Monday, February 22, 1965
The Beatles fly to the Bahamas to film “‘Help!”
Last updated on May 7, 2026
Monday, February 22, 1965
Last updated on May 7, 2026
Location: Bahamas
Previous article Feb 19, 1965 • The Beatles attend a private party given by EMI's Joe Lockwood
Session Feb 19, 1965 • Recording "You're Going to Lose That Girl"
Article Feb 22, 1965 • The Beatles fly to the Bahamas to film "'Help!"
Interview Feb 22, 1965 • Press conference in Nassau
Article Feb 23, 1965 • Filming "Help!" in the Bahamas • Day 1
1965 • For The Beatles • Directed by Richard Lester
On this day, The Beatles departed London Airport bound for Nassau, in the Bahamas, to begin filming their second feature film, “Help!“. Accompanying the group were actress Eleanor Bron, cast as the female lead, producer Walter Shenson, director Richard Lester, Brian Epstein, Mal Evans and Neil Aspinall. Approximately 1,400 fans were present at the airport to see them off.
The Bahamas had been selected as the filming location after The Beatles’ financial adviser, Dr. Walter Strach, established a tax shelter there. The arrangement represented one of the few known instances of The Beatles structuring their affairs to limit their tax exposure. Following their appointment as MBEs in October 1965, Brian Epstein and The Beatles are not known to have made use of similar arrangements.
The flight made a refuelling stop in New York, during which The Beatles remained on board the aircraft. US Customs and Immigration requested that the group disembark and pass through customs, but they did not leave the plane.
Upon arrival in Nassau, The Beatles were met by hundreds of local teenagers, who followed them to their hotel, the Balmoral Club. A press conference was held shortly after their arrival — accounts vary as to whether it took place at the airport or at the hotel. The group concluded the day with a midnight swim in the ocean.
If you were lying about in London on a perishing cold February day and some bloke said ‘Hey! Let’s fly off to the Bahamas to make a film’, how do you think you’d feel about it?
I like doing a film for a change but the waiting around while they change cameras and all that gets boring. With a film you’ve got to wait months before you see how the whole thing has turned out. With a concert yu get reaction from an audience right away.
Paul McCartney – Asked if he prefers doing concerts or films – From “John, Paul, George, Ringo and Me” by Tony Barrow, 2006
Brandon De Wilde was an actor, a James Dean type. He liked The Beatles’ music and he heard we were going to film in the Bahamas, so he came over from the States with a big bag of reefer. We smoked on the plane, all the way to the Bahamas. It was a charter flight, with all the film people – the actors and the crew – and we thought, ‘No, nobody will notice.’ We had Mal smoking cigars to drown out the smell.
George Harrison – From “The Beatles Anthology” book, 2000
The gloriously warm and sunny climate clearly appealed to the boys and they believed they could indulge in their latest pastime of smoking unbranded cigarettes more freely and with less fear of hassle from the authorities or the media in the relaxed environment of the Bahamas. It became common knowledge on the film set that the boys were increasingly and openly smoking pot to relieve their stress and alleviate their irritation with the slow filmmaking process. Lennon put the situation in a nutshell: “We were smoking marijuana for breakfast.“
From “John, Paul, George, Ringo and Me” by Tony Barrow, 2006
The Bahamas were chosen as a location by Dr. Walter Strach of Bryce-Hamner [the accounting firm used by Brian Epstein] strictly for financial reasons. Strach had finally come up with a solution to the Beatles’ enormous tax liabilities. He wanted to divert as much money as possible away from Britain before the tax officials got their hands on it. To this purpose Strach removed himself to the Bahamas and applied for a temporary residency. The Beatles sponsored Strach’s trip to the Bahamas, where he then formed an umbrella company with Walter Shenson called Cavalcade Productions. Dr. Strach was named an officer in the company. Gratuitous scenes were shot in the Bahamas purely to impress upon everyone the legitimacy of this venture, i.e., a film being made in the Bahamas and not in England. Although this was unorthodox, Dr. Strach claimed it was not in itself illegal.
From “The Love You Make: An Insider’s Story of the Beatles” by Peter Brown and Steven Gaines, 2002
That was why we shot part of Help! in the Bahamas. It was a goodwill exercise to persuade the Bahamian authorities we were an asset to their business community.
Walter Shenson – From “Shout! The True Story of the Beatles” by Philip Norman
BRIAN EPSTEIN reports from the BAHAMAS – All about the BEATLES
LAST Thursday we celebrated George’s 22nd birthday in sunny Nassau. It was a quiet affair at the home of Dr. Walter Strach, a great friend of George’s, with whom he recently spent a holiday on the island.
The doctor’s daughters were away in London — with all the suitable records. But we made do with the eleven titles the Beatles had recorded the previous week at EMI studios. Six of these will be used in the film and, what can I say… they’re easily hotter than the Bahama sunshine — and that’s very hot!
Incidentally, two of the titles are written by George Harrison, and will be published by Northern Songs, with whom he signed a three-year contract just before he left London. So George provided part of the music for his own birthday party, at which 50 members of the film unit enjoyed the tunes and the fabulous party fare provided by the generous doctor.
It is unlikely that the stars of any film could have had a warmer and more encouraging beginning than the Beatles did for their second movie.
I travelled out from town to London Airport with Paul and Ringo. John and George had arrived there a couple of minutes before us. As our car approached the back of Queens’ Building, we were mildly surprised to see a packed group of fans at the top of the building. When we turned the corner and walked on to the tarmac, there it was! An unbelievably enormous crowd of wonderful fans, cheering, waving and holding banners which gave us their good wishes. A thrilled Paul and Ringo joined up with an equally amazed John and George, already acknowledging the crowd. None of us had anticipated anything like this.
The group posed for the mass of photographers, continuing to wave to the fans as long as the airline would allow them. It was the most wonderfully loyal demonstration the group could receive of their fans’ affection. I would like to thank each and every one in that crowd for giving the film the best send-off it could possibly have had!
The unexpected excitement at London Airport naturally contributed to a happy, if tiring, journey. Our unit travelling to the Bahamas numbered 78, making for a full load. Among them were Eleanor Bron, “Not So Much,” actors Victor Spinetti, John Bluthal, Patrick Cargill, producer Walter Shenson and director Dick Lester both of “Hard Day’s Night” fame.
ALL BEATLES’ GEAR
Beatles’ road managers Neil Aspinall and Malcolm Evans were there, too, of course — suitably equipped with the usual sets of photos, throats sweets, ciggies and other Beatle touring gear. With some of the group, I spent the first hour catching up on mail — earlier that day I’d been down from Liverpool, following the final night of Cilla’s wonderful, and certainly eventful, touring; big night for Cilla at the top of the bill for the first time in her home city.
Later on the trip the chat was animated about the making of the film. The cold, cold air of New York gusted in as we touched down to refuel and then about two hours after leaving England — at 7 p.m. local time, our chartered BOAC Boeing touched down here in Nassau. We disembarked to receive a warm welcome like the weather.
We were then whisked off by the authorities to a Press conference without so much as an option as to whether the boys wanted to get a bit nearer to the waiting crowd at the airport building.
THIS IS USUALLY THE TRUE REASON WHEN YOU READ OF ARTISTS “IGNORING THEIR FANS.”
Following the chaotic Press conference, we finally arrived at the bungalow where the boys were to stay in Nassau. Contrary to the glamorous reports of our staying in palatial and luxurious apartments, this proved to be a pleasant and comfortable place (expensive, yes), its best feature being its situation beside the sea, invisible in the darkness when we arrived but much in evidence the following morning — great, vivid, emerald sea glistening with the light of the hot, albeit sometimes humid, sunshine.
ON BICYCLES
THE group started shooting the morning following their arrival. Among first scenes shot were the Beatles cycling through Nassau, a prelude to chatting away at the same time. Personally, I was greatly impressed with what seemed improved naturalness of speech and movement.
Ringo proved as good an actor as he was in “A Hard Day’s Night” when he was depicted sitting on a mound of conches beside a hold-ing one to his ear and beating out its music with his free arm!
Another day the gang enjoyed a swim fully clothed (well, shirt, jeans and shoes). John said he’d always wanted to try this, and thought it might be even better to bathe in a lounge suit — tie and all!
The producer has asked that the story be kept on the secret list for the moment, so I can’t say too much, except that the script has zany bits almost to the point of surrealism, and certainly very, very different.
Before leaving Nassau on Friday, I took a speed boat out to a tiny island where the boys were working. I arrived just in time to get a boxed picnic lunch used on these occasions and to join up with the group for the break. No doubt about it, I thought, they’re enjoying making this film very much. Relaxed, inventive and effervescent as ever.
I left the Bahamas with no doubts that my clients will be well looked after by the gentle and brilliant director Lester, the efficient and understanding Mr. Shenson and, of course, our genial and hospitable Dr. Strach — not forgetting the people of Nassau, their sea and sun. […]
Last word on Beatles
SAID Brian Epstein to columnist Earl Wilson: “I think the Beatles will do even better as film entertainers than as live entertainers. And they’ll make many more films… I think they will explode again in their next picture. Then they must eventually fit into pictures not just as Beatles but as actors.”
Asked why American groups haven’t made an impact in England in recent years compared to the impact the Beatles have made in America, Epstein said: “I don’t know. The Americans seem to have forgotten how to do it.”
From New Musical Express – March 5, 1965
It’s Beatlemania all over again — As they hit Nassau
NEW YORK, Tuesday. — Beatlemania, exactly one-year-old in America, is stirring again, cables Ren Grevatt.
With word out that the Beatles tidal wave will hit the peaceful, sun-drenched Caribbean island of Nassau on February 23, where they’ll spend two and a half weeks filming phase one of their second movie, radio here has already taken up the challenge of getting to the boys.
In New York, lawyer Walter Hofer, American attorney for Brian Epstein and NEMS Enterprises, said he understood the Bahamas filming schedule for Nassau was so tight that no official tie-in deals would be made.
Unofficially, however, the wheels were turning, particularly from the shores of Miami, only 185 miles west of Nassau.
Two top pop stations there, WQAM and WFUN, which are arch rivals and fought themselves to a standstill over the Beatles’ visit to Miami last year, were both trying desperately to work something out.
WFUN’s Larry Kane, who accompanied the Beatles on their last American tour, was making direct personal representations by overseas phone to Epstein to get an OK on some form of tie-in promotion, possibly involving flying contest winners to Nassau to meet the Beatles and visit them on the set.
At WQAM, disc jockey and programme director Charlie Murdoch would only say: “I’m working through some sources close to the Beatles and I expect to come up with some surprises.”
Tricks
It was seen possible, in some Miami circles, that the boys might even take a night off and fly into Miami for a tour of the scene there. In New York, deejay Murray the K said he would be with the Beatles in Nassau for part of their visit there.
At about the time of the Beatles’ arrival on the island, he’d be leaving WINS after seven years there. His future plans have not been announced but it was believed certain that he had some tricks up his sleeve.
• Eleanor Bron, star of BBC-TV’s “Not So Much A Programme, More A Way Of Life”, signed this week as leading lady in the Beatles film.
From Melody Maker – February 13, 1965
Beatles fly to Bahamas on Monday
The Beatles are to fly from London to the Bahamas on Monday to start shooting their latest film.
Ringo, George, Paul and John will be accompanied by Mr Brian Epstein, their manager, and seventy actors and technicians.
They are scheduled to leave London on a B.O.A.C. Boeing 707 at 2 p.m. and after a short transit stop at New York will arrive in Nassau at 8.15 p.m. local time the same day.
Passengers will also include Walter Shenson, producer of the film, Dick Lester, director and Eleanor Bron, leading lady. The party are expected back in London on March 11.
From Liverpool Daily Post – February 19, 1965
The Beatles Diary Volume 1: The Beatles Years
With greatly expanded text, this is the most revealing and frank personal 30-year chronicle of the group ever written. Insider Barry Miles covers the Beatles story from childhood to the break-up of the group.
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