I Feel Fine (Intertel promo video - version 2)

BEATLE NON-SENSE

LET me tell you about The Beatles’ television performance you’ll never see!

We were down at Twickenham Film Studios, which is where a lot of indoor scenes for Help were filmed. On this occasion we were taping a series of television insert sequences in which The Beatles were seen performing five of their biggest hits of 1965—Day Tripper, We Can Work It Out, I Feel Fine, Help! and Ticket To Ride.

I wonder if you remember seeing I Feel Fine filmed on a set which had the boys working with all sorts of gymnastic equipment around them? We’d been at Twickenham about five hours by the time we got around to that particular sequence. The boys hadn’t eaten.

“Can’t we get some steak sent in, Nel?” asked George.

“I’ve already checked,” broke in Mal. “The studio restaurant is shut for the day. There isn’t a public restaurant open at this time anywhere in the area.”

“Hey! I’ll bet there’s a chippie open somewhere in Twickenham,” replied Ringo.

“A chippie?” asked Mal. “You’ll have some fish and chips in a newspaper—if I can get some?”

“Of course we will,” confirmed John. “See if you can get bundles and bundles of chips. It’ll be great.”

While Mal went off in search of a fish and chip shop, The Beatles went on rehearsing I Feel Fine. At intervals they kept repeating how hungry they were and wasn’t it about time Mal showed up?

Eventually he returned—just as the producer had decided to do the actual take of I Feel Fine.

“Cor! They smell great,” sighed John as Mal started to unwrap the bundles of fish and chips.

The producer took the hint right away.

“I’ll tell you what,” he said. “You can tuck into your fish and chips while we have one more camera rehearsal. There are one or two important shots on this number I’m not too happy about.”

“Right. You don’t need to tell us twice!” said George, lifting his guitar over his head and setting off in Mal’s direction.

“Hold it,” shouted the producer, “I want you all to stay where you are on the set. Then we can see you in your positions on the cameras. Just stay exactly where you are and we’ll work round you. Then as soon as you’ve finished we’ll do the take.”

Mal handed out the big packages of fish and chips, each one double or treble, wrapped in old newspapers. The boys just knelt on the floor and started to eat with their fingers, straight out of the papers.

“Are you sure you don’t want plates?” asked one of the studio staff.

“No thanks,” replied Ringo, “we’ll have finished this lot before you could get ’em!”

The recording of I Feel Fine came over the loudspeakers and the boys munched their chips.

A few minutes later the producer came forward into the set.

“That was terrific,” he said, “but I think we’ll do one more take.”

“ONE more????” began Paul.

Suddenly it dawned on the boys.

“Hey! You were filming then, weren’t you?” cried George.

The producer admitted it. Far from being just another camera rehearsal, the boys had been involved in a full-scale take without realising it.

When everyone gathered to play back the tapes, the boys fell about with laughter at the chip-eating sequence. By coincidence rather than anything else, John and Paul had actually mimed bits of the singing between mouthfuls of food!

Although it worked out so hilariously, that particular version of I Feel Fine has never been shown in Britain on television. Perhaps, someday, it will be and you’ll be able to see one of the craziest Beatle performances of all time! […]

From Fabulous208 – August 27, 1966