Arriving in India in 1968

John, Cynthia, George, Pattie, and Jenny all arrived in India before Paul and Jane. 

One of the saddest days in Beatles history

The top photo was taken earlier in the day.   The Beatles were carefree and happy and laughing about something.   Then the phone call that changed their lives came through:  Brian Epstein had died.   You can see the pain on their faces -- the guys and the ladies.   They loved Brian and saw him an a mentor and friend.    He was the best man at their weddings (except for Paul), and gave all of himself to them.    I am not sure if August 27, 1967 is the single saddest day in the history of the Beatles (finding out that Stu had died is up there as well), but it is one of the saddest and the day that began the ultimate break up of the Beatles.

Meeting the Maharishi

50 years ago the Beatles began a new chapter in their life when they heard the Maharishi speak for the first time.  Well three of the Beatles that is -- Ringo didn't join them because Maureen had not been released from the hospital after having baby Jason.    Little did they know that in just a few days, their life would be completely changed.

Ordinary Passengers

What strikes me about these two photos of John, George and their wives taken in London on Feb 18, 1968 as they leave for India is not the Beatles or the beautiful women with them, but the seemingly "normal" looking people in the background, just looking in amazement at them.   

Jenny gets a little help

I love the "Help!" record display in the window behind Jenny Boyd in these shots.   Would it be really awesome to have that display as part of your Beatles collection?   I bet stuff like that just gone through away when they took it down.

More about Paul's "date"

Thanks to Cara and Lynn, I have re-sparked my interest in figuring out who this girl is.   For some reason many moons ago,  on one of the Beatle photo forums I was involved with, we decided that the girl with the flowers in her hair was Paul's date. Someone believed that she was someone Paul dated for a short period of time.    Ken Wood do you recall this discussion?  

So I went through my photos and this is what I came up with.

 

Here is the first time we spot the "mystery girl."  She is coming in to see the Yellow Submarine, just mixed in with the crowd.

 

The next time we spot her is seated in the theater, waiting for the movie.  She is obviously included in the Beatles "inner circle" as she is seated directly behind the Fab 4 and their wives (and also Neil) and next to Ron Kass.   Here we see that Jenny Boyd is sitting next to Paul.

The last we see of her is this photo of her and Paul getting into the car to leave to go to the after-party.  Paul appears to be talking to her and getting in the car with her.

 

And here we see Paul living it up at the Revolution club after party.  No sigh of flower girl, is there?  Who is the girl sitting next to him?   Is that Jenny across from him?   

While he and Jane had broken up by this time, it was not public knowledge.   Not until a few days later on the 21st of July does Paul make the announcement (well Jane actually breaks the news first).  So whoever would have been Paul's date to the Yellow Sub premiere, it would have been totally a secret.  Paul may as well not have had a date and just went stag and had a good time as a single man for one of the few times in his life. 

Adventures of a first generation fan (part 2)

If you have been a long-time reader of this blog, then you might recall that I have spent the past 3.5 years locating Good Day Sunshine fanzines that have the continuing article of fan, Sue Bujnousky's trip to London in 1968 & 1969.   It is a 5 part series, and I already posted parts 4 and 5.   Well I recently tracked down part 2!   It came from  the issue #50 (summer of 1989) issue of GDS.  But I am disappointed.  There are no photos, it is really short, and she didn't even meet of the Beatles!   But....I do enjoy reading about the Apple Boutique.  So I found some photos to share with the story.   Anyone have parts 1 or 3???

Pattie Boyd and some other models at the Apple Boutique

Jane Asher....is she in the Apple Boutique?

Inside the Boutique

Jenny Boyd posing with a Beatles fan inside the Apple Boutique

It was twenty-five years ago today:  Adventures of a first generation fan

Part II (1968)

By Sue Bujnousky

Our next stop was the Apple Boutique on Baker Street.  We were expecting something rather unusual for a store, and we weren’t disappointed.

The inside was rather dark.  There were clouds painted on the ceiling, incense was burning and Indian music playing – perfect! It was also quite crowded – with merchandise, not customers.  We were the only ones there.  We pushed our way through the racks and picked out a few things to try on. The fitting room was in the basement, down a very steep, narrow staircase.  It was one large room, quite common now, but then we were used to individual booths – with curtains!  Pat looked around the empty room, “You don’t’ think the men come in here too, do you?’  I looked back, probably with a mixture of horror and delight, “Only one way to find out, right?”  We went to the farthest corner and began to change.

A minutes or two later, a young woman came in, glanced at us and went to the other side of the room to change.  She had long, red hair and freckles.  Pat poked me, “that’s Jane!”  I looked again.  It certainly did look like Jane Asher.  Pat started toward her, I grabbed her arm and practically had to pin my rather tall friend against the wall.  It looks could kill (Pat was “hopelessly devoted” to Paul).  She realized somebody was watched her, and left rather quickly.  Upstairs, we heard a salesgirl call her Jane, so I guess Pat was right.  We went to pay for our purchase and were greeted by Jenny Boyd behind the cash register.  Close, but not George!  Outside we looked at each other and laughed – talk about close encounters of the female kind!

Since Madame Tussad’s Wax Museum was nearby, we decided to go there next.  They had two sets of Beatle figures on display at the time, one in the collarless suits and the other in the Sargent pepper outfits.  They were, by far, the most popular display in the museum.  I wonder how many of those people knew how close the real thing was  -if you knew where to look!

Jenny Boyd

Jenny Boyd was Pattie Boyd's (George's first wife) sister. They are very close and Jenny spent a lot of time with Pattie and the Beatles. She is the muse to Donovans wonderful song, Jennifer Juniper. So Jenny Boyd went to India with the Beatles and she ran the Apple Boutique. Here are some fan photos of Jenny. I think I might have "met" Jenny during my meeting with Pattie Boyd in 2008. While Pattie was signing my books, I mentioned to her that the date was 8-8-08. And she turned to the woman who was her assistant and said, "Did you hear that, Jenny? Today is 8-8-08!" And I looked and Jenny and thought that she did resemble the other Boyd sister. But I was way to embarassed to ask.....