Rare interview found
The Bay Area Radio Museum, a great online archive of vintage San Francisco area radio broadcasts, has a rare 8-minute 1964 interview with George Harrison and Paul McCartney.
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You can listen to it here (scroll down that page): http://www.bayarearadio.org/audio/kcbs/#listen
David Jackson of the Bay Area Radio Museum says, "Hilly told me that he staked out The Beatles at their hotel, and that a person (who might have been Derek Taylor) finally asked him up to their suite as a reward for his persistence.
"Only Paul and George agreed to be interviewed, but John and Ringo sat nearby, smoking cigarettes and occasionally commenting off-mike. To me, it's one of the most mature and respectful interviews of The Beatles by a "mainstream" Establishment reporter that I've ever heard."
This interview was dated wrong, I think the date on the box was typed at a later date by someone trying to identify the contents:
-- note that (in spite of how popular The Beatles were at that time), the typist managed to spell their name "BEATTLES.
...And spelled "Hilly" as "HILLEY."
...And wasn't sure whether it was McCartney and Harrison being interviewed.
It has to be from August 19, 1964, when they were actually in San Francisco.
For one thing, it makes no sense for Hilly to travel to Houston for an interview when they were coming to SF. Also, the tone of the questions seems much more suited to their first visit than the 1965 trip. And of course, Derek Taylor would only have been present on the 1964 tour.
Some new details on the interview from Hilly Rose:
I can only tell you that they held a press conference the evening of their arrival, and the recording was done the following day in their hotel suite at the Hilton. Many hotels would not house them because of the unruly crowds, but the Hilton was so large with so many entrances it worked for both parties.
The story behind the interview is that they were NOT giving interviews. I was working for KCBS and felt it was worth the try. I phoned their tour manager at the Hilton. I am sure it helped that I was with KCBS and they felt beholden to Ed Sullivan for their great welcome on his program.
At least the tour manager was willing to listen to my pitch, which was that with all the unruly crowds at the concerts it was beginning not to be safe. I wanted the Beattles to do an interview telling the youngsters the Beatles wanted them to calm down and make it safe for others. He told me to hang on: which I did for forty minutes. He came back on the line and said incredulously, "You're still there?" He thought surely I would have hung up by then, but I had made the contact and I wasn't going to let go.
He told me to hang on a couple of minutes and I heard him phoning the fab four in their suite. He had to cajole them saying, "Yes, this is really important. Yes, I want you to do this." When he came back on the line to me, I got a room number, a time, and a special knock to use on the door."
I showed up at the appointed time, which I remember was somewhere around 3PM, and all four were in their underwear lounging around. John and Ringo didn't want to do the interview, but happily Paul and George did. John was so annoyed he went into the bathroom and flushed the toilet continuously attempting to foil the sound. I was using a recorder that was unidirectional and blocked out peripheral sound, so it foiled his efforts as you can tell by the quality of the recording.
When I went outside the Hilton the groupies saw me with a tape recorder and demanded to know if I had seen THEM. With the straightest face I could muster I said "Are you kidding? No way" Otherwise they would have torn my recorder to pieces, and maybe me too.
(Hilly Rose)
(found here: www.examiner.com/x-2082-Beatles-Examiner~y2009m1d18-A-little-detective-work-uncovers-new-info-about-rare-Beatles-interview )
For Legality:
Astrid
You can listen to it here (scroll down that page): http://www.bayarearadio.org/audio/kcbs/#listen
David Jackson of the Bay Area Radio Museum says, "Hilly told me that he staked out The Beatles at their hotel, and that a person (who might have been Derek Taylor) finally asked him up to their suite as a reward for his persistence.
"Only Paul and George agreed to be interviewed, but John and Ringo sat nearby, smoking cigarettes and occasionally commenting off-mike. To me, it's one of the most mature and respectful interviews of The Beatles by a "mainstream" Establishment reporter that I've ever heard."
This interview was dated wrong, I think the date on the box was typed at a later date by someone trying to identify the contents:
-- note that (in spite of how popular The Beatles were at that time), the typist managed to spell their name "BEATTLES.
...And spelled "Hilly" as "HILLEY."
...And wasn't sure whether it was McCartney and Harrison being interviewed.
It has to be from August 19, 1964, when they were actually in San Francisco.
For one thing, it makes no sense for Hilly to travel to Houston for an interview when they were coming to SF. Also, the tone of the questions seems much more suited to their first visit than the 1965 trip. And of course, Derek Taylor would only have been present on the 1964 tour.
Some new details on the interview from Hilly Rose:
I can only tell you that they held a press conference the evening of their arrival, and the recording was done the following day in their hotel suite at the Hilton. Many hotels would not house them because of the unruly crowds, but the Hilton was so large with so many entrances it worked for both parties.
The story behind the interview is that they were NOT giving interviews. I was working for KCBS and felt it was worth the try. I phoned their tour manager at the Hilton. I am sure it helped that I was with KCBS and they felt beholden to Ed Sullivan for their great welcome on his program.
At least the tour manager was willing to listen to my pitch, which was that with all the unruly crowds at the concerts it was beginning not to be safe. I wanted the Beattles to do an interview telling the youngsters the Beatles wanted them to calm down and make it safe for others. He told me to hang on: which I did for forty minutes. He came back on the line and said incredulously, "You're still there?" He thought surely I would have hung up by then, but I had made the contact and I wasn't going to let go.
He told me to hang on a couple of minutes and I heard him phoning the fab four in their suite. He had to cajole them saying, "Yes, this is really important. Yes, I want you to do this." When he came back on the line to me, I got a room number, a time, and a special knock to use on the door."
I showed up at the appointed time, which I remember was somewhere around 3PM, and all four were in their underwear lounging around. John and Ringo didn't want to do the interview, but happily Paul and George did. John was so annoyed he went into the bathroom and flushed the toilet continuously attempting to foil the sound. I was using a recorder that was unidirectional and blocked out peripheral sound, so it foiled his efforts as you can tell by the quality of the recording.
When I went outside the Hilton the groupies saw me with a tape recorder and demanded to know if I had seen THEM. With the straightest face I could muster I said "Are you kidding? No way" Otherwise they would have torn my recorder to pieces, and maybe me too.
(Hilly Rose)
(found here: www.examiner.com/x-2082-Beatles-Examiner~y2009m1d18-A-little-detective-work-uncovers-new-info-about-rare-Beatles-interview )
For Legality:
Astrid