“I hit it off with George Harrison as soon as we met. We kept running into each other at parties and gatherings and always found our eyes meeting no matter how many other people were in the room. George and I talked whenever we’d see each other. We found we liked the same things, long walks while wearing comfortable clothes and being with sincere people who liked us for ourselves and not because we were in show business. I think I was the happiest when I was talking with George. There was something about him that made me open up and spill out anything that was on my mind. I think he felt the same way, for he’d often call late in the evening and talk on the phone for hours. We started seeing each other in England, but then had to say goodbye when he and the other Beatles left for Paris and an engagement. He called me every day. He even flew into London so he could see me on the one day he was off. I liked George. He wasn’t my boyfriend, but someone special, someone who meant an awful lot to me.” - Estelle Bennett, Movieland and TV Times, circa 1964
“[George and John would] take us to all these romantic white-tablecloth restaurants [in London], but once we got there all they’d want to talk about was American rock and roll.‘Tell us about the Temptations,‘ George would say. Then John would ask, ‘What’s Ben E. King really like?‘ So we’d just go down the list, telling them stories about all the acts we worked with at the Brooklyn Fox. And as we’d talk, John and George would sit there like they were hypnotized.” - Ronnie Spector, Be My Baby (1990) (x)
Annette Tapper’s (Phil Spector’s ex-wife) recollection of meeting the Beatles:
I met them in March 1965, during the height of Beatlemania. A friend invited me to the Bahamas for the filming of the beach scenes in Help. After we arrived, I was told to contact Victor Spinetti, which I did. We met and he took me to a sandy beach where a scene was being filmed. All four Beatles were there and they were on a break. Spinetti said, 'I’d like you to meet somebody; this is Annette Spector, Phil Spector's ex-wife.'
John Lennon turned around, smiled at the other three, started conducting and counted '1-2-3-4.' Then they all sang (to the tune of "Happy Birthday"):
'Happy Mrs. Spector to you, Happy Mrs. Spector to you, Happy Mrs. Spector to you, Happy Mrs. Spector to you.' After they finished, I shook each one's hand, saying how nice it was to meet them and we all stood talking for awhile.
There were very friendly and cordial, but above all, so harmonious with each other. They were like brothers and didn't seem on guard either with each other or with me. Besides exuding warmth, they were very funny and humorous, exactly like in the film. The only other people around were the crew preparing a boat for the next scene. None of the Beatles' wives or girlfriends had come to the Bahamas.
Later that day, I went with Mal Evans, the Beatles' bodyguard, to buy cigarettes for them and then we went to a cabin where all the Beatles were resting. When we walked in, the room was very quiet; then George Harrison screamed hello and I didn't know if that was a welcome or a 'get away.' But I went in and sat down next to John Lennon, who was very quiet. Paul McCartney was on the phone having an argument with his girlfriend, Jane Asher. She was upset that he had been away so long and he was promising to call once or twice a day. I congratulated Ringo Starr, who had recently gotten married. George Harrison was playing the guitar. I noticed that they were called 'the boys' by everyone associated with them.
After awhile everyone went to another shooting location. A camera man was filming George swimming in an underground pool. John was joking around, pointing his index finger at different people and saying 'bop, bop, bop.' It was done in a funny way, not as if he had a gun. Then he made a motion signifying somebody is crazy (he'd make a circle around his ear with his index finger and then he'd point to a particular person). He put his finger on my stomach and poked me playfully.
That night there was a party and I danced with Ringo Starr. When the record 'Help' was played he said, 'Excuse me, I can't do this. I can't dance to my own music.' Paul McCartney was also there, surrounded by many women.
I saw them one more time, the next day, when I rode out on a bus with the entire entourage to another of the sets. The Beatles were all singing as we drove along and I felt, once again, the wonderful humor and harmony that they generated.
being on this website as it gets worse really makes me understand what it feels like to be a highly specialized species suffering under habitat destruction
On Granada Reports, December 3, 1976: Watching The Beatles on Scene at 6.30, taped on November 25, 1963 at the same studio. Footage courtesy of YouTube.
“[Y]ou know, I went to school with Paul. He was a year older than me. I met him when I was 13 and we were together for 17 years until we split. People in America think that we got together around 1964 and split up in 1968. But from 1956 I was hanging around with Paul and, a little bit after, John.
When you’re so close, you tend to lock each other up in pigeonholes. Musically, with Ringo and John I had no problem. But with Paul, well, it reached a point when he wouldn’t let me play on sessions.
It was part of our splitting up. But at the same time I have a tendency to defend Paul — John and Ringo too — if anyone else said anything without qualification about them. After going through all that together, there must be something good about it.” - NME, December 11, 1976 (x)
imagine someone saying this to you out loud. like standing there looking you in the face, uttering the words “full nut” with an extra enunciation on the T.
now imagine it’s an instagram caption.
now imagine the person in the photo accidentally blurred the left side of the photo.