On Monday, March 25, 1963, in Liverpool, with no expectation that they would ever be the stars of a huge hit movie, and with the filming of “A Hard Day’s Night” a year away, the Beatles made some silent home movies, using photographer Dezo Hoffman’s 8mm camera. In April, back in London, at Westminster Cameras, they watched the movie reels, and Dezo took this picture of the event.
The room lights are on, and the projector bulb is off, so obviously this is a posed photo, but the boys looked very pleased. It’s one of the rare times John is seen wearing his Buddy Holly glasses. Because Lennon was so nearsighted, I assume that much of Beatlemania was literally a blur for him.
In late July, at a hotel in Somerset and a beach near a place called Brean Down, the Beatles made more home movies with Dezo. The custom YouTube player has the movies, with some studio outtakes for a soundtrack.
The first background song is “Bad to Me,” a hit for Billy J. Kramer. To my surprise it’s a John song, and not one of Paul’s. A very nice cover of “Bad to Me” is another great new track by Lia Pamina with Robbie Leff. Here’s Lia!