Minutes before landing, news filtered from the cockpit through the plane that helped to put their minds at ease.
Applause and cheers broke out inside the plane. Just before 1:30 p.m., Flight 101 taxied to a stop outside the terminal and the aircraft door popped open. An explosion of cheers and screams rang out as the crowd stormed forward.
50 years ago, on Feb. 7, 1964, The Beatles boarded Pan Am Flight 101 in London for their first U.S. visit, they had little idea what lay in store for them.
“We heard that our records were selling well in America,” George said,...“but it wasn’t until we stepped off the plane … that we understood what was going on. Seeing thousands of kids there to meet us made us realize just how popular we were there.”
The Beatles' first trip to America was filmed by crews from various television outlets, and a team inside the entourage with cameras virtually everywhere during The Beatles' two weeks in USA, these included scenes from inside their hotel suite and limousines, rehearsals for The Ed Sullivan Show, inside JFK Airport, The Beatles in Washington DC, Murray the K broadcasting, and The Beatles in Miami Beach.
The Beatles gave their first press conference:
Q: Are you a little embarrassed by the lunacy you cause?
John Lennon: No, it's great.
Paul McCartney: No.
Ringo Starr: Marvelous.
George Harrison: We love it.
John: We like lunatics.
Q: You're in favor of lunacy?
The Beatles: Yeah.
John: It's healthy.
Q: Are those English accents?
George: It's not English. It's Liverpudlian, you see.
Paul: The Liverpool accent – so, the way you say some of the words. You know, you say GRASS instead of GRAHHSS, and that sounds a bit American. So there ya go.
Q: Liverpool is the...
Ringo: It's the capital of Ireland.
Paul: Anyway, we wrote half of your folk songs in Liverpool.
Ringo: Yeah, don't forget!
Q: In Detroit Michigan, there handing out car stickers saying, 'Stamp Out The Beatles.'
Paul: Yeah well... first of all, we're bringing out a 'Stamp Out Detroit' campaign.
Q: What about the Stamp Out The Beatles campaign?
John: What about it?
Ringo: How big are they?
Q: Would you tell Murray the K to cut that crap out?
The Beatles: Cut that crap out!
Paul: Hey, Murray!
Q: A psychiatrist recently said you're nothing but a bunch of British Elvis Presleys.
John: He must be blind.
Ringo (shaking like Elvis): It's not true! It's not true!
Q: Would you please sing something?
The Beatles: No!
Ringo: Sorry.
Q: There's some doubt that you can sing.
John: No, we need money first.
Q: What do you expect to take out of this country?
John: About half a crown.
Ringo: Ten dollars.
Q: Does all that hair help you sing?
Paul: What?
Q: Does all that hair help you sing?
John: Definitely. Yeah.
Q: You feel like Sampson? If you lost your hair, you'd lose what you have? 'It'?
John: Don't know. I don't know.
Paul: Don't know.
Q: How many of you are bald, that you have to wear those wigs?
Ringo: All of us.
Paul: I'm bald.
Q: You're bald?
John: Oh, we're all bald, yeah.
Paul: Don't tell anyone, please.
John: I'm deaf and dumb, too.
Q: Do you know American slang? Are you for real?
Paul McCartney: For real.
John Lennon: Come and have a feel.
Q: Aren't you afraid of what the American Barbers' Association is going to think of you?
Ringo Starr: Well, we run quicker than the English ones, we'll have a go here, you know.
Q: Listen, I got a question here. Are you going to get a haircut at all while you're here?
The Beatles: No!
Ringo: Nope.
Paul: No, thanks.
George Harrison: I had one yesterday.
Ringo: And that's no lie, it's the truth.
Paul: It's the truth.
Q: You know, I think he missed.
John: Nope.
George: No, he didn't. No.
Ringo: You should have seen him the day before.
Q: What do you think your music does for these people?
Paul: Er...
John: Hmm, well...
Ringo: I don't know. It pleases them, I think. Well, it must do, 'cause they're buying it.
Q: Why does it excite them so much?
Paul: We don't know, really.
John: If we knew, we'd form another group and be managers.
Q: What about all this talk that you represent some kind of social rebellion?
John: It's a dirty lie. It's a dirty lie.
Q: What do you think of Beethoven?
Ringo: Great, especially his poems. (Muttering to the others) I'm sick of that one.
Q: Have you decided when you're going to retire?
John: Next week.
Paul: No.
John: No, we don't know.
Ringo: We're going to keep going as long as we can.
George: When we get fed up with it, you know. We're still enjoying it.
Ringo: Any minute now.
Q: After you make so much money, and then...
The Beatles: No.
George: No, as long as we enjoy it, we'll do it. 'Cause we enjoyed it before we made any money.
After the press conference The Beatles were asked to say their individual names in the order in which they were standing at the microphones.
Their first U.S. press conference really sealed the deal for them in America. The boys already knew how to handle reporters, the group outwitted the press and beat them at their own game.... "How many of you are bald, that you have to wear those wigs?".....
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