The Beatles travel from London to Austria

FILMING, CURLING & PLAYING IN AUSTRIA

A REPORT ON THE BEATLES’ ACTIVITIES IN OBERTAUERN, THE AUSTRIAN TOWN IN WHICH THEY WERE BASED FOR THE FILMING OF “HELP!” IN MARCH 1965

BY RUDOLF AIGMÜLLER

On 13th March, 1965, the Beatles arrived in Austria to film the snow and mountain sequences for “Help!” They landed at Salzburg-Maxglahn Airport at 14.18 hours to be greeted by a big crowd of Austrian fans. There was a small anti-Beatles band of protesters wearing armbands with the words “Beatles Go Home” on them, who tried very hard to interrupt everything, but they were drowned by the enthusiastic welcome that the boys received as soon as they appeared in the doorway of their ‘plane.

The moment John spotted the welcoming crowds he pushed his way to the front and started conducting the welcoming cheers as though the crowd was some huge orchestra. After pausing for a moment on the plane steps for the benefit of the battery of waiting cameramen, the Beatles jumped into a white Ford Limousine and sped off for their first press conference in the Osterreichischer Hof hotel in Salzburg trailed by all the reporters and photographers. The press followed everywhere they went in Austria and every move they made must have been photographed a thousand times. We’d never seen anything like it before!

After their first press conference the Beatles started to drive to Obertauern, but stopped in a small village called Werfen on the way to have lunch in one of our local alpine restaurants. During the filming they stayed in the Hotel Edelweiss in Obertauern — a beautiful little village in a marvellous location, which provided a backdrop for those magnificent skiing shots in “Help!”. Richard Lester probably chose it because it’s not quite as well-known as some of the leading Austrian resorts, so there would be fewer people around to interrupt the filming. One of the problems all directors have on location is to ensure that scenes aren’t ruined by odd people straying into the background.

None of the Beatles had ever been on skis before so the producers hired Gloria Makk — Miss Austria, 1964 — to teach them the basics. She also acted as their translator and contact and even ended up playing a small part in the film. Gloria tried very hard but it was quite obvious from the start that the Beatles had no intention of taking their skiing lessons seriously. They just treated the whole thing as a big joke and often seemed to delight in doing the wrong thing. This can be very dangerous, of course, because it’s very easy to break a leg on skis. But nothing seemed to frighten the Beatles. John, particularly, kept trying all sorts of crazy antics and Gloria was really worried all the time that he’d end up in hospital.

Dick Lester realised pretty quickly that the Beatles were not going to be able to do any of the skiing sequences themselves so all these were done by their doubles. Every Austrian teenager wanted to ski in the Beatles’ film but the parts finally went to four marvellous skiers, Franz Bogensberger who played John, Herbert Lurzer (Paul) Gerhard Griens (George) and Hans Pretscherer (Ringo). They all wore exactly the same clothes as the Beatle they were playing and it was marvellous watching them tearing down the slopes during the filming. The Beatles had to be filmed on skis for the close ups, of course, so they did have to spend some time on the snow even if they never went very far! Many of the Austrian teenagers had never seen the Beatles close up before. Many believed that the doubles were the real Beatles and insisted on getting their autographs, so Franz, Herbert, Gerhard and Hans just kept signing as John, Paul, George and Ringo to keep everyone happy.

One morning, Ringo Starr’s future wife, Maureen, came out and saw Hans Pretscherer in Ringo’s clothes in front of the hotel. She was obviously so certain that it was Ringo that she walked up to him, put her arms around his neck and kissed him. A marvellous moment for Hans but a bit embarrassing for Maureen — although she thought it was very funny when she realised her mistake.

All the doubles still live in Austria apart from Hans. He is now a ski instructor in New Zealand, but I am sure all of them remember those memorable days in Austria when they were paid 1,000 Austrian Schillings a day to double for the most famous group in the world.

CURLING

Cynthia, Maureen and Patti all travelled with the Beatles to Austria. Andy Krallinger, a young local skier, tried to teach them how to ski but like Gloria Makk, he didn’t have much success. Apart from skiing sequences, which were filmed when it was snowing, Dick Lester also spent a lot of time shooting the Beatles curling on the lake. For those who don’t know, curling consists of sliding heavy, circular slabs of granite along the ice — you hold them by a handle at the top. It’s rather like playing bowls. The Beatles clearly enjoyed the game as you can see from the photographs in this issue. Once the bowler has started sliding the heavy granite stone along the ice, his teammates are supposed to help its progress by wiping the snow away with special brooms, and it was hilarious to watch the Beatles trying to imitate the technique of the experienced curlers. As usual they kept joking and laughing, and eventually ended up by doing a sort of modern dance on the ice which also looked a bit like a cross between a barn dance and old fashioned ring-a-roses.

EXPLOSION

It was really fascinating watching Dick Lester filming the sequence when Mal Evans popped up from a hole in the ice, which was supposed to have been opened up by a big explosion. The Beatles didn’t have to do much, they just jumped when the big bang went off and then came over to see how Mal was getting on. Poor Mal must have been absolutely frozen. All he was wearing was an old fashioned swimming costume with cap and goggles and a very thick layer of grease to protect him from the cold. Everyone was a bit concerned that he would freeze to death before the scene was over.

On the 18th March the film crew threw a party for Mr. Read, Dick Lester’s assistant, in the Hotel Marietta. The fun went on into the night and the Beatles gave a really fantastic two-hour performance for everyone. This was the only time they ever played in Austria during their entire career so it meant a lot to us and everyone who was there will remember that night for the rest of our lives. Apart from singing many of their big hits they also did standards like “Summertime” from Porgy and Bess. It was a wonderful party and at one time I thought the small speakers they were using would blow up.

One old lady, who lived in the hotel, rang down to the receptionist and complained very strongly about the noise. Finally she came down — presumably to complain — but ended up joining the party.

Uwe Kohl, who was one of the receptionists at the Hotel Edelweiss whilst the Beatles were staying there (he even remembers the rooms they occupied — Nos 501 to 507) also recalls one very special moment during their visit in March 1965. One morning the postman turned up with a parcel for the Beatles. As soon as he saw it Paul grabbed it and tore it open. Inside was a black acetate disc. Paul asked Uwe to find him a record player and as soon as he got it he played the disc. The song that we all heard for the first time that morning was the final mix of “Yesterday”, one of the Beatles’ classic songs, which I believe has been recorded by more artists than any other song they wrote.

By Monday, 22nd March, the filming was over. The film crew started to pack all their equipment away and the Beatles flew back to England from Salzburg Airport at four o’clock in the afternoon.

Thousands of fans have visited the Hotel Edelweiss in Obertauern to see the rooms the Beatles stayed in whilst they were filming “Help!” and immediately after they left many towels and sheets disappeared into the hands of Beatle fans anxious to get hold of anything connected with the Beatles.

It was a tremendously exciting time for all their Austrian fans and anyone else who was lucky enough to be in Obertauern whilst they were there. Whenever I look at the frozen lakes and the mountains in winter I always picture the marvellous time everyone had when the Beatles visited Austria.

From The Beatles Monthly Book – May 1985