The Beatles - All About The Beatles At Beatlemania.Ca

During this period (January 16 - February 4, 1964), Olympia made packed room. The Beatles played everyday except Tuesday January 21 and 28 when they profited from days of rest. (the 28, John Lennon and George Harrison went back to London for a few hours, and George benefitted from it to dine with Phil Spector and The Ronettes.) During their stay they occupied one Suite at Hotel George V where they received the press and the photographers.

Only three Beatles, John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison, accompanied by Brian Epstein, their road-manager Mal Evans and their press attaché, Brian Sommerville, flew at 5:15PM of London for Paris on board their plane Comet 4B. (Ringo Starr remained in Liverpool with his/her parents where it was blocked - apparently due to fog...) With their arrival with the airport of Le Bourget with 5:50PM, only some journalists were there to accomodate them. They were briefly interviewed, whereas they were still on the aircraft, by two reporters of Europe n°1, a certain "Humbert" and François Jouffa, who did not hesitate to make them read in phonetic French the answers. (the interview was retransmitted the following day at 5 p.m. in the flash of Andre Arnaud.)

Wednesday 15th of January 1964

Around 3 p.m., the three Beatles took a small tourist walk on the Fields-Élysées. Ringo Starr arrived finally at 5 p.m. and the group was led to the cinema Cyrano of Versailles for the premiere preview. Only the sequence where the group sings From Me To You has survived of film on that day.

At the Olympia theatre the morning show attracted primarily young boys (who seemed to appreciate particularly Ringo), while that of the evening show were people of the press and the Parisian Jet set, of a higher average age. Several celebrities attended: Francoise Hardy, Richard Anthony, Paul Anka, Petula Clark or Johnny Hallyday (who had especially come to support Sylvie Vartan). There was also George Martin, the producer of Beatles,his fincée Judy. The representation was filmed by the services of the ORTF.

The things did not occur very well for the " Fab Four " this evening. Little before their entry in scene, burst rioting in the halls, apparently caused by journalists and photographers who had succeeded in infiltrating in their rooms and who had to face their bodyguards. The employees of Olympia and ten police officers were called to put an end to the scuffle. In the auditorium, in addition to the stressed atmosphere The Beatles experienced three power failures (apparently the recording of the concert by the personnel of Europe n°1 caused an electric overload and triggered off the power switch to the sound system of the room and the amplifiers of the group). George Harrison suspected a sabotage !

On return in their suite at George V, the four boys accepted a telegram which raised their moral :
Edition of January 25 of the American magazine Cashbox, indicated to them that their song "I Want To Hold Your Hand" went into first place !

At the following day of their first services, it was the English journalist Vincent Mulchrone who summarized best the Parisian situation in Daily Mail reported : "If Paris and the Beatles are going to have an affair; then it's getting off to a very slow start...Beatlemania is , like Britans entry into the Common Market, a problem the the French prefer to put off for a while"

The concert recorded on January 16 by Europe n°1 was diffused in the Musicorama emission. The emission retransmitted the order of passage of the artists in the following way: Sylvie Vartan, Trini Lopez and Beatles. "In the final analysis, these Beatles, except for the hairstyles, are very personable...young people full of cheerfulness, humour and dynamism... ".

John Lennon and George Harrison returned to Paris on the first flight from London. Beatles recorded at Pathé Marconi of Boulogne on the Seine where - in company of George Martin who moved there the special occasion - they recorded the essence of Can't Buy Me Love (in four takes) and of the versions in German language of I Want To Hold Your Hand (which became Komm, Gib Mir Deine Hand) and of She Loves You (Sie Liebt Dich). Normally, Beatles recorded most of the time in the studios of Abbey Road in London, but this meeting abroad was the only exception of their career at EMI. Still a privilege granted to France!

In the afternoon, the group obtained its visas and its work permits for the United States at the American consulate of Paris.

The following day of their last show at the Olympia, Beatles left Paris and landed in London where they gave a press conference.