60 YEARS AGO TODAY:
8/11/64 – The Beatles’ film “A Hard Day’s Night” finally opens here in The States. 700 United Artists Theaters across the country are the beneficiaries of this new release.
I remember wanting to see this SO bad … but my parents refused to take us to a movie theater to see it because all the papers were saying that teenage girls were packing the theaters and screaming non-stop throughout the movie … so we ended up waiting a month and then piling into the family station wagon to see the film at the drive-in. Can you even imagine listening to this incredible soundtrack on that tiny, tinny little speaker propped up in your car window?!?! That was my first exposure to the film … which I absolutely LOVED by the way!!! (By then I already knew all the songs anyway … but there was still something about seeing them perform them on the big screen … especially the concert sequence at the end of the film!)
Also on 8/11, from our “The Show Must Go On” Department: The High Numbers, (later to become know worldwide as The Who), were scheduled to play a gig at The Railway Hotel in Harrow, England. Just before the band were due on stage, Roger Daltry's father-in law came into the venue and dragged the singer outside and hit him. The band started their set and Daltry appeared back on stage after the fight.
