On stage in Italy

 

Leaving the van

 This photo took my breath away....

Backstage in Italy

 

George in Italy

February 26, 1988-

Hold on -- were George and Paul both in Italy at the same time?  I posted photos yesterday of Paul in Italy on February 27.   Now I discover that George was in Italy on February 26.   I may need to dig a little bit more into this information.  
 

All The Best in Italy

 February 27, 1988

Fans in the balcony

Here come the Beatles - a Book Review

I ordered the book Here Come the Beatles:  Stories of a Generation by Skira (is that the author?) because I found online that it has a chapter about the Beatles fan clubs. 

I was pretty impressed when the book arrived.  It is a hardback coffee table sized book.   The cover is the Beatles on playing cards, which was used as one of the programs in the U.K. and it comes with a poster of the same image.    When you open it up, you will see that this book is full of beautiful photographs of not just the Beatles but of rare original memorabilia such as movie posters from around the world, dolls, shoes, and a lot of great photos of things most of us will never own and only will see in person if we are lucky.     


Sadly, the photographs are the best part of this book.    Little did I know, but it was written in England and Italian.    One page is in Italian and the next page will say the same thing in English.   This was extremely confusing to me and made the book hard to read.    As if that wasn't enough, I have to say that this book was boring.    It really was about how things in Italy were in the 60's and how according to the author, the Italian teenagers didn't appreciate the Beatles until Sgt. Pepper because they were wrapped up with the local musicians.    Then it goes from 1967 to the basic history of the Beatles with information about what was going on in Italy at the time. 

I had no idea this book was going to be about Italy.    And for a book all about Italy, it really didn't have much to say about the Beatles 1965 tour that went to Italy.   Since the subtitle of the bok was "stories of a generation,"  I thought maybe there would be stories of fans that were at the concert.  Again -- there are great photos and ticket stubs of the concert.

I am not sure who this book was written for.    Italian Beatle fans?    Memorabilia collectors?   Sorry -- but I just can't recommend this book.   However, I am including the Amazon link in case someone would like to get the book for the great photos.

The link below is the affiliate link to Amazon where you can purchase this book..   I get a small percentage of anything purchased through this link.  Money made from the Amazon Afflication is used to pay the annual fee to keep this site online.  Thank you for your support.  Sara

https://amzn.to/49D9OYl

Don't lean back!

Float down stream

Another group shot backstage in

The Beatles stayed in one place and the people just changed.  For more examples

http://www.meetthebeatlesforreal.com/2015/06/more-backstage-photos-from-rome.html

Taking a break in Italy

Behind the scenes

I love this shot from Milan, Italy in 1965 for so many reasons.      It is an interesting shot and one that you never get to see.   The Beatles are wearing the "Shea" suits for one of the few times prior to the actually Shea concert.   I think I spot Mal back there and I start to realize that he and others often got to see the Beatles in concert from this view.   Notice those fans standing on something to get a closer look?  What is stopping them from getting up on the stage?  Isn't that an extremely small stage?

High on the Beatles

There is a faint chance the Beatles will see your welcome

These photo was from here and is posted on this blog under the regulations of Flickr Creative Commons.   I made a slight change to the original top photo by changing the colors. 

These photos show fans welcoming the boys to the hotel in Genova in 1965 and one welcomer got a bit over excited.  

Pasta for lunch --it even appears to be vegetarian!

Rome was not a full house

Fans point of view

Performing in Rome in 1965

More backstage photos from Rome

It appears that the people in the chairs in the front just changed and the Beatles stayed there, smiling for the next person or group of people.   I think everyone in these photos are either supporting acts in Italy or played some part in the Italian tour.

Angela the naughty little girl

I found this information on the "That Eventuality" blog (which I HIGHLY recommend!) about Angela Tarenzi, who was one of the supporting acts when the Beatles were in Italy.


Here are some recollections of that tour, from Angela and another Italian singer, Guidone…
“The Beatles were constantly watched over. I don’t know why, but I managed to get near them. I think because George Harrison liked me. He always looked at me and then he invited me into the dressing room with them. Perhaps he wanted to see if I was interested in him, Harrison appeared to be a rather shy person with gentle ways and perfect behaviour. Certainly, when a man stares at you even during the concert - well, you get the message. And George stared at me while the other Italian singers and I were among the public because those of us who sang in the first part of the concert, heard the rest from the stalls.

In Rome, when everything was over, Gianni Miná, Rossella Como and I were invited by the Beatles to their hotel. There were also two girls from Rome. They received us in their apartment at the Parco dei Principo and Miná acted as interpreter for the few words that we exchanged. At a certain point, George asked me if we could speak alone and we went into a sitting room next door. He asked me if I wanted something to drink and I said I would like a coffee. Then he looked at me and, pointing to the ring on my finger, asked if I was married. I said ‘Yes’. He wanted to know if I had children and I said that I had. He made a movement as if rocking a baby. He looked at me and murmured, ‘Well, I am silly.’ He said it in English, yes, but I understood and the story finished there.

…[W]e all left and went to the Club 84. We didn’t stay long… Outside there were the paparazzi who took photos. Harrison began to run and, looking at me, he said, ‘Come on, come on.’ I, on the other hand, was walking calmly. Afterwards, everybody got into the car with me and Rossella Como and we toured round the sleeping city, although it was nearly morning, because the Beatles hadn’t seen anything of Rome….

I remember asking why they were so closely watched and why they always ran literally bent double. It was something that I found very strange because it must have been very uncomfortable. Then George told me that when the Beatles had been on tour… they had had a terrifying experience. Two… girls had grabbed them by the hair which was literally torn from their heads. They had been so frightened that since then, they always ran head down…

What I can remember of the scenes of hysteria in Rome is a young girl who must have been about 16. There were many who screamed and swayed and writhed but I noticed this one who had torn off her blouse and was left with her breasts bare for all to see! It struck me because at that time it was so absurd, she appeared to have gone mad. They carried her out; strange that nobody remembers it.“
- Angela Tarenzi, Beatles Dolce Vita

---

“At the Vigorelli they joked with a singer called ‘Angela bambino cattiva (Angela, the naughty little girl)’, who was the beautiful wife of Aldo Pagani. At the Vigorelli Angela came into the Beatles dressing room and George Harrison flirted with her. After asking me who she was, he got me to translate some nice compliments for her. He also said that he had heard her sing in the afternoon and that she was very good. However, I knew that it was not true, because the Beatles had stayed in their dressing rooms, from which they couldn’t hear anything.

So, Angela was very flattered bit there was no more time because Harrison was about to go on stage. Given George’s ardour, I thought there might have been a follow-up. But then after the show, after the Beatles had gone, Angela came with us to eat a pizza at Santa Lucia. In Rome George and I spoke about Angela again and he told me he was not looking for a relationship.” - Guidone, Beatles Dolce Vita