Struting his stuff

 August 30, 2001 

Ranks Revere to Candlestick Sound (San Francisco, 1966)

Ranks Revere to Candlestick Sound

By Cynthia Grant

New Register

September 2, 1966

    The ranks of the reluctant fathers inched along bumper to bumper in the slow lane. The tolerant mothers chauffeured back seats loaded with 14- and 13-year-old girls, while more daring teenagers filed through the fast lane, and all headed for the Beatles' concert Monday night.

     Moving into Candlestick Park, the crowd was obviously a show in itself. Boys' hair hung longer than the girls' and curlier. Mod clothes, definitely in fashion, ranged from sleeveless purple halters to Indian moccasins and headbands.

     Good seats were filling quickly. Center field remained empty, but about 26,000 found their way inside. Sitting in front, three 12-year-old girls looked and pointed, insisting they had sighted the Beatles. Screams arose, and the whole park stood as the armored car, which the Beatles would leave the park in, pulled up to the stage empty.

     For the audience, the show began not with the preliminary acts, but with the Beatles. It was the Beatles everyone wanted to see. The Remains led off the show, followed by Bobby Hebb of "Sunny" fame. The Cyrkle and the Ronettes followed. All were entertaining. The crowd applauded politely for each number. 

    The tension began gripping as the Beatles' approach was nearing. Suddenly, they stepped out of the Giants' dugout, all the Fab Four decked in green suits, screaming, waving, shrieking, cheering; the crowd went wild. The four young men stepped briskly to the stage, waving and smiling at the crowd.

     "Rock and Roll Music" led off the show, and the crowd continued their noisy tribute, standing all the while. After about three numbers, Burns' cops sat the crowd down. Other songs done included "Nowhere Man," "She's a Woman," "If I Needed Someone, ""I Want to Be Your Man" (with Ringo), "Yesterday" and "Long Tall Sally". All 11 songs at 9:25 p.m. and ending three minutes after 10. The show was over. 

    The sound had been excellent, clear, and loud. Compared to the Cow Palace fiasco of last year, the crowd itself was well behaved. Two girls were removed from the field, only one via a stretcher. One rush was made as boys swarmed over the center field fence. Apparently warning the Beatles, the crowd shrieked as they surged in from Willie Mae's pasture. After the first abortive try, another assault was made with the same results. Burns police snapped the youth. 

    Enjoying the happenings, Ringo glanced over his shoulder at the intruders, while John muttered, "They're coming this way! They're coming this way! Head them off!" to the harried officers, away from any of the four. A wave of frenzy swept through the crowd as the 20,000 girls sprang to their feet, screaming and waving. As the Beatles sang, cameras flashed like spotlights. Screams and cries shook the air and blended with the fantastic sound, while bodies rocked or jumped up and down.

     From "She Loves You" to "Eleanor Rigby", their current number one record, the crowd actions expanded. When the 10:30 farewell came, the park was on its feet, giving the last thunderous ovation. The armored car, surrounded by the Burns patrol, pulled away. Fans fled for the exits. The Beatles obviously not to return, but the exit and remembrance solidified the devotion. And parents, adults, non-believers, etc. You only had to be there to know it wasn't as bad as all that.
 

Jim Marshall's backstage photos

All photos taken by Jim Marshall 

 

10 Years Ago the Beatles Last Show (1976)

 10 Years Ago the Beatles Last Show

By Phillip Elwood

The San Francisco Examiner

August 30, 1976

    Beatlemania seems to be sweeping the pop music world again, as it did a decade ago. Capitol Records is repackaging the original issues of Beatles singles and albums, and an International organization has been formed to encourage the Beatles to get together once again in public performance.

     10 years ago, the Beatles concluded their U.S. tour, which included 19 shows in 14 cities, with a performance at Candlestick Park. The concert, on the evening of Monday, August 29, 1966, lasted 30 minutes, included 11 tunes, and ended at 9:50 p.m. That was the last time the Beatles appeared together in public performance. 

    The Beatles had played San Francisco twice before, 1964 and in 1965, at the Cow Palace. The evening show in '65 set a record there, which still stands, for over 18,000 customers for a reserved-seat concert. 

    Early in June 1966, it was announced that promoter Tom Donahue, in conjunction with station KYA, and using DJ Johnny Holliday and Emperor Gene Nelson as MCs, would present the Beatles at Candlestick with tickets at $6, $5, and $4. A total of 30,000 seats were ticketed, but the event didn't sell out. About 25,000 customers paid a gross of some $130,000.

     The Beatles arrived by plane late in the afternoon. They were sealed up in an armored truck and driven to Candlestick, where they arrived at 5:45 p.m. The San Francisco police provided a station wagon and a couple of motorcycles for an escort. The caravan also included a bus and a few limousines for the supporting acts and equipment.

     After cruising around the stadium parking lot, waiting for an attendant to find the gate key, the caravan finally went through the right center field gate, and the Beatles disembarked and walked directly into the dressing room clubhouse area used by the San Francisco Giants. By 6o'clock, the fans were also arriving. They found most of the stadium lights illuminated, as they were for the whole show; spotlights were also used to pinpoint featured performers. The stage was built over second base. The closest any fans got was about 150 feet, and those in the second deck, the "cheap seats", could barely see the platform and often could not hear anything. 

    The Boston rock group The Remains opened the program with four numbers and was followed by Bobby Hebb, who also did four selections ending with "Sunny," his big hit for the summer of '66. Holiday was MC at the beginning, as I remember, filling the brief space between acts. The pace was fast. The performers were anxious to get the tour over with, and the crowd, very young and agitated, was there only for the Beatles. Two piles of loudspeakers flanked the stage. No one, except a few guards, was allowed on the stadium grass or infield. Artists came to the stage by walking from the Giants' dugout area across first base and eventually to the stage stairs. After Hebb, the Brian Epstein-managed group Cyrkle played five numbers, including "Red Rubber Ball," which had been a big hit in the spring of 1966, and "Turn Down Day," which soon became a hit. Following Cyrkle, with the crowd screaming every time any head stuck out of the dugout entrance, the Ronettes, a first-rate soul rock group, trudged through the grass (there was no plastic turf then) and onto the stage. 

    I remember thinking, with amusement, how strange the three black Ronettes seemed in shimmering nightclub gowns, singing "Be My Baby" and "Walking in the Rain" to 25,000 Beatles fans, most of whom were bubblegum teeny boppers about 14 years old. The gutsy, sensual Ronette's lyrics didn't have much effect, however, since the crowd noise, anticipating the Beatles, was horrendous by this time. 

    All 19 tunes performed by the opening four acts, plus the on-track comments by Holliday and his colleague Nelson, absorbed only 70 minutes. Without any intermission, and barely time enough for the Ronnetts to leave the field, the four Beatles raced across the turf and onto the stage. The crowd's response was deafening. It was as if Willie Mays had just homered into the left-field bleachers to win the World Series.

    The Beatles' performance began with "Rock and Roll Music," and then the tunes ground out one by one mechanically and with little distinction. I recall no informal comments from any of the Beatles during the program. Paul handled the introductions.

     Although the Revolver album had been issued three weeks earlier and was on top of the charts, the Beatles did none of the tunes from it. Even "Yellow Submarine", the hit single that week, was not played. "I Want to Hold Your Hand," "Eight Days a Week," "Day Tripper," "Paperback Writer," "Yesterday," and finally "Long Tall Sally" were included. So fast was the performance, and so brief the interval between tunes, the noisy reception given at the end of each number spilled into the roar, which obliterated the first 30 seconds of each new selection. As "Long Tall Sally" was ending, a young lady raced toward the stage front with guards in hot pursuit. As the fans watched her attempt to climb the platform, many didn't notice the armored truck, which had been sitting innocently at the rear of the stage, had thrown open its back doors.

     The four Beatles had hopped from instruments to stairs, to vehicle, and within one minute of concluding the song, the Beatles inside the truck were out of the center field gate onto a service field and heading toward the San Francisco airport. The Beatles were heading finally for England. Their last public concert appearance was over. 

    My review in the Examiner the next day was headed "Beatles Strike Out at Ballpark." Ralph Gleason's Chronicle column was headed "A Puppet Show for the Beatles." There was no press conference here, as there had been in Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles. Beatle John Lennon's comments about religion and the Vietnam War, and a sour attitude toward the Beatles by the U.S. entertainment establishment, had made relations with the press difficult.

     The San Francisco City Treasury netted $17,500 from ticket sales, and the local musicians union was paid $1,072 for providing 25 standby musicians who sat in the stands and played the Star-Spangled Banner at 8p.m. At the time, the evening seemed just like another disappointing rock and roll concert. Certainly not as much fun as the earlier Beatles shows in town. Little did those 25,000 San Franciscoans realize they were seeing the most successful and influential pop music group in history perform together for the final time.

Use of A.I. in Beatles photos

Photo fixed by A.I. 

 

Original photo from Beatles fanzine 

Photo take at the same time for reference 

I have very, very mixed feelings about A.I.   I have to use it for my job, and I see the benefits of it.  It does save me time to get work accomplished.  But when it comes to using it for Beatles photos, I have mixed feelings.  I do not like people using A.I. to make "new" Beatles photos or to show the "whole picture" of a Beatles photo.  Those types of photos really trick people. 

I was playing around with A.I. and used the one photo that I have always wanted a good version of.  This photo of Paul and a fan in the Autumn of 1968 was photocopied in a fanzine, and it did not turn out.  I have never been able to locate the original photo, so I think this A.I. rendering isn't too bad.  Paul's hair is wrong, but not by much, and the pattern in his jacket isn't the same.  But overall, I think it looks good enough to give us an idea of what the real photo looked like. 

Keep in mind that Beatle fans have been manipulating photographs since the early days, when they used to cut off the heads of the Beatles' wife/girlfriend and paste their own on top of it. 

I will say that I don't plan on using A.I. on this site but if I do to illustrate something, I will always disclose its use and have the original available if anyone is interested.  

Ringo Prepares for His Old Age (1986)

 

Ringo Prepares for His Old Age

No Writer Listed

Reading Evening Post

August 27, 1986

    Former Beatle Ringo Starr is planning his retirement home. Ringo will be 46 soon, and with the children growing up, he's looking ahead to old age. So he has drawn up plans to build a retirement home, but it will be a cut above most people's dreams.

     The luxury villa will be set in its own grounds in a corner of Tittenhurst Park, the heavily guarded estate he owns in exclusive Sunningdale near Maidenhead. An application for planning permission to build the villa in the 80-acre park has been submitted to Windsor and Maidenhead Borough Council, which is due to debate the scheme tomorrow.

     A borough council spokesman said there is a recommendation from the officers to refuse the application because the site lies within a green belt. The plan is due to go before Berkshire County Council planners next month, and they are also being urged to turn it down.

     Ringo's solicitor, Mr. John Hemingway, said, "The villa would be in a segregated part of the estate on the site of a former house, so we live in hope that the planners will agree to the scheme.

     "It would be a natural development. The application has been submitted by Mr. Starkey's trustees. The thinking is long term. His oldest son has already married, and the other children are growing up. Probably the existing house will be far too big for Mr. Starkey and his wife in years to come. It is sensible to start planning an alternative home now. The family is growing up, and he is looking to the future."

     Ringo, who has three children from his first marriage, is married to actress Barbara Bach, who has a daughter from her first marriage; he has owned Tittonhurst Park for some years and lives in a large mansion patrolled by security guards and dogs. The estate is screened by electrified fencing. Mr. Hemingway thought Ringo would sell or lease the mansion and move into the new villa.

Stage interaction

 August 28, 2001 

Critic Takes Daughters to a Beatles Concert (Los Angeles 1966)

 

Critic Takes Daughters to a Beatles Concert

By Bob Thomas

Ventura County Star

August 31, 1966

    The Beatles have come and gone, collecting $146,000 and promoting 10 songs in 27 minutes. By way of social commentary, their pay exceeded the combined annual salaries of the President and Vice President of the United States. 

    To the adult, a Beatles concert must be viewed as a social phenomenon, since it is impossible to enjoy as entertainment. Even those with a failing for some of the Beatles' songs can find little pleasure because of inaudibility. 

    The Thomas Group made its third annual pilgrimage to hear the Beatles. Nancy, 18 and ready for college, showed no disenchantment for the Mop Tops. Janet, 14, was in the full throes of fandom. Caroline, eight, was a new entry and not lacking in enthusiasm. This year, the concert was in Dodger Stadium instead of the Hollywood Bowl, and it seemed more fitting for the event to take place in a sports arena rather than a citadel for long-hair music. 

    Dodger Stadium looked somewhat like the Berlin border. Burley guards stood at the bottom and midway of each stairway leading to the field; uniformed policemen with helmets and billy clubs lined the field. Some of them communicating with walkie-talkies. Behind them were three rows of hurdles. Then came a newly erected wire fence. 

    Preliminary acts poured a torrent of noise through the 27th speaker, 2000-watt public address system, while the 40,000 onlookers grew restless and stared at each other. There was much to stare at. One bearded chap in my aisle wore a headdress and robes of an Arab sheik. Another sported a green velvet cape. The girl next to me with the orange page boy bob turned her head, and I discovered she was a fellow. 

    At 9:33, the Beatles came out of the dugout at third base, and it was noisy. Oh yes, it was. At 10 p.m., the Beatles had finished their labors and disappeared into a tent behind the bandstand. Two limousines raced from the tent and out of the ballpark amid screens. Reviews by the Thomas girls: "They didn't sing enough new songs. George's hair was a mess. Paul was the only one who tried to please. They seemed bored, but they're cool. Yes, they're cool. I love the Beatles."

A different angle

 We have seen lots of photographs of the Beatles making this promo for A Hard Day's Night while sitting in baby prams, but I don't recall ever seeing it from this angle.  It is interesting to see the other people standing in the background. 

Banana Joe and crew