{"id":45520,"date":"2024-11-15T08:30:15","date_gmt":"2024-11-15T13:30:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=45520"},"modified":"2024-11-15T07:34:23","modified_gmt":"2024-11-15T12:34:23","slug":"the-bootleg-files-around-the-beatles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2024\/11\/15\/the-bootleg-files-around-the-beatles\/","title":{"rendered":"The Bootleg Files: Around the Beatles"},"content":{"rendered":"

BOOTLEG FILES 885: <\/strong>\u201cAround the Beatles\u201d (1964 British television special). <\/p>\n

LAST SEEN: <\/strong>On YouTube. <\/p>\n

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: <\/strong>Bits and pieces of the show turned up on home entertainment release.
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\nREASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: <\/strong>The full show has been unavailable for years.<\/p>\n

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE:<\/strong> Not likely.<\/p>\n

Sixty years ago today, ABC broadcast \u201cAround the Beatles,\u201d an hour-long musical special that was first broadcast on Britain\u2019s ITV on May 6, 1964. This production was notable as the rare television variety special with the Beatles as the starring attraction \u2013 for the most part, the Fab Four only showed up as guests on someone else\u2019s small-screen music and comedy revue.
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However, the Beatles were absent from half of this production, which placed a heavy emphasis on a number of then-popular pop music acts of the day. When they were on the camera, the Beatles were either clowning around in a spoof on Shakespeare or in a mini-concert performance where they lip-synced to their popular tunes.<\/p>\n

Back in 1964, Britain was celebrating the 400th anniversary of the birth of William Shakespeare. This may explain why the production was staged on a set meant to convey the theater-in-the-round setting of London\u2019s Globe Theatre \u2013 hence the pun \u201cAround the Beatles.\u201d <\/p>\n

The special opens with a parody of Elizabethan-style theater using \u201cPyramus and Thisbe,\u201d the play-within-a-play from \u201cA Midsummer\u2019s Night Dream.\u201d In this jokey version, Paul McCartney is Pyramus, John Lennon is his female lover Thisbe (complete with a blonde Heidi-style wig), George Harrison is Moonshine (accompanied by a dog), and Ringo Starr is Lion; a stone-faced Trevor Peacock takes the role of Quince, doubling as the wall separating Pyramus and Thisbe.<\/p>\n

The Beatles tackle Shakespeare as if it was a Christmas pantomime \u2013 complete with planted hecklers in the audience who fuel smart-aleck responses from the stars. To be frank, it is not the Beatles at their funniest \u2013 there’s too much winking at the camera and home movie-level hamming, and the fact this was the only comedy sketch in the show created an awkward balance for the production as a whole.<\/p>\n

Complicating matters is the near absence of the Beatles for nearly the next half-hour. The quartet pop up in brief bits to introduce some of the talent joining them on the show \u2013 this includes the mononymous Jamaican-born singer Millie, the instrumental group Sounds Incorporated, vocalist Cilla Black, British singer Long John Baldry, American singer P.J. Proby, and the Liverpool-based group Vernon Girls. The American disk jockey Murray the K also shows up for a very brief appearance to relay how \u201cin the USA, England is what\u2019s happening.\u201d<\/p>\n

When the Beatles finally perform, they offer “Twist and Shout,” “Roll Over Beethoven,” “I Wanna Be Your Man,” “Long Tall Sally,” a medley of “Love Me Do\/Please Please Me\/From Me to You\/She Loves You\/I Want to Hold Your Hand,” “Can’t Buy Me Love” and “Shout.” The Beatles did not perform live \u2013 their music was pre-recorded roughly a week before the April 28, 1964, taping of the show. They do a fine job miming to their tracks, and even John Lennon overcomes a sticky situation when he cups his hands over his mouth to pretend he is playing the harmonica for \u201cLove Me Do.\u201d<\/p>\n

One wishes there was much more of the Beatles in \u201cAround the Beatles.\u201d To be cruel, the acts that filled show in their absence brought more enthusiasm than talent to the show. And while these performers tried to do their best \u2013 Millie was the most delightful singer thanks to her quirky one-hit wonder \u201cLollipop\u201d \u2013 they only served to prolong the viewer’s wait for the main event. In the years that followed this broadcast, only Cilla Black proved to have staying power in terms of star wattage, albeit with British audiences \u2013 her charms never carried across the Atlantic. <\/p>\n

To date, only the Beatles\u2019 segments of \u201cAround the Beatles\u201d turned up in home entertainment releases. Bootlegs of the full show have floated around for years and can be found online. But the onerous task of clearing the music and performance rights for this show have kept this out of official circulation for years. And considering the lopsided nature of the special, this endeavor is best viewed as a bootleg.<\/p>\n