The Beatles performed three songs during their first of three appearances on Ready, Steady, Go!
Broadcast on the ITV network, initially just in London, RSG! was British television’s leading pop music show at the time. The 4 October 1963 episode was broadcast live, with the performers miming to their hits, a typical situation for the time.
The show was recorded at Television House on London’s Kingsway. During the afternoon The Beatles rehearsed for the cameras, and recording took place from 6.15pm onwards.
A friend was designing sets for Ready, Steady, Go!, and he invited me to their first live TV performance. They were wearing the famous grey, buttoned-up suits, which really stood out at the time. I was the only one at the rehearsal when they played this song. To me it sounded like very good rock ‘n’ roll. But it wasn’t just the music, it was their personalities, the way they looked, the whole thing.
The Beatles mimed to ‘Twist And Shout’, ‘I’ll Get You’ and ‘She Loves You’, and were interviewed by Dusty Springfield and host Keith Fordyce. The episode was transmitted from 6.15-7pm.
The performance of She Loves You was repeated on RSG! on 8 November 1963, and the full set was shown again during a special New Year show on 31 December.
John, Ringo, and George also helped Helen Shaprio with her appearance, and Paul can been seen just behind the announcer Keith Fordyce in the intro: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foa8f79hE4I
During the show there was a mime competition . Paul had to chose the winner and he went for the number 4 girl whose name was Melanie Coe . She later became the heroine of Paul’s song “She’s leaving home” .
I noticed in the photo of this TV appearance George is playing a single-pickup Rickenbacker. Did he pick this up on his first (solo) trip to the US in ‘63? Also, does anyone know exactly what model it is, and was it used on any recording sessions? You don’t see that guitar in very many photos, so it must’ve not been used much.
This is a 1962 Rickenbacker 425 (serial no. BH439). George bought this guitar in September 1963 while he and his brother Peter were visiting their sister Louise in the United States. The Rickenbacker 425 was bought by George in Mount Vernon (IL) at Red Fenton’s Music Store, where he was taken by local musician Gabe McCarty. Although, as McCarty recalls, “George was crazy about the guitar”, he played it for a relatively brief period. But what is important, he used it on October 17, 1963, during the recording of I Want To Hold Your Hand and This Boy. Source: Beatles Gear (The Ultimate Edition) by Andy Babiuk: pp. 161-170.
I thought British labor laws at the time prohibited artists from miming on TV appearances? Or did that come later?