On Aug. 27, 1965, the two biggest super powers in the music world at the time, the Beatles and Elvis Presley, met at Presley's house in the Bel-Air section of Los Angeles.
Few photos were taken and no video, unfortunately, has turned up. But it was a meeting that has been reconstructed and analyzed by some of the participants through the year.
Gillian Lomax, who leads "A Magical History Tour," a tour of Beatle-related sites in Southern California that includes a stop at Elvis' Bel-Air home where the meeting took place, said the event was a long time in coming.
"The Beatles had wanted to meet Elvis Presley for the longest time, but due to conflicting schedules it didn't happen until Aug. 27, 1965, on their second U.S. tour. George Harrison said they were all in awe of Elvis.
The evening was a party from the beginning. "On the night they drove down to Bel-Air to meet him," she says, "they had had a few 'cups of tea' in the back of Cadillac and everyone forgot where they were going. When they pulled up to the massive gates, somebody yelled out 'Yeah, were going to see Elvis,' and they all fell out the car laughing."
The meeting did not go as smoothly as everyone might have hoped, at least in the beginning. "For some reason, while inside the house, all four of them sat and stared at Elvis," she says, "so when he said 'look lads, if you are going to just sit there and stare at me then I'm going to bed,' which broke the ice, and they ended up having an impromptu jam session, which unfortunately was never recorded.
"The meeting lasted for four hours. Paul McCartney said meeting Elvis was one of the highlights of his life. John Lennon was impressed with all the pool tables, the jukebox with all of Elvis's hits on it, and the big TV (with remote) that was turned on, but with the sound turned down. Ringo Starr said he felt that he was more impressed meeting Elvis than for Elvis meeting him."
And they each left with a souvenir, she says. "At the end of the visit, Elvis gave each Beatle a box set of his records."
You can see this site and more on Gillian's A Magical History Tour. Details are here.
Note: Sirius/XM's Elvis Radio (Sirius 13/XM 18) will feature an hourlong special on the historic meeting at noon ET Saturday. The program will feature stories about the encounter from the Beatles themselves and entourage members Jerry Schilling, Joe Esposito and Larry Geller who were also there. For more information and to get a free online trial, visit http://www.sirius.com/elvisradio.
Have a comment? Leave it below. And don't miss our other Examiner.com columns --
Beatles Examiner: http://www.examiner.com/x-2082-Beatles-Examiner
Paul McCartney Examiner: http://www.examiner.com/x-34954-Paul-McCartney-Examiner
Vintage Rock 'n' Roll Examiner: http://www.examiner.com/x-19248-Vintage-Rock-n-Roll-Examiner
TV on DVD Examiner: http://www.examiner.com/x-10254-TV-on-DVD-Examiner
Comments
In The Anthology,Paul, George, and Ringo all imply that the "jam" was really something John made up.
Also, your article says, "Few pictures were taken." I've never seen one. Have you?
There is one foto, and I think it was shown in the Beatles book.
It was taken in the night, outside the house when the Beatles left.....
Correct. It's too bad it wasn't recorded. That omission would NEVER have happened today.
Yes. See one of the comments below. There is a photo taken outside. I don't recall seeing more than one, though there may be one. No audio recording has surfaced, though. That's really a shame.
I never liked The Beatles or their music. That says it all really.
What I meant to say was that I don't like *myself* and that I have no taste.
Never understood why some feel the need to actually take the time to write about something they dislike.
"You can't be that ignorant, you must be looking for attention!"
-- John Lennon
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