The Beatles fly to the Bahamas to film “‘Help!”

BEATLES TWO

THAT’S WHAT THE NEW FILM IS CALLED UNTIL RINGO COMES UP WITH ANOTHER TITLE (THEY HOPE)

ONLY six more days to go—and the cameras will start rolling on the all-colour film follow-up to The Beatles’ “A Hard Day’s Night.”

The film unit with The Beatles fly to the Bahamas on Monday from London Airport. Then, after a day’s unpacking and general preparations, the first sequences will get under way on Wednesday.

And, after 16 days in the Bahamas, the boys and the film production team will return to Britain for sequences here before they all fly off to Austria on March 13 for scenes in the snow-clad Alps.

Working title of the new film is “Beatles Two,” but producer Walter Shenson hopes that Ringo may again come up with another winning title as he did with “A Hard Day’s Night.”

Scriptwriter Marc Behm, who wrote the original story of “Charade”—made into a smash-hit film—has already delivered the script to Walter Shenson.

• Why were the high priests and the terrible goddess of Kali interested in The Beatles?

• Why was Ringo pursued to the ends of the earth by a gang of Eastern thugs? What did they want of him — they certainly weren’t fans!

• Two leading scientists hope to rule the world, but a Politician is threatened by a beetle (Yes, that’s the spelling) and an Eastern beauty — Eleanor Bron — saves the boys’ lives time and time again.

• A Channel swimmer ends up in an Alpine lake — and Buckingham Palace has a busy day.

• When Scotland Yard advances on the sunny Bahamas after manoeuvres on Salisbury Plain, they find FOUR Ringos, but only one George, one Paul and one John.

• When power-hungry scientists arrive in the Alps, the boys miraculously escape their deadly weapons. Will John live to sleep in his pit again? Will Paul get back to his electric organ? Will George be reunited with his ticker-tape machine? And Ringo — will he ever play the drums again?

The boys will start their adventure on these intriguing situations on Wednesday. While in the Bahamas, they will live in a cottage specially rented for them only a few minutes from Cable Beach, Nassau. Every comfort will be laid on, plus a full staff of servants to attend to their every need.

THERE’S EVEN A BEETLE THAT CHASES PAUL!!

From Disc Weekly – February 20, 1965

THE MAGNIFICENT 7

They’re a ten million pound supercargo: flying out today to make a new Beatles film in the sun

TODAY, the most valuable human cargo in show business — £10,000,000 might start the bidding — will be air-lifted by special charter to the Bahamas. The Beatles, the mind-boggling phenomenon of the Western World, fly to Nassau to make their second film.

How do we arrive at this gigantic £10,000,000 price-tag ? By my own dazed ready reckoning, song writers John Lennon and Paul McCartney are already cosily installed in the millionaire enclosure. And Ringo and George, you will be relieved to know, are only a few coppers behind.

Daily, if not hourly, from darkest Africa to whitest Alaska, their music is backed by the rhythmical sound of cash jingling and jangling into a million cash registers.

Never were four likeable and unassuming entertainers chased by so many dollars, yen, plastres, dirhams, francs, liro, pesos, marks, pounds shillings and pence.

To this Croesus-like cargo add the names of Walter Shenson, the film producer, and Dick Lester, the director. As both, these sought-after gents made the record-breaking “A Hard Day’s Night,” you will not be called upon to tip them the price of a cup of coffee.

Tot all this up, the earnings current and potential from the film, records, live shows, investments and the like and what have you got?

You have a staggering airborne El Dorado cheered by all, begrudged by none.

Which brings me to the seventh VIP in our exclusive family portrait. Mr. Brian Epstein, the Beatles’ manager.

He is no less a phenomenon than the extraordinary foursome he manages.

POWER

At the age of thirty and in less than four years, he has emerged as one of the most powerful figures in world entertainment.

Every top showman, film tycoon, promoter, and sharp-eyed Johnny-come-lately is chasing Mr. Epstein by plane, phone, cable and special messenger.

QUIET

Clearly the world’s top agents, the cigar-biting Titans of the Ten Per Cent, find regarded this quiet, courteous negotiator as a fair push-over.

Knowing these characters myself, I can give you the dialogue: “Who does this Limey think he is, anyway? When he comes in here I’m gonna lay it on the line, spell it out, wrap him up and goodbye Charlie.”

HERO

Five minutes with their well-dressed visitor had them back-tracking on their wall-to-wall carpets. Smiling deftly, albeit pleasantly, our hero pinned their burning ears back.

I INVITED him out to dinner the other night for a closer look at this managerial mailed fist in the soft kid glove. He is modest, he is intelligent, he is also a good-looking chap with dark hair and light blue eyes.

TOUGH

If this image is a gentle one I must also tell you that he can be as tough as any of the characters who believe naively that they can call the shots. He has to be. Never in the history of entertainment have so many clamoured, chased, cajoled and cadged after a special male-voice quartet.

Twenty-four hours in the lively life of Mr. Epstein reveals him standing like Horatius on the br- r facing a horde of special pleaders with assisted demands for the Beatles to:

“Soon . . . open . . . lend . . . give . . . adopt . . . be . . . support . . . present . . . invest . . . attend. . . and they can name their own price.”

I’ve seen men than Brian Epstein might have been tempted to milk the juicy coconut dry.

CASH

The cash in quick on the four-sided Klondike entire gleefully with a band of millions.

This is what he said: “Maybe there are managers who would have taken the boys and squeezed everything out of them. But that is not what I’m in business for. It seems everybody in the world has a great money-making scheme for the Beatles. But I’m only concerned with doing what is best for them. I’ve already been offered £3,000,000 for my share of them. But I couldn’t sell. I wouldn’t sell, and anyway the boss wouldn’t let me. We’re friends and that’s it.”

In his apartment near Hyde Park — portraits of the Beatles face a glittering silver holster and gun, a present from Elvis Presley — Epstein said: “What I want to nail once and for all is the myth that I made them what they are… that I am responsible for their success. This is absolute nonsense. They are what they are, and nothing would have held them back.

LUXURY

“All this,” he added, glancing around his luxury apartment, “I owe to them. I didn’t make them. They made me, and you may quote me.”

HE sells himself short. Sure he has pinned a hefty price tag on their services and promoted the Beatles into the Number One spot in the world’s top showplace.

And if you wish to hire them it saves time if you start talking in four figures and upwards. But with it all he has kept “the property” highly saleable, highly likeable, highly respectable.

Ask any top showman, from Ed Sullivan in New York to Bernard Delfont in London, who has confronted Brian Epstein and he will allow him his instant, if useful, respect.

THANKS

And there is a hearty vote of thanks, too, from John, Paul, George and Ringo. The plane, with its ten million pounds’ worth of human cargo, leaves early today. From around the world — and the Stock Exchange — will wish it well.

From The Daily Mirror – February 22, 1965

THE BEATLES FLY OFF — TO TEARS

TEARS streamed from the eyes of hundreds of teenagers yesterday. Banners fluttered sadly in the breeze. The Beatles — who said they were slipping? — were going away.

“Come back soon, we love you,” cried the girls as John, Paul, George and Ringo boarded a Boeing 707 jet liner at London Airport.

And the fans — more than 1,400 of them — sang farewell messages to the tunes of Beatle hit records as the plane lifted off the runway, bound for the sunny Bahamas, where the Beatles are to make their second film.

Many of the fans had been waiting at the airport since early morning. Some even arrived the night before.

Just before 2 p.m. yesterday, the Beatles drove up. The four, led by corduroy-suited John Lennon, walked on to the tarmac.

There were screams of “Happy Birthday” for George Harrison, who is twenty-two on Thursday. There was a “congratulations” banner waving for Ringo, who married Maureen Cox only twelve days ago. Neither Maureen nor John Lennon’s wife Cynthia were travelling with the group.

The Beatles walked across the tarmac to cheers, shouts and screams. Peanuts and confetti rained on them.

From Daily Mirror – February 23, 1965

Beatles Off to Bahamas

LONDON — (AP) — More than 1,400 teenagers — mostly girls — wailed a wild farewell at London Airport Monday as the Beatles flew to the Bahamas to make a movie.

Waving everything from tattered banners to bright red bloomers, the girls chanted: “Please, please, come back.“

The wailing was so loud that it could be heard at times above the roar of the chartered plane.

Police kept the screamers confined to the rooftop observation deck of one building. About 25 girls climbed atop the railing, and screamed at their mophead idols. Had one lost her footing, she would have plunged 50 feet to the cement road. But none fell.

The mopheads took off in a charter jet plane for the Bahamas with a stop planned for New York.

After several weeks filming, the Beatles will fly to the Austrian Alps for filming, after that back to London to wind up the work on the movie, up to now, untitled.

From Miami Herald – February 23, 1965

Beatles hit the Bahamas

The Beatles pose with actress Eleanor Bron after landing in Nassau from London. The Beatles are in the Bahamas to make a film in which Eleanor will be the leading lady.

From Daily Post (Merseyside) – February 24, 1965