John and Neil's Side Quest

 September 16, 1966 -- John and Neil take advantage of a break in the filming schedule and go to France for a few days. 

Gripweed's Friends and Fans.

 September 14, 1966

Demonstrating

 September 10, 1966

Actors on the set

 September 10-11, 1966  

Winning the War

 September 8, 1966 

Cropped Beatle to Keep Fans (1966)

Cropped BEatle to Keep Fans

By Doris Wright

The News

September 7, 1966

    Unlike the Biblical hero named Samson, whose strength evaporated when his locks were shorn, it appears that Beatle John Lennon's popularity won't ebb in the least when his hair is snipped to conform to a movie role. 

    "No matter what John does, I'll still love him," said Donna Carroll, an Edison High sophomore, who was one of seven girls who went to Memphis August 19 to see the famed British quartet. "I'm upset and I'm mad in a way," Donna said of John's hair cutting next week, "but it's his business. This will prove whether John's talented by himself or if he needs the group. I just hope he's not planning on doing anything like this in the future," she added. 

    Leslie Pritchett, a MacArthur student who was also in the local Beatles fan club, said, "I'm disappointed in a way, but it really doesn't bother me. He won't lose me no matter what he does."

     Breaking away from the other Beatles, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr, John is going to make a movie on his own, filling a role of a soldier with a short haircut. The movie How I Won the War will be filmed near Hanover, Germany. Producer-director Dick Lester, who directed the last two Beatles movies, will take the first snip of John's locks sometime next week.

     "He'll let it grow again," predicted Laura Pitt, a Lehigh student. "But if he doesn't, I'll like him just as well." "This isn't going to make any difference to his career or to me." Commented Carmen Salazar of Lehigh, a self-designated Beatlemaniac.

     "Bully for him," said KTSA disc jockey Peter Starr, himself a British subject. "I think this shows he's becoming an individual. If I wanted to get a reaction, I'd go on the air and say,  'Let's scrub his name,' but I won't say that, or I could say, 'Let's throw him out of the Beatles because he no longer has long hair.' I won't do that either. I'm looking forward to seeing the film,"  he added.

     Noting that the Beatles' contract calls for disbanding the group if one of the four goes out on his own, Donna said, "I want John to have fun making the movie, and I want him to have praise and acclaim for doing it, but I want them to stay together."

    Concerning the possibility that strands of John's hair might be available to fans, Donna sighed. "Oh, I'd love to get some. I'd treasure it forever, even a tiny little bit of it. I would write a million postcards or letters if that's what it would take to get even a tiny strand, but if it were Paul's hair, I'd send even more letters than that!"

     Laura said, "I'd rather have a strand of Ringo's hair, but I don't want any of the Beatles to cut their hair."

     Donna added, sighing again. "No matter what John does, I'll still love him." Thinking of the cost such a lock of hair might command, Leslie said, "We'll probably pull our money and buy it, no matter what it costs."

Arriving at the press conference

 

September 5, 1966 -- Arriving to talk about How I Won the War 

Leaving Spain

 

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.

When a Beatle Had to be Carried From His Bed (1967)

 

When a Beatle Had to be Carried From His Bed

No author listed

New Musical Express

1967

    Dawn had not broken. A sleek but mud-splattered Rolls-Royce trundled from a deserted courtyard of a shuttered Spanish villa. Two figures stared silently through dark, smoked windows as the Rolls gathered speed along narrow, empty roads. They wore an odd assortment of Second World War army uniforms and listened to the unbroken Arabic wailing from radio Tangier on the car radio.

     A bizarre happening?  Not at all!

    It was just the beginning of another hectic day, shooting of the film How I Won the War for sleepy-eyed John Lennon and actor Michael Crawford. "I don't think John had ever been up that early before," joked Michael, recalling the three months they spent together in Spain filming the scenes for the film in which John goes solo.

     Grinning, Michael said, "We had to carry him from his bed to his Rolls. We had to be on the set by eight. It meant that we had to be up before six some days to be on location for eight. John didn't want any special treatment. He was just one of the boys, and he mucked in with any arrangements. But I think it was a bit of a strain for him getting up that early."

     John played Michael's army batman in Beatles filmmaker dick Lester's anti-war film. Michael believes John mentioned the film and the lyrics of  "A Day in the Life." Michael and John became good friends after meeting at the premiere of Dick Lester's award winning film, The Knack which starred Michael and Rita Tushingham. 

    Said Michael, "John and I never bothered to change out of the army uniforms at the end of the day's shooting. John's hair was very short for the part of Private Gripweed. He wore rimless glasses and a long army greatcoat. I wore knee-length khaki shorts and shirt. For my part."

     John's offbeat appearance shielded the famous Beatle from too much local publicity. "He had a fairly peaceful time," reported Michael, "but it's easy to understand how little privacy The Beatles have. When we were filming in Germany, we were mobbed all the time. I say 'we' because we were with John. We suffered the same as John. It's terrifying. John had to literally crouch down in the Rolls to avoid being seen. We never had a moment's peace when we were out. I remember we were alone by the side of a lake, like the ad for 'Players.'" laughed Michael. "We were sitting there silently when we saw some photographers skulking about in the bushes. When we were filming in Spain, the locals knew something was happening when they saw the Rolls, but we didn't have much trouble. At weekends when we were at the villa, locals sometimes sauntered through the main gates looking for John."

     John and Cynthia and Michael and his wife, Gabrielle, and young daughter Emma, shared a luxury villa owned by film tycoon Sam Spiegel on the outskirts of Almeria. Ringo, and Maureen stayed with them for six weeks. "It was a dreadful place," groaned Michael. "There was nothing to do in the evenings. John and I had a running joke about who would be the first to catch the night train to Madrid. We didn't do much in the evenings except play Monopoly and Risk. We were very tired after a day of filming, and we didn't go out much. Sometimes, Dick Lester and John had a jam session on the piano. John was always good company. He was never dull."

     Surprisingly, cricket became a favorite outdoor pastime for John and Michael, and the film team. Explains, Michael, "When there were breaks in the film, we found a hard stretch of sand and set up a wicket. John enjoyed the game and became a good bowler at the end of the filming." 

     John wrote "Strawberry Fields" and worked on another song. 

    Recalled Michael, "John shut himself in his bedroom and worked out melodies on a guitar. I heard him playing the same bar over and over again until he got the right sequence. It was marvelous listening to how a song was created. I think he was writing 'Strawberry Fields' while we were on the Spanish location. It was a very pretty tune without the technicalities of the actual record. I like the recording, but I must say I like the original treatment best."

     Michael is sure  that John used the sound of the night train to Madrid or something similar on "Strawberry Fields." Crawford smiled. "John was the first to catch the night train to Madrid. He was away two days before us."

     He paused: "But the end of the recording certainly reminded me of the last train to Madrid. John always said he was going to write a song about THAT train!"  

My favorite Lennon look

 

Happy little Lennon fan

 

Directing How I Won the War

 

When Ringo visited the set

 

Looking good on the movie set

 

Break time in the sand

 

Signed Gripweed

 

Snip Snip Snip

 

Photographer John

 

John's new toy