Miscellaneous/unidentified | Page 18 | Fab Forum | The Beatles Bible

Joe said
Hello. I’m trying to pin down a date for this image:

It’s on loads of sites with the caption: “The Beatles watch the Jimi Hendrix Experience at their manager Brian Epstein’s Saville Theatre in London’s West End.”

Assuming the caption is correct, when did all four Beatles see Jimi? Or is this from some other event altogether?

Barry Miles’s book The Beatles Diary (not the most accurate source) has the following for 1967:

• • 11 January: Paul and Ringo saw JH at the Bag O’Nails.

• • 29 January: John and Paul saw JH and The Who at Brian Epstein’s Saville Theatre.

• • 7 May: Ringo saw The Jimi Hendrix Experience at the Saville Theatre.

• • 4 June: Paul and Jane, George and Patti were in the audience at Brian Epstein’s Saville Theatre to see The Jimi Hendrix Experience headline a bill which included Denny Laine & His Electric String Band, The Chiffons and Procol Harum. Jimi Hendrix opened his set with the title track from Sgt. Pepper . Paul described it as among the greatest honours he ever had bestowed upon him, particularly as Jimi had only three days to rehearse the piece.

None of those entries has all four Beatles at the show.

Lots of sources on the web put the photo at 4 June, but Paul didn’t have a moustache then (he shaved it off before the Sgt Pepper launch in May). He seems to have had the moustache from around November 1966 until April 1967.

The closest facial hair match for all Beatles is January and February 1967, as seen in the SFF/Penny Lane shoot (George’s beard is the main clue). The photo above is definitely early in the year.

So, where and when is it from? A Hendrix show or another? Is it even the Saville Theatre? I’ve spent more time than I meant to on this, and I’m still nowhere near the answer! If Miles’s dates are correct, I wonder if they were all at the 29 January show.

Also, bonus question: who are the two women on the left?

  

I appreciate this may remain unsolved. However, it seems to be (based on their facial hair) narrowed down to Jan/Feb 67. The film footage of SFF on Jan 30th moving through to the Feb 5th/6th filming of Penny Lane confirms the specific facial hair.

The suggestion that it may have been Cream on Sunday Feb 5th means it must have been in the Saville theatre as that was the only theatre in which Cream performed in London during Jan/Feb 1967.

The evidence seems stronger for Jan 29th, again at the Saville when both the Who and Jimi Hendrix performed. This is supported by David Stark in his book “It’s All Too Much ” who reported that he attended this performance and all 4 Beatles were there in the royal box. Similarly, in Tim Hill’s book “the Beatles, then there was music” the 29th of Jan is again documented.

Regarding the 2 females, one appears to be Cynthia lennon and, as I have heard from a reliable source, the other, Sally Burgess (Beatles press secretary).

No sorry! Sally Burgess is in the back row, next to the girl with the green jumper. She was identified from the newspaper clipping by a family member, who knew I had been puzzled about her a while ago and on interviewing a musician recently who had worked with Gerry Rafferty, the musician recognised her as Sally Burgess because she later went on to work with Gerry Rafferty.  Still not definitive though. Oh, and you can also see her a couple of times in the Get Back Film –  Episode 3.

And that’s probably the end of that still unsolved.

That photo of Paul’s mum is featured in his “The Lyrics” books; page 404. There isn’t a listing for place or date for the photo. The background building  looks a bit like the bombed out  Church of St Luke in Liverpool  perhaps?

It’s a wonderful photo, I love it.