December 17, 1968: Countdown to the Get Back sessions

16 days until the start of the Get Back sessions

We’re not entirely sure when Paul McCartney truly concluded his holiday in Portugal, but December 17, 1968, is my best guess.

Hunter Davies, who played host to Paul, Linda and Heather Eastman, wrote decades later that his guests stayed two weeks. Contemporary press published the day after Paul arrived said they planned an eight-day stay, while the January Beatles Book magazine said he was away for a week. Depending on whether you count his late-night arrival as a day or not, December 17 would either be the seven- or eight-day mark. Maybe he left the next morning. The calculation is vague enough to work.

There’s more definitive evidence Paul journeyed to the post office this Tuesday – or at least visited a collection box — dropping a pair of postcards in the mail.

The cards shared two identical features: Both were embossed with a “17.12.68 LAGOS” postmark over the stamp, and each card featured a hand-drawn candlestick in black ink on the left side.

One card was sent to the Starkeys – “Ringo/Mo/Jr./Jr.” at “Brookfields, Cut (the wise cracks) Mill Lane, Elstead Surrey Worry.” Still, the postcard reached them just fine. Decades later, when it was reprinted in his book Postcards From the Boys, Ringo added the caption: “From Paul and Linda. Nice picture! Those guys had a lot of holidays!”

Paul sent Hunter Davies a similar postcard, though the images on the front must have been different since the back had different photo credits. In addition to the candlestick, Paul added “Thank you.” Davies’ address was written properly except for Paul added “of course” after “Portugal.”

The postcard offering thanks to his host is exactly why I think this day marked the end of Paul’s trip.

Paul’s postcard wouldn’t have reached Ringo for several days yet, but December 17 was a milestone day for the drummer. Ringo wasn’t in attendance for the black-tie affair at the Astor Theater in New York, but on this date, “Candy” – which featured his first acting role outside of a Beatles movie – enjoyed its world premiere about a year after his part was filmed.

The gist of contemporary reviews was that “Candy” was essentially a farcical stag film with an all-star cast. Ringo’s role was small – Emmanuel the Mexican gardener – but his own star(r) was big enough the studio marketed off his name (in addition to the others).

On January 13, 1969, while waiting for the others to arrive at Twickenham, Ringo spoke at some length with Michael Lindsay-Hogg about his experience filming “Candy.” At one point, Michael asked Ringo if he preferred drumming to acting.

Ringo: Well, it’s hard to say, doing so little movies and such a lot of the drums. “Help!” and “A Hard Day’s Night” was all right because its the four of us and we played, and did it. The only trouble with those [was] when I didn’t know what I was doing. … So I did ‘Candy’, which was only two weeks — which was great because I have to do something. …

I thought it came out very well. …

MLH: Did [director Christian Marquand] help you?

Ringo: No, I didn’t feel he really helped me. I thought I found I played it after reading the book how I thought he should be. And that’s the only disappointing thing. Because if you haven’t read the book, when I watched it, I played it all sort of nervous and shaky, because in the book the gardener is terrified. But in the film it just looked a bit strange where I come in all shaky and nervous. If you haven’t read the book you don’t know why.

…

[I had a] Mexican [accent], which I’ve lost now, because I’m not very good at accents. And we have to have this coach there, kept telling me to speak like a Mexican, and there was a Mexican guy there to help me.

That conversation soon steered to his next film project, another Terry Southern book adaptation: The Magic Christian.

Ringo’s reputation as an actor already had some traction, certainly by comparison to another certain Beatle. Don’t expect any scripts waiting for you at home, Paul.

From Sheilah Graham’s syndicated gossip column “Movie Gadabout’s Diary,” as published on December 17:

Paul McCartney, the most popular of the Beatles, according to a recent British poll [on December 10], is the best singer but the worst actor in the quartet. Which perhaps explains why he has not received offers to work solo in pictures, a la Ringo and John Lennon.