The Music Of Lennon and McCartney

Beatles tape Granada show next week

THE Beatles’ all-music spectacular for Granada TV built around the songs of John Lennon and Paul McCartney will be taped at the Manchester studios on Monday and Tuesday. And a surprise guest on the show will be Peter Sellers—singing “A Hard Day’s Night!”

The 50-minute show will go out at 9.40 p.m. on December 17.

Appearing with the Beatles will be Cilla Black, Peter and Gordon, Lulu, Marianne Faithfull, Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas, the Silkie, Fritz Spiegel of the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, and Alan Haven and Tony Crombie. Flying in from Miami specially to sing “And I Love Him” will be American singer Esther Phillips.

No further details of the proposed New Year’s Eve show featuring star composers were available at presstime. Rediffusion plan a spectacular featuring the Beatles, Bob Dylan, Sonny Bono, Burt Bacharach, Chris Andrews, Tony Hatch, the Ivy League and Graham Gouldman.

From Melody Maker – October 30, 1965

A spectacular ‘thank you’ from the Beatles to their first TV producer

BEATLES John Lennon and Paul McCartney said “thank you” last night to the man who gave them their first big TV chance. They showed their gratitude by recording a television “spectacular” for producer Johnny Hamp. It was Mr. Hamp who spotted the Beatles playing at a club in Germany when they were unknown.

He risked getting fired by putting them on television in the Northern show “People and Places” three years ago. They earned £35 then. Yesterday’s show, recorded at the Granada TV centre in Manchester, cost £20,000 — half of which went to John and Paul.

“I first saw the Beatles in a club at Hamburg,” said Mr. Hamp. “They were very scruffy characters indeed—but they had a beat in their music which I liked. I put them on one of our TV shows. I got into a lot of trouble over it. Everyone said they were too rough, too untidy. But I liked them. I put them on again and again. They did about six appearances for us before they made their first record. We had letters from viewers telling us to get rid of them. People upstairs didn’t really like the whole thing.”

The show they recorded last night, “The Lennon and McCartney Show”, will be televised on the ITV network on December 17. It is based on hits which have come from the Lennon and McCartney song-writing partnership. The star line-up includes Peter Sellers, Cilla Black, Peter and Gordon, Lulu, Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas, Marianne Faithfull, Henry Mancini, Esther Phillips—and the Beatles.

George and Ringo joined the other two to sing two numbers.

“It’s the biggest musical show we’ve ever put on,” said Mr. Hamp. “But we’ll get our money back. Already we’ve had offers from all over the world to buy it.”

Thousands of teenagers waited outside the studios hoping for a glimpse of the Beatles yesterday. But John and Paul were smuggled in after a top-security “operation.”

From Daily Mirror – November 2, 1965

What a SHOW ! Beatles TV spectacular

IN a heavily guarded Studio 6 at Granada TV in Manchester on Monday the Beatles taped the first part of a 50-minute spectacular which will prove to be the most exciting TV show since “Around The Beatles.”

More than 80 people were assembled to take part in the show which is based on the musical talents of the Beatles as composers. America’s ESTHER PHILLIPS flew into Manchester specially for the programme to sing “And I Love Him.” “I would have come further,” she admitted. “It would have been worth it for a show like this.”

PETER SELLERS specially taped an insert in London of himself singing “A Hard Day’s Night”—which the Beatles were thrilled about.

RICHARD ANTHONY flew in from Paris to sing “All My Loving.” GEORGE MARTIN arrived with a 25-piece orchestra in tow.

HENRY MANCINI came on special invitation as the boys’ “favourite composer.”

Lined up to sing Beatles songs during Monday and Tuesday were PETER and GORDON, LULU, MARIANNE FAITHFULL, BILLY J. KRAMER, CILLA BLACK.

A gigantic set which dwarfed everyone who appeared had been set up in Studio 6. It was made from one mile of scaffolding, one mile of gauze and over 1,000 square feet of gleaming sheet metal. It was, I was informed, not supposed to actually represent anything. It was there merely as a vehicle for the cast of 89 to tramp around on. All the people appearing on the show were specially chosen by the Beatles.

“We had talks with Johnny Hamp, the producer, about two months ago,” Paul said, sitting in dressing room 23 in a herringbone suit and strange canvas shoes because his feet ached. “We had a list and we chose most of the people ourselves. There were some—like ELLA FITZGERALD—who couldn’t make it, but we’re still hoping that she might be able to tape something in America in time for the show.

“In form, the show will be rather like ‘Around The Beatles’ in that it will be fast moving. Nobody sings more than one number—except us. We’re doing two new numbers that we’ve just written. One’s ‘Day Tripper’ and the other ‘We Can Work It Out.’ They’ll probably be going on the new LP.”

So far the new Beatles LP has no title. Paul spent most of the time out of the studio and in the dressing room trying to decide what the LP should be called. Titles which arose during the course of the afternoon were “It’s The Bloody Beatles Again!”, “Eight Feet Away” and phrases he picked out at random from his road manager’s paperback.

JOHN and PAUL, who are doing the announcing throughout the programme, had arrived at the studio early on Monday morning. A huge crowd of schoolgirls gathered outside the building in gale force winds and hailstones.

JIMMY SAVILE padded about in a blue denim track suit. What was he doing there? “Nothing much. But I thought if I was around they’d ask me to do something!”

Peter and Gordon arrived around midday. Their clothes and guitars had stayed at London Airport. They were not very happy about the situation, but managed to borrow a guitar of GEORGE HARRISON’S. They tried on Paul McCartney’s trousers but they didn’t fit.

Lulu arrived in a blue flowered suit and white boots to sing “I Saw Him Standing There” in a belting voice. She was cold, she said, and hungry.

John Lennon arrived with Paul. He wore a dark brown donkey jacket and looked very pleased. Esther Phillips walked about in a white evening dress looking a bit lost. “I’ve never met the Beatles before. It’s tremendously thrilling,” she said. Then she spied Herman, a long lost friend, sitting in the corner. On her way over Jimmy Savile kissed her hand, and called her ‘dear lady’. She looked terrified.

George and Ringo, who were in the show only to sing in the numbers, arrived around tea time.

In their dressing room Peter and Gordon were singing songs Jackie De Shannon had written for them in America. Peter had some trouble convincing Gordon that he should stop singing them like Dylan.

In his dressing room Paul was sitting with Henry Mancini and a suave-looking George Martin. “They’re doing a fade out on Marianne’s version of ‘Yesterday’ and coming in on mine which is in a different key,” Paul said not sounding too worried. He had just finished telling a slightly sick joke about Joan Of Arc.

Although in the show the Beatles will not be doing any comedy spots like they did in ‘Around The Beatles,’ Paul will do what he calls some “weak jokes.”

“One is where we introduce Henry Mancini saying: And now our favourite composer Henry Mancini—known to his friends as Hank—then I turn to him and say in a deadpan voice ‘Well Henry ?’ Originally, John and I weren’t going to introduce everyone as we are now. We were just going to come on at the end or beginning or half-way through and say ‘Thanks everyone for doing all our songs—and making us money !?’” said Paul.

Transmission date for the show is December 17.

From Disc Weekly – November 6, 1965

Plotting their next number one?

TALKING shop, maybe, with fellow composer Henry Mancini (centre), Paul McCartney and John Lennon sit back after their press conference at Granada TV, Manchester, on Monday. George Martin revealed that the Beatles are to do two new numbers in the Granada Spectacular on December 17. Titles are “We Can Work It Out” and “Day Tripper”. These two may be the next single.

From Melody Maker – November 6, 1965

BEATLES DID SHOW TO REPAY EARLY HELPER

I WENT to see that well-known, hit-making machine “Lennon-McCartney” at Granada TV studios in Manchester during the telerecording of their Spectacular, to be transmitted this Christmas as a tribute to their composing talents.

Amid a battery of photographers, swarms of reporters and assorted models attired in rubber suits, swim suits, negligees, jockey kits and bunny uniforms, John and Paul posed before a scale model of the studio set (1,000 sq. ft. of sheet metal—1 mile of scaffolding—1 mile of gauze), which was decorated with toy soldiers.

After that I was invited by Paul to slip out of the milling throng and join him, John, recording manager George Martin, publicist Tony Barrow, composer Henry Mancini, producer Johnny Hamp and road manager Malcolm Evans at a private lunch.

“One of the reasons we’re doing this show is as a favour to Johnny Hamp, who risked his job by including us on an early TV show when we were unknown,” Paul told me as we walked through the studio corridors.

We came to an open courtyard where a frenzied yell split the air as a hundred or more fans burst through a barrier behind us. The whole party took to their heels — shy Henry Mancini and all! John reached the far building first by a short fringe (cut especially by “Cyn” for Her Majesty The Queen’s benefit at the recent inauguration) from Paul.

Seated between the two Beatles at table, John expressed some disappointment over the absence of certain artists on their show. “We wanted Richard Anthony to come over from France but he kept having car crashes or something,” he said.

“I’d have liked a few big names like Peggy Lee, Keely Smith and Ella Fitzgerald, who have all recorded our numbers. But they were unavailable. Ella actually sent a film insert but unfortunately it was not up to standard. Mind you, we understand these singers’ position. It’s like Bacharach ringing us from the States and saying ‘You remember recording one of my compositions — well we’d like you to come over and do it next week.’ It’s just impossible.

“Marianne Faithfull is coming down tomorrow,” John went on. “I think her version of Yesterday is much better than Matt Monro’s disc. If she had got it out a week earlier she would have beaten him hands down.”

John and Paul have very strong views on the artists who have recorded their songs and really done them justice. They both approve of Esther Phillips’s version of “And I Love Him,” which is why they invited her to the show, and Henry Mancini’s orchestrations, which is why he is playing “If I Fell.”

“There are only about 100 people in the world who really understand what our music is all about,” said John. “Ringo, George and a few others scattered around the globe. That’s all. The reason so many people use our numbers and add nothing at all to them is that they do not understand the music. Consequently they make a mess of it. The only thing that Keely Smith added on her album of our compositions was a couple of trumpets! We try and find a truth for ourselves—a real feeling. You can never communicate your complete emotion to other people but if we can convey just a little of what we feel then we’ve achieved something.

“Some days I sit at home intending to put all our LPs on the gramophone and play them through in chronological order,” John told me. “It never happens. I get to the stage where I’m beginning to realise we have progressed musically and someone knocks on the door. There I am sitting like an idiot listening to my own music. It always happens and I’m too embarrassed to leave the gram on!”

While John went to work on his steak I talked to Paul about their future plans. Were they any nearer the musical?

“We had a few ideas, like the one about Jesus Christ coming back to earth as an ordinary person,” said Paul. “I think we’re now resigned to the fact that we will just not have the time to work on a full-scale musical until the Beatles as a group are finished. We have always wanted to write a number about the places in Liverpool where we were born. Places like Penny Lane and the Docker’s Umbrella have a nice musical sound, but when you’ve strung them all together in a composition they sounded so contrived we gave up.”

On the subject of the next single, I gathered that there are two new numbers in the TV show by the Beatles, “Daytripper” and “We Can Work It Out”, which might be used. And a hint was dropped that the single may well have Indian scales as its basis.

Next item on the agenda around the table was Elvis Presley and those old new numbers.

“We saw enough of Presley to realise that he is not stupid,” said John. “At first we couldn’t make him out. I asked him if he was preparing new ideas for his next film and he drawled, ‘Ah sure am. I play a country boy with a guitar who meets a few girls along the way and I sing a few songs.’ We all looked at one another. Finally Presley and Colonel Parker laughed and explained that the only time they departed from that formula — for Wild In The Country — they lost money. There’s only one thing wrong with Elvis — he’s just gone a bit square that’s all.”

The subject of “protest” songs brought plenty of protest from Paul.

“I think Barry McGuire’s ‘Eve of Destruction’ is —” (he used a word meaning ‘rubbish’) “and when I first heard it I thought it was bad. When I saw McGuire in person leaping around in those boots and growling, I just fell about. The Manfreds did a protest number on TV the other evening which was the end. It was so bad they must have written it themselves. The pay-off was when Paul Jones turned dramatically on the camera and said ‘It’s all those bad schools’—it was too much!”

The only protesters to come out on the credit side with John and Paul were Dylan and Donovan. John summed up their feeling about these protest records by saying: “Let’s see how many of these artists are still with us in six months’ time.”

George Martin observed drily that the best protest record of the year was “Tears.”

“I think that record was marvellous,” enthused Paul. “Here are all the critics and experts theorising about what makes a hit disc and along comes Ken Dodd out of the blue and debunks the lot of them. Great! I can’t explain it—but I understand it.”

On that note we all returned to the dressing rooms. Paul disappeared on set and John hauled off his black sweater to reveal a white tee shirt labelled (aptly) “Lord John” across the chest.

Enter DJ Jimmy Savile, resplendent in blue denims, encircled with a leather belt embossed with the most enormous silver buckle, plus white casual shoes. For the next hour he conducted the conversation along the themes of “Communism”, “Eastern Philosophy” (about which he knows a considerable amount) and the premise that “Youth is wasted on the young” (Bernard Shaw). Anybody who takes Jimmy Savile for anything but a very shrewd man is a poor judge of character!

John shattered the intellectualism by observing: “There’s something wrong with you—no cigar.”

Jimmy explained that George Harrison had lately objected to his self-manufactured smog while in their dressing room and out of deference he refrained from smoking in Beatles’ dressing room.

“Well, that’s only George’s opinion,” said John, so Jimmy promptly lit a monster cigar and disappeared behind a pillar of smoke.

I wandered out across the corridor to another dressing room, to find Herman had come down to escort Lulu (also in the Spectacular) to her 17th birthday celebrations in Manchester that night.

Two doors away Peter and Gordon were chatting up two blondes. Henry Mancini was somewhat at a loss to understand why the fans standing outside in the pouring rain screamed every time he passed an open window and Esther Phillips was looking for her dressing room — again.

On my last look in the set I watched the Beatles miming to one of their new numbers, “Daytripper”, while a bevy of beautiful birds, with outsize sunglasses and long legs, pranced about.

I left the studio after asking the other road manager, Neil Aspinall, to convey my thanks to Paul and John for their courtesy and co-operation. It can’t be said too often that the Beatles, for all their success, remain friendly, down-to-earth people. Perhaps that’s what the Beatles are all about.

From New Musical Express – November 12, 1965

TWO BEATLES SIGN NORMA’S SWIMSUIT

SWIMMER Norma Campbell, 22, is worried. Should she swim in her fashionable new rubber diving suit… or not? If she does, four precious words written on the suit may be washed off. And that means that Beatles fan Norma would lose the autographs of John Lennon and Paul McCartney.

Norma, the top woman diver of the Sub-aqua Club at Scarborough, Yorks, lent the suit to a television company who wanted to use it in a Lennon – McCartney “spectacular”, due to be seen next month. She got the suit back yesterday.

“The names were written with a felt-tipped pen, and I must try to preserve them,” said Norma. “Someone told me hair lacquer is waterproof, so I think I’ll spray them with that before I risk a dip.”

From Daily Mirror – November 15, 1965

… now look who’s singing Beatle songs

One of the comedy highlights of Granada’s small-screen spectacular “The Music of Lennon And McCartney,” to be shown next Friday evening, is a sequence featuring PETER SELLERS.

Sellers takes off Olivier taking off Richard III and reciting “A Hard Day’s Night.” Half the hilarity is watching Sellers, a long and slightly scruffy wig draped about his face, shifting around on his majestic throne and creating a succession of exquisite expressions.

Meanwhile you can treat yourself to an audio preview of his performance because his brilliantly funny version of “A Hard Day’s Night” is on the top deck of a Parlophone single which went into the shops a couple of days ago.

ALTHOUGH THIS IS AMONGST THE FINAL BATCH OF PRE-CHRISTMAS RECORD RELEASES IT COULD BECOME ONE OF THE MONTH’S FASTEST SELLING SINGLES. CERTAINLY THE SELLERS APPEARANCE IN “THE MUSIC OF LENNON AND McCARTNEY” WILL SEND A SHOAL OF FANS SCUTTLING TO THEIR NEAREST DISC STORE ON SATURDAY MORNING.

The second side is equally entertaining. Here Sellers delivers the lyrics of “Help!” as if he was preaching from a pulpit. An angelic choir punctuates his speech.

Few comedy recordings go into the Top Twenty. The best become moderate hits and sell steadily. This offering from Peter Sellers, produced by the Beatles’ recording manager, George Martin, must be an exception to the general rule. I don’t see how it can miss!

From Liverpool Echo – December 11, 1965

Pop stars salute the Mersey Sound

You may notice a familiar look to the harmonium that John Lennon uses in tonight’s “Beatle special” programme “The Music of Lennon and McCartney” (London TV, 9.40, other regions tomorrow). Actually, it’s Ena Sharples’ harmonium. It was hauled out of the “Coronation Street” studio for Lennon to use for the song “We Can Work It Out.” Studio hands went to work on the harmonium with silver paper streamers—but it’s still recognisable as Mission Hall “property.”

The 55-minute programme spotlights thirty numbers written by John and Paul—and performed by nearly 100 singers, dancers and musicians. The artists and their numbers are the choice of the two young composers. The other Beatles, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, are heard in “We Can Work It Out” and their other new release “Day Tripper.”

Cilla Black sings “It’s For You.” American composer Henry Mancini improvises “If I Fell,” and singer Esther Phillips raved by John and Paul as giving the best version of any of their songs—sings “And I Love Him.” She flew in from Florida specially for the programme.

Others in the show include Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas (“Bad To Me”), Marianne Faithfull (“Yesterday”), Lulu (“I Saw Him Standing There”), Dick Rivers (“Things We Said Today”) and Peter and Gordon (“World Without Love”).

And Peter Sellers dresses up Richard III-style for his Olivier-like rendering of “A Hard Day’s Night.”

From Daily Mirror – December 16, 1965

Beatles to represent U.K. in TV festival?

THE Beatles are likely to represent Britain at this year’s Montreux Festival! The Granada-TV spectacular “The Music Of Lennon And McCartney,” televised in this country on December 17, is almost certain to be ITV’s entry in the 1966 contest for the Golden Rose of Montreux—one of the top international awards for TV light entertainment.

ITV executives were taking a decision on their entry this week. The Beatles’ main rival appeared to be ABC-TV’s Christmas “Bruce Forsyth Show.” But whichever programme is selected, Cilla Black is bound to be featured. She appears in both shows!

Among other artists in the Beatles’ showcase are Peter and Gordon, Billy J. Kramer, Peter Sellers and Marianne Faithfull.

The Beatles starred in ITV’s entry two years ago—a special edition of “Thank Your Lucky Stars,” which failed to win an award. Last year ITV submitted two entries, a Millicent Martin show with Roy Castle guesting, and Charlie Drake in “The Worker.” But again, both were unsuccessful.

BBC-TV has not yet chosen its entry for the event, which takes place in Montreux, Switzerland, from April 22 to 30. […]

From New Musical Express – February 11, 1966

BEATLES FOR MONTREUX

Independent Television have entered the Granada spectacular “The Music Of Lennon And McCartney” for the Golden Rose of Montreux international TV festival. The competition is held from April 12–30.

Thirty Beatles compositions are featured during the show which includes Cilla Black, Lulu, Peter Sellers, Henry Mancini and Marianne Faithfull in the line-up.

From Record Mirror – February 19, 1966

A Report from Granada’s Manchester Television Studios where the stars gathered to honour the songwriting of JOHN and PAUL

Granada say this is their biggest-ever spectacular. And everything I saw during the two days of busy shooting in Manchester confirms their claim. The production is built around John and Paul as songwriters. It will be seen throughout the U.K. on the ITV network from 9.40 p.m. on Friday 17 December and it will last fifty fast-moving minutes. Later it will be sold for screening all over the world.

It’s to be an all-action show with no expense spared. There are a dozen fabulous-looking models to decorate the studio. There are six lively dancers to prance around the set. And the set itself? That’s something else! It’s an enormous structure made of scaffolding and massive sheets of mirror-surfaced metal. It fills the entire floor of Granada’s giant Studio 6. From ground level it looks like a cross between some half-constructed futuristic building and something from “West Side Story”. From higher up you could guess it was the interior of some fictional space ship.

The stars arrive in batches according to their various camera calls. Amongst the first is GEORGE MARTIN who conducts his 25-piece orchestra through his own amusing and artistic re-arrangement of “I Feel Fine”. Then Paul is called to do his gag introduction of famous American pianist HENRY MANCINI who plays a gentle keyboard version of “If I Fell”.

For “World Without Love” PETER AND GORDON are encased in a huge metallic tower from which they emerge to wander amongst twelve gorgeous gals. Meanwhile diminutive LULU, bursting with energy even on a Monday morning, rehearses “I Saw Him Standing There” for which she is required to run up and down a lot of wooden steps.

Now there’s a behind-scenes crisis as word reaches producer Johnny Hamp that French star Richard Anthony won’t be flying in because his face has been damaged in a car smash-up outside Paris. Frantic phone calls to the continent result in the booking of DICK RIVERS as a substitute. He’ll sing in French.

Next arrival is little ESTHER PHILLIPS who has flown in from the U.S. to sing “And I Love Him” on the show. John and Paul drove up to Manchester in John’s macabre-looking all-black Rolls the previous evening. Now they’re joined by George and Ringo for the filming of the group’s newie “Day Tripper”, the finale of the first half of the programme.

Six members of Liverpool’s Philharmonic Orchestra take up their places on the set, which is dressed with antique music stands and flickering candles. Upon the arrival of their leader these six quaintly attired musicians become FRITZ SPIEGEL’S BAROCK AND ROLL ENSEMBLE who feature in a Mozart-styled interpretation of “She Loves You”.

At lunchtime, while everyone else takes a canteen break, John and Paul go into a work-while-you-eat hustle with director Phil Casson and producer Johnny Hamp. CILLA BLACK joins them just in time to watch the play-back of tapes featuring PETER SELLERS. In no time the entire lunch party breaks up with laughter as everyone watches Sellers in a long wig draped across a massive throne reciting “A Hard Day’s Night” in finest mock-Shakespearean tradition.

Soon the shooting schedule gets under way again with BILLY J. KRAMER AND THE DAKOTAS recalling their earliest Beatle-penned successes “Bad To Me” and “Do You Want To Know A Secret”. Billy, newly-slimmed to a trim ten stones, looks in great shape wearing a black shirt and dark bell-bottoms which were a gift from Phill Everly at the end of their October stage tour together.

While male dancers perform all kinds of fantastic gymnastic feats around her CILLA BLACK presents “It’s For You”. Immediately afterwards she’s hustled off by the press people to have her new short-with-fringe hairstyle pictured by the news photographers.

Now it’s Paul’s turn to go into the studio. He spends several minutes deciding which guitar to use for “Yesterday”. In a darkened setting he’s seen singing the first verse of this international hit. Then the cameras pull away from him to reveal MARIANNE FAITHFULL who takes up the lyrics for the rest of this beautiful ballad.

There’s a complete switch of mood as organist ALAN HAVEN sits down before the cameras to offer his jazzy interpretation of “A Hard Day’s Night”. Percussive background support is supplied by ace drumming-man TONY CROMBIE.

All four Beatles take up their positions on the floor now with John seating himself behind a magnificent harmonium. His guitar is missing for this sequence. That harmonium has an interesting history for it has been borrowed from Granada’s “Coronation Street” studio just down the passage. Yes, it’s the instrument we normally see in Ena Sharples’ vestry! Paul shares out the vocal action with George and John as The Beatles launch themselves into the lively “We Can Work It Out”, the second of the two all-new Lennon-McCartney titles to be showcased in the spectacular.

Incidentally all kinds of celebrities have been visiting during the two days. Almost as many familiar faces can be seen out of camera range. Deejay Jimmy Savile seemed to be everywhere all the time. Herman was here too, having driven Lulu up from London. And most of the “Coronation Street” residents popped their heads around the studio door at one time or another!

I haven’t mentioned every single act in this brisk-paced show. I missed for example, Spanish Dance star ANTONIO VARGAS whose fantastic footwork is said to be one of the surprise highlights of the programme. However, I’ll be watching my telly along with an estimated 20 million other Beatle People on Friday 17 December to see what promises to be one of the most entertaining small-screen spectaculars of 1965!

From The Beatles Monthly Book – December 1965