Beatles A Day in the Life Blog posts of '1963' 'November'

ABC Cinema, Stockport Rd. Ardwick Green, Ardwick, Manchester, Lancashire

Trading their exclusive permission for a share of the proceeds, the Beatles permitted Pathe News to film two songs from their first "House" this evening. "She Loves You", and "Twist And Shout". (A disc recording of "From Me To You" played under other footage.)

Together with backstage sequences, scenes of the hysterical audience and typically pun-filled commentary, this combined to make an eight minute "Techniscope" color newsreel, "The Beatles Come To Town", distributed around selected British cinemas for a week from December 22nd. Two years later, Pathe incorporated the footage into a 70-minute feature film titled Pop Gear, released to British cinemas on April 18, 1965. Memorably, the US title of the release was Go Go Mania.

Granada TV also had a crew shooting backstage at the ABC Ardwick, covering much the same sequences as Pathe and also conducting an exclusive interview in which the Beatles talked of their first US visit set for the following February. These items were first transmitted in the Monday - January 6th 1964 edition of "Scene At 6:30". (6:30-7:00 pm).

BBC radio also was backstage at the Ardwick, a two minute interview with the Beatles by Michael Barton was broadcast this evening, November 20th, in the North Home Service program, "Voice of the North", 6:10-6:30 pm. Additionally, Barton taped a brief interview with George alone for Wacker, Mach Schau, a program about the relationship between the Liverpool and Hamburg rock scenes, broadcast on the North Home Service on November 27th, 8:00 to 8:30 pm.

Gaumont Cinema, Wolverhampton

Monday, November 18th had not been a day of rest for the Beatles as it had for the other acts on their package tour. Instead, they attended a ceremony at EMI House in London where they received a clutch of representation discs: silver LP's for "Please Please Me" and "With The Beatles", the latter in advance of release from EMI Ltd chairman Sir Joseph Lockwood, a minature silver EP each for "Twist And Shout" and "She Loves You", respectively from Gerald Marks, editor of weekly pop paper "Disc". They also stayed for a cocktail party and then a formal lunch in the boardroom, with company executives and privileged guests.

The Beatles were off today in history....

The Beatles - Coventry Theatre, Germany

Winter Gardens Theatre, Exeter Rd. Bournemouth, Hampshire

News of Beatlemania was beginning to spread abroad. Three different camera teams from the major North American television networks, NBC, ABC and CBS - filmed parts of this Beatles performance and the audience hysterics. Reports went into US television news programs on November 18, 19, and 21st and December 7th.

In the CBS item, reporter Alexander Kendrick was particularly condescending. Talking of the group's fans he declared, "Some of the girls can write" and spoke of the Beatle's "Dishmop hairstyles". The Beatles were seen entering the Winter Gardens Theatre and playing "She Loves You" on stage, (the disc version was overdubbed for TV). John and Paul also gave a short interview with another reporter, Josh Darsa. In punning, lofty fashion, Kendrick then concluded, "They symbolise the 20th century non-hero, as the make non-music, wear non-haircuts and give non-mersey".

The Beatles - Colston Hall, Bristol

The Beatles - ABC Cinema, Exeter

Westward Television Studios, Derry's Cross, Plymouth, Devonshire and ABC Cinema, George St. Plymouth, Devonshire

Being that they were in Plymouth, the Beatles consented to an approach from Westward Television (which then held the ITV franchise for programming south-west England) to give a brief interview to presenter Stuart Hutchinson for the local teenage program "Move Over, Dad" (billed as "A gay new show with the accent on the beat of the young"). It was included in the next edition of the series, Saturday, November 16th, (5:15 to 5:45 pm).

But such was the chaos outside the ABC Cinema, where the group was ensconced in their dressing room, that they had to be smuggled out of a side door and into a side door of the adjacent Athenaeum Theatre. Westward occasionally used the theatre as an annex studio, and direct access could be gained to the company's main studio block, in Derry's Cross, via a connecting tunnel. The Beatles followed this route in order to appear on "Move Over, Dad", and then repeated the exercise in the other direction, back to the ABC for the night's two "houses".

Guildhall, Portsmouth (postponed)

Hampshire's teenage population went into veritable mourning when a gastric flu virus hit Paul McCartney and caused postponement of the Beatle's Portsmouth shows this evening. They were soon re-scheduled for Tuesday, December 3rd.

Not postponed but cancelled (that is, never re-arranged) was a mimed musical appearance on the Southern Television magazine program "Day By Day", scheduled to have been taped during the early afternoon at the Company's Southhampton studios and transmitted this evening, 6:05 to 6:45 pm. Instead, in the Guildhall dressing room, they gave a short interview to Jeremy James which was broadcast in the same program.

The Beatles also appeared on this evening's local BBC TV magazine program, "South Today", 6:10 to 6:30, in an interview with reporter John Johnston taped earlier at their Southsea hotel, the Royal Beach.

The Beatles had a break today