Saturday, December 26, 2009

Beatles spoils, et cetera.

After having slightly bullied my mom about it (as was very unbecoming for someone who's as old as I am, I'd be the first to admit), I was unsurprised to receive the remastered stereo box set for Christmas-- though still terribly excited. Yay!

I was, however, pleasantly surprised to also receive Beatles Trivial Pursuit from my parents. And then my husband up and gave me a wicked sexy Revolver messenger bag, no doubt purchased from the good people at The Fest. So it was a very merry Christmas for me, so much so that I just had to snuggle up with my Beatle gifts for a while on my parents' living room floor.


So far, I haven't had time in the bustle of this time of year to listen to the box set. And everyone I've suggested a game of Trivial Pursuit to has turned me down. Boo.

Anyway, if you celebrated, hope you had a good Christmas with all the gifts, Beatley and otherwise, you hoped for. Here's a Boxing Day gift for you. I have never known exactly when this aired or what it was for, but I imagine it was some sort of Christmas pantomime. It's the play-within-a-play from A Midsummer Night's Dream, so it's written badly on purpose, but funnier than ever in the Beatles' version.




3 comments:

  1. According to Mark Lewisohn:

    The Complete Beatles Chronicle (page 159)

    Tuesday 28 April 1964

    Studio 5A/B, Wembley Studios, Wembley

    Prior rehearsals and recording session accomplished, the TV special Around The Beatles was taped before an audience between 9.00 and 10.15 this evening. The Beatles arrived at the studios at 11.00 am, however, for final rehearsals, and somehow also found the time to record long radio interviews for Swedish radio with visiting presenter Klas Burling.

    What with all of their guests, the Beatles actually participated in only two of the show's main items: their music set (see 19 April for details) and a humorous opening spoof of the Interlude section of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream (Act V Scene I), in which John portrayed the beauteous lady "Thisbe", Paul "Pyramus", George "Moonshine" and Ringo "Lion", all attired in costume. Apart from this, John, Paul and George were seen at the very start of the show, miming a trumpet fanfare, and then Ringo followed by hoisting a flag and setting off a cannon ball. Later, as a group, they introduced P J Proby's performance.

    The finished 60-minute production was networked by Rediffusion on Wednesday 6 May (9.45-10.45 pm) and repeated, in slightly edited form - the Beatles' sections remained untouched - on Monday 8 June (only part-networked, 6.08-7.00 pm), NEMS was granted overseas sales rights and so was supplied with a print of the finished programme. For the US market, Brian Epstein sold it to ABC, the first transmission occurring on Sunday 15 November 1964 (7.30-8.30, EST).

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  2. That's a treasure trove of Beatles goodies - well done! I fell in love with the Revolver messenger bag myself, but after several years of light use (I'm very protective of my Beatles merch), the white paint has been steadily falling off it. I hope you have better luck!

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  3. Hold the bus...you can get Beatles Trivial Pursuit???!!!!!! Waaahhh!!! I want, I want, I want :-) Looks like I'll be posting this up on my That's What I Want Wednesday (all credit to you of course). Loving your pic, looks like the beatle goodies really floored ya! My fave bag has to be my Star Club one, much worn and much loved.
    shirley
    x

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