55 years of Hey Jude

 

September 4, 1968

Linda's photos of Paul during the DW

Photos by Linda (Eastman) McCartney 

 June 23-24, 1968 

Paul was having the best weekend ever

 

Beverly Hills

 

Hey Jude

 

My how you've grown

 

Paul's pole dancing days

Who's that girl?

Who would have guessed that the lady sitting next to Paul in the backseat of that car in Los Angeles 50 years ago today would have ended up being his wife and mother of four (counting Heather) of his children.? 

A day no one will ever forget

If you were a Beatle fan in Los Angeles on June 24, 1968 - it is a day that you will never forget.   I have posted many stories and photographs of what happened 50 years ago today on this blog, that I don't need to rehash it all.   However, I thought I would post a few and say thank you to the fans for sharing such amazing Paul photos over the years. 

Come sail away with me

both photos by Tony Bramwell 

I have only ever seen these photos in black and white.   In color, they look so vibrant!

Strumming on a boat

Photo by Tony Bramwell 

Those eyes---that jacket---

Red jacket and the L.A. sun

The beginning of a beautiful relationship

Who invited the kids?

Red velvet

Take my breath away.....

This has to be one of the most gorgeous photos of Paul McCartney I have seen in a very long time.   That red velvet jacket always gets me.

Paul McCartney in Hollywood

I am not quite sure where this story came from.   I got it in a bunch of newspaper clippings and it is a photocopy.  So it could be from anywhere, but most likely a teen magazine.  We have seen Robyn Flans before.  She worked for Modern Drummer magazine and met Ringo in the 1980's and 1990's.  Well here she is a total teenage fan girl over Paul McCartney in Los Angeles in 1968.   I feel like there must be more to this story.  How did these girls just happen to get to talk to Paul on the phone and get invited over to his Bungalow in the first place?   

Paul McCartney in Hollywood!

By Robyn Flans and Gerri Friedman

As he approached, it truly seemed like a dream – a flight from reality.  It had been a rough day.  At 7:30 we had boarded a bus.  Finally, at 9:00, once at the magic Beverly Hills Hotel, we reached Paul on the phone.  He spent a half hour talking to us, telling us his bungalow number and then that we’d be expected about 6:00 in the evening, which meant a day of nervous waiting!  We began our waiting by sleeping in the bathroom, which only wasted an hour.  That left us with five hours on our hands.  By 5:00 it became evident that the lobby was not the place for us to wait, becoming formal, so we, in our jeans, silently trotted out to the lawn to wait patiently for him.  When 6:00 rolled around and still Paul did not return, we began to doubt his word.

But, alas, at 7:12 our fate arrived, and luckily we were still alive to be rewarded by his presence.   As we walked up those bungalow steps, the echoes of knocking knees could be heard plainly.  Courageously we approached Paul’s roommate Tony, who was nice enough to bring us to Paul’s attention.  Once  we had that over with, the rest was easy.  As Paul emerged from his bungalow, our knocking knees were put at ease as he told us to relax and have a seat.  We sat down close to him, checking to make sure Paul would not slip from our grasp.  Hoping not to impose, we politely asked Paul if we could snap some pictures.  Obviously being used to them, he accepted with graciousness. 

Between sips of water, we asked Paul questions.  He told us why “Magical Mystery Tour” got a bad write up in England.  Seems that they’re very conservative over there.  And we’re not?!?!  But we always thought….Oh well, it doesn’t matter what we think.  It is what he thinks that counts.  We spoke of how some people are mean by giving the fans fake information to make themselves look big.  The thing that amazed us, was that he was so real (maybe because he is!?), and so unaffected.  Whenever there was a lull in the conversation,  Paul sang for us putting us at ease immediately.  Paul was also asked to explain, “How I won the War.”  He told us that people play more into it then there really is, and then he went on  to explain some of the confusing parts to us.  One of the other girls with us, Vicki, gave Paul a pair of beads as a small token of her love for him.   Being original in every way, he put them on his shoes – trying to start another fad, huh Paul?

The pictures were still being snapped and after every flash in our eyes, we were truly scared to open them in fear of waking up and finding our dream gone.

The climax of our visit occurred when Lesley went to give Paul her gift to him.  It was a common, ordinary everyday gift – an elephant bean.  You’re asking me what it is?  You’ve got to be kidding!  Actually, we soon found out, when the minute bean fell from Lesley’s nervous hands, coming apart as it touched bottom.  Lesley commenced to picking up the elephants – ivory elephants that is – to be exact twelve tiny ones.  While all this was going on, Paul felt he had to get into the act (the ham) so he began shouting verse of “Go Lesely!! Hurry Les! “ etc.   What a scene!  Lesley frantically began to retrieve them as Paul eagerly extended his hand for the elephants.  Paul was in the process of calculating nine from twelve, trying to see how many elephants he had lost in the accident, when all of a sudden, a lady popped out of the bushes.   Would you believe a maid walked around the corner?  We all laughed for a while about that.

Time was running short, so we all decided it best to record his face in our minds.  We could never forget the moment we had waited for for five long years.  Our reward sat there as we examined him from top to bottom.  He’s much more beautiful in person than in pictures, but the pictures we took captured much of his beauty.  His eyes, his most outstanding feature, are of hazel color.  They’re big and droopy and just by looking at them, one can tell Paul’s feelings.  His nose and mouth are perfectly shaped, but there is still a small scar form his motorbike accident.  Being nobodies, Paul didn’t really dress up for the occasion.   He wore brown and white herringbone pants and no top however, so we might not get the wrong idea, he put on a velvet maroon jacket. 

We felt we had taken up enough of Paul’s precious time, and we told him so.  Then the best moment of the forty he had spent with us happened.   All four of us received kisses, but for some wonderful reason, we two, received special ones – on the lips.  We were only ecstatic with happiness.  We thanked him for spending so much time with us and then we all stood up.

Dirty weekend fans

These photos were taken by Lucille Azzarito and Patti O'Neil.   I have been doing a bit of reading about Paul's L.A. trip in 1968.     He was extremely open and welcoming to the fans while he was there. 

Hey Jude

This is a story from a 1978 .issue of "The Write Thing."  It was written by Sher M. of Brooklyn New York. It tells her story of her once in a life-time experience of singing with the crowd during the song "Hey Jude" on the David Frost show on September 4, 1968. 

It began the evening before, when at EMI we were all given invitations by Mal (Evans) to attend "a TV performance by The Beatles" as they worded it. But actually the key word on the priceless piece of paper was "take part" in a Beatles performance. None of us had any idea what that would involve. Some thought we'd be on the popular English program "Top Of the Pops" with the Beatles. "Taking part" would have meant dancing on the show. That prospect was not exactly thrilling.

 Well anxious and excited we met at Paul's house (Cavendish Avenue, just blocks from EMI) to wait for him to leave for the studio. The filming was to take place at Twickenham Studios. At Paul's there was about 10 people including my three friends and I. Paul came out after a limousine arrived. He was with Nat Weiss, an American lawyer and associate at the time and friend of the late Brian Epstein.

Paul was wearing a red velvet jacket. He held up the limo while we crowded around his side of the car. After a few minutes of autograph signing for some German girls, the car drove off with Paul waving to us.

 We made our way to Victoria Station. Apple was providing our bus transportation to the studio and back. A lot of the "regulars" from Cavendish Ave. were already there. We all boarded the bus, about 30 of us now, and headed for the studio.

We later found out that meanwhile The Beatles were filming the "Revolution" promo film.



When we arrived and ran up to the gate I could hear John singing at the top of his lungs. Mal came over to us and said we'd be allowed in shortly. I heard John stop singing and then start again, trying to get the song perfect. It was unreal thinking The Beatles were right in the building next to where we were standing. Needless to say we were all nervous wrecks!

 Mal led us through the gates and took us to a cafeteria for tea and sandwiches, but we weren't very hungry. As we sat there two more buses arrived with about forty more people. We were getting mad thinking there would now be a real mob scene. Finally we were all led into a courtyard over which was a glass enclosed walkway going from one building to the next. As we were standing there James Paul McCartney himself comes walking overhead and seeing all of us down below he stops and waves. Never let it be said that Paul passes up an opportunity to ham it up a bit. We all started jumping up and down going quite mad by then as the tension and excitement built.
 Paul ran out of sight and we (now about 50 people) were brought into the studios. (Mal Evans wrote in the Beatles Monthly Book magazine (Issue #63, October 1968) that 300 extras were given invitations.) There were no Beatles in sight, but their equipment was on a small stage and a piano was put up there for Paul. We couldn't see much at first as there were a lot of cameras in the way.

After the instruments were properly set up in walked the four of them. I froze on the spot as this was the first time I'd ever been so close to all four of the Beatles at once. The Beatles went to the stage where John and George began tuning their guitars while Paul doodled on the piano. I was busy watching Paul joke around with John.

John, Paul, George and Ringo then started jamming with hit tunes like "Hang Down Your Head Tom Dooley" and other favorites. It was quite funny. I was able to make my way closer to the stage and happened to over hear George singing to himself, "I Just Want To Make Love To You" by the Stones. I think he suddenly realized that he could be heard and stopped abruptly.

 A friend from Liverpool was on stage, who was quite drunk, wearing a flower behind each ear. He was cracking jokes and the Beatles laughed along with him until he started asking John embarrassing questions. The friend was completely soused, when he turned to John and asked "Can I ask you a question?". John nodded and there was complete silence. The friend continued "Did you love your wife?". John immediately came back with "Not lately". There was silence again after John answered then Paul saved the day. Paul began playing the piano and said to John "What was your most embarrassing moment?" Everyone laughed and all was okay.

 The director told us we'd be singing the long ending with the Beatles and we practiced it once, with everyone running into surround the small platform nearly knocking over huge cameras in the rush. Well we were told to cool it a bit, don't kill each other, we would all get pretty close to The Beatles without destroying the studio.
 We tried it again and it was less chaotic although I was frustrated in my attempts to get over to Paul's side of the stage as the largest rush was in that direction. We practiced a few more times still without filming and I managed to get either on the stage on George's side or right in front. Of course when we actually filmed I wasn't able to get as close as my two friends who managed to end up sitting behind George on Ringo's drum stand. What you ended up seeing on the actual promo film is the cameras backing away from the Beatles towards the end of the song and suddenly there are people there around them, but behind the scenes it was quite frantic trying to get the spot nearest the stage. It was a friendly competition though, except one time Ringo nearly got knocked off his stand! Ringo laughed about it. After we'd filmed it once the Beatles left to view it in their dressing rooms upstairs. At least I thought they'd all gone out. I turned to watch the film on one of the monitors and there in the middle of the crowd were Ringo and Paul watching also.

 When George and John returned we tried it again, and again and...we actually filmed for five hours till it was exactly what the Beatles wanted. Let me stress that I'm not complaining! If they would've kept us there 50 hours I wouldn't have minded. I never wanted that night to end. Each time the Beatles came back from viewing the film and decided to do it again we all cheered!

The best times were between actual filming when The Beatles would just fool around on stage. David Frost was to have the film on his show and when he mentioned them in the promo spot for the show we all cheered - but we weren't supposed to. So later on, we found out from Mal, David would be redoing the promo clips with the Beatles there.

 Six of us decided to stay when the filming was finished. everyone but us got back on the buses to London. It was about 11:30PM by now and we'd been there about six hours. Only The Beatles, Mal, David Frost and studio technicians were left after the buses had gone. It was the closest to being alone with the Beatles I would ever get. Frost's intro was re-done and while he was talking I stood alone on the side just watching. George suddenly looked at me from where he was sitting on the little stage and broke into this gigantic grin. One of the girls nearby said "Did you see the look he gave her?" I'd met George at his house three days earlier and obviously he'd remembered.
 The Beatles walked out to go to the dressing rooms and we went out with them. I asked Paul if we could all take a picture with him. He said, "sure" and we crowded around him. I had my Instamatic camera which one of my friends grabbed from me and prepared to get a shot of us around Paul. Well, naturally the flash wouldn't go off. Paul took my camera, turned it around in his hands a few times and then said, "Catch me later.". Paul ran upstairs and we sat outside waiting for them.

I could see The Beatles in a little kitchen having drinks, Yoko was up there too and some studio girls. After about a half hour Ringo came out with his chauffeur and said "goodnight" to us, not far behind him was George who smiled and got into his car. A few minutes later Paul came downstairs and as he stepped into the lighted doorway I snapped his picture. He threw out his arms as if to say "Ah you got me!"



 John and Yoko were right behind him and as they came out I got another pic of all three of them. They really looked tired and Paul said the film had come out great, giving the me thumbs up sign when I asked him about it. They got into their limousine and Paul turned to wave at us out the back window all the way down the road and out of sight.

That night heralded the end of my 1968 trip as I left two days later. It was surely a gigantic stroke of good luck and timing to have been a part of that historic night. I'll never forget it.