ABOUT THIS INTERVIEW:
On the evening of February 11th 1964, following their concert at Washington Colisem,
the Beatles made a brief appearance at the British
Embassy reception in Washington D.C.
After a short time of mingling with formally dressed dignitaries, things got out
of hand as someone cut off a large lock of Ringo's hair as a souvenier.
The wife of the British Embassador reportedly told the
upset Beatles as they left the Embassy, "I really am terribly sorry about the
scene in the ballroom."
Ringo would later remember, "After they had a few drinks they got really silly and
one guy decided he'd cut a lock of my hair off. I just started screaming at him and
we didn't stay there long. These diplomats just don't know how to behave."
In this very brief television interview, filmed at the British Embassy reception
before the incident occured, John
Lennon describes the excitement of the concert crowd at Washington
Coliseum earlier in the evening.
- Jay Spangler, www.beatlesinterviews.org
Q: "Which one are you?"
JOHN: "Eric."
Q: (gesturing to the TV camera) "Eric, here is the American public..."
JOHN: "I'm John."
Q: "You're John?"
JOHN: "Yeah, it was a joke."
Q: "Well John, here is the American public. Forty million
American viewers..."
JOHN: "It just looks like one man to me. Oh. It's the camera man."
Q: "What is your impression of the American public? You've
been here for a while, now."
JOHN: "They are the wildest."
Q: "Why?"
JOHN: "I don't know. Tonight was, you know, marvelous. Ridiculous.
Almost eight-thousand people all shouting at once, and we were trying to shout
louder than them with microphones, and we still couldn't beat 'em."
Q: "Was America something like what you thought it would be like?"
JOHN: "No, nothing like it. We thought it would be much quieter.
We thought we'd, you know, have to grow on everybody, and everybody seems to
sort of know us all, you know, as if we've been here for years. It's great."
Q: "What is your impression of the new American singing group,
'The Cockroaches'? Have you heard them yet?"
JOHN: "I haven't heard them. But it's already been done about eighty times
in England. Sorry Cockroaches!" (grins and giggles)
Source: Transcribed by www.beatlesinterviews.org from video copy of interview
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