The Tonight Show '68

May 15, 1968 -  Interesting fact -- this interview on the Tonight Show is the first time I can find a recording of Paul telling the Scrambled Eggs story. 
 

Mac'd Out in Hollywood

 

Mac’d Out in Hollywood

By Kris Spackman

With a Little Help From My Friends

October 1984

 

The ol’ boy’s done it to us again, gang!  What a mad, wonderful two days were October 22^nd and 23^rd (1984) in LA Beatle history!  As he did in New York and Chicago, Paul breezed into town to promote “Broad Street,” and gave us the chance to see him again.  I hadn’t seen him since the ’76 tour, so I was both thrilled to pieces and absolutely determined we were gonna track him down!

Good old Simmons phoned to let us know he’d left Chicago Friday morning and was LA-bound.  We cruised around town a bit on the weekend, but the weather was so lovely, we guessed that they could be at the beach, Disneyland, the zoo visiting the Chinese pandas?  Anyway, wherever they were was definitely where we weren’t.

But Monday evening was another story.  Thanks to a good friend, we found out that the official press party was being held at one of those fancy Beverly Hills restaurants, the Bistro.  I zoomed over there immediately after work and was joined shortly by my two good pals, Leslie and Sue.  As the legions of Hollywood press descended on us, along with the video camera, crews from Entertainment Tonight, half a dozen local TV stations, and even a film crew hired by Mac himself to film his arrival for his archives.   Tension began to mount as the 6 pm arrival time drew near.  The Beverly Hills police assisted Fox publicity people in lining everyone up in a half-orderly fashion on either side of the doorway, and Sue and I found ourselves sandwiched behind a video cameraman and his boom-mike man on one side while Leslie peeked between two photographers on the other side.

We waited…and waited…and waited…while Jane Seymour, Michelle Phillips, Richard Perry, Michael McDonald, Victoria Principal, D.J. Rick Dees, and Weird Al Yankovic all arrived.

I guess they must’ve been waiting for the eggs to boil again because it was 7:15 before they finally turned up.  And there he was!  What a sight for sore eyes!  In the shock of drinking in that face again after all these years, all I could do was just look at him.  They paused momentarily to pose for the press, and Linda made a funny face at “our” video cameraman as she went through the door.  I remember thinking he seemed smaller to me and that he was wearing an iridescent green suit!  I couldn’t swear to it at the moment, though.  But oh, how gorgeous he still is!

In a minor state of shock, and that glow you feel after seeing one of them, I had to rush off then to the next part of the day’s adventure, leaving Sue and Leslie to await his departure for the LA premiere of the film.  Of course, he was late leaving the restaurant, but the girls reported that there were less people around, so they got another brief but good look at him.

Meanwhile, I connected with my good friend, Kim, at the UA Egyptian Theater in Westwood.  Kimmie miraculously had managed to secure a ticket for herself and guest to the premiere itself!  Westwood was absolutely one gigantic scene!  On both sides of the street, barriers had been erected to hold back hordes of cheering, yelling crowds who’d come to wish him well.  Spotlights crisscrossed the night sky while the Broad Street soundtrack blasted over speakers set up outside the theater.  For a panicked moment, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to find Kim in the mass of humanity, but there she was, right at the arranged point of meet.

On pins and needles, we went through the barriers and were admitted to the theater.  It was only about 7:45, and we were among the first to arrive.  A friend of Kim’s who was an usher pointed out to us the row of seats reserved for the Macs among the four set aside for “celebs,” so we promptly sat down in the next row behind.  And what a choice of seats!

 

We could tell when Paul and Linda arrived by the spontaneous roar of the crowd outside.  And in they came, flashbulbs and TV lights going off around them.  Paul was signing a hasty autograph for someone at the door, and then, as Trevor escorted them down the aisle, the whole audience broke into applause.  It was fantastic!  He looked so happy, smiling, and proud.  He and Linda edged down the row of seats, past friends seated in the first 5 or 6 seats, and then there he was, seated directly in front of me and only two rows ahead.  I couldn’t believe it!

Before he sat down, though, he turned around he gave a thumbs up, and thanked everyone for coming to another burst of applause.  The security people made sure he was surrounded by people he knew.  Bob Giraldi was in the row directly in front of us, Paul in front of him, so we had a wonderful view of him the whole time.

As he and Linda settled in their seats, Michelle Phillips asked him if he wanted the rest of her popcorn, and he accepted, ate some, and handed it to Linda.  Then he turned around and said to the guy next to Giraldi, “And who are you?” so Bob introduced him to whoever it was.  He also chatted to the guys seated to his left, who looked like musicians but no one we knew (Toto maybe?).  When the lights went down, Kim said she thought he was biting his nails.  He made comments to the guys on his left and to Linda.  They leaned heads towards each other during “Here There and Everywhere” which was real sweet.  When her first appearance came during “Ballroom Dancing,” Linda kind of laughed and leaned toward him to say something, almost as if she were a bit embarrassed…and she did the same almost every time there was a closeup of her.  For the most part, Paul seemed to be listening to the audience’s reaction, and he got lots of applause for all of the wonderful songs.  I wished I could see his face, but I was glad to be behind him, so I didn’t have to turn around to look.  Occasionally, his head would bop to the music.  At one point, I was reaching under my seat for my Coke and knocked it over!  In a moment of horror, I imagined it running down under the seats and getting his feet wet, but thank God, the lid stayed on tight, and I was saved!

As the film ended, he and Linda got up immediately to leave, and he danced down the row to the aisle.  They were quickly escorted outside where we heard the waiting crowd roar a farewell.

Kim was absolutely blissed because it was the first time she had ever seen him, and I wasn’t much better, since I hadn’t seen him in so long.  And to be close for two whole hours!

After the movie, Kim and I raced back to her place to pick up her sleeping bag, and we were off to Burbank and NBC, where we joined Sue for an all-night campout for the “Tonight Show” tickets.  God bless Sue!  She’d gone directly to NBC after Paul left the party at the Bistro, arriving about 9 p.m. to find she was 7^th in line.  Kim and I got there about 11:30, and we all spent a long, cold night huddled together in sleeping bags and blankets, trying to catch a couple of hours sleep.  People continued to arrive all night long, and by 7 a.m. the next day, at least 300 people were in a long line, stretching away from the building and around the corner.  The box office opened promptly at 8:30; clutching the precious bits of paper in hand, we raced around to the front of the building to the Carson studio entrance.  And so began a long day of waiting.  We didn’t date leave for fear no not getting in, though Kim had to go to work for a while, so we held her place and ticket.   

The taping itself was not scheduled to start until 5:30 p.m., so we spent the day gabbing with each other and others around us and eating out of the cooler Sue had brought. 

As the day wore on, the old “natives are restless” syndrome began to set in; as more and more people arrived, the line grew behind us and in front of us.  Some people in front of us seemed to be collecting new friends by the minute, and we finally had to protest to the NBC pages, who confronted the culprits and sent them to the back of the line.  As it was, by the time they began to allow people into the studio at 4:30, there were at least 350 people in line and a group of about 40 stand-bys, all of whom, amazingly, made it inside!  We found out later that Paul insisted that tickets be distributed to the fans who had waited all those hours and not to family/friends of NBC and Carson show staff.  Yey Macca!

We were among the 2^nd bunch to be let in, and we decided to split up for single closer seats.  Sue and I were about 8 rows up, and Kim and her friend, Mary Ann, were up a bit higher.  The problem with the Carson Show is making sure the huge cameras and boom mikes don’t block your view.  I had a great view of Paul while he was in the main chair but not when he moved to the couch, and for Sue, it was just the opposite.

Anyway, by the time the taping was to start, the crowd was practically hysterical with excitement, almost to the point where I was afraid, they’d start throwing people out.  I can apricate all the enthusiasm we can muster for the man…but when it gets to the point of spoiling things for him and for the people who want to hear him, it just isn’t fun anymore.  If all those fans who screamed and yelled every time his name was mentioned had just shut up, he would’ve been on stage and on your TV screens five minutes sooner.  So please, folks…remember that in the future.

 

As you know, he looked just great.  He seemed just a bit nervous and a trifle low-key at first, but there was our Mac underneath it all!  During the commercial breaks, fans kept yelling down at him.  Some were ok, and then there were the idiots who made fools of themselves (like the girl who yelled, ‘You’ve got a great bum!’ which embarrassed him at that point; he just ignored them and conversed with Carson).  He responded to an “I love you, Paul” with a cute “I love you too!”  and to “How’s Linda?” and “How’s Ringo?” with “Just fine!”  Then one girl said, “Thank you so much for all the music,” and at that, he really smiled, half stood with thumbs up, and replied, “Thank you!” and everyone applauded and cheered.  Some dumb guy yelled at him, “Hey Paul, sing ‘Hippy Hippy Shake’” and in his best NY-American accent, Mac mocked him back, “Yeah…yeah, sure man…yeah!”  He mostly chatted with Carson in-between, though.

One funny moment was when they went to play the tape of the Broad Street clip, and for the first half a dozen tries, the tape would not play properly.  Carson’s comment was, “Where’d you get this thing? Fotomat?”  And Paul protested, “I didn’t touch it!”  He said he’d never looked at it, so he didn’t know if it worked on not.  The producer then stopped action until they finally got the tape going and said they’d re-start from there.  So all the “bad starts” wound up on the cutting room floor.

While Mary Gross and the magician were on, he talked to her or Ed McMahon during commercials.  He seemed rather bored with the magician and kind of looked around, swinging his foot in time to the music. 

At the show’s end, he shook hands all around and waved goodbye to the audience.   We all headed home, exhausted and overwhelmed.  Hurry back, Mac!

 

 

 

 

 

Ringo-Rama

 March 13, 2003 -- 20 years ago, Ringo was on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno promoting his Ringo-Rama CD.  

The Tonight Show

 May 3, 2002 -  Paul and Heather are on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno.   When they come back from the break, we find Paul and Vickie from the Tonight Show Band singing an amazing duet of "Let it Be" and Paul keeps his arm around her the entire time!   What an amazing moment that must be in Vickie's life!  

It's the Tonight Show!

 

The Tonight Show

 

June 23, 2006 - Ringo on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno.  

The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson

 May 6, 2021

Paul and John were on the Tonight Show in 1968, but did not get to be interviewed by the man himself, Johnny Carson.    Ringo and Barb, the newlyweds, had much better luck in 1981.  

The Tonight Show '68

 

The Joker in the back seat

John and Paul in the back of the limo on the way either to or from the 1968 Tonight show performance. 

Tonight Show

The whole fan aspect of how we many of us 2nd generation fans were able to view when John and Paul were on the Tonight Show in 1968 has fascinated me for years.    The mere fact that one fan had the mindset to record the interview on a reel-to-reel cassette and then another fan had the idea of recording the show with whatever camera was available at that time (without any sound no-less) and those two fans who didn't even know each other at that time, somehow ended up having their two homemade items fused together so that those of us born after 1968 were able to see and hear the show is amazing to me.  Sure, it didn't really match up very well, but it gave you the idea.    A better audio has been available in recent years, but really nothing beats my old VHS copy that has the warning of how "this tape is for true Beatle collector's only.   The quality is a C- and is only meant for fan enjoyment."   Yeah...I felt like I had made it to the top of the Beatle fan food chain when I got that tape back in the 1980's.     Come to find out, the interview itself was awful.    Oh my goodness....you have Paul and John on your show and you ask them about going to Central Park?    So anyhow, when I spotted these photos of John and Paul on the Tonight Show that were taken by a fan off a T.V. screen (who knows...maybe they were snapped from someone watching the VHS I owned) on ebay, I knew I had to snatch them up.    Sure they are  bad quality, but they are in color and they just add to the magic that makes the whole John and Paul on the Tonight Show mystery fun.   Although it sure would have been a lot easier on us all if the programs in the 1960's just kept their tapes.    Thank you Ed Sullivan for keeping your stuff!

John and Paul on the Tonight Show

One of the pieces of Beatles history that has been much discussed over the years is John and Paul's appearance on the "Tonight" show in 1968.   NBC got rid of the tape and it was only shown once on May 14.  So for years the only account we had was one fan who taped the audio on a reel-to-reel machine and another fan who aims a home movie camera at the TV and recorded a silent film.  Someone in the 1980's put these two together to make a crazy version of the show.  I watched that over and over and never truly understood totally what was going on.   Well, after all these years a new audio source has became available!   Some other fan wired his reel-to-reel right into the speakers of his TV set.  The sound is much better than what had previously been available.  No new versions of video has appeared, but I guess you never know.  However, what I have found is an article that appeared in what I believe was the August 1968 issue of TeenSet magazine.   The name of the person who wrote it somehow got cut off the copy I have, but this fan must have also made a recorded because she goes into detail about  what was said during the interview and also her personal thought on it.  I found it to be very interesting, and I wish I had found it back int he early 1990's when I was trying to figure out this interview in the first place.

As the NBC Orchestra did their thing with a reedy rendition of “Eleanor Rigby” and “Hard Day’s Night”, and scattered around the living room, we waited for the Beatles.  I wondered one last time exactly what we were waiting for.

From the time I had heard, early that morning, that John and Paul would be on the “Tonight” show, I’d also heard all sorts of speculations about the type of appearance they’d make.

“It’ll be a film clip of “Lady Madonna,” one doubting Thomas assured me.  Other projections included a filmed interview in their hotel room; another look at the frayed “Strawberry Fields” clip; and the two of them mouthing and maybe even singing one of their old hit duets.

“Maybe they’ll just talk,” offered this fan, and I didn’t stop thinking I could be right even though my suggestion was immediately shouted down.  In part, they were right.  The Beatles were “too big” for the show, or any show now.  But they were also something else that surely not only I had noticed – more humanized less Godheads and more just beautiful people.

“You’re nuts,” I was informed, and this certainly being the case in most cases, I didn’t pursue the subject.  But inwardly, I continued to feel that tonight, tonight, wouldn’t be like any night.  I also hoped and prayed so because if it did turn out to be just a film or a song, it would mean (to me, anyway, and perhaps to them too) they still couldn’t, for reasons of their own venture out of the towers (of real ivory) to which we’d lovingly but limiting condemned them.

Then the music stopped and so did my thoughts as the host of the show said, “Ladies and gentlemen, from the Beatles, John Lennon and Paul McCartney.”

A roomful, and more likely a nationful of Beatle fans held its collective breath as, sure enough, just like real people, John and Paul loped from behind the curtain, failed to pause in center stage to mouth or sing that song, and proceeded to take their places beside Johnny Carson’s substitute, former athletic star, Joe Garagiola (Johnny was off making an appearance somewhere or another, not to mention wishing he were dead for missing the show’s all-time scoop).

The applause was heavy, it contained quite a lot of cheering, and lasted for exactly twenty-five seconds, which is a very long time when you’re on television or trying to hold your breath underwater.

I was so busy wanting to weep from sheer joy at finally being able to hear someone applaud the Beatles instead of the usual clutching and shrieking.  I hardly noticed what was happening on camera, other than to note that Paul was wearing a dark, wide-labelled suit with a generous, noisy tie.  I never did get it straight in my head how John was garbed, nor, it seems, did anyone else.  In the excitement, he appears to have been wearing white pants, white boots, a white turtleneck and alight jacket; dark pants, dark boots, a print shirt and a white jacket; and white pants, white boots and a tan rajah coat.  Personally, I remember only his dear face, his hair surprisingly long and middle-parted, and every word he said.  I know that he was wearing something only because I surely have been among the first to notice if he had not been.

When the applause finally quieted, I returned eagerly to this world and what was happening on the “tonight’ stage.  Unfortunately, I soon discovered that nothing was happening.  The Beatles had done the handshaking bit and were sitting there looking totally unnerved in their clam sort of way with John pulling at his hair and Paul attempting to look unconcerned and failing with a series of facial expressions which are usually the result of sitting down upon quite a large tack.  And nobody was saying a word.  The host was alternating throaty larfs and sips of something out of a tall glass.

At any speed, it was breath-holding time in K.O. Corral, as that roomful and/or nationful wrang its hands and wondered – what are they going to do?  Millions of people are watching.  It’s a bummer and they know it, but can they still save it?

They did.  It was a bummer, but they stooped down, picked the show up and took it with them as paul ended that long moment of silence with a sudden smile and a “well, anyway…” and John relaxed visibly and peered into the camera.

Things were rolling now and Tallulah Bankhead ceased sipping long enough to ask about meditation.  John pleasantly suggested she’d have to find that out for herself, and she replied she wasn’t going that far (to India) to find out anything.  Still pleasantly, John replied, “Well, you can’t learn to swim if you keep inland, can you?”

To which Tallulah quipped, “Can’t learn to swim?  Honey, I can float sitting up.”

It got a laugh but it created another pause and Paul broke it by launching into a story about an interview they’d done that afternoon for an educational station.  “They started asking us questions and they were quite serious questions, you know.  It was a choice between just laughing it up or answering seriously.  So, we were a bit serious.

“You?” asked Joe incredulously.  “Serious? I find that hard to believe,” he added, putting another foot in it, and they next few seconds were devoted to a Beatle throat-clearing session as John and Paul gave out with some resounding ahems and the audience twittered.

“Tell me a joke,” Joe offered, attempting to change the subject and his luck.  The Beatles didn’t know any or couldn’t remember any and said no, they would not like to be comedians and laughed patiently when Talluulah said, “What do you think you are?”

She then launched into a long discussion of some phone call she’d received from London, how much she adored the Beatles, and the surprising fact that Paul was the only unmarried Beatle.

Then came another old line, this time from Joe.  Were the Beatles really a close group, socially? (Zzzzzzz)

“Yes, we’re good friends,” John replied nicely, for the ten thousandth time.

And another, ‘If it hadn’t happened for you in music, what do you think you’d have liked to have done ?”

“Films,” offered John.

“How about you Paul?”  Paul looks almost startled.  “Not breaking a mood am I?”  Joe continues.

“No, you’re doing just great.”  Paul laughs, as does the audience.  “What would I liked to have been?  

 I don’t’ know – I was nearly going to be a teacher, but that fell through luckily.”  Then the music comes up for a commercial break.  Paul hums and the younger members of the audience roar approval.  John, not be outdone (and is he ever?) says, “And now a word from your local station.”

When we came back from Madison Avenue’s latest hype, we found that Paul had just admitted that the two of them had horsed around in Central Park on Sunday without being recognized but he was not able to develop the theme as it was almost immediately time for another word from our local stallion.

Getting back to Central Park, Joe wanted to know if they were really out there without any police or anything.  “We often do this,” John put in.  “If people don’t expect us, what are they going to do?  They see a bit of long hair walking out like all the other long hair.”

A wonderful bit then developed.  Joe wanted to know how much of a city they really see during a tour.  “Isn’t it just ball park to hotel to airport to ball park and so forth?”

“You just pick up the vibrations,” said John.

“I was in England eight years,” said Tallulah, “and never saw one cricket game.  I didn’t understand one word of it so how do you expect them to understand baseball?”

Joe explained, or tried to, that the Beatles had appeared at many ball parks, and Tallulah understood, or tried to.

Finally they were offered a bite of the Apple.  Joe asked about the new organization they were in the states to promote, and john answered,

“Well you see, our accountant came up and said, ‘you have this amount of money – do you want to do something with it or give it to the government.”

“Which government?” interrupted Joe.

“Any old government,” John replied and got another larf.  “Anyway, we decided to play businessmen for a bit so we formed Apple which is going to be records, films and electronics, which all tie up.  We want to form some kind of umbrella so that people who want to make films don’t have to go on the knees in an office, begging for a break.  That’s the idea and we’ll find out what happens.”

“If you want to do something, you normally have to go to big business, them, the big apple.” Agreed Paul.

That brought this comment from John, “you don’t even get to them.  You can’t’ get past the front door because of the color of your shoes.”

Paul continues, “Big companies are so big, if you’re little and good it takes you sixty years to make it, and people miss out on these little, good people and we’re trying to find a few.”

A bombshell from Joe, master of ceremonies but not tact, “Paul, is this because of your background?  You came from a poor background.”

Paul, at first silent and making gesture that says no.

Then John. “It’s just common sense.”

Joe’s turn, “But if you didn’t feel as a youngster you wouldn’t feel it now.”

Paul becomes his gracious self despite the slight.  “It’s just that we know what we had to fight.”

Joe again, “Did you have a pretty tough time getting started?”

Now John. “No tougher than anyone else.  But it’s like George said, I’m sick of being told to keep out of the park.’ That’s what we’re trying to do.  We’re trying to make a park for people to come in and do what they want.

“Symbolically speaking,” Paul laughs.

“Is he the spokesman, would you say, john?” asks Joe (and a few million others).

“If his spokes are working, he is and if mine are…”

Laughter again, and applause.

Then the subject turned to that of privacy.  Do they really have any?

John replies, “Well, we have enough to keep us sane, if we are sane.  Our life isn’t like ‘a Hard Day’s Night’ or any of those things.  That’s only when we’re doing that – we create that or that is created.  When we’re just livin’, it’s calm.”

Tallulah asks, after a bit of idle chatter amongst the group about the hectic pace of New York, if they are nervous about doing this show.  John replies, “sure.”

“Why would you be nervous?” asks Joe, incredulous again.

“Because it’s not natural,” John explained.  “I mean this situation (gestures at lights, cameras) isn’t natural to a human being.”

“If we’d meet you and talk, like in your house, that’d be all right because you could actually talk,” says Paul.  “It’s a bit different when you’re going out into a million homes.”

“Just this is enough,” John laughs, gesturing at the audience.

“You pretty well guard what you say, then,” assumes Joe.

Both Beatles assure him they do not and ask if he isn’t nervous at all?

“I’m nervous because of the…” Joe begins.

“Because, because, because,” interrupts John.  “It’s the same thing.”  (Applause again).

Commercial time again and meanwhile back at the set, Joe brings up the Maharishi.

John speaks, “We found out that we made a mistake there.”

Then Paul, “We tried to persuade him against the Beach Boy tour.  Terrible idea.  And then it folds, too.”

John speaks, “We believe in meditation, but not the Maharishi and his scene.  That’s a personal mistake we made in public.  Meditation is good and it does what they say, like exercise and cleaning your teeth – it works.”

Now Joe, “ Did the Maharishi change, or what?”

Paul answers, “We got all carried away with things like that.  We thought he was magic, floating around and flying.”

John again, “I wouldn’t say don’t meditate.  A lot people would get a great deal good out of it.”

“The system is more important than the Maharishi himself,” Paul adds.  “He’s good and all that, but we just think the system is more important than the personality bit.”

Tallulah wants to know if he giggles all the time, and John reassures her that he does.  “He’s a natural laughter,” he explains.

They were then asked to explain the circumstances of their meeting with the Yogi, and John told the now-old story of the lecture in London. “We all went and we thought what a nice man.  And we were looking for that.  Everybody’s looking for it, but we were all looking for it that day, so we met him and saw a good thing in him and went along with it.  Nice trip.  Thank you very much.”  And the subject was firmly but nicely closed.

Then came the subject of the Beatles ever-changing audience.

John raps, “Everything changes.  We can’t put our finger on what age group and why because everything changes, including us.”

“When we first started, we had leather jackets on, “continued Paul.  “And caps and big cowboy boots.  But then we changed to suits and we lost a whole lot of fans who thought we’d gone posh and didn’t like it because we were all clean.  So we lost that crowd, but we gained all the ones that liked suits.  That’s what keeps happening.  We lost a lot of people with ‘Sergeant Pepper’ but I think we gained more.” (Noisy applause agrees with this point).

Can they ever top Sergeant Pepper?

John says, “I can’t say yes or no, but I think so.  Why not?  It’s only another LP really.”

Joe talks then about them being the most imitated group in the world. (The Beatles stammer embarrassed), Miss Bankhead wanders on about hearing Beatles music and thinking it was Bach, and Joe gets down to the Nitty G. with questions about how they write – together, separately, etc.  Then, unable to find his list of Beatle songs, Joe brings up his favorite (“Yesterday”) and asks the circumstances of it’s composition.

Paul replies in verse:

“Woke up one morning

With a piano by my bed

Went to the piano

And this is what I said…”

As John industriously writes these words down on the palm of his hand (with his finger) Paul patiently tells the “Scrambled Eggs” bit, to Joe’s (you guessed it) incredulous disbelief.  “You wrote a song called ‘Scrambled Egg’ and it turned out to be ‘Yesterday?”

Tallulah takes it, “That’s the story of my life.”

Laughter and then Joe wants to know what question, of all questions, bugs them the most.  It probably isn’t an easy one to answers gracefully, since he’s just asked most of them himself.

John replies, “We’re past being bugged by questions unless they’re very personal, and then you just get normal human reactions.  But there used to be one about what are you going to do when the booble bursts.  We’d have hysterics because somebody always asked it.”

Don’t look now, but someone’s about to ask it again.  “What are you going to do?” asks Joe, laughing.

“I haven’t a clue,” replies John.  “I’m still looking for the booble.” (Still more applause).

“How long are you going to be here?” asks Joe.

“It could be any minute now,” replies John.  And unfortunately, it was.  After reading a commercial just for fun (which wasn’t shown on the West Coast and a few other parts of the country because that particular sponsor hadn’t bought air time in the places – blast!) he and Paul paid their respects, said their goodbyes and split.

I am not surprised that several New York newspapermen wrote of being disappointed by the “press conference” held by John and Paul during their stay in New York.  To almost-quote one, he liked them and had looked forward to talking with them minus the teenybopper atmosphere of their tour press conferences.  He had been disappointed by this long-awaited meeting, however, because he had found there was nothing beneath the surface of their flip remarks.

I do hope this gentleman and his associates turn on (it would help) the “Tonight” show.  Perhaps, if they did, they will know who else was disappointed by that press conference.  Namely, two young men who will respond kindly and wisely to even the most inadequate of questions, if they’re given half a chance to communicate.  And there are two more at home must like them.