Working on their next masterpiece

 April 27, 1966

Ringo on Holiday

 

Leaving Spain

 

A Night at the Marquee Club

 April 18, 1966

The photographer and the photo

 April 14, 1966

Revolver Session

 

April 13, 1966

Mystery Girl

 Anyone recognize this girl with George in Japan in 1966?

Paul with glasses

 

April 11, 1966

Safari Park

April 5, 1966 -- Ringo and John attend the opening of a Safari Park.  
 

Take Two

 April 2, 1966 

Inside Hollywood (1966)

 Inside Hollywood

By Sheilah Graham

The News

April 1, 1966

    "You're a bloody liar," said Beatle Paul McCartney. I looked around to see to whom he was being so rude, and I realized his fury was directed at me. "You said we were married," continued Paul. Girlfriend Jane Asher tossed her long, straight mane of red hair, and I couldn't tell whether she was agreeing or disagreeing. 

    "That was two years ago," I protested. "Then, when you told me you were not mature enough for marriage, I believed you."

     Lately, I've been printing that they are GOING to marry, and that this was based on what Miss Asher told me some months ago, that "We will marry eventually."

     So, with Paul getting his New London home all fixed up and everything, I assume that the nuptials must be near. But to judge by his behavior, this conversation took place in the street in Piccadilly, he is still obviously not mature enough for marriage. 

    Funny thing, their advisors thought that marriage would hurt the Beatles with their fans, but at the Alfie premiere, the three married Beatles, John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, when they appeared in a Rolls Royce with their wives, received a much louder scream from the kids outside than when bachelor Paul arrived with Jane.

     It was Ringo's car, and he was pretty peeved when some strong-armed girls tore off the door trying to get at him.

     Having seen Miss Asher's performance in Alfie, I doubt whether she will have much of a future as an actress. She would be smart to marry Paul as soon as he matures.

     None of the women in Alfie could win a beauty contest. Jane is prettier in real life than on screen. Michael Caine gives an ingratiating performance as Alfie, the heel of all time. If he committed an error, it was trying to win sympathy for the nasty little jerk he plays. 

    Shelley Winters is also good in the picture, told me not long ago that actors are so insecure they cannot bear to be hated, and they try to make the worst character sympathetic. There are some very funny lines in Alfie, but the abortion scene is not only crude, but it is also sick-making. Tippi Hedron actually fainted in her seat at the premiere, she told me afterward. Another woman said she threw up. It will be interesting to see what the Legion of Decency has to say.

Back at 6 Mason's Yard

 April 1, 1966

The tame photos from the photo shoot that day

 

March 25, 1966

Alfie After Party

 March 24, 1966

Just looking at these photos, I always thought that Paul was intoxicated and trying to still keep things together.  But he has a bottle of wine in front of him and is actively drinking it.  His tie looks a little askew, and just the look on his face is that of someone who has had too much alcohol.  But he still is trying be polite and act sober in front of the press and well wishers.  

Indica Bookstore

 March 22, 1966 

Visiting his family

 March 5, 1966

Skiing in Switzerland

 

March 3, 1966 

My Missing Years (1966)

 My Missing Years

By Maureen O'Grady

Rave Magazine

February 1966

    Freddie Lennon looks a very happy man, but don't be deceived. Hidden deep down are things that have happened in his past that he cannot forget, things he will never forget. As I realized, as we sat and talked in the offices of Pye Records, where a few weeks earlier, he had recorded his record "That's my Life."

     "The two saddest things about my life were losing my son and my wife." The breakup with his wife-- he said she was leaving him and starting to move furniture out of the house, he helped her, thinking she was joking and would come back, but she didn't. She meant it. And John, his son, who, on the death of his mother, lived with his Aunt Mimi. Things can never be the same between them again, not a proper father/ son relationship. He knows this. How could it be when the last but one time he saw John was when he was six, and then the last time when John was 24? For nothing can replace those missing 18 years.

     The last meeting happened a year or so ago in Brian Epstein's office. It was a strange experience for both of them. All the years in between, while Freddie had been away at sea, he had thought of John. "It's only natural," he said warmly, "after all, he is my son. And the funny thing was, I always knew, had a feeling that one day I would see him again.

     "The first two or three minutes were very awkward. I mean, it wasn't a situation where we would run into one another's arms. But after a while, we talked about things, laughed, and joked. John would have stayed longer, but he had to rush off to the BBC. His life is so busy now.

     "And then we said goodbye in typical Liverpool fashion, 'see you then'. Just friends." What does he think of John's well-known sarcastic nature?  "Well, the boy's obviously got a chip on his shoulder, that's all. But I'm partly to blame for that, I know."

     Freddie himself didn't grow up in a happy family atmosphere. He was raised in an orphanage, Blue Coat Hospital, in Liverpool. He remembers that John's first teacher, a Mr. James Bond, who still recalls John, went to the same orphanage. He remembers loads of little things like that, as though it were only yesterday. It's strange to think that during those missing years in between, Freddie didn't realize that his son was one of the world-famous Beatles. 

    "People kept saying to me, when the Beatles were in the papers nearly every day, 'For sure, that's your son, Fred. ' And eventually I discovered it was. You know, I wouldn't have come forward as I did. I was going to leave things as they were, but I couldn't.

     "Things were being written about me, lies. Everything was getting twisted. I came forward to tell my side of the story -- not for money, but so everyone could know the truth." He's heard that people think he's just cashing in on his son's name. "I know a lot of people think so, but it's not true. I have no reason to change my name, have I? It's no gimmick. The words of my song came naturally and sincerely, and that proves it."

     His last job, working at a ship hotel in Shepperton, is where he met his managers, Tony Cartwright and Tom Jones. Tom and Tony would tell Freddie that his voice was still as good as ever. He has been singing for years now on his own right, organizing ship concerts, and has sung in places like New York and Montreal. "Why don't you make a record?" They continually asked, and he followed their advice.

     Freddie laughed. "I told John that I was the first one to take the Liverpool sound to America. He seemed very pleased and amused when he heard that. John said he would buy a copy of his record. I was hoping he'd buy 20,000 copies, then I'd be able to knock the Beatles off the top of the Hit Parade. That would be a laugh."

     In fact, every mention of John seemed to light him up. What would he do if he earned a lot of money? "I want to get a little business with a house attached. I have no home at present. I wouldn't marry again. A new mother for John would just about be the last straw with him. I know I wouldn't do that."

     He says his son's feelings still matter to him. He doesn't want to embarrass or annoy him, for there's been too much of that in the past. He's fond of John and wants to stay friends. Losing a son is something that happened, but he's trying to make it a little bit better, even if it just means they stay friends.

The Married Life of the Beatles (1966)

The Married Life of the Beatles

By Maris Ross

UPI

February 27, 1966

     "Money Can't Buy Me Love" sang The Beatles --- and it didn't. With fame and fortune of their own, they could have married fame and fortune, but their wives are just ordinary girls-- an ex-art student, an ex-hairdresser, and a little more glamorous, an ex-hairdresser who became a model. That leaves Paul McCartney, 23, as the only bachelor Beatle.

     What's it like being a Beatle wife? "Just great," said Cynthia Lennon, husband of John [sic]. "I've no regrets about it."

    But it's not all fun, and means keeping a bit in the background. Beatle manager, Brian Epstein once said, "The Beatles present a better image without girls in the foreground."

     You also have to put up with the 1000s of other women who adore their husbands. "I don't let it bother me," said Cynthia. "I know it's not for real. It's the music, I'm sure that makes them feel that way, but one of the things I have realized now, in the high price one has to pay for fame is loss of personal freedom."

     When the Beatles gained their first yelling fans, they were all taken to be bachelors. Nobody realized that John and Cynthia, now both 25, were married in the summer of 1962, just before the Beatles cut their first disc. "Love Me Do." They had met over a pot of paint when they both did a course at the Liverpool School of Art. 

    "I never kept my marriage a secret," said John. "It's just that when we first came on the scene, nobody asked us. I kept my wife out of it, and I do now, because I've always disliked reading about people's families."

     Drummer Ringo Starr, 25, was the next to go, and he admits he was worried at first about what the fans would think, but in the end, "I thought I would get married, whatever happened," said Ringo. "I don't think many teenage girls broke into tears when they heard the news."

     He was married on February 11 of last year to ex hairdresser Mary Cox, known as Maureen, to her friends. Ringo and Maureen, 19, had to pay the price of publicity when the press discovered their seaside hideaway within 24 hours of their wedding and camped outside the gate. The couple ended up giving a news conference on the first day of their honeymoon. 

    George Harrison, 23, put Ringo's experience to good use when he became the third Beatle to wed on January 21 of this year. His bride was an ex-hairdresser turned model, Patricia Ann Boyd, 21, otherwise known as Pattie. They announced outright that they weren't going on a honeymoon, because "we would just be hounded and wouldn't get any peace."

     They went instead to Georgia's  $56,000 five bedroom bungalow in suburban Esher south of London, and got some peace behind the 14-foot-high wall that surrounds the property. 

    The Beatles' wives have long hair in common, in addition to the fact that they all do quite a bit of staying home. On October 26, 1965, The Beatles went to Buckingham Palace to receive the single honor of membership of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) from Queen Elizabeth. John and Ringo could have taken their wives along, but they stayed home looking after their respective sons, John Jr. now two, and Zak, born September 13. Epstein went to the palace instead.  Pattie,  unmarried then was on a modeling job, and Jane was rehearsing a new play. 

    When their husbands go on tour, the wives stay home. Cynthia went along on the first US tour early in 1964, but this led to adverse publicity when one national British newspaper told how it tried unsuccessfully to talk to her at London Airport on the group's return. "Not a word, Cyn," one of the Beatles' publicity men was quoted as saying to her.

    In 1964, Maureen went off on a month-long holiday in the West Indies with Ringo when she was only 17. A story appeared in the press that her father, ship steward Joe Cox, had learned she was 5,000 miles away only because he read it in the papers, but he would have given his permission for her to go anyway. Paul and Jane were also on this trip. 

    When Maureen came back, she said she was not going back to her hairdressing job in Liverpool. Ringo said, "Maureen is to be my personal secretary. She can give my mum and dad a hand with the mail."

     Both Maureen and Cynthia, like their husbands, grew up in the rough seaport of Liverpool. Maureen lived with her parents in a block of slum clearance flats on Liverpool's Boundary Street. "I met Maureen three days exactly after I joined the Beatles, and from then on, it's been a knockout all the way," said Ringo. "We met in the Cavern. Doesn't everyone?"

     The Cavern, the now-famous cellar club in Liverpool, was the place where Epstein first met the Beatles. At their first recording session in 1962, he decided they needed a more distinctive drummer, so they chose Ringo in place of their old one. 

    Cynthia, the longest married, is poised, sincere, and rather shy. She has artistically furnished their home. She cooks plain food well and doesn't like it if John keeps jumping up and down from the table to change records. A dinner guest recalls, "She once said, 'For goodness sake, sit down. You're giving me indigestion.'"

     John has always wanted to keep her out of the mob scene. At London Airport on the return from that same US trip in 1964, John was heard to shout while surrounded by battling fans, "Get Cyn  out of this!" 

     One thing they don't have to worry about is transport. The Lennons have a Rolls-Royce, a Ferrari, a Volkswagen, a minicar, and a chauffeur. 

    Pattie, the newest Beatle bride, is a blue-eyed baby-faced blonde who likes the fashion for skirts way above the knee. She comes from a family of six in Somerset, southwestern England. She was educated at a convent and spent most of her childhood in Kenya, where her father had a farm. She started working as a hairdresser, didn't like it, and turned to modeling. Her "dolly girl" looks made her a favorite with fashion photographers and led her to part in A Hard Day's Night. After it, she said, "I'm no actress. I'm terrible." She decided to stick to modeling. 

    George kept denying rumors of marriage right up to the morning of their wedding. "Now, the rumors can start about me, I suppose," said Paul. In fact, they started long ago about him and Jane, the daughter of a surgeon and an up-and-coming actress. So the question mark over the Beatles is, when will the last one get married? 

Lennon's Locks Tumble for Role in New Movie (1966)

 Lennon's Locks Tumble for role in New Movie

By Gerry Phillips

Go Magazine

September 23, 1966

    Beatle fans all over the world were stunned when they learned that John Lennon was to have his hair cut for a movie role. The trimming was in Germany a few days ago, and Gerry Phillips, Go's London bureau chief, flew there for this eyewitness report.

     I flew from London to Luneberg Heath, West Germany, to witness a sight as important to today's teenagers as the signing of the surrender of the German army was to their parents in 1945. The location was the same, and it was another surrender.

     John Lennon surrendered his famous hair to start a solo acting career in movies. I must admit, I felt a surge of nostalgia as I watched movie director Dick Lester playfully snip away at the famous Lennon locks, for although I predicted the Lennon move several weeks ago, it just didn't seem right for a Beatle to have his hair cut.

     A young film company secretary standing beside me winced with each snip of the scissors. I thought I detected a tear. John smiled as photographers joked about his baldness. "That's show business," he said. "I'm much more interested in my role in How I Won the War than having long hair."

     Outside the film lot, ardent German fans kept a silent vigil, hoping to get a glimpse of the new John Lennon. Blonde, blue-eyed Heidi Hinrick, who had been waiting patiently since 6am that morning, asked me, "How does he look? Is he still as handsome?"

     I didn't have the heart to tell her that John's role doesn't call for the handsome hero type, and that the last time I had seen him, he was wearing glasses and had his hair parted in the middle. The other girls noticed my hesitation and squealed, "There's something wrong! They've hurt John!" 

    I quickly backed through the gates to safety. By the time I arrived back in London, the agency photographs had been printed in the newspapers, and Beatles fans were hopping mad. 

    James Sanderson of Richmond Park, Surrey, said, "This has ruined the Beatles' image. Everyone thinks of the Beatles as a group and not as individuals, and the hairstyle was part of the magic. Now John has broken the spell."

     Pretty Sandy Styles of Lewisom told me, "I cried when I saw John with his new hairstyle. It broke my heart to see him looking like that. "

    Not everyone condemned John, however, Mary Todd of Clapham Commons said, "I think John was perfectly right to break with Beatle tradition for the sake of a film career. His future is much more important than a haircut. I will always love John, no matter how he looks. "

    And Tom Jerome of Harrow, Middlesex, agreed, "I like John because he doesn't care what people think of him. He does what he wants and not what the public dictates. That's why the Beatles have always been so popular."

 What do you feel about John's new hairstyle? Do you love him or hate him for having his Beatle mop shorn? Write your feelings on a postcard and send them to "Haircut", care of Go Magazine.