The Beatles weren't
originally scheduled to perform at the Municipal Stadium in Kansas City,
Missouri. Their day off was canceled,
however, after local promoter Charles O Finley persuaded the group's manager
Brian Epstein to let them play.
Charles Finley was the
controversial owner of the Oakland Athletics Major League Baseball team, who at
the time operated in Kansas City. He
initially offered Epstein $50,000 but was turned down. He increased his bid to
$100,000 but was again rejected. Finley
then raised his offer to $150,000 - at the time the highest sum ever paid for a
single performance - which Epstein accepted.
Kansas City Press
Conference
Q: "I'll direct my
question to Paul. Have the receptions in the United States been what you
expected them to be, or had hoped for?"
PAUL: "They've been better, actually. Somebody said they'd be good, but these have been marvelous, you know.
Fantastic."
Q: "What has it been,
about your reception...?"
PAUL: "The bigness of
them. The largeness."
JOHN: "The immenseness."
GEORGE: "The
magnitude."
PAUL:
"Multitude-a-ness-es. (pause) Wonderful."
Q: "Is there any place
in America that you wanted to see but did not get a chance to?"
JOHN: "New Orleans is
one of them."
FEMALE: "Ringo?"
RINGO: (hurriedly and loudly)
"YES??"
(Laughter)
FEMALE: "Would you ever
date a fan?"
RINGO: "Yes. I have
done. (pause) Honestly."
Q: "I'd like to know, do
you fellas hear what you're playing when the screams go on, and how do you keep
going together?"
JOHN: "It sounds louder
to people who haven't been to the shows before. We're immune, you know."
Q: "Do you do much
rehearsing on your tours?"
PAUL: "No. We only
rehearse the new numbers when we change the act,
actually."
Q: "You have inspired
Beatle hair-dos, and do you enjoy and appreciate seeing these styles on other
people?"
RINGO: "It's quite good.
It's nice. We always change when we see someone else with them."
Q: "Do you plan to
change your hairstyle..."
RINGO: "Not our hair,
just our clothes. We don't plan to change these. No."
Q: "Are you concerned
about the poll in Britain which indicates that a group called the Rolling
Stones..."
BEATLES: (suddenly, jokingly) "Wooo! Wooo!"
(Laughter)
RINGO: "There's many polls, you know, and they just won
one of them."
GEORGE: "And
they won that one last year, as well."JOHN: "They won it last year too, that one. You know, I mean, that's their poll."
(chuckles)
JOHN: "It doesn't make any difference."
RINGO: (jokingly) "We own the paper."
(Laughter)
Q: "John,
there have been a recent anti-smoking reports.
Are you trying to give up smoking?"
JOHN: "No,
I've never even thought of it, you know. When you gotta go, you gotta go."
(chuckles)
Q: "Do you
have any open public statement about American police?"
BEATLES:
"No."
PAUL: "Private
secret statements."
JOHN: "Not
when we're playing, anyway."
Q: "Are you
writing any new songs while on this tour?"PAUL: "John and I have written two since we've been here."
Q: "Where do you do it? On the plane, or..."
PAUL: "We did it in
Atlantic City, actually. Plus, the two
here."
Q: "What's the most
annoying thing that is bothering you on the whole tour?"
PAUL: "Hmm."
JOHN: "I keep
forgetting. There's one thing..."
RINGO: "I think not
being able to see the fans at the airport."
PAUL: "Too much
security."
RINGO: "You know, we
just get... The plane goes to the far end of the field, and then we just get put in the car, and away we go without
seeing anybody."
JOHN: "Away we go."
RINGO: "So blame them,
you see. It's not us; it's them."
Q: "George, what
prompted you to throw that scotch and coke at the reporter?"
GEORGE: "Well, he was a
very nasty young man."
(Laughter)
RINGO: "Old man."
Q: "How so?"
GEORGE: "Well, he had
been told to leave the place, anyway, you see. And he insisted on jumping and
trying to take pictures. And we couldn't see, as it was, without some idiot
flashing in front of us. So I thought I'd... (pause) baptize him."
(Laughter)
Q: "It's assumed that you will sing for quite some
time yet, but what do you plan to do after..."
GEORGE: "...the bubble
bursts."
PAUL: "Nobody's made any
plans, but John and I will probably... (laughs) Ooo, we have this one every
day, you know. John and I will probably carry on songwriting. And then George
will go into basketball."
GEORGE: "Or
roller-skating. I haven't decided yet."
(Laughter)
FEMALE: "Ringo, would
you show us your grey hair?"
RINGO: "No."
(Laughter)
JOHN: "Only if you show
him yours."
RINGO: "I'm not messing
it all up, you see. And we're on telly. You gotta look nice."
Q: "What do you do about
barber shops when you're on tour?"
JOHN: "We never go to them."
GEORGE: "We never do
anything about them when we're not on tour."
PAUL: "We don't even
think about them."
Q: "Is this the highest
guarantee you've had in the United States?"
JOHN: "Yes, I think
so."
RINGO: "Is it,
Derek?"
DEREK TAYLOR:
"Yes."
PAUL: "Very high."
DEREK TAYLOR:
"Highest-ever in the world, we're told."
Q: "Back to the
hair-do... What care and treatment does the hair get?"
PAUL: "A bit of
combing."
JOHN: "Washed and
combed."
PAUL: "A bit of
washing."
RINGO: "Nothing
special."
GEORGE: "No treatment.
We never put any hair oil on it, because it makes it go funny, you see... makes mine go funny."
PAUL: "Makes everyone's
go funny."
Q: "It was rumored all
over town a couple days ago that you all
had tried to get reservations at one of the hotels in Springfield and you were turned down repeatedly. Is this
true?"
PAUL: "No."
JOHN: "We don't make 'em
anyway, and the ones that have turned us down, well, it's their
privilege."
GEORGE: "And we're not
going to Springfield anyway."
(Laughter)
Q: "What is one question
you would like to be asked at a press conference
that probably nobody has ever asked?"
JOHN: "Can't think of
one."
RINGO: "No."
GEORGE: "I think
everything's been asked."
Q: "George, whatever became of the car wreck that you had
in London?"
GEORGE: "Oh, it wasn't a
wreck. I only just tapped into some fella
and knocked the headlamp in. But you see,
the further away you are the worse the damage appears. I mean, over here the
car was a write-off, but actually it
wasn't. And it was fixed within three days."
Q: "Did you have to pay
anything?"
GEORGE: "No. The other
fella's insurance company paid 'cuz it
was his fault. (pause) I'm a GOOD driver."
Q: "We wondered, are you
considering making America your home? Would you consider that?"
BEATLES: "No."
PAUL: "'Cuz England's
our home, you know. We like the place, but not to live here."
(John whistles the patriotic
tune of 'Rule, Britannia!')
Q: "Is there any other
city in particular that you've enjoyed visiting?"
JOHN & RINGO: "New
York."
RINGO & PAUL:
"Hollywood."
PAUL: "Los
Angeles."
Q: "Have you got a favorite
entertainer or author?"
JOHN: "We like a lot of
people."
RINGO: "There's a
lot."
PAUL: "American soul
groups... (pause) and Sophie Tucker."
Q: "You gentlemen play
cards between performances. What kind are you playing?"
PAUL: "Poker."
RINGO: "Poker and Crazy
Eights."
(Laughter)
RINGO: "I haven't won
YET."
Q: "I'd like to ask Paul
how his feud with Walter Winchell is doing?"
PAUL: "It's not a feud,
he's just soft, you know."
(Laughter)
PAUL: "I give up, you
know. I'm not talking to him."
Q: "How much of the
hysteria that greets you do you feel is real, and how much is pretended by the
little girls that adore you?"
JOHN: "You can't tell.
It doesn't matter."
PAUL: "There's a lot of
it that the papers, you know, help create that's probably not real. But there's
also a lot, I think..."
Q: "The name Beatles,
why did you choose that?"
PAUL: "John thought of
it."
JOHN: "I just thought of
it, you know. There's no reason, same as you pick a name for anything, really."
Q: "John, how does your
wife feel about girls screaming and running after you?"
JOHN: "She knows they'll
never catch me."
(Laughter)
Q: "Paul, how did you
enjoy the vacation to the Virgin Islands?"
PAUL: "It was nice,
thanks."
Q: "I heard Ringo was
having trouble with his throat. Is it alright now?"
RINGO: "Yes, thank you.
It's fine now. I haven't had any trouble for the last two months."
Q: "Have you ever
measured your hair to see whose is the longest?"
BEATLES: "No!"
GEORGE: "I think mine is
anyway, 'cuz it grows faster than the others."
JOHN: "I'm usually a
close second."
Q: "Ringo, are you going
to have your tonsils taken out? And have you had that offer yet from the girl
to send the tonsils to her?"
RINGO: "Yeah."
(Laughter)
RINGO: "I'm gonna have
'em out. And we got the telegram, but I don't think I'll give 'em to her."
JOHN: "We're gonna
auction 'em off."
(Laughter)
PAUL: "Oooo, that's
disgusting."
Q: "We'd like to know if
there was ever any truth to the rumor, John, that you might leave the
group?"
JOHN: "No. I don't know
where it started. It just sort of appeared somewhere."
Q: "Did you make any new
records with Capitol while you were in Hollywood?"
JOHN & RINGO:
"No."
PAUL: "We did do an
album (1964 Hollywood Bowl, live) but it was only for a souvenir."
GEORGE: "Not for general
release."
PAUL: "Not for sale. It
was so terrible, that's why."
(Laughter)
Q: "After you return
home, where will your next tour take you?"
GEORGE: "Around
Britain."
RINGO: "We do a month's
tour of Britain."
YOUNG GIRL: "Paul, how
do you feel about reports which say you're conceited?"
PAUL: (laughs)
"Yeah..."
RINGO, JOHN & GEORGE:
"They're true."
(Laughter)
PAUL: (laughing) "Thank
you, chaps."
Q: "Is there anything
you wanted to do in Kansas City on your visit here that you didn't get a chance
to do? Anything in particular that you wanted to see, or anyone that you wanted
to visit, by any chance?"
JOHN: "No, I didn't hear
about anybody that we know, so..."
Q: "Mister Truman?"
JOHN: "Not particularly,
no."
(Laughter)
Q: "Have you bought any
clothes in the United States, or is everything you wear from England?"
RINGO: "This is
American."
PAUL: "I bought four
shirts."
JOHN: "This is! A fella
described it on the radio yesterday as a typical Liverpool dockers
outfit."
PAUL: (laughs)
JOHN: "I got it at Key
West."
Q: "Do you ever wear a
tie?"
JOHN: "Me? Yeah, when I
can find it."
(Laughter)
YOUNG GIRL: "After all
this is over which will you miss more, the fans or the money?"
(Laughter)
JOHN: "Well, we'll still
have the money, so we'll miss the fans. They'll be the ones that have gone. The
money will still be there."
Q: "I'm with
Variety."
PAUL: "Really?"
JOHN: "Good for
you."
Q: "I'm sure you've got
some supporting acts with you, but I can't find out from anybody who they
are."
BEATLES: "Tonight?"
JOHN: "The same acts
that have been with us everywhere."
PAUL: "The Exciters,
Clarence 'Frogman' Henry."
GEORGE: "Bill Black
Combo."
JOHN & GEORGE:
"Jackie DeShannon."
JOHN: "And that's
it."
Q: "Another English
group is going to play Kansas City. The Dave Clark Five."
RINGO: "We know
'em."
(Laughter)
Q: "How did they come
out in the poll?"
JOHN: "Which poll? The
one..."
RINGO: "The Melody Maker
one, you're talking about? A British
one?"
PAUL: "They didn't win,
you know."
JOHN: "It varies from
each musical paper, how they sold and, sort of, readership. So the votes go one
way or another almost every year."
Q: "Did you talk with
Charlie Finley when he was in San Francisco?"
JOHN: "We haven't met
him, I believe."
GEORGE: "I met him this
morning."
PAUL: "I met him last
night."
GEORGE: "And Brian Epstein
was the only one who saw him, I think, in San Francisco."
Q: "He said he was very
fond of you men."
RINGO: "Oh. We're fond
of HIM, now."
(Laughter)
Q: "What do you call
your famed sound? Rock and Roll?"
JOHN: "WE call it Rock
and Roll, you know."
PAUL: "Roughly."
JOHN: "A lot of people
call it all sorts of things. But we call it Rock and Roll."
Q: "Ringo, what do you
do when you're confined in your hotel rooms all the time?"
RINGO: "We just sit
'round, watch telly, or radio, or play cards or something. Or talk... We even talk to each other."
(Laughter)
YOUNG GIRL: "How much
does the United States government get from what you earn?"
RINGO & JOHN:
"NOTHING!"
JOHN: "Heh, heh,
heh."
(Laughter)
Q: "What about the
British government?"
RINGO: "The British government
are getting..."
JOHN: "Oh, they're
getting a LOT !!"
RINGO: "We'll end up
with ten dollars when we get home."
Q: "With your return to
America this time, have you been asked to reappear on Ed Sullivan’s
program?"
RINGO: "I believe so,
yes. I'm not sure about that."
JOHN: "I don't think
we've got time, though."
DEREK TAYLOR: "Uhh, yes
you were. Hopefully fit it in yet."
RINGO: "Well, there
WON'T be time, now."
Q: "You were talking
earlier that the two of you might continue on,
and the rest... you break up the act. Is there a date set for this that you are
going to break up?"
PAUL: "No, all I meant
was that, if we DO break up... He asked when we do break up, which, it's gotta happen... that John and I will probably carry on songwriting. We didn't
mean singing or anything."
Q: "How long do you
think it will be before it does happen?"
PAUL: "No idea, really. Could happen tomorrow, you know.
(chuckling) After the Kansas City date."
(Laughter)
Q: "We hear and want to
know if you're going to the Playboy club tonight."
RINGO & JOHN:
"No."
JOHN: "We're leaving
after the show, I think."
Q: "When you were in
Florida before, did you talk with Cassius Clay (Mohammed Ali) and how well do
you know him?"
JOHN: "We only met him
the once for that sort of publicity stunt
which he came off best at."
(Laughter)
PAUL: "It was organized
by the newspapers down there. They asked us to come along. He's a good fella,
though, isn't he."
Q: "Do you like
baseball?"
JOHN: "Not
particularly."
(reporters comically
overreact with gasps at John's response)
PAUL: "Oooooo.
Very good game, Mister Finley! Very nice!"(Laughter)
JOHN: "Only on T.V."
RINGO: (loudly) "Oh dear!"
PAUL: (jokingly) "Great game!"
RINGO: "No it does, you know. You throw the ball, and then another ten minutes you have a cigarette and throw another ball."
Q: "Is it true
Charlie Finley asked you to wear kelly green and gold baseball outfits?"
(Beatles laugh)
BEATLES:
"No!"
GEORGE: "Not
true. We wouldn't wear 'em, anyway. Not
even for $300,000."
Q: "Has it
been decided about your next picture?"
GEORGE: "It's been decided on the date. I think it's supposed
to be next February, but nothing else has been
decided. No title, no script."JOHN: (giggling) "No script, no nothing."
GEORGE: "No, other people are drafting' it."
Q: "Would any of you care to give us any of your views... I don't mean to be smart by this... on anything on religion or politics?"
JOHN: "Well, we're not interested in either."
PAUL: "No."
RINGO: "That's about it."
Q: "Would you consider, or is it being planned, that a movie will be made of your whole life? The 'Pool, Cavern Club..."
JOHN: "They couldn't put
that kind of thing on the screen."
(Laughter)
JOHN: (giggling) "Not
yet, anyway."
Q: "One of you, I can't
remember which one, said you didn't like politics. It was like beer -- you
didn't like the taste. Yet when you were
in Chicago, you made the comment if you
were going to be for anyone in the Presidential election, you'd be for
L.B.J."
JOHN: "We didn't. We said, Eisenhower."
(Laughter)
Q: "What about in your
own country? You're going back to a general election campaign over
there..."
RINGO: "We're not going
to vote over there. I don't know enough about it, but I'm not voting'."
PAUL: "None of us do,
you know."
RINGO: "I don't follow
it."
JOHN: "If I can find out
which one takes the least tax, I'll vote for them."
Q: "In New Orleans, you met with Fats Domino. Can you tell
me how the meeting came about and what occurred?"
JOHN: "Uhh, Frogman Henry said he'd try and arrange for us to meet him, 'cuz we've always liked him. And he brought him 'round with a friend of his..."
PAUL: "They found
him..."
JOHN: "...in a store for
about an hour, and had a couple of shots taken for his kids."
PAUL: "...found him
getting groceries in a store or
something."
JOHN: "Had a sing-song
with him."
Q: "Paul, is it true you
lost your driver's license, and how did you do it, if it's true?"
PAUL: "Yeah, uhh, I lost it a year ago. I just got it back now, actually. Speeding, three times. If they
catch you three times, you lose it. Got caught."
RINGO: "Wasn't fast
enough."
Q: "Why did you want to
go to New Orleans? What about the town?"
JOHN: "Well, the clubs
and that."
RINGO: "You just hear
about all..."
JOHN: "To hear the
sounds, man."
Q: "The music?"
PAUL: "Yeah."
RINGO: "You know, it's
all good clubs and that."
Q: "Ringo, what do you
think of Jayne Mansfield?"
RINGO: "She's a
drag."
(crowd hoots and gasps at
Ringo's response)
JOHN: (joking disbelief)
"Ringo...!!"
GEORGE: "I second
him."
DEREK TAYLOR: "It's a
word D - R - A - G, and it means simply a
bore."
JOHN: "It's an American
word."
Q: "What about Mamie Van
Doren? She was..."
GEORGE: "We never met
her. (pause) Her publicity agent wasn't as good as Jayne Mansfield's."
Q: "What is your
reaction to these girls who come up to your hotel room and tear up sheets and
anything you've discarded, or the cigarette butts that you leave around?"
JOHN: "Well, they do it
after we leave. It's alright, you know if
the hotel manager doesn't mind."
RINGO: "Not if they come
up there ripping' 'em while we're still asleep."
(Laughter)
Q: "With all these girls
chasing you all over the world, who is
probably the most exciting woman you've met throughout the world?"
JOHN: "Ringo's mother is
pretty hot."
(Laughter)
JOHN: "Only joking,
Elsie!"
Q: "Do you like American
cigarettes and which ones are your favorites."
GEORGE: (not seriously)
"Yeah, we like American cigarettes,
and we smoke filters."
PAUL: "Ho, ho!"
GEORGE: "But we're not
advertising anybody's cigarettes unless they're gonna give us a few million
free."
(Laughter)
Q: "Do you do anything
for free at all?"
JOHN: "Yeah. Our charity
shows. That's about all."
Q: "I'd like to ask
George... I heard in the Lafayette Hotel in Atlantic City, a girl had climbed
eight stories on the side of the building, jumped in the window and grabbed you in your night clothes."
GEORGE: "No, it's
untrue. I heard a noise in the next room, but it was just policeman chasing her
around. And she jumped on Ringo, actually."
(Laughter)
JOHN: "Remember? When
that bird was running 'round the room."
RINGO: "I was chasing'
her."
(Laughter)
Q: "How many of your
records have been sold?"
JOHN: "We were told 83 or 85."
RINGO: "85."
Q: "Million?"
JOHN & PAUL:
"Yeah."
JOHN: "It's amazing,
isn't it."
(Laughter)
RINGO: "And we're still
touring."
JOHN: "We hear them
every day on the radio."
Q: "What do you do with
all the money that you make?"
GEORGE: "I'm going to
change all mine into cents, fill up a room and dive in it."
Q: "I'm just curious,
just how MUCH money have you made?"
PAUL: "None of us know
yet."
RINGO: "We don't know
yet."
JOHN: "A LOT!"
PAUL: "Our accountant
just deals with it, you know."
RINGO: "We can't find
HIM at the moment."
(Laughter)
Q: "Everywhere you go
you get tons of gifts, some good and some bad. Whatever becomes of all
this?"
RINGO: "Some of them get
shipped to England. If we get cakes and that, we try and get the fella who is
promoting the show to give 'em to hospitals, because we can't eat all that
cake."
Q: "How about
jewelry?"
RINGO: "Well, I've got a
case full, man, if you want to route through it, and see what you like."
Q: "Do you have any
extensive musical training?"
PAUL: "None of us can
read or write music."
RINGO: "We're all
self-taught."
PAUL: "We've all been to
school, you know, I mean... ordinary educations."
Q: "Which of you do you
consider the best singer or the best
musician?"
JOHN: "Ringo."
RINGO: "Well, I think
John's the best."
JOHN: "No, I think
you."
RINGO: "No, John."
GEORGE: "We don't
consider it."
RINGO: "No, I don't
think ANY of us are very good."
(Laughter)
Q: "John, there's a
report you speak German. How fluent?"
JOHN: "Enough to get
'round in the Reeperbahn in Hamburg."
(chuckles)
Q: "With all the
traveling that you've had, is there any place in the world that you'd like to
return to?"
JOHN: "Britain."
GEORGE: "England."
JOHN: "I'd like to
return there."
Q: "On times off, I've
read, that you visit children's hospitals. Have you visited any in
America?"
RINGO: "No."
JOHN: "We've never
visited one at all."
Q: "Well, there's a
picture of you in one?"
JOHN: "Where?"
Q: "In a children's
hospital."
JOHN: "We've never been
to one."
GEORGE: "Oh, we have.
While we were making a film, they brought up a lot of orphans to see us."
PAUL: "It was at
Easter."
RINGO: "We didn't go
there. They..."
PAUL: "We don't normally
have time."
GEORGE: "We went to one
hospital, I think, ages ago. And some girl had hitch-hiked to see us."
PAUL: "Oh yeah."
JOHN: "Yeah, that's
right."
GEORGE: "And somebody
stabbed her on the way."
JOHN: "That's right,
yes. It's true."
Q: "With all your world
travels, when do you have time for social activities?"
GEORGE: "When we're not
touring. We don't tour all the time."
RINGO: "We don't tour
all year 'round, you know."
JOHN: "We tour about
half the year."
Q: "As idols of rather
impressionable youngsters, do you ever feel a heavy responsibility."
JOHN & RINGO:
"No."
JOHN: "Only towards the
press. It's the only time we watch it."
Q: "Are you as closely
guarded in England as you are here?"
JOHN & RINGO: "On
tour."
RINGO: "When we're not
on tour they just leave us alone."
Q: "What do you think of
the American press?"
PAUL: "They're quite
fair."
RINGO: "They're all
nice."
JOHN: (jokingly) "Except
for you!"
RINGO & PAUL: (giggling)
"Except for you."
JOHN: (giggling) "Can't
stand you anymore."
(Laughter)
YOUNG GIRL: "Paul, I saw
a picture of your father and I notice that he has thinning hair."
PAUL: "Mmm-hmm."
RINGO: "But he's 65,
what do you expect!"
(Laughter)
YOUNG GIRL: "When your
hair starts thinning, what will you do?"
PAUL: (laughs) "Let it
thin, you know."
GEORGE: "Grow a
beard."––At that point, the event likely
came to an end with Mr. Taylor removing his four stars to rest up for the
unscheduled show.
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