Filming “Help!” in the Bahamas • Day 4

Ringo and George report on the Beatles in the Bahamas

“WE’VE been up just one hour, and it’s twenty past twelve in the afternoon,” said Ringo on the phone from the Bahamas. “Last night was George’s birthday and we had a party. It was good—we all had a great time.”

The Beatles drummer sounded alert and his messages from Nassau were hampered only by diabolical telephone crackle between the Melody Maker office in London and the Balmoral Club, Nassau, where John, Paul, George and Ringo are staying while making their second film.

“Yeah, we’re all okay and it’s been fun so far. We have to get up at a quarter to seven every morning, except this morning. The first couple of days were worst! We’ve done a few shots. There was this part where we were all being filmed cycling round the island and it was very hot. It went off all right. We could have kept it up for a long time, actually — we were enjoying it.

“Eleanor Bron’s a knockout. We haven’t been involved in working with her yet, but she is great company. There are about 70 of us in the whole film company, that’s including technicians.”

George Harrison told of the actual filming that had taken place.

“We’ve done quite a bit, really,” said George. “More than you’d expect. I know this must be difficult to follow, but we come out of this sort of hole in a tent and emerge into a swimming pool—all in our clothes. What do you mean you don’t understand it?”

The guitarist went on to say that the shooting was “very disjointed.”

“You can’t connect the pieces we’ve done. We did this bit in a quarry, too. We had these sports cars we’d hired, as well—that was marvellous, great fun. It’s been quite hot and we’ve done a little bit of swimming, but right now it’s rather chilly. No, we’ve not had a lot of leisure time. We enjoy working here—it’s all new, different, and we’ve got something different to tackle all the time. Who wants leisure time?”

Were the Beatles being pestered night and day by the expected American teams of disc-jockeys, journalists and big pop businessmen?

“It’s not been that bad,” Ringo replied. “Not so far, anyway. There’ve been a few in here from Miami. A few of the disc-jockeys have been making a bit of noise—they’re a fantastic crowd, really. They stand on the other side of the road while we’re filming, for instance, and shout ‘Hey, Ringo!’ I don’t know what I’m supposed to shout back because I don’t know ’em. They probably just want me to look that way to have my picture taken. But I’m afraid I can only sort of—ignore them. When you’re filming, you’ve got to concentrate, haven’t you?”

The police are working hard to control the invaders, said Ringo.

“We’re not worried. This is such a great place that you can’t get bad-tempered with anybody.” — RAY COLEMAN

From Melody Maker – March 6, 1965