Steve a slim elderly bellboy with no teeth and north-of-England accent, had just finished delivering some copies of music magazines to the Beatles. As he left the closely guarded 10-room suits residence, Steve remarked
“Ahn’t them lovely boys?”
And the odd, unexpected thing is that they appear to be precisely that- lovely boys.
Steve fondled the spent corktip of a cigarette One of the Beatles had offered him a smoke. He gad smoked it with them, at their insistence, chatting about England as they puff camaraderie. Now Steve was reluctant to throw away the tip, as he commented on their down-to-earth freindliness.
The Beatles are a far cry from what you might expect from their sound and furry appearance. In the quiet of their room, they are relaxed, polite, soft-spoken. Their gentlemanly ways constrast sharply with their large, shaggy heads and their wayout wardrobe.
And their willingless to face reality is refreshing. They have no illusions about themselves or their art. John Lennon, who looks almost intellectual when he puts his glasses on and fixes you with his bright brown eyes, says they know they are a fad.
They have no idea how long the fad will last, how long the public will shriek every time they shake their heads, how long they will command the staggering fees they now get to appear on the Ed Sullivan Show or fly to Australia, to sign with Capitol Records or to make movies for United Artists.
All they know for sure is that they now have enough money to live comfortably for the rest of their lives.
“When ever have trouble spending money” says Ringo Starr, the drummer with the perpetual look of surprise “Since we’ve been here, we can’t spend anything – they won’t take our money. We were all set to bring back lots of records, but they keep giving us records. They pick up the check at restaurants. We haven’t cashed one traveller’s check”
“First it was John and me” says Paul McCartney. “We were with to other fellows and we called ourselves ‘The Quarymen’ after our school. Then one of the others left and George joined and we called ourselves “The Rainbows” – we couldn’t afford to buy shirts, so we wore our own they were different colors – like a rainbow”
It was John who thought of the name Beatles- a pun on the black insect (they all prefer dark clothes, have dark hair) and the beat music they prefer.
The haircuts – or lack of them also came about gradually. John and Paul noticed a French musician with a similar coiffure on a trip to Paris. They thought it looked interesting. So they tried to copy it.
By the time Ringo joined the group, the other three were used to their carefully unkempt(it’s hard to believe but we have to have regular trims”) hairdos. Before Ringo was invited in, he had to agree to shave off his beard and let his short hair grow long.
The four, a unit for almost four years, first caught on in Hamburg, Germany. Then their home town went for them.
About a year ago, they realized that they were caught an unexplainable tornado. They had to decide – ride it out for all it was worth, or have private lives. They stayed with the tornado.
They have no private lives now. John Lennon, the only married Beatle, can’t even remember how long he has been husband because he so seldom gets to see his wife. But they do have vast sums of money coming in to their firm – Beatles, Ltd. every hour.
They were nervous about their first trip to America, since this was where the music they sing originated.
“But” says Paul “as soon as we got off the plane and saw those screaming girls, we weren’t worried any more. It had taken us a couple of years to get them like that England.
