The Beatles with Chita

 

When I heard that Chita Rivera passed away this week at 91, I thought of these strange photographs of her with The Beatles and Paul McCartney.    There was a story going around years and years ago that the one of Paul letting her take a drag on her cigarette was a photo of Paul giving a pregnant woman smoke.  But as more pictures surfaced from this day, it became apparent that Chita was NOT pregnant after all.   Now, how silly it was that I had conversations with people about that.  

Anyhow -- Chita was a wonderful Broadway performer and I am sure she made an impression of the Beatles when she performed with them in Blackpool in 1964. 

Picking up the dry cleaning

 

The Original Breakfast with the Beatles

 

Getting down to work

 January 24, 1969

Les Beatles at the Olympia

 January 23, 1964

Get Back to where you once belong

 January 22, 1969 

All for 1 and 1 for All

 January 22, 1964

Busted

 January 21, 1964 

Museum Fun with the Fabs

 

January 18, 1964

Chamber Pot on the head

 January 17, 1964 (early morning hours)

This is a very well-known photograph of the Beatles, along with Brian and George Martin, celebrating I Wanna Hold Your Hand being #1 in the United States.   

I recently re-read George Harrison's account of this photograph in the Beatles' Anthology.   My question is, what restaurant was this?  This at least explains where the chamber pot came from -- I guess soup was eaten out of it.   

George took us to a place which was a vault, with huge barrels of wine around. It was a restaurant and its theme was… well, the bread rolls were shaped like penises, the soup was served out of chamber pots and the chocolate ice cream was like a big turd. And the waiter came round and tied garters on all the girls’ legs. I’ve seen some pictures of us. There is a photograph around of Brian with the pot on his head.

 

Spending time in the hotel suite

Photo taken by Ringo 

 January 16, 1964 

Palladium Signs

 

January 12, 1964 

Louisa's treasures

 

On October 10, 1964, a 15-year-old Beatles fan, Louisa Walne, went to a Beatles concert.  That lucky girl met everyone who performed at that concert: Mary Wells, Tommy Quickly, Garry Marsden, John, Paul, George, and Ringo (plus Mal Evans).  She also obtained part of the pic Paul McCartney used and a match used by George Harrison.   She kept these treasures in her autograph book and treasured them.  Sadly, Louisa passed away due to a blood clot at the young age of 24.   Her husband of 6 months kept the book all of these years, not just because he's a big Beatles fan but because it belonged to his deceased wife and was something she loved.  However, the widower feels that it is now time to pass this amazing book to someone else who will cherish it, and it is going up for auction later this month.  

Photoshoot on the staircase

 

January 11, 1964 -  This is such a fun photo shoot and so different than others they have done.  Love it!