Taking to the stage for the last time

Half-hearted interview

Square Queries Get Doodled Replies

Question:  Is it true that you borrow harmonic ideas from the Baroque era?

Lennon:  I don’t know what a baroque is.  I wouldn’t know a Handel from a Gretel. 

From this, you may guess the Beatles are cordial to interviewers who manage to get through their inner line of defense systems, but that’s the easy part.  John Lennon, 25, who plays the bass guitar, writes songs, composes tunes and authors books in his spare time, was sitting with the other three Beatles at a dining table in the visitor’s’ dressing room at Candlestick Park.

With them was Joan Baez, the folk singer.  All five were absorbed in doodling on the tablecloth and on scraps of paper.  They had felt-tip pens.

Another questions:  some of your latest tunes are too complex for amateurs and others to play by ear.  Is that on purpose?

Lennon:  We just laughed as we made our last LP and said, ‘They’ll have a hard time faking these tunes.’  It was either that or the possibility of the Eleanor Rigby Twist.

He was doing a landscape in blue on the tablecloth.  Paul McCartney, 24, the most talented singer in the group, was making abstract designs of a sort popular with the psychedelic crowd.

“We were just talking about the downfall,” he said answering a question about What Will Happen Eventually to the Beatles.  “We were really saying that it doesn’t matter, actually.”

McCartney was wearing a bright tomato-red sport jacket and a sweater with broad red and white stripes.  He was asked to comment on the assertion that the Beatles are harbingers of a social revolution among the young.

“Fine,” he said, not looking up, “It’s about time.”

Lennon said, “Anybody wanting to join the party just send a stamped envelope to the Defense Fund.”  He didn’t say which.

Ringo Starr, at 27 the dean of the Beatles was wearing a polka-dot shirt with a high collar.  He had removed his blue-tinted granny spectacles.

“What’s a yellow submarine?” he said when asked about a current hit tune which he sings nearly on key.  “It’s nothing, just one of those silver ones painted yellow.”

Lennon was equally anxious that no one should read profound meanings into Beatles songs.  Miss Baez began to hum another current hit, “Eleanor Rigby,” with differs radically from the usual rock n roll style of the Beatles.  “It’s beautiful,” she said.  “Eleanor Rigby is just a song,” said Lennon.  “That’s all.”

On his corduroy coat was a nametag, “Moses.”  Lennon said he borrowed it from a private patrolman in Los Angeles.  Except to indicate that he was misunderstood on the question of the Beatle popularity versus that of the Church, Lennon steered clear of hot topics.

Miss Baez began to blow on a finger ring.  It made a siren sound.  Lennon had a similar ring and he did the same.   So far as anyone knows, they didn’t come any closer than 25 feet to a teenager. 

Catering for Doodles

The catering for the Candlestick Park show was by Simpson's catering.     I purchased two blurry photographs of the Beatles backstage eating their meal from the daughter of the caterer.    I believe these photos might have been hanging up in the shop.  There are no surviving negatives and these are the only known copies.  

Photo copyright held by Sara Schmidt (do not copy)

Photo copyright held by Sara Schmidt (do not copy)

Here is another photo where you can see what the guys had to eat.  I am pretty sure Paul is posing with the Simpson catering folks.

Much was said about the Beatles doodling on the tablecloth with pens that were given to them by fans.   The newspaper even wrote about it.   Simpson's displayed the autographed table cloth that was full of Beatle doodles and low and behold, it was stolen shortly after they were on displayed.   Here are some photos of the guys doodling.

Beatles:  Case of Missing Doodles

A white linen tablecloth enhanced by Beatle doodles was stolen yesterday from the display window of Simpson’s catering service.  The theft of the priceless relic was discovered by Simpson’s co-owner Joe Vilardi, at about 10 a.m.  Vilardi said another employee had observed the cloth resting peacefully  in the window as late as 8:30a.m.  But when Vilardi appeared at the 926 Clement street office to “check on some phone calls,” the big 12-foot-wide window had been shattered and the linen purloined.

Simpson’s obtained the table cloth on the night of the Beatles’ appearance at Candlestick Park August 29. It was the same cloth on which the four Englishmen devoured prime rib of roast beef, Yorkshire pudding, stuffed baked potato, salad, relish and French pastry. 

Sprinkled among the gravy stains and pudding droppings were doodles of almost psychedelic persuasion, drawn by Beatles in a moment of contemplation before their concert in the infield.

John Lennon, according to Vilardi, had sketched “an interesting sort of Japanese sunset in yellow crayon.”  Paul McCartney had drawn faces in the abstract.  There were other less impressive drawings on the cloth – presumably the work of other Beatles and, perhaps, of their dinner gust, folk singer-pacifist, Joan Baez.

Simpson’s first had the great Britons autograph their creation, then the caterers whisked the table cloth back to headquarters, where, for the past six days, it has served as an invaluable lure.  Crowds of young and old alike have flocked to the store, Vilardi said.  “Some of those excited little gals wanted to touch it or take pictures,” his co-owner said.  But there were no threats of theft.  

Although the cloth was not for sale, Vilardi said he received offers for it ranging as high as $300.   Simpson’s had been warned by “the cop on the beat” that the sight of such an invaluable property behind glass might  prove too tempting for some fanatic.  But said Vilardi, “I never gave it any serious thought.”  He realizes now that he underestimated the value of his merchandise.  “I can readily see that somebody wanted it rather badly,” Vilardi said weakly yesterday.  “Imagine taking it in broad daylight.”  

Backstage with the lads at Candlestick Park

In and out of the bus to Candlestick

This bus is not ten miles north on the Duesberry Road

The Beatles take a bus to their last concert at Candlestick Park and one fan broke through and got to touch Ringo's window. 

guitar practice

Photo by Marilyn Doerflers

Backstage at Candlestick

Backstage auctions have some interesting Beatles photos in their current auction (bidding starts on Nov 3).   These shots taken backstage prior to the Candlestick 1966 concert are really neat.  The show a candid look at some photos that I have already posted here.   You see Marilyn Doerflers, and Ringo getting ready for a photo with a girl (I guess Alf took that one?) that I am pretty sure I have posted here.   Interesting look at what was going on backstage right before the Beatles took the to the stage one last time.

The Beatles at Candlestick - Myths & Legends of the Last Concert

One of my all time favorite photos of John Lennon.
The other night, my nerdy (in a different way than how I am nerdy) boyfriend asked me what superpowers I would like to have if I could have any power in the world. My first thought was the power to fly, but then I thought that with my luck, I would get attacked by birds (I am scared of birds) and wrapped up in power lines. So, I decided that I wanted the power to go back in time but not change history. There is no need for me to mess up the world. Why would I like that power? Well obviously that way I could go back in time and see a Beatles concert, watch the Fab 4 cross Abbey Road on Aug 8, 1969, talk to the Apple Scruffs on the steps of 3 Savile Row, the possibilities as a Beatles fan would be endless. Then he tells me that I can only pick one Beatles event. What would be it? Gosh.....there are so many things! I decide that I want to see the Beatles in concert. But which show? I first decided to kick out any shows that I have seen videos of. So out goes Washington D.C. '64, Sydney '64, Shea '65, Germany '66, Japan '66, etc. I decide that I want to go back and see Candlestick Park. Sure, we have some audio recordings, but the last few minutes are missing. I want to see that show for myself. But since I am just an obese school teacher and not someone with superpowers or someone who owns a time machine, I have to go with the next best thing, and that is Barry Hood's film of the day. Barry was a 15 year old Beatles fan who wanted to make a documentary about the Beatles and brought his 8mm video camera with him to the San Francisco concert. If you have ever seen any color footage of Candlestick Park, that is Barry's film. Some of it is seen in the DVD called "The Unseen Beatles." In 2006, he wrote an article for Beatlefan magazine about that. I found that article online and am going to share some of it with you. Oh, and I just added some random photo taken that day. I hope you enjoy it

This just in! (October 23, 2012):  Barry Hood has emailed me and let me know that you can order his DVD of the footage at this site!  Awesome!


www.televideos.com

The Beatles at Candlestick - Myths & Legends of the Last Concert
by Barry Hood

In 1966 I won the Kodak teen-age movie awards for a sound-on-tape 8mm film I made on Disneyland. I had a habit of following Walt around Disneyland. As a matter of fact, I think that's why Walt created security. Their first target? Me. I had long hair. Tidy but a little long over the ears. So what? I simply cut it and still followed Walt all over the park even more. When he stepped out the gate behind the firehouse above which he had an apartment, there was that darn kid again stalking Walt with his movie camera.

For the next year, 1967, I was going to enter the Kodak contest with a film about The Beatles, but admit, I lost interest when the foursome didn't show up again on another tour in '67 or ever again. My intent was to add more film to that which I had. And I was disappointed. But it wasn't until years later that I realized the historical importance of the document which I had already shot.

I had grown up in San Francisco but at age 11 moved farther north. In the summer of '66 I sent for tickets to the Candlestick Park gig. These were being sold by KYA radio through mail order. I rode the Greyhound bus 250 miles with my mother all night long on the 27th in order to get to San Francisco on the 28th. I skipped the first day of a church camp to attend the Candlestick show with my mother on the 29th.

We left our hotel in the Market Street area, at about noon. Our Muni bus arrived at the far corner of the parking lot just as the fog was breaking up. Here I began watching, listening and filming the day's events.

I remember it like it was yesterday. We spent the day at Candlestick. We even brought a sack lunch. As music from the new album "Revolver" played on the park's P.A., I shot various angles of the stage being built out on 2nd base, along with the sound system and two wire fences which surrounded the stage. Other kids were busy doing their job of putting up handmade posters. The sound crew was busy setting up two massive columns of speakers on the infield.

As the spectators began to fill the ball park, there was a sudden scream which was coming from an area very nearby. I sprinted in my Beatles' boots to the end of the stadium. Just then the Beatles' bus rolled under me and I got a clear shot of George taking a photo of me. Neil Aspinall is seated in the window directly in front of George.
Imagine the biggest act in the world not being allowed to haul their equipment to the stage. They were forced to manually cart their equipment across the field.

Mal Evans and the roadies did get into a bit of a "row" with the Giant's groundskeeper. He told them point blank they could not drive onto the field with their equipment van. You can see Evans clearly exchange some terse words and display obviously disgruntled body language. In my footage we see Evans, Ed Freeman, also The Ronettes road manager, and Sandy Scott, the tour manager from GAC, General Artists Corp, the booking agency who put the tour together.

Ringo does not swing the mic. around and sing into the counterweight at the beginning of the Concert, as the sound system manager says. I have heard this misnomer in other places but never challenged it. You can see this clearly in my film. The mike is in the same position as it was prior to entering the stage. Later when Ringo's solo comes up, the mike is positioned before him.

One gentleman dressed in a dark trendy suit with white shirt goes to two cases sitting side-by-side on the field, picks them up and moves them closer to the stage. He walks out from behind some people a split second later without the cases! I can see this clearly by viewing it a frame at a time. Perhaps this is Tony Barrow and one of the cases is a tape recorder, the source for the famous recording which was never released in audio.

The Beatles take one last final stage bow, and my footage ends. But we see George in the playing position, both head and hands, and he just stands there while John's right hand is not in playing position. John is swiftly walking to the amp and appears to unplug his guitar. Many say that the first few notes of "In My Life" were played. If this is true it was definitely George! As George plays, Paul walks over to the stage mike but stops, turns around, and says something to George. offstage, inaudible to the audience. George looks up and says something back. Then Paul continues to talk into the mike.

What were these final words? A final good-bye perhaps? Does anyone know? There my footage cuts out. The audience got the impression that an encore was starting but, suddenly there was nothing and The Beatles abruptly climbed into the Loomis armored car and left the stadium, and their public performing career was over. Forever.

I'm proud of the old color 8mm Kodachrome footage. It still sparkles, and the color has not faded. With today's technology we should be able to extract even more detail. Plus there is a whole section of material which has never been transferred nor released, which contains the opening acts! There's Barry Tashian and The Remains and also Bobby Hebb backed up by The Remains.

My mother, now 90, remembers it well. She even attended the concert with me. But she sat in the cheaper seats where there was plenty for screaming. I was in the box seats. I could hear the concert perfectly. Some say they couldn't hear a thing. Much was dependent on where you were seated. It all has to do with which way the wind blows and apparently the wind was blowing the music directly to me. Candlestick was famous for its circulating winds. This was one of the reasons the San Francisco Giants had a new stadium built.

When I got to the church camp a day late, where I was the night before made me the envy of every teenager, and the object of annoyance to the counselors and staff. 1966 was that kind of a year.

The Final Invasion

Since this is the 45th anniversary of the Beatles last touring concert, Candlestick Park, and also because I love the 1966 tour so much, I saved this article to post on this date. This story comes from a newspaper called "Bam." It can be found in issue #239 which was published September 5, 1986. The article was written by Dave Zimmer.

On August 29, 1966, while the Beatles flail and wail away on a small, fenced –stage near second base on the baseball diamond at Candlestick Park in San Francisco, who knew this would end up being the group’s last performance in America?

“I knew,” says Rachael Donahue, who helped produce the show for radio station KYA with her late husband, Tom Donahue and Bobby Mitchell – both KYA disc jockeys at the time. “The three of us, we all knew, because the Beatles told us they weren’t coming back to the United States.”

Had it not been on the Donahues’ efforts, the last Beatles show in the US would instead have been at the Hollywood Bowl (Sara’s note: this is incorrect. The Beatles show in Los Angeles was at Dodger’s Stadium in 1966. The Beatles played at the Hollywood Bowl in 1964 and 1965). “We had an agreement with the Beatles. They had signed a contract,” says Rachael. “Then before they go to Los Angeles, we got a call and were told they wanted to back out. The Beatles wanted to play the Hollywood Bowl show, then go back to England. Of course, Tom wasn’t about to let that happen. He told them, “Hey, this is a California contract you signed here. You’ve got to play.” But it didn’t end up being that simple.

“They day of the Hollywood Bowl show, we went down to LA to serve them with a summons. I was holding this big gold backstage pass and Tom – who was a pretty huge, imposing guy – led the way. No one was going to tell him he couldn’t go where he wanted to go. So there we were backstage, and all of a sudden all four Beatles appeared and ran right past us. We couldn’t move, didn’t say anything. Then they were gone. We finally had to hire a process server. That saved the show.”

The Beatles were guaranteed $10,000 and a portion of the gate – a paltry amount by today’s standards. Many rock super stars now routinely command six figure amounts per show. But it must be remembered, this was 1966 and 24,000 lucky Beatles fans who attended the Candlestick show only had to fork over $5.50 per ticket.

“We probably could have changed a higher price, and we could have sold 10,000 more seats that would have just provided a view of the “Beatles’ backs,” says Rachael, “But we were being thoughtful. We weren’t out to take advantage of the Beatles’ popularity.”

In fact, Rachael says, “We would have lost money on the show if we had sold the tickets at the KYA studios and had been forced to hire 200 rent-a-cops who wanted $14 an hour. Instead, we just mailed the tickets – which were very special, over-sized ones. Also, at the concert, rather than hire regular security guards, we used a bunch of our friends, a lot of them former Oakland Raiders. So some of the guards were real huge football guards.”

Rachael, now a KLOS disc jockey but an impressionable 19-year-old at the time of the Beatles concert, admits, “It was the biggest thing I’d ever seen. It was bigger than the Stones show Tom had me produce at the Cow Palace in ’65. I was very young and thought, ‘Hey, OK, I’ll try anything.”

When the Beatles arrived in San Francisco August 29, photographer Jim Marshall was there to greet them. “That day, “remembers Marshall, “was right out of A Hard Day’s Night, I swear to God. When we got to Candlestick in this bus, the stadium groundskeeper wouldn’t let us in. We didn’t have the right permission, according to them. So we drove around Hunter’s Point while things got straightened out, and we finally got in about 20 minutes later. Right away, though, another motherfucker started giving the driver shit because he didn’t have permission to drive onto the grass.”

Rachael says, “I remember one of the Giants groundskeepers was crying because he was afraid the field was going to be ruined and there would be bad bounces during the next baseball game.”

Of course, the ground crews ultimately allowed the “rock invaders” to set up a stage and a ten-foot high chain-link fence on the field. And former Giants owner Horace Stoneham was ready to provide any necessary amenities backstage (actually a rather barren section of the Giants’ clubhouse). Rachael recalls, “Unlike today, there were no outrageous demands. I don’t even think there was any alcohol. John Lennon wanted some fruit juices, but that was about it.”

Jim Marshall says, “I was the only guy backstage with a camera. I remember the Beatles didn’t want to do any group shots, but other than that, they were very nice, very easy to deal with. The president of the local teamsters union wanted me to take a picture of him and his daughter with Ringo. Then (disc jockey) Bob McClay took a shot of me with Ringo. We were all fans. It was a joyous time.

“There was no big entourage or heavy groupie thing backstage,” Marshall continues, “there were maybe 30 people there, tops. And I don’t remember any bad vibes.”

When the Beatles finally came into view of the fans in the stands, there was an eruption of screaming that continued throughout the performance. Marshall, who was stationed with his camera ten feet from the stage, says, “I don’t think the crowd ever heard the band. The screaming was that crazy.”

Rachael agrees, “The noise from the fans was tremendous. The Beatles couldn’t even hear themselves. I remember they started singing a medley flat, way off key. Tom and I were standing next to the stage. But there was no use saying anything. The crowd didn’t care. They were having a great time. Tom and I just looked at each other and said, “We did this for the kids.” Then I looked up at the crowd and realized that this was it, San Francisco would never have another change to meet the Beatles.”

Backstage buddies

This girl (who the caption of the magazine says is a worker) seems to have gotten really friendly with Ringo backstage at the Candlestick Park show.

The last time....

Yeah...George and Paul are really paying attention to this camera man...

Mal and Ringo

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this photograph. It makes me smile and feel good about the world....

Another Marlyn Doerfler Candlestick photo

I thought about trying to "clean up"this photo but for some reason I sort of like the faded vintage look of it. I am not sure why...