The Penny Lane Barbershop

 

I recently heard that the Penny Lane Barbershop in Liverpool is currently closed.   I have heard two stories. The first is that the lease ran out and the woman who was renting it could no longer afford it.   The second story was that the hairdresser that owned it had retired.    Either way -- it is currently sitting empty.  I hope that another hairdresser moves in soon!  

Filming Penny Lane - 55 years later.

 

February 5 - 7, 1967 

Walking

Penny Lane Flower shop

I hope you all got to see the one hour Carpool Karaoke with Paul on television tonight.   It was so good and fun to watch.   The only thing better would have been to live it -- like these ladies in the Penny Lane Flower Shop did when they got to sing "Penny Lane" with Paul for the camera.   

Penny Lane Pub

This weekend this amazing photo of the Beatles in a pub taken while they were making the promo for "Penny Lane" was posted on the Lennon Years Facebook page. 

It was originally shared during a talk Mark Lewisohn gave in Iceland and he verifies that it is indeed a real photograph and not a "fake"  (as so many people today like to jump in and claim).   


Here is also what was posted on the page about the photo:

 The cast, crew and The Beatles were based at the Salway Arms pub for the day when they weren't filming. Work was delayed by the late arrival of the red hunting jackets worn by the group; eventually a newspaper distributor named Ernie Smith drove to Commercial Road in Stepney to collect them." 

I love these stories where one of the Beatles (or in this case all four of them) go somewhere "nomal" such as a pub and mix with the regular people.   

John tries to blend into the crowd

50 years of Penny Lane

50 years ago the Beatles made the remarkable Penny Lane promo.   It has been in our ears and in our eyes ever since.  

Discovery in Penny Lane

The Beatles 1+ DVD has been amazing to watch.    I can't believe how clear everything looks.  And even more I can't believe that it has taken almost 50 years for this stuff to be cleaned up and released.  Why did we settle for such poor quality for so long?  In the clear up a small discovery has been made.   It seems that the "Mozart guys" are none other than Tony Bramwell and Mal Evans!    I had no idea!  

Penny Lane

I wonder how many fans were hanging around during the making of the Penny Lane promo.    They seem to be orderly.  

Horse Lane

Very Strange.....

The bottle from the promo for Penny Lane that Julian had autographed.


You can see the bottle in this photo from the promo


Here is a nice story of a fan meeting that occured in 1967 an the set of the promo video for "Penny Lane." A then 14 year old boy named Julian Joseph Sylvester happened to watch the boys on the set and got a great item to keep! Here is Julian's story.

It was a games afternoon but I was off games due to some ailment and had the afternoon free. It was rumoured that The Beatles were in Knole Park which the school grounds back onto so I thought I would go and take a look.

"Sure enough, there they were making, as it now turns out, the first promo pop film for their double A-sided single Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields. The Beatles were riding around on horses, pouring paint over a piano and jumping from a branch of dead trees with Lennon singing 'Hey hey we're the Monkees'.

"As can still be seen on the Penny Lane video the bottle was in an ice bucket on a table with a white tablecloth and candelabras. The four rode up on their horses, dismounted and approached the table. Lennon picked up the bottle and poured for the other three. They were brought their instruments by liveried pages. The Beatles then got up from the table which was overturned by Lennon and McCartney, the bottle was thrown to the ground which is where I retrieved it from.

"During breaks in the filming, starting with Lennon I got them to sign the bottle's label which was not to easy as it was still damp from the ice bucket and also on a curved surface but, they seemed happy to oblige me. I was leaving Ringo until last but unfortunately I never got him to sign and all these years later can't remember why he never did. Maybe I just ran out of opportunity.

"They each had a black Mini Cooper S with blacked out windows which they left the park in at the end of the day. Separately as I recall."