The USA 1965 Beatles Tour News Conference held in my Home Town.

In 1965, the Beatles performed two outdoor concerts in Los Angeles at the Hollywood Bowl, one on August 29th and the other on the 30th. The following press conference was held at Capitol Records Tower in Los Angeles before the Beatles' August 29th show. Immediately following this press conference, the Beatles were presented an RIAA award by their American record label, Capitol Records. Each of the Beatles received a Gold Record award for the Beatles LP, 'Help!'

Their concert on August 30th was recorded for possible release as a live album. However, the project was shelved when the quality of the live recording was not up to par. Years later George Martin would revisit the tapes - working with the equalization and separation, and choosing the best tracks from their 1964 and 1965 Hollywood Bowl performances. With that, Capitol Records nostalgically released 'The Beatles Live at the Hollywood Bowl' in 1977.

Following their shows in Los Angeles, the Beatles would conclude their 1965 North American Tour with an appearance at San Francisco's Cow Palace.

Q: "This is a double-barreled question directed at both George And Paul, who are the two remaining..."

GEORGE: (anticipating the question) "We're not getting married, no."

(laughter)

Q: "You're both the only bachelors, and you're not gonna give us any indication of what your matrimonial plans might be?

GEORGE: (jokingly) "Well, soon we're gonna just get an answering service for that question."

PAUL: (jokingly) "We're both queer anyway, you know."

(laughter)

PAUL: "Write that one in your magazines!"

Q: "Paul, do you feel that your vacation here in Los Angeles was a success even though you didn't have very much privacy?"

PAUL: "Yeah. We did have a lot of privacy."

Q: "Did you mind the girls on the hill?"

PAUL: "No. Great."

Q: "What was the most enjoyable part of your vacation?"

PAUL: "Just lazing around, I think. Oh! Visiting Elvis! It was good, that."

Q: "I'd like to ask this question of the most handsome member."

JOHN: (stands to his feet)

Q: "Mister Starr, what do you think your basic appeal is to the younger generation?"

RINGO: "Don't know."

JOHN: "Liveliness."

RINGO: "Maybe my smile."

Q: "I'd like to pose this question to Paul, if I may."

PAUL: "We're all as important as each other, Dave. Let's face it, Dave."

Q: (laughs) "Would you consider..."

PAUL: "Hi, Dave."

Q: "Hi. Would you consider..."

JOHN: "Here again, Dave, eh?"

Q: "Yes, I'm always everywhere. Would you consider the Hollywood Bowl the most important part of your tour this year, or for any year for that matter?"

PAUL: "No, Dave, no."

(laughter)

Q: "Ringo, I understand your wife is a hair stylist. Is it true that she's tried to change your hairstyle?"

RINGO: "She used to be a hairdresser. She cuts it, but, you know..."

Q: "But hasn't changed the Ringo cut at all?"

RINGO: "Umm, it changes a bit from month to month but nothing exceptional."

Q: "Could you tell us what happened last night at San Diego? I understand that some fans almost got on the stage."

RINGO: "That was after we left, actually."

PAUL: "It wasn't."

RINGO: "Wasn't it? I'm at the back, you see. I don't see so well."

GEORGE: "Anyway, there was all bright lights around the stage. You couldn't see a thing, you know."

PAUL: There was one or two that nearly made it, but they got beaten down."

Q: "Do you appreciate women more now that you're famous?"

RINGO: "We've always appreciated them."

JOHN: "No more, no less."

Q: "John, your second book is slightly different from your first."

JOHN: "I'm glad about that."

Q: "Do you find it doing as well as the first? Any difference in sales, or haven't you been able to tell yet?"

JOHN: "No, I haven't asked anybody, you know. They'll tell me when they're ready to tell me. It did as well initially. It won't sell as many, but it's a better book, so I don't care."

Q: "Do you plan another book in the near future?"

JOHN: "I don't really plan 'em, you know. They just sort of happen. The publisher plans 'em, and I just sort of scribble."

Q: "Is it true, in New York, you led a 'boo' for the police in the (Shea) stadium there?"

PAUL: "Umm, no not really, you know. But yeah, I think a couple of the coppers were getting some fella 'cuz he'd run up on stage. They were thumping him up a bit."

JOHN: "Looked more like Madrid."

PAUL: "So, it was just a 'boo.'"

Q: "Ringo, did you enjoy working more in 'Help' than in 'A Hard Day's Night'?"

RINGO: "Yeah, in 'Help.' Yes. It's basically a chase film, 'cuz I keep getting chased by all these lunatics. And my three pals save me." (laughs)

Q: "Since your tours over here are so successful, why is it you only come over once a year?"

JOHN: "Because they wouldn't be successful if we came too often."

Q: "Will you go to Germany eventually?"

PAUL: "We don't know that. Brian (Epstein) decides where we go."

JOHN: "It's a big market, it's worth going to, but it's the time, you know."

Q: "May I direct this question towards Paul and to John. I understand you are Dylan fans."

PAUL: "We all are. All of us are."

JOHN: "We all are. Even George is."

GEORGE: "Even me, yeah."

JOHN: "Even George and Ringo like him."

GEORGE: (jokingly) "Even the non-musical members of the group."

(laughter)

Q: "I don't want to correct Ringo, but uhh... you'll be back from San Francisco at the time of the Dylan concert..."

RINGO: "We're playing the same night."

JOHN: "We play the same night that he's here."

GEORGE: "And we leave on Wednesday for England."

JOHN: "We saw him in Britain, you know, and it was good. But we're not gonna 'flog' it."

(laughter)

Q: "Did any of you help Mr. Epstein write his book?"

PAUL: "No." (laughs)

JOHN: "No. He did a bit, but we couldn't."

(laughter)

Q: "A couple of the tunes in 'Help!' sounded as if the sound might be changing just a little-- getting even more traditionally blues-oriented, maybe this is just an opinion. Do you feel that there's any change?"

GEORGE: "Yeah."

PAUL: "We try and change every record. You know, we've tried to change from the first record we made."

GEORGE: "And if you progress musically then you naturally change."

JOHN: "If you play our early records and the late-- even though we haven't made all that many-- there's a lot of difference."

PAUL: "We're not trying to do it consciously, you know, particularly."

JOHN: "Even recording technique. If you improve that slightly-- your sound changes, basically."

Q: "Ringo, I understand that the record album, 'Help!' has different numbers in the English version than in the United States version. Is this true, and if so, why?"

PAUL: "Yeah. We're in Capitol (records) now."

RINGO: "The English album is 14 tracks, and they're all our numbers. And on the American one-- I don't know how many tracks are on it, but then you've got some..."

PAUL: "There's seven of ours."

GEORGE: "The thing is, Capitol issue all sort of mad stuff, you know. It's nothing to do with us. We take 14 tracks to be put out, but they keep a couple and put them out later."

PAUL: "But it's a drag because the album-- We make an album to be like an album, and to be a complete thing."

JOHN: "We plan it, and they wreck it."

(laughter)

PAUL: "No offense, Capitol-- but we send it over here, and they put the (movie score) soundtrack on. And, you know, if someone is gonna buy one of our records I think they want to hear us and not soundtrack."

GEORGE: "They even changed the photograph off the front and put something daft on."

PAUL: "Yeah. Either that or they should make it all soundtrack."

JOHN: "As for Capitol-- they'll come 'round after we'll settle it."

Q: "John and Paul, you recently produced a record by the Silkie."

JOHN AND PAUL: "Yes."

Q: "Do you plan to do a lot of A&R work, or is this just a one-time thing?"

PAUL: "We just wanted to do it, you know. And it was a song that we'd written."

JOHN: "And we'd been off a week. We had nothing to do."

PAUL: "We had nothing to do, and so we asked if we could do it with them."

Q: "Do you think you'll do any more?"

JOHN: "Yes."

PAUL: "I hope so."

Q: "John, did you know that four girls have been circling above your home in a helicopter?"

JOHN: "I heard about two girls that had been in a helicopter, but that's all."

PAUL: "There was four."

JOHN: "Four? Were they driving it?"

Q: "What do you think of the groupies or the girls that make a business of chasing groups?"

JOHN: (comically) "I think it's terrible!"

(laughter)

Q: "Do any of you go to church?"

RINGO AND PAUL: "No.

JOHN: "Not lately."

Q: "George, have you and the Beatles ever been to South America and Russia for a tour?"

GEORGE:"No."

Q: "Why not?"

JOHN: "The Russians don't like us."

GEORGE: "And we don't particularly want to go to Russia."

PAUL: "They burn us there."

GEORGE: "And South America-- I don't think they've ever heard of us down there."

PAUL: "Yes they have, George. We nearly went this time 'cuz Brian (Epstein) wanted to see Mexico."

JOHN: "We tour the places our manager wants to see. He takes his camera. So, we'll be going there pretty soon, eh Brian?"

(laughter)

Q: "What's your program for the next few months-- like concerts or..."

GEORGE: "It depends on what Mr. Epstein wants to see."

(laughter)

RINGO: "We've got a month off as soon as we get back, and it'll probably just be TV and records and..."

PAUL: "TV and bullrings, and things like that. He likes that sort of stuff."

Q: "There have been some quotes on some radio stations in which you put down the movie magazines. You said that the things they are saying are unfair-- like Ringo always waves (at the fans) and some movie magazine said that he did not wave. And television proved it. My question is-- Do you feel that there is a difference between the treatment that you have received by movie magazines and all other magazines, and teenage magazines specifically?"

JOHN: "Well, the teen ones and the movie ones are written by people that never leave the office, and they just make it all up, and it's a lot of rubbish. But there's nothing we can do about it because the libel laws are so peculiar over here. The movie magazines that we were talking about are the same kind of thing."

GEORGE: "But the thing is-- the teen magazines like '16 Magazine,' even though the stuff they write is still rubbish it's not as bad as the movie mags. But it's still rubbish."

PAUL: "But there's some great magazines, you know, and some crummy ones like anywhere. But there's just a few more crummy ones over here, I think."

(laughter)

PAUL: "I mean, you know, you've got to admit it. If someone puts in-- 'Is Richard Burton dying?'"

JOHN: "I've just read about how I'm leaving the group, as well. What can you do about that!"

PAUL: "He's leaving the group, definitely. And I'm definitely married. It's fun to read."

JOHN: "You can't sue 'em here. What can you do! You can't ring 'em up and say, 'I'm not leaving the group. Where'd you get this from?' Because then they get big publicity out of it. So you just gotta leave it."

PAUL: "Yeah."

JOHN: "But we just keep telling everybody that they're lousy, and hoping the kids will gradually catch-on. You know, just buy 'em for the photographs and don't believe all the rubbish."

PAUL: "The thing is, if you read 'em like fiction instead of fact it's much better, you know."

JOHN: "But you get all these letters saying, 'Are you really leaving?' or 'Is Paul married?' and 'Have you got twelve wives?' and all that stuff, you know."

(laughter)

PAUL: "I love 'em. It's nice to read I've got twelve wives."

Q: "John and Paul, in creation of a Beatles song between inception and actual creation of the product, what's the process and how long does it take?"

JOHN: "It varies."

PAUL: "It's just sitting down and working it out, you know. It can take days, or it can just take a couple of hours. Depends on how easy it is. Sir."

Q: "Paul, how much of your personal life do you feel you have a right to keep private, and do you believe in being dishonest with your public to do so?"

PAUL: "Dishonest? I don't know really. Umm, I like to be, you know, quiet when I'm not working. But I can't have it quiet all the time, but I like it quiet, you know. But we expect it-- all of us expect it when we come on tour. Like this five days in Los Angeles, you know. And we expected it."

Q: "I'd like to ask Ringo which country he enjoyed touring the best, of everything."

RINGO: "America. I enjoy America, you know. It's so different from England. I mean, all the other places are different, but at least you can speak to people over here."

(laughter)

Q: "Paul, how do you go about selecting the songs you're going to do for a concert?"

PAUL: "On a concert, we just do songs that are known. That's all. So we just pick the songs that are best known."

Q: "Is there one particular favorite that you do at many of the concerts?"

PAUL: "We do most of them... Most of the ones that we do now we've done at all the concerts. All our records, you know."

RINGO: (jokingly) "He knows."

Q: "Which group do you consider the largest challenge to your popularity? Could I ask Paul?"

PAUL: "Umm, yeah. (laughs) You can ask me. I don't know, though."

RINGO: "There's a new one every week, you know."

PAUL: "Yeah. The Silkie, I think. Big challenge there. Up-n-coming."

Q: "Do any of you actually get any fan mail at all, or is it channeled through your fan clubs?"

GEORGE: "Yeah, we get it because '16 Magazine' prints our addresses handily for the fans."

PAUL: (laughs)

Q: "Do you ever actually answer it? Also, do you accept registered letters from fans?"

PAUL: "Yeah. We get a lot of mail that we answer ourselves. But so much of it goes into fan club branches and offices all over the world."

JOHN: "The main trouble with the mail from America is that they put self-addressed envelopes with American stamps on. If they'd thought of it, they'd know it doesn't work. They should put English ones on."

Q: "Would you mail it if they put English ones on?"

JOHN: "We answer quite a bit. Especially when we get months off. You're standing there at nine o'clock waiting for the postman for something to do."

(laughter)

Q: "Paul, you've been described as having the face of a typical matinee idol. How do you feel about this?"

PAUL: "I don't feel about that, you know. I hate that. I'm not."

JOHN: "Rugged."

PAUL: "Rugged. Rugged."

RINGO: "Five o'clock matinee."

(laughter)

Q: "Last summer in San Francisco, a doctor said that the Beatles were instruments of the communist propaganda-- that you were softening up and corrupting America's youth. What did you say to that?"

JOHN: "I think he should see a doctor. That doctor. He must be mad. You know-- Doctor of what! I mean who was he, you know. So many nuts over here, they call themselves doctors... and Sergeants and things."

PAUL: "We're all capitalists, anyway. Don't worry. CAPITOL-ists! Get it?"

(laughter)

RINGO: (jokingly) "It went down well in Chicago."

Q: "Do you have any people taking this seriously?"

JOHN: "Well, when we first came out the Russian papers knocked us, but then they decided we were alright. So we're sort of almost 'in' in Russia-- Accepted. But I mean, he wasn't even Russian, was he."

Q: "Among the youth in Russia, do the Beatles have a tremendous following, just as in the rest of the world?"

JOHN: "I don't think it's anything like that, but it's just that the papers changed their tune. We noticed in 'The Daily Worker' in Britain, at first they were saying we were capitalist things, and then they changed and said we were sort of raising the workers up to fight against capitalism. So they've changed their tune a bit. That's the way we found out. The 'Daily Worker' is the British communist paper, you see."

Q: "There was a lot of criticism over your being awarded the Royal Order of the British Empire..."

GEORGE: "We didn't get the 'Order.' We got the MBE whatever that one is. Not the OBE."

PAUL: "Not the Royal Order."

GEORGE: "The Order's a better one."

Q: "The first step on the way to knighthood, right?"

JOHN: "It isn't."

RINGO: "It isn't at all."

GEORGE: "We don't give enough to charity to be..."

Q: "I see. But anyway, there were some members who had received this same award but turned theirs in. What is your reaction to this?"

JOHN: "Ours were Civil awards, and theirs were sort of, what are they..."

Q: "Military heroes..."

JOHN: "...yeah, and they got theirs for killing people. And I think, you know, we deserve ours for not killing people."

PAUL: "Anyway, you know, we've got 'em, and they haven't."

GEORGE: (comically) "Naa, naa."

PAUL: (laughs)

Q: "What American group do you admire the most?"

JOHN: "The Byrds."

RINGO: "The Byrds, yeah. And they admire the Lovin' Spoonful."

Q: "I'd like to direct this question to any one of you. Is it true-- We heard a rumor over here that your British version of the last movie, 'A Hard Day's Night' was longer than ours over here. Is this true?"

RINGO AND GEORGE: "No."

Q: "And were there portions, a great deal of the movie 'Help!' cut?"

PAUL: "You get nearly the same film, only we had to... The thing is, for America, we had to cut out the word 'toilet.'"

(laughter)

PAUL: "We had to call it a bathroom for America."

JOHN: "That's true. We actually cut out a few words because they wouldn't take it over here."

Q: "What do you think of your movie, 'A Hard Day's Night' Being nominated for an Academy Award?"

JOHN: "It was funny, wasn't it?"

Q: "There's been a lot of controversy over the fact that, since there's so much screaming at your concerts, you don't sort of rehearse them before, or worry too much about them. Is that true?"

PAUL: "Well, we never have."

GEORGE: "We always sing songs that we've been... that we know. We must know 'em 'cuz we recorded 'em, so we don't need to rehearse 'em, do we."

RINGO: "And it doesn't bother us..."

GEORGE: "The only thing we've got to know is which ones we're doing."

PAUL: "The thing is, you know, we still don't rehearse for places where they can hear us, like on the Ed Sullivan show. And, you know, when it comes on television you can hear it, sort of, much better than at a concert. We still don't rehearse for that. We never have, you know."

M.C: "Last question."

JOHN: "We rehearse the sound with the technicians, not the songs."

Q: "I think we've met before."

PAUL: (laughs) "Hello, Kurt."

Q: "And I just have a feeling that you have turned a little bit anti-press."

PAUL: (laughs)

RINGO: "Not since YOU left."

JOHN: "That's just because we wouldn't have you up to see the pool, that's all."

(laughter)

Q: "No, that isn't it.... it's just that I was promised many times and told many stories but, uhh..."

JOHN: "Well, what about all the things you... all the photographs you promised?"

PAUL: (jokingly) "Yeah!!"

JOHN: "...robbed all the plane and then you left 'em. I mean, that's no good, Kurt."

RINGO: "We heard about ya."

GEORGE: "Bad Kurt! Bad, naughty Kurt!"

(laughter)

GEORGE: "Do unto others as you would do unto you, Kurt."

JOHN: "...all the stewardesses waiting for their photographs."

M.C: "Let's continue this next year."

Q: "I had a serious question, and you didn't answer me."

PAUL: "We love ya, Kurt. Love ya."

Q: "You do love me?"

RINGO: "Yeah."

Q: "Well, I love you. But I didn't feel the love because I never saw you until today."

PAUL: "Right. Thanks, Kurt."

RINGO: "We just didn't want to pollute the pool."

PAUL: (laughs)

M.C: "In a few moments the Beatles will receive an award from the hands of Mr. Alan Livingston, president of Capitol Records. This award will be the coveted Gold Record, awarded by the Recording Industry Association of America..."

JOHN: (salutes)

(laughter)

M.C: "...on behalf of the Beatles' latest soundtrack album entitled, 'Help!' To qualify for Gold Record status, a million dollars worth of sales are required, and this level was achieved scarcely two weeks after the release of the album."

JOHN: (comically) "Give us the money!!"

(laughter)

M.C: "That will be seven out of seven for the Beatles. Seven Gold Records for seven albums released. (Help! was the seventh of the original 'American' releases.) By Monday we expect to receive notification of the Gold Record status for their latest single, also entitled 'Help!' Now, to perpetuate that Midas touch with Gold Records, Mr. Alan Livingston."

(applause as the Beatles cheer him)

LIVINGSTON: "I might say that Capitol Records, which is just a little bit older than any of you, has never in its history experienced the phenomena of the speed of your success, nor the depth of your success, nor the continuity of your success. Going way back to our first hit record of Ella May Morris's 'Cow Cow Boogie'..."

JOHN: (jokingly to Paul) "Oh Yeah!!"

PAUL: "I remember that one!"

LIVINGSTON: "...which was recorded before you were born."

(laughter)

LIVINGSTON: "And right up to the present. It's something which will probably go down in history. And I'm very happy to continue this habit of presenting you with a Gold Record."

(4 Gold Records for 'Help!' are handed to the Beatles)

JOHN: (jokingly) "I'm glad you've got four. I'm fed up with fighting for one!"

(laughter)

JOHN: "Thanks a lot."

LIVINGSTON: "Thank you, John."

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FIRST BEATLES NEWS CONFERENCE GIVEN IN MY HOME TOWN.

On August 18th, the Beatles returned to the States to kick off their whirlwind 1964 North American Tour -- sweeping 24 cities and giving 32 performances in just 34 days.

The Beatles flight from London arrived at Los Angeles International Airport on the 18th, where the Beatles would give the first of two press conferences on this day.

After traveling to San Francisco later the same evening, the Beatles would give the second press conference from the San Francisco Hilton. The first concert of the tour would be held the following night in Frisco at the Cow Palace.

In the movie 'A Hard Day's Night,' John is asked by a female reporter if he had any hobbies. Although John writes his answer down on a piece of paper, the movie audience is unable see what he's written and can only see the reporters' shocked facial reaction. In this August 18th 1964 press conference at LAX, John Lennon and George Harrison dispel the rumors and reveal what it was that he actually wrote.

The Beatles would return to Los Angeles just five days later, giving an additional L.A. press conference just before their historic performance at the Hollywood Bowl on August 23rd.

Q: "What is your opinion of other groups that are patterning themselves after you?"

JOHN: (jokingly) "Great! We don't know any!"

(laughter)

PAUL: "Most of them don't. Most of them try to be different. That's the point, you know."

Q: "What kind of a musical background do all of you have, before you started out?"

JOHN: "Twelve-bar."

PAUL: "Nothing. Not really. No formal education, you know."

Q: "John, in the movie, somebody asks you what your hobby was and you wrote something down. What was it?"

JOHN: "Crap!"

Q: "What was it?"

JOHN: "Crap! (spells it out) C-R-A-P."

GEORGE: "It's a dice game."

JOHN: "A dice game."

GEORGE: "A dicey game, ha!"

JOHN: (giggling) "You thought it was something else, didn't you?"

(laughter)

JOHN: (comically) "You're a naughty journalist, aren't you?"

Q: "Let me ask you this question. With all of the success that you people have had, what do you plan to do with all of the money that you've now made?"

PAUL: "Uh, dunno really. We don't make plans."

JOHN: "Great! We've got a house to go to."

Q: "Where?"

JOHN: "I dunno, I just made it up."

Q: "How long will you be in Los Angeles?"

JOHN: "I haven't a clue. I didn't even know we were here!"

Q: (to Ringo) "Do you change your rings very often?"

RINGO: "Never. You know, I've had these three on since..."

Q: "What do you do with rings you're given?"

RINGO: "I just keep 'em in a box. you know, I sort of keep all of them."

Q: "Let me ask you this question. How do you feel about all of the enthusiasm that the teenagers display?"

PAUL: "We love it, 'cuz it's flattering. I mean, wouldn't you feel the same if they displayed it for you?"

Q: "Does it ever scare you, all of the enthusiasm of some of the teenagers..."

PAUL: "No, no."

Q: "But you're all traveling under such high security."

PAUL: "Yeah but that's why, probably, it doesn't scare us, 'cuz we never get frightened -- we never get near to a dodgy situation, you know."

Q: "Many groups have had a lot of trouble because of disputes that break out among members of the group. Do all of you get along pretty well?"

PAUL: "We've been each others friends for years. A long time. Umm, you know, I knew George and John at school so, we just... we are each other's friends. So we get along."

Q: "You get along pretty well."

PAUL: "As well as best friends do, which is lucky. It's good. (pause) All our jokes are nearly all private jokes, as well, you know."

Q: (asks question about tabloid rumors, away from the microphone)

RINGO: "I don't even know the girl. It's a load of rubbish."

JOHN: "And also, I know it's in a magazine called 'Truth' about us having another baby. (yelling, comically) It's a lie! Dirty lie! (stands up and talks closely into the microphones, jokingly) I don't know what the slander laws are over here, but I'm certainly going to investigate them."

(laughter)

Q: "The burning question is, when are you going to get a haircut?"

PAUL: "Um... we do get haircuts, actually. Amazingly enough."

RINGO: "I had one last night, believe it or not."

JOHN: "He had one last night."

RINGO: "Last night I had one. I did! It's no lie."

PAUL: "But it just doesn't... You notice it when you've had a haircut but don't notice when we have. Well, sneaky haircuts."

JOHN: "We're just well-groomed."

Q: "Have you heard about having a place to stay, or not having a place to stay, down here in Los Angeles?"

JOHN: "Uhh, you know, we're not interested. As long as we get a bed each."

FEMALE FAN: "We heard that you were all married."

RINGO: "Only John."

FEMALE FAN: (to Paul) "You're not married?"

PAUL: "No, John's the only one."

FEMALE FAN: "Are you just friends with Jane (Asher)?"

PAUL: "Yeah. It's so corny when you say 'We're just good friends,' isn't it. But it's true."

(Brian Epstein leans in to speak to John about the need for the press conference to come to an end)

JOHN: (to the other Beatles) "The airport authorities would like to close this thing down now. (smiling to Paul) Alright?"

RINGO: "Shall we say cheerio?"

PAUL: (finishing his response as he stands) "But we're friends, you know, and nothing more. Walter Winchell said that we're married, but we're not."

RINGO: "Dirty Walter Winchell."

JOHN: (to the reporters) "The airport man says we've got to go!"

RINGO: "Cheerio, then."

JOHN: (yelling over the crowd noise) "Back on the 23rd for polkas and fun!!"

The Fabs gave the following press conference on the evening of the 18th at the San Francisco Hilton, and then rocked the house at Cow Palace in San Francisco on the following night. The group performed just one show at Cow Palace, playing to a sell-out crowd of over 17,000 fans.

The next day, the Beatles' tour would move onward to Las Vegas Nevada, the second stop on their breath-taking sweep of North America.

Q: "How was your trip?"

JOHN: "Pardon?"

RINGO: "Very tiring."

JOHN: "It was sort of like a plane trip, you know... Boring."

RINGO: "We've been going seventeen hours now, you know."

Q: "How often do you get haircuts?"

JOHN: "Uhh, about once every three weeks."

Q: "Each of you?"

PAUL: "Yeah. Actually, it's cut."

Q: "This is your second trip to San Francisco, are you going to see more of it this time than you did last?"

RINGO: "Well, I only saw the airport last time, so I've seen more already."

JOHN: "Can you direct your questions so that everybody can hear them, please?"

PAUL: "Just a minute... Here's Derek. I'd like to introduce you..."

GEORGE: "A big hand for Mr. Taylor."

JOHN: "This is our press representative."

Q: "Who is your tailor?"

PAUL: "A fella called Millings of London."

Q: "In Savile Row?"

JOHN: "No."

Q: "Where?"

PAUL: "A little back street in London."

JOHN: "Old Compton Road. He keeps moving with all the profit he makes... Hmmmm hmmmm, he said."

Q: Are you working on another movie soon?"

PAUL: "Yes, in February."

Q: "Is it coming out then?"

RINGO: "No, we start making it."

JOHN: "We start making it then."

Q: "How frightened were you getting in that cage today?"

JOHN: "What cage?"

PAUL: "At the airport."

JOHN: Uh, it wasn't bad, 'cuz somebody had been up there and tested it."

RINGO: "In fact, all the press went up and tested it."

Q: "Why did you leave so soon?"

RINGO: "We got told, you know."

JOHN: "Some people said, 'Climb up on the thing,' and then we wave, and then they said, 'Get off,' You know. And we come down and wave."

PAUL: "And so we got off, you know. We're very obedient."

JOHN: "Oh we are! Arf arf!"

Q: "Do you think San Franciscans are any worse than any other place in the world?"

BEATLES: "No!"

PAUL: (sings) "'San Francisco.' Good town."

Q: "The people... the crowd that you had... Were they any worse?"

PAUL: "Marvelous. Very good crowds."

JOHN: How do you mean, 'worse'? What's he mean, 'worse'?"

Q: "Why did you start the tour in San Francisco?"

RINGO: "Well, you'd better ask someone else. I don't know."

JOHN: We don't plan the tours. They're planned for us, you see. We just say we don't want to go to, sort of, Buh-boo-boo land... and we leave the rest of the world open. It's all planned for us with a hearty, healthy Hey! Jolly good."

PAUL: "True."

Q: "How do you like not having any privacy?"

PAUL: "We do have some, you know."

JOHN: "We just had some before. Didn't we, Paul?"

PAUL: "We don't have alot."

Q: (to John) "Your hair looks like it's red. Is it red or is it wind-blown?"

JOHN: "Red? Oh no. Well, I've had a shower, you see. It sometimes goes a bit funny. You know, one can never tell... One gets underwater."

Q: "Ringo? You didn't look too happy when you got off the airplane."

RINGO: "If you'd been on it fifteen hours, how would you look?"

JOHN: "How would he look, Ringo?"

RINGO: "Look at him now!"

Q: "Which one of you is married?"

RINGO: "John's married. We'll all get married in the end."

JOHN: "Will you?"

RINGO: "In the end. Two or three years, you know. Plenty of time."

JOHN: "Do you mean you're not 'funny' like the rumor says?"

PAUL: "Lots of rumors in America."

Q: (to John) "Are you writing now?"

JOHN: "Yes. I wrote all the way over on the plane."

Q: "'Partly Dave' and that sort of thing?"

JOHN: "No. I've already written that one, thank you. I wrote 'Snore Wife and the Seven Dwarts.'"

Q: "What is the name of the next movie?"

RINGO: "We don't know yet?"

Q: "When is it coming out?"

RINGO: "We don't know. We don't start it until February."

Q: "Now that you've made a movie, do you dig the acting bit?"

JOHN: "We don't profess to be actors."

PAUL: "Besides... it's only Americans that 'dig.'"

JOHN: "Dig?"

PAUL: "Dig your baby, daddy!"

JOHN: "Oh, I get it."

PAUL: "With it!!"

Q: "In America, the current slang is: 'tough,' 'boss,' and 'dig.' What are some of England's?"

RINGO: "Fab... Gear."

JOHN: "They're ever-changing, you know, Madam. 'Alec Douglas-Hume,' That's a big one. 'Wilson,' Everyone does it."

PAUL: "Harold Wilson?"

JOHN: "Always."

PAUL: "There's alot of slang. 'Barry Goldwater.'"

JOHN: "That's a new one over there. It means, 'Drag.'"

Q: "What does it mean over there?"

JOHN: No, it means... uh... 'Happy days are here again.'"

PAUL: "Said he."

Q: "Are you going to be back in time for the elections?"

JOHN: "Back here?"

Q: "No. Back in England."

JOHN: "Are they having them again?"

GEORGE: "They have 'em every week."

JOHN: "Drat."

Q: "Ringo, how do you feel about the 'Ringo for President' campaign?"

RINGO: "Well, it's rather... It's marvelous!"

Q: "Assuming you were President of the United States, would you make any political promises?"

RINGO: "I don't know, you know. I'm not sort of politically minded."

JOHN: "Aren't you?"

RINGO: "No, John. Believe me."

PAUL: "I think you should be President."

JOHN: "I saw you dancing with Bessie Braddock."

Q: "How do the other guys feel about Ringo being nominated for President?"

JOHN: "We think he should win, you know."

PAUL: "Yes, we think he should."

GEORGE: "Definitely in favor."

Q: "Ringo, would you nominate the others as part of your cabinet?"

RINGO: "Well, I'd have to... wouldn't I?"

GEORGE: "I could be the door."

RINGO: "I'd have George as treasurer."

JOHN: "I could be the cupboard."

RINGO: "He looks after the money."

Q: "Are you going to be visiting Miami again this year?"

GEORGE: "No."

RINGO: "Not unless it's on the tour."

JOHN: "Aren't we?"

GEORGE: "We're going to Florida to do a show in Jacksonville... the Gator Bowl. But we won't be going to Miami."

Q: "Is Liverpool going to win the first division this year?"

RINGO: "I don't know, I don't follow football, you know."

Q: "You don't follow football?"

RINGO: "No. I don't follow football! You got the message. I don't know, are they winning or something?"

JOHN: "We don't like any sport. Waste of time."

PAUL: "Swimming."

JOHN: "No, we can all swim."

Q: "John, when do you write your next book?"

JOHN: "Uhh, well... All the time, you know."

Q: "Do you keep little notes?"

JOHN: "Yes... here and there."

Q: "Ringo, can we see your rings?"

PAUL: "Show 'em. Go on."

JOHN: "Show him."

Q: "Ringo, can you look this way and hold your rings up?"

JOHN: (jokingly) "Could you do it again, Ringo?"

PAUL: "Ringo, just one more for the east coast! One more for the east coast!"

JOHN: "I've got it! I've got it!"

RINGO: "Have you got it?"

JOHN: "Oh, me flash is gone."

PAUL: "One for 'Life' magazine."

JOHN: "Ha ha ha, eh Ringo?"

RINGO: "'Life'? That's a big magazine."

Q: "Ringo, you're on the cover."

RINGO: "Are we?"

JOHN: "Are we?"

Q: "What do you boys plan to do in San Francisco other than sleep?"

JOHN: "Sleep."

RINGO: "Just play the 'Cow Palace,' that's about it."

Q: "You're not going to see the town?"

RINGO: "No, we're not going to see your beautiful city that we've heard so much about."

Q: "Why not?"

GEORGE: "It'd take too much organization, wouldn't it?"

RINGO: Oh, you wouldn't see anyway, just speeding along in a car."

JOHN: "Help, Derek! They're getting out of hand!"  (END)

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Beatles Return Home After Stupendous First American Tour, 1964. Local fans waited on pins and needles unsure if the United States could lure away the pop-stars for good.

On February 22, 1964, the Beatles were interviewed by Pathe News upon their arrival in London, returning home from their first American visit. When this interview had ended, they then were immediately interviewed again by David Coleman for BBC-TV's Grandstand. While the news of their unprecedented success in America had already reached home, it was now time for Britain to get the full details first hand. Both the Pathe News and BBC Grandstand interviews are presented below.

It is interesting to notice, during the BBC interview, the early appearance of one of Ringo's famous malapropisms - as he jokingly utters the phrase "Tomorrow Never Knows" as an off-handed quip, so long before the days of the 1966 Revolver album.

PATHE NEWS INTERVIEW:

Q: "George, your fans obviously enjoyed it over there, I assume the press enjoyed it, did you enjoy it?"

GEORGE: "Yeah, it was marvelous. You know. Everything. Every bit of it was a knock-out."

Q: "Even the work?"

GEORGE: Yeah, we enjoyed it, you know. It was different working in different places with the audience all around us."

Q: "What impressed you most about the place? Did you have time to take anything in properly?"

GEORGE: "Oh, yeah. I think I enjoyed the sun in Miami most of all. You know-- healthy."

Q: "You're the healthy one of the four?"

GEORGE: "No, but the sun was sort of very healthy."

Q: "Did you have a chance to get away from anybody at any time on the trip?"

GEORGE: "Yeah."

RINGO: "He got away from me-- twice!"

(laughter)

Q: "What did you most like about the trip, Ringo?

RINGO: "Oh, I just loved all of it, you know. Especially Miami-- the sun. I didn't know what it meant till I went over there."

Q: "Don't you get it up in Liverpool?"

RINGO: "No, they're finished up there, you know. They've cut it out."

(laughter)

Q: "Did you ever have a chance, John, to just get away on your own without anybody recognizing you?"

JOHN: "Yeah. We borrowed a couple of millionaires houses, you know."

Q: "You could afford to BUY a couple of millionaire's houses, couldn't you?"

PAUL: "Naw."

JOHN: "Yeah, we'd sooner borrow 'em. It's cheaper.

(laughter)

JOHN: "And we did a bit of water-skiing. Well, sort of, anyway."

RINGO: "Yeah, we had a great time."

Q: (to John) "Did your wife enjoy it over there?"

JOHN: "She loved it. (comically) Who?? Who??"

PAUL: "Shh-Shh."

RINGO: "Don't tell 'em he's married. It's a secret."

Q: "What about the taste of the fans over there. Did you find the same stuff?"

PAUL: "Yeah."

JOHN: "He never bit any."

(laughter)

PAUL: "We expected them to be very different, but they weren't at all. The accent was the only thing, you know. That was the only difference."

Q: "Did they reckon you sang in an English accent or an American accent?"

PAUL: "No, some fella said, 'How come because you're from Britain, and you still sing in an American accent,' or something. We were trying to explain it to him.... oh, it was funny."

Q: "When you came back from France you told me that they like the sort of quicker numbers."

PAUL: "Yeah."

Q: "But what did you do? Did you just do all the same routine as you do here?"

PAUL: "Uhh, yeah."

JOHN: "We did the older song."

GEORGE: "Most of our records are hits over there."

PAUL: "Oh yeah, we had to do 'Please Please Me' over there. We hadn't been doing that for a long time here, but it's in the charts there."

Q: "That's history, here. What about the Beatles' styles-- all these wigs and suits and things? Are they catching on over there?"

GEORGE: "Yeah, they're selling well."

RINGO: (jokingly) "15 million a day!"

Q: "I hear that the four of you have been millionaires by the end of the year."

GEORGE: "Oh. That's nice."

(laughter)

Q: "Have you got time to actually spend this money?"

BEATLES: (in unison) "What money??"

Q: "Doesn't he (Brian Epstein) give any to you?"

GEORGE: "No, no. Have you seen that car of his?"

(laughter)

Q: "Is there any intention for you to go back to America-- or in fact, join the brain-drain and a big guitar-drain and stay there?"

RINGO: "We'd like to go back. We wouldn't stay there. We love England."

BBC-TV GRANDSTAND INTERVIEW:

Q: "Welcome back, boys. How does this reception here compare with America?"

RINGO: "Oh, it was great! It was every bit as good."

JOHN: "It was better."

PAUL: "Better."

RINGO: "It was better."

Q: "I must say even you boys looked surprised as you came down the aircraft steps."

PAUL: "Yeah."

JOHN: "Well, wouldn't you be?"

GEORGE: "It's so early in the morning."

JOHN: "Yeah, we only just got up."

RINGO: "We haven't got up, we haven't been to bed yet. Don't forget; it's four o'clock in the states now."

Q: "What do you think about America? Is it very different from your point of view?"

RINGO: "It's bigger."

Q: "Did you get lost then, George?"

RINGO: (jokingly) "I'll pass you on to George now."

GEORGE: "No, I didn't get lost, George."

PAUL: "Nobody let him out, you know. He was in the hotel the whole time."

GEORGE: "Yeah, as soon as we got there they strapped me up in bed."

(laughter)

PAUL: "But it's a marvelous place. We loved it."

Q: "Is it very different for performance over there than performing here?"

GEORGE: "Yeah."

Q: "In what way?"

GEORGE: "You don't play theatres over there, you know. The places we played-- Carnegie Hall and this place in Washington."

RINGO: "A big stadium."

GEORGE: "Yeah, a big stadium with the audience all around and the acoustics were terrible."

JOHN: "So we sparred up, you know before we got..."

RINGO: "Yeah, it was good."

GEORGE: "But it was good for, you know-- It was quite a novelty, wasn't it, John?"

JOHN: "Yeah it was. (jokingly) I'll pass you on to Paul."

(laughter)

PAUL: "It was, too. Yes."

Q: "Now Ringo, I hear you were manhandled at the Embassy Ball. Is this right?"

RINGO: "Not really. Someone just cut a bit of my hair, you see."

Q: "Let's have a look. You seem to have got plenty left."

RINGO: (turns head) "Can you see the difference? It's longer, this side."

Q: "What happened exactly?"

RINGO: "I don't know. I was just talking, having an interview (exaggerated voice) Just like I am NOW!"

(John and Paul begin lifting locks of his hair, pretending to cut it)

RINGO: "I was talking away, and I looked 'round, and there was about 400 people just smiling. So, you know-- what can you say!"

JOHN: "What can you say!"

RINGO: "Tomorrow never knows."

JOHN: (laughs)

Q: "George, how do you like being described as the Prime Minister's secret weapon?"

GEORGE: "It's great, yeah. The thing is-- I didn't get the bit where they said, 'Earning all these dollars for Britain,' like, are we sharing it out or something?"

(laughter)

Q: "But we're told that you've come back from America millionaires."

PAUL: "Naw, you're kidding."

JOHN: "Next time."

Q: "Now what about Miami? I mean, you were in the millionaire's playground."

RINGO: "Oh, that was marvelous-- Miami!"

Q: "You lived well, did you?"

PAUL: "Yeah. Well, we borrowed these houses, you see. These people rang-up and said, 'Do you want our house, lad?' So we said, (American accent) 'By gum, we do!'"

(laughter)

PAUL: "And we went across there, and we all water-skied, and fishing."

(Paul gestures a two-foot fish with his hands. John demonstrates a one-inch fish with his fingers)

RINGO: "He caught a monster!"

Q: "How did it compare with New Brighton?"

PAUL: (laughs) "With New Brighton? It wasn't as sunny, of course, as New Brighton."

RINGO: "Of course, we missed the docks."

JOHN: "And the people didn't have as much money."

GEORGE: "And there was more oil on the sand in Miami."

Q: "We'd like to hear what you thought about (meeting) Mister Clay." (Cassius Clay, aka Mohammed Ali)

JOHN: "Very tall."

RINGO: "Oh, he's a big lad."

PAUL: "He's a great laugh, more than anything. He's a big lad."

GEORGE: "He's gonna get Sonny Liston in three."

JOHN: "...he said."

RINGO: "So he said."

PAUL: "That's what he said. I don't think he will, though."

Q: "I hear you were creeping up to Harry Carpenter in the training camp, Paul, and whispering things to him."

PAUL: "Yeah. Well you see, the only thing was-- He asked me who was going to win! And I would have told him out that I thought Liston was gonna win."

JOHN: (jokingly) "You coward!"

PAUL: (laughs) "I'm a coward! And it was in Clay's camp, you see, and there was all these big fellas around. I had to whisper, you know."

JOHN: (starts singing, and Paul joins in) "'Liston, do you want to know a secret.'"(laughter)

RINGO: "Pluggin' you know. We're still trying to sell!"

Q: "How did Clay compare with you?"

RINGO: "He's bigger than all of us put together."

Q: "We're told that he was acting in a way that even the Beatles couldn't match."

PAUL: "Yeah. He was, actually."

RINGO: "He was good."

JOHN: "He was saying, 'I'z beautiful, and you'z beautiful, too!!'"

(laughter)

PAUL: "Yeah, he's a showman."

RINGO: "Oh, definitely."

Q: "Well now that you're back, you're out of the Top Ten for the first time for a long time."

JOHN: (comical choking sound)

Q: "What about it."

PAUL: "Uhh, I don't know."

JOHN: "What do you suggest?"

Q: "Have you got anything on the way?"

JOHN: "We could go straight, couldn't we."

GEORGE: "I'm going to try tap-dancing."

PAUL: "And Ringo's doing comedy on the high-wire."

Q: "But have you got anything on the way, apart from the film?"

PAUL: "We're doing recording next week."

JOHN: (to Paul) "Shhh!!"

RINGO: "Don't tell 'em."

PAUL: "We're not! It's a lie! Sorry! (whispers) We're recording next week."

Q: "We daren't ask you where."

PAUL: "No!"

RINGO: "We couldn't tell you."

JOHN: "Oh no. --DECCA!"

(laughter)

Q: "What about your impression of American adults? I mean, we hear your impression of teenagers and so on. I saw you, Ringo, being quoted as saying something about this."

RINGO: "What did I say?"

Q: "You tell me."

RINGO: (jokingly) "I don't know. You know, I'm quoted so much it's just ridiculous."

(laughter)

Q: "You tell him what he said, Paul."

PAUL: "I don't remember. About adults?"

RINGO: "They're older than I am!"

(laughter)

Q: "You said the adults were a bigger problem than the teenagers."

RINGO: "Oh, yeah. Well, you know, they've sort of gone potty."

PAUL: "Yeah, they were."

RINGO: "I mean, the teenagers will ask for the autograph, and take it, and leave it at that. But the adults want to know where you've been, and..."

PAUL: "Yeah. Cut your hair, too."

RINGO: "Yeah. Well, I don't know if it was an adult, but somebody did."

Q: "Did you manage to get much time away from all this, and really get away by yourselves?"

JOHN: "We got three days at the end, after the 'Ed Sullivan in Miami,' you know, we stayed on. Was it three days?"

PAUL: "Yeah."

RINGO: "It was around that."

JOHN: "Three days, you know... nearly three."

Q: "Anyway, nice to see you back, boys. Thanks very much..."

PAUL: "Thank you."

RINGO: "Good to see you. Keep kicking."

JOHN: (giggling to Ringo) "Keep kicking."

Please feel free to leave any comments or corrections and share these articles plus the blog's website with your friends, especially Beatles’ fans. You and they might also enjoy knowing more about my Love Songs CD and my novel, BEATLEMANIAC. Just click on the “My Shop” tab near the top of this page for full details.