During the closing credits of HELP! we see each of the Beatles walk up to the camera. The images are moving quickly and are hard to focus on because they are displayed multiple times in the facets of the gem of the ring, but one viewer, Dave
Layell, wrote to tell me that he spotted a couple of unusual things as Paul steps up to the camera. He pointed out that Paul is blowing smoke at the camera and that is clearly seen in this sequence.

It would not be noteworthy to catch Paul smoking a cigarette, but Dave believes there is a little more to the story. In the frames just prior to these we see George at the camera and Paul waiting his turn behind him. Paul has his hand up to his face and it would be very reasonable to assume that he is taking a drag on a cigarette and will blow the smoke at the camera. But is there something a little unusual about the shape and size and especially the color of his "hand"?

His "hand" does appear to be rather large in proportion to the size of his head, and color is very light compared to the flesh tones of his face.  Could it be the cuff of his shirt showing as he reaches up and touches the side of his face?  A look at the first frames above shows Paul is wearing a dark shirt, not a light one.  Nor is it a shirt with contrasting white collar and cuffs.  So much for the cuff theory.  Close-ups don't help much with what is already a small picture and low resolution but here is a closer look:

It doesn't look like a hand but more like a pair of binoculars or some sort of double-barrel soft drink can. Along the bottom edge of it you can see a bit of brownish color that seems to be his fingerss where he is holding it.  It could be a cup of some kind but the angle of his head is wrong for drinking unless it has a very short straw.  And taking a sip of a drink doesn't produce a cloud of smoke a second later!  There is no opportunity for Paul to take a drag on a cigarette after this frame --  He moves directly up to the camera.  Can you inhale a puff of smoke, take a drink, then blow the smoke out??  

 So what is he holding?

Dave believes that the object in Paul's hand that allows that puff of smoke is a bong!

Being a total innocent in such matters, I had to do a little Internet research to find out just what a bong looks like. It turns out that it can be made out of any container large enough to hold some water for the smoke to be drawn in through. The smoke bubbles up through the water and is then inhaled. The water serves as a sort of filter to remove some of the irritants and make the smoke easier to inhale.

Looking at the picture with that information in mind, it looks quite possible to me that he is indeed smoking pot through a bong. None of the Beatles has ever commented on just how they smoked their marijuana but it is likely that they would have used a bong at times. In fact, it would seem the logical thing for singers to do to reduce the irritation to their throats. It would not be the way to smoke unobtrusively, however and it does seem unlikely that Paul would knowingly go in front of a camera with one . . . but having been told that filming of this movie was done in a giggly haze, it seems like a stunt one might consider hysterically funny while under the influence!  

01/30/00