Interviewed by Sandy Lesburgh
Q: "Where were you in Austria? Near
Salsburg, Vienna, where?"
Paul: "A place called Obertown, near
Salsburg, yeah.
John: "Deutschland, Deutschland, Obertown,
Obertown. That's where we were."
Q: "When are you going to be at Shea
Stadium in New York?"
John: "I don't know."
George: "Fifteenth of August, isn't it?"
Ringo: "Mr. Shenson is just getting his
piece of paper out. He'll tell us."
Q: "You still call Mr. Shenson 'Mr.
Shenson'?"
John: "Either that or 'Soft Wally.'
Depends how we're feeling."
Q: (laughs)
George: "Fifteenth of August - Shea
Stadium."
Ringo: "and this picture opens the first
week of August in New York."
Paul: "Are you gonna go to it?"
Q: "Oh yeah. Are you gonna be there? For
the premiere?"
Paul: "For the film? I don't think so.
But anyway, are you gonna go to it?"
Q: "Yes, of course."
Paul: "I want a promise off ya that
you're gonna be there."
Q: "I'll have a picture taken in front of
the door."
Paul: "The thing is, you see, if you'll
be there - well, we know there'll be riots at
the premiere then. I've heard about your
following, you know."
Q: (laughs) Do you want to say something
Walter?"
Walter Shenson: "I think the boys ought
to tell you - I ought to tell you about the
marvelous song they wrote called, Help... with
an exclamation point."
Q: (jokingly) "That was Walter Shenson
the producer of the picture, and that's enough
now. What's this song that's..."
Beatles: (laugh)
Q: "Oh Walter, I see you in New York all
the time. Are you going to be there for the
premiere of your picture?"
Walter: "Definitely, yes!"
Q: "I'll say, then there'll be riots."
Paul: "Yeah."
Q: "Are there riots where Walter goes?"
Paul: "Yeah, with an exclamation point."
John: (whispering) "By the way, there's
seven songs in the film."
Q: "Is your voice changing, John?"
John: "No, no."
Paul: "It's not that we're trying to plug
this film, but it's seven songs, and it's a
rollicking, rollicking, happy, smash, uhh...
What are the other words you say about films?"
Q: "Let's get back to weekends, no
kidding for a minute. When you were up in
Austria, did you get the weekends off then?"
John and Paul: "No."
Ringo: "No, we didn't."
Paul: "We worked. But you've got to
realize..."
Q: "Even on Sundays?"
Paul: "Even on a Sunday."
John: "What do you mean EVEN on Sundays,
ESPECIALLY Sunday."
Q: "Especially on Sundays, John?"
John: "To finish off making the mov...
Nothing!!" (laughs)
Paul: (chuckles) "Making the film, I
think he was gonna say."
Q: "Something like that, huh?"
Paul: "Something... Either that, or it
was satirical."
John: "Satire is 'out,' Paul."
Q: "What's 'in,' John?"
John: "I don't know. --Rabber!! We're all
very Rabber over in England these days."
Paul: "Oh yeah. I think he's trying to
start a new craze, or something or other."
John: "Rabber. Rabber macs. Rabber
boots."
Paul: "Rabber Burnes."
(laughter)
Paul: "You know Rabber Burnes, don't you?
(sings) 'Only A Rose!' That's Rabber Burnes."
Q: "Would you like to do a little bit of
that song that you wrote for the picture, Paul?"
Paul: "Uhh... (laughs) I'll tell you
what, though. What we'll do is we'll promise to
send you a copy just before it's released.
Right? So you've got the - That's an exclusive.
Isn't it? I mean, THAT'S a favor."
Q: "I'm not Hedda Hopper (columnist), I
don't need..."
Paul: (jokingly) "Right. You won't get it
then. If you're gonna be like that..."
John: "If we thought you were Hedda
Hopper we wouldn't have let you in here... Hedda
Hopper was coming in on her bike."
Q: (laughing) "Did she ever interview
you?"
Paul: "She was at a party with a big hat.
She's great. Good. Good girl, yeah. In
Hollywood."
George: "She hopped past us."
Paul: "Hopped past, yeah. Who's that
other fella, though, that we don't like? Who's
that fella? Walter Winchell!!"
Q: "What about it? Did he interview you?"
Paul: "Don't speak to me about him!"
John: "He's stupid."
Q: "Why is he stupid, John?"
John: "He's stupid because he just lies
and writes alot of trash."
Q: "Have you ever met him, John?"
John: "No, but he keeps writing things
about Paul which are lies, and so he must be off
his head."
Paul: "I've said many a time that he's
just a bit off his head. I think he's, uhh - I
don't know what's happened to him. Everyone said
he used to be good. But he's - I tell ya, it's
just lies. He says I'm married, you see. and I'd
like to say, Mister Winchell - Walter sir, if
you're listening - I'm not! (jokingly) I told
him, didn't I!"
Q: "Is that the lie he's been telling
about you?"
Paul: "Yeah! I mean you know, that's
pushing it, isn't it."
John: "But he goes on and on writing it,
you know, as if he knows. He doesn't know
anything, that old Winch."
Q: "Goodbye Walter. (jokingly) I'm taking
inventory of the people I've lost as friends on
this show."
John: "I like Hedda Hopper. She's nice."
Paul: "Hedda's great, yeah. Everybody
else is great! It's not that we've got anything
against Walter - is it Walter! No, of course it
isn't."
George: "Walter Wimpy."
Q: "Is that what he says about you? I
mean, he doesn't say anything really, more
than..."
Paul: "No, it's not bad, you know. But
it's just that it's... It's a lie, that's all
there is, you know. Either that or he's just got
the wrong information."
Q: "How long - more - do you have to do
on the picture?"
Ringo: "Two days actual filming, but we
have to do quite a bit of post-synch, which will
take about two weeks I believe. So they tell
me."
Q: "Do you believe 'em when they tell you
something?"
Ringo: "Oh, I always believe them."
Q: (to Walter Shenson) "Are you telling
these boys straight?"
Paul: (jokingly) "We're all very
Gulliver."
Q: "You're very gullible?"
Paul: "We're very Gulliver, yeah."
Q: "and you travel alot, too."
Paul: "Travel alot, yes, too. You got
that one."
Q: (laughs) "Did you write the script,
too, for this picture?"
Paul: "No, we had a good try, but it was
obscene. Had to be banned."
Q: (laughs) "Did you really write the
score for this picture?"
Paul: "Score? I don't know what you mean
by 'score.' We wrote seven songs, you know.
Uhh... If that's the score, well we wrote it."
Q: "Called 'Help'?"
Paul: "'Help.' Yes, yes."
Q: "With an exclamation..."
Paul: "With an exclamation mark."
Q: "Mark, yeah."
George: "You didn't say 'No' then, did
you?"
Paul: "You didn't nod your head then, did
you? (announcer voice) I'm afraid you just lost
the quiz! I'm afraid you just lost the major
prize - can you come back next week?"
Q: "I can, but tell me what it is I just
lost." (laughs)
John: "A life-size cardbord cut-out of
Walter Winchell."
(laughter)
Q: "You mean, with darts coming out the
back?"
Ringo: "No - In the front."
Q: "What Ringo? Say it again."
Ringo: "Not me! I'm not saying anything
bad... against anybody."
Paul: "No, you've got it wrong. We like
everyone."
Q: "Do you, really?"
Paul: "Yeah, of course we do. We love 'em
all!"
Q: "How long are you gonna be in the
States when you do that tour? Do you know?"
John: "Four weeks, isn't it?"
Ringo: "Two and a half weeks."
Q: "Stadiums mostly, huh?"
Ringo: "Shea Stadiums, mostly."
Paul: "Yeah. We'll be doing a couple of
rounds of baseball before we go on, just to
limber-up, you know. Is that what you call it?
'Rounds' of baseball? Maybe not."
Q: "No. It's close enough. (laughs) If
you can do a round of baseball then it will be
very interesting."
Ringo: "A square of baseball."
John: "A round of bread - that's nice."
Ringo: "A round the corner's not bad,
either."
Paul: (jokingly, to Ringo) "Listen. What
I want to know - How'd your wife fall for you?
...can't understand it!"
Q: "When is the date when you first go to
the States?"
George: "Shea Stadium."
(laughter)
John: "When are we... Do you know... Does
anybody know?"
Walter Shenson: "Thirteenth of August."
Paul: "We're all a bit vague on dates and
things. We always have been."
Q: "What are you gonna do after you get
through with this picture? Are you gonna take a
vacation?"
Paul: "Probably, if we get a chance.
Yeah."
John: "We tour Europe. Before America we
go around Europe and see if they're still
alive."
Q: "Are they?"
John: "Yeah, I hope so. They just got the
Cup, didn't they."
Ringo: "Liverpool lost last night."
Q: "Liverpool lost, Milan won. That was
really interesting. I think that's the one sport
that could really make it in the States and
could be the one universal sport. Soccer."
George: "They don't have it there?"
Q: "Very little. and if they have it,
it's teams coming from over here, or they get
the Irish League or something."
Paul: (excitedly) "I saw some mad game on
TV in America. Irish game. What was it? Hooking,
or something."
Ringo: (jokingly) "Hookey."
Paul: "No, it wasn't hockey I don't
think. It was a MAD game that I'd never ever
seen before."
John: "and they were just smashing about
with old shalalees. Hitting the ball with
shalalees."
Paul: "Yeah! Wild game, you know."
John: "It was direct from Ireland onto
American TV - we were watching it."
George: (jokingly) "Bill Shalalee."
John: (chuckling) "Bill Shalalee - I get
it, George. I get it. 'Rock around The Clock.'
Got it."
Q: (laughing) "Bill Shalalee and his
Comets. So anyway, do you wanna briefly give me,
no kidding now, some sort of schedule of where
you are... where you're gonna be in the states
besides Shea Stadium?"
Ringo: "The only other place I know is
Houston."
John: "and California."
George: I think we're doing TED
Sullivan's show."
Q: "Who?"
Ringo: "TED Sullivan's show."
John: "and Los Angeles. We go there - I
know that. Yeah. Hollywood."
George: "Two shows in Chicago."
John: "San Francisco, we go there."
Q: "How many are you going to do in Shea
Stadium? Just one?"
Ringo: "I believe so. Just one."
Paul: "Listen though. As I said before,
we're dead vague about the things. and it would
be better just to ask someone who knows about
it."
Ringo and Paul: "Like Walter."
Q: "You mean Walter Winchell?"
Paul: "No Walter Shenson."
Q: "When you're not working on the
picture, what do you do on weekends? Do you stay
together on weekends? Do you split up?"
Paul: "We either go out for the day if
the weather's good, go out for a drive or go to
the pictures."
Q: "Are there any places you can go where
you don't get mobbed? I just came in out of
twenty more girls out in front, climbing the
walls. Is there any place that you can go in the
UK?"
Paul: "Millions of places where you don't
get mobbed. Yeah."
Ringo: "Name one."
Paul: "Name one? Tunipia!!"
John: "But that's not part of the UK is
it though, Paul, these days?"
Paul: "Europe, though! Isn't it in
Europe? No... Africa."
Q: "Close enough."
Paul: "Well you damned fool, Paul."
Ringo: "You're vague about places."
Paul: "I'm afraid I'm a fool... Listen,
uhhh... Around the Mediteranian there's a
couple. For instance - Tunidia! Name one!"
Q: "Tunisia."
Paul: "Pardon?"
Q: (laughs)
Paul: "Let's have a bit more of this play
between, uhh... talk."
Q: (jokingly) "Is this interview too
formal?"
Paul: "Volley? What is it called - that
talking back-and-forth?"
Q: "Is there any place around London that
you can get away without crowds, really?"
John: "Buckingham Palace. When She's out
it's quite quiet there."
Paul: "There are places. I mean, we go to
the... There's places where we can go in the UA,
which is United Artists. When you're in the
'business' you get to call it UA."
Q: "Very hip, yeah."
Paul: "Kinda informal, you know. They run
films for ya."
Q: "Paul, Thank you."
Paul: "Not at all."
Q: "Thank you, Ringo."
Ringo: "Thanks alot, Pal."
Q: (laughs) "Thanks George."
George: "Thank you Walter Winchell."
Q: "Do you want to say anything to Hedda
Hopper? (laughs) Thank you John very much."
John: "It's been a pleasure. If you want
to get ahead-a, get a Hopper."
Q: "Alright. The Beatles, in London. This
is Sandy Lesburgh... bedraggled."
Source: Rare Photos and Interviews,
Volume 3 |
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