would be the end of him as get told the Beatles, "Tell Lil I love her."    However, it wasn't as bad as it could have been.   It turns out that in all of the insanity, those two men didn't get their passports stamped through customs.

While they were waiting for Mal and Tony to return (and hoping that they would return), Brian was being cared for.   His ankle was sprained and he was bloody from a punch.   Vic Lewis decided at that moment to ask Brian if he had gotten the money from the promoters for the concerts.    Brian couldn't believe it and started yelling at Vic.   The two had a physical altercation that ended with Vic yelling at Brian "I'll fucking kill you" while chocking his neck.   Someone had to pry him off of Brian and the two didn't speak to each other for a year.

At 4:45pm Tony and Mal were back on board and the plane took off to a round of applause.   The Beatles and their entourage had never been so happy to leave a country and the Beatles began to have some serious conversations about ending touring forever.


Source for these articles:

"Beat the Beatles" By Oliver X.A. Reyes for the July 2015 issue of Esquire Philippines (with much thanks to Joanne)

http://adenu1980.blogspot.com/2012/01/hard-days-and-fright-1966-beatles.html

http://www.positivelyfilipino.com/magazine/the-beatles-in-the-philippines



I also want to point out that over the years the stories of those in Manila have changed.   Imelda Marcos said long after the fact that she was always a Beatles fan and was never upset that they did not make the luncheon because there was miscommunication.    Ramon Ramos said in 2003 that the Beatles had to leave the yacht because it was overtaken by fans and that he believed that the Beatles did not appear at the palace because they were under the impression that they were going to have to perform there for free.