The Beatles in Portland--August 22, 1965
The Beatles in Portland--August 22, 1965
The following is a mere tribute...to The Beatles arrival in Portland Oregon at The Memorial Coliseum August 22, 1965..The following pictures I give due credit to many people and are taken by different accounts...and all picture to those and any information I give credit especiciallyCLS PRODUCTIONSThis month marks the 40th anniversary of the Beatles' visit to Portland. Local producer Chuck Stenberg spent over two years researching the Beatles' appearance. The Beatles played two shows at the Coliseum on 8/22/65. Guess who they met for the first time The Beach Boys.
just Carl Wilson and Mike Love that were in Portland that night..
From an article in 1965...
Carl and Mike visit the Beatles backstage between the Liverpudlians' two performances today at the Memorial Coliseum in Portland, Oregon. During the meeting, Paul asks where Brian is. Carl replies, "Oh, he's given up touring. He just stays home, producing and recording our records." To which Paul replies, "That's a good idea." The Beatles will cease touring the next year.
When The Beatles were flying into Portland in '65 the plane began to fill up with smoke. Yes- there was plane trouble on their way into town. The smoke became very dark. It was also very quiet. But in the dark cloud of smoke was the voice of John Lennon saying "Remember, women and Beatles first".
BELOW FROM A QUOTE.... Stenberg's documentary focuses specifically on the Fab Four's only visit to Oregon. The Beatles stopped in Portland in 1965 and played two shows.
Stenberg has been a Beatles enthusiast since he was about 11 years old, he said. He heard "Ticket to Ride" from the "Help" album and was an instant fan. His parents bought that album for him. By then it was already four years old, and the Beatles were hitting the charts with the album "Abbey Road" and their final single, "Let it Be."
"I like the '60s, a time when rock 'n' roll was fresh and new, Stenberg said. "That's the thing with the Beatles. When they came out with something new, it was new." "I'd just be amazed," Stenberg said. "Every song was good."
Stenberg is a dental hygienist by day in Salem, where he moved in 1997. Making documentaries is a hobby.
"I like editing photography," he said. "It's a challenge."
Stendberg's previous work includes "Oregon's Historic Covered Bridges and Lighthouses," a documentary available for checkout at Sweet Home Public Library. He completed that documentary about 10 years ago. He has also done wedding videos.
"This will be first time anything I've made will be on TV," Stenberg said.
"I've always wanted to do another documentary," he said. "Something real different."
No one has done this type of documentary on the Beatles, focusing on a single event, Stenberg said. The video consists of two hours of interviews with people who were there, including 30 concertgoers describing the excitement of seeing the Beatles.
It is divided into 13 chapters, ranging from the band's arrival by air at a weather station near the airport to avoid a mob of fans, to a press conference held by the Beatles between shows in the basement of Memorial Coliseum.
"I was only 6 years old," Stenberg said. "I wasn?t even aware of it at the time."
He did see Paul McCartney the first time the former Beatle returned to Oregon three years ago.
"I wanted to do something on the Beatles," Stenberg said. "I knew they had come to Portland one time, and I thought maybe if I could find people who were there..."
He placed an ad in the Portland newspaper, and he received about 75 phone calls from people who were involved in or at the show. He ran a similar ad a year later and received 100 phone calls.
"I had a lot of people to talk to and get on camera," Stenberg said. As he got information and did interviews, the documentary evolved into the chapters he uses. Three or four people, for example, were at the press conference and told him about it.
Those he talked to for the documentary included limousine driver Al Ouchi, who transported the Beatles around Portland, Seattle promoter Zollie Volchok, former KISN radio disc jockey Steve Brown ? who remembers getting a phone call from Beach Boys Carl Wilson and Mike Love, who were trying to get backstage, and photographer Allan DeLay who attended the press conference.
A couple of things struck Stenberg about the concert. One was the noise level.
"People say they'd start the first chord of the song, and people erupted screaming and you couldn't hear the song," Stenberg said.
The Beatles played through 100-watt amps, and just couldn't get over noise of the crowds, Stenberg said. That led the band to stop touring after the next year. They toured the United States only three years of their 10-year career, 1964 to 1966.
KISN Goodguy Jim Meeker introduced The Beatles on stage.
In 1965, when Marilyn Storch and her father went to see the Beatles at the Memorial Coliseum, he took along his home movie camera. Over the objections of the security guards, he managed to record 6 minutes of film. This is the only movie film ever made of the concert!
For the last forty years, Marilyn has kept that reel of film, along with the dress she wore, tucked away in a closet. Now she has been convinced that it's time to share it.
The most influential band ever had simple demands when they toured the U.S. in 1965 for the tour's Portland stop)
the group just wanted adequate police protection, a "hi-fidelity sound system with adequate number of speakers," and "a platform for Ringo Starr and his drums." The backstage dressing room accommodations were also spartan: "four cots, mirrors, an ice cooler, portable TV set and clean towels." As for ground transportation, the performers were not above sharing a ride: "Two (2) seven-passenger Cadillac limousines (air-conditioned if possible), with chauffeurs.Tickets with Tax were $4.00-$5.00 and $6.00..with TWO Performances 4:00 and 8:30 PM..
SEE BELOW FOR LINK TO CONTRACT..CREDIT DUE TO MANY AND ESPECIALLY CLS PRODUCTIONS AND SMOKING GUN
AGAIN ALL ABOVE IS TAKEN FROM ALL ACCOUNTS AND SOURCES...I GIVE FULL CREDIT...JUST TO MERE COMPLIMENT NOT TO RIP OFF...
BEATLES 1965 CONTRACT
NORTH AMERICAN TOUR (August 15-31, 1965)
The Beatles second visit of the U.S., and unlike the first tour was shorter in duration. During this visit, their second movie titled Help! premiered in New York, adding more fuel to an already frenzied U.S. version of Beatlemania. On the bill with the Beatles during this tour was Brenda Holloway, The King Curits Band, Cannibal and The Headhunters, and Sounds Incorporated (with a troupe of disco dancers). The Beatles song list for this tour:
Twist And Shout She's A Woman I Feel Fine Dizzy Miss Lizzie Ticket To Ride Everybody's Trying To Be My Baby Can't Buy Me Love Baby's In Black Act Naturally** A Hard Day's Night Help! I'm Down
(**- NOTE: For some shows, the Beatles would drop Act Naturally, and play I Wanna Be Your Man instead)
a total audience of 20,000 for both shows...
Ie;on contract.. It's a rider prepared by General Artists Corporation for a 1965 Beatles concert in Portland, Ore., where the Fab Four contracted to play two performances for $50,000 per show against 65 percent of the gross box office receipts. What's interesting is the list of items the promoter was expected to provide, including a "hi-fidelity sound system," as well as a "Monitor Speaker to be placed on stage." Other requirements called for "not less than two (2) super trouper follow spotlights," and "a platform for Ringo Starr and his drums." Also on the list were the band's transportation needs, including "One (1) one-ton enclosed truck," "One (1) 30-passenger bus with driver," and "Two (2) seven-passenger Cadillac limousines (air-conditioned if possible), with chauffeurs." Plus, a star act also includes certain "luxuries" on their concert rider, and the Beatles were no exception. For this particular show the promoter was tasked with providing a "portable dressing room, preferably a house trailer," which included "four cots, mirrors, an ice cooler, portable TV set and clean towels." However, one requirement listed on the rider was a reminder of a much darker time in U.S. history. Item No. 5 on the document clearly states, "Artists will not be required to perform before a segregated audience." Makes you wonder where the lads once played that inspired them to put that on their rider, doesn't it?
A QUOTE ON THE DVD..."The first CD is actually the full 2 hour version of what was shown on PBS. There's ALOT of extra information. Some that might only be interesting to true Beatle fanatics but some cool stuff including a section about how the American Legion had the coliseum sewn up for 4 or 5 days in a row when the Beatles were supposed to play. It got really heated. To the point where they were going to court over it. There's interviews with some of the opening acts, the limo driver who gives some very pertinent information. As a matter of fact, Larry Kane's book says that the Beatles arrived in Portland with the plane engine on fire and they landed in a foam covered runway. Well, the limo driver was there waiting for them and there's lots of photos of the plane arriving and there's no evidence of foam on the runway that I can see! There was always a question of whether the Beatles stayed overnight in Portland but the limo driver tells an interesting story about how he took the Beatles directly from the concert back to the plane where they sat for (If I remember right) several hours. At one point one or two of the Beatles asked him to take the "out". He was about to take them up to Rocky Butte!! But they got the word that they were leaving. So they did not stay the night in Portland. Most of the Extra footage is on the first DVD. The 2nd DVD is mostly pictures of documents and photos accompanied by audio interviews and things. All in all Mr. Stenberg did a superb job."
