Sunday, April 19, 2009

Twickenham Film Studios, London - November 23, 1965
























































I present a plethora of screen captures from each of the promos The Beatles filmed on November 23, 1965. Although heavily edited versions of these appear in the Anthology, I chose to use other sources of the complete clips for these captures. Beginning in the afternoon and extending into the evening, the lads filmed the following promos:
  • Two versions of "Day Tripper" to start
  • Three versions of "We Can Work It Out"
  • A third version of "Day Tripper"
  • "Help!" (the strange clip with the umbrella, beam and fake snow)
  • Two versions of "I Feel Fine" (which includes the unusual "exercise equipment" themed promo and the "fish and chips" version, filmed as The Beatles had their lunch. Only John attempts to mime the words.)
These promos are often hilarious due to The Beatles' poor miming talents and the very obvious way they choose to accentuate their mistakes. John keeps Paul in stitches throughout, particularly during the "Shea Stadium" jackets version of "We Can Work It Out," some of which I've captured here. I love seeing them interact this way and bringing fun into rather straight presentations of the material-- save for those weird props! It's also good to see George's Gibson ES-345, which he only used for a short time at the end of 1965 during The Beatles' final tour of Britain. These promos are the only footage we have of him using that particular guitar. (Read more in John C. Winn's fabulous Way Beyond Compare and Andy Babuik's Beatles Gear.)