George in his own write

With so much attention focussed on Martin Scorsese's acclaimed documentary, George Harrison: Living in the Material World, it seems fitting to pay tribute to George by reproducing the following excerpt from Yeah Yeah Yeah: The Beatles & Bournemouth. 

It relates the story of two letters written by George at the Palace Court Hotel in Bournemouth during The Beatles' six-day summer season at the Gaumont cinema in August 1963...

Written on Palace Court Hotel stationery, George sent a two-page letter to a fan called Boote that came up for auction a few years ago. Although they were still replying personally to fan letters, The Beatles had stopped doing so by the end of 1963.

Dear Boote

Thanks for your letter. I’m glad you like ‘She Loves You’ now… (we hope you dig it!)

Actually I, or any of the others for that matter, don’t like Jelly Babies, and the press must have made it up themselves!

I think we are in London more than Liverpool these days, because of Radio and Recording etc…

We don’t mind girls screaming in the noisy numbers, but I think we would prefer them to be a little quieter in the slow songs.

I don’t think you are too old to write fan letters.

As far as I know, we are not on the State Kilburn, but we are on the Albert Hall.

I am sorry I have got to write this letter like ‘Question Time’ but I haven’t got enough time to answer properly, so I hope you don’t mind.

Cheers for now

Love from

George Harrison xxx

In another letter written that week at the Palace Court, George revealed to a fan, Lynn Smith, that Ringo was scared of singing:

“The general public always seems to think that John, Paul and I shove Ringo at the back, don’t let him sing, smile, or do anything, which is not very true, as we are always telling him to sing... we even suggested him singing and dancing (as he can do all the dances) at the front of the stage... but Ringo wouldn’t do it, as I think he was a bit scared.”

He also complained again about the flying sweets.

“We don’t like Jelly Babies, or Fruit Gums for that matter, so think how we feel standing on stage trying to dodge the stuff, before you throw some more at us. Couldn’t you eat them yourself, besides it is dangerous. I was hit in the eye once with a boiled sweet, and it’s not funny!”

It must have been an occupational hazard for the boys at the time as Beatles Monthly also reported Paul McCartney being hit in the eye by a jelly baby at the Gaumont. 

Yeah Yeah Yeah: The Beatles & Bournemouth is available now from www.beatlesandbournemouth.com