John, Paul, Vince and Ringo: A special Ed Sullivan moment

 

Look in any list of lineups for the Beatles and you won't find Vince Calandra's name. But for a while on Feb. 8, 1964, Vince Calandra was a Beatle. He even had a Beatle hairdo, sort of.

Calandra, who'll turn 75 in April, has had a long career in television working as talent executive for "The Ed Sullivan Show," "The Mike Douglas Show" and "The Late Show With Joan Rivers." He is currently talent coordinator for the American Film Institute and has been executive director of talent for the American Film Institute specials, most recently for one honoring Warren Beatty.

Back in 1964, he was a production assistant  for Sullivan.  "I used to deliver mail to the Sullivan office on the 14th floor. And Marlo Lewis (the producer) took a liking to me ... and asked me if I could print. And I said 'Yeah.' And I started doing cue cards for Sullivan. And that’s basically how I started."

The story of how the Beatles got to the Sullivan show has been told in several ways, including one that counters the old legend that Sullivan saw them at London Airport when he and his wife, Sylvia, were on the tarmac in another plane. Calandra says that legend is basically the truth.

"Yes, it was true he did go to London. And they could not land because of the 5,000-7,000 kids that were at the airport. They were waiting for the Beatles to come back from Sweden," he says. "(Sullivan) was met at the airport by one of his best friends, who was a publicist for United Artists by the name of Bob Goldstein, I think his name was. And Ed wanted to know what the commotion was all about. He was under the impression it was some kind of royalty that were landing. That’s why the airport was so crowded. And Goldstein told him about the Beatles."

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Now, I don’t think he met them that day," Calandra continues. "But he went back to the hotel. And he was there when they did the Command Performance for the queen. And that’s when he kind of knew there was something happening."

Sullivan knew about the Beatles

But Calandra says the Sullivan show had already had the Beatles in their radar. "

We had an agent over there by the name of Peter Pritchard. And when we went over in September of ’63, we used to tape all those circus acts. Peter Pritchard had already had conversations in New York with (casting director) Jack Babb and (producer) Bob Precht about this group. In fact, I was in the office with Bob Precht when Peter Pritchard gave us all the press information on the Beatles. And he was really our key guy and made us aware of these guys."

On Dec. 13, 1963 in a press release, "The Ed Sullivan Show" announced the Beatles' initial appearance on the Sunday night program:

"The Beatles, wildly popular quartet of English recording stars, will make their first trip to the United States Feb. 7 for their American television debut on "The Ed Sullivan Show," Sundays, Feb. 9 and 16 (8:00-9:00 PM, PST) on the CBS Television Network. Their first appearance will be done at Studio 50 in New York, and their second at the Hotel Deauville in Miami Beach, Fla.

"The fantastic popularity of the Beatles in England has received considerable attention not only in British newspapers but also in the American press. Their first record release is scheduled for January.

"The Beatles count among their fans Queen Elizabeth and Princess Margaret, who saw them in a Royal Command Performance. The mass hysteria surrounding their personal appearances has brought a new word to the British vocabulary, Beatlemania.

"The Beatles range in age from 21 to 23 and write their own songs, which sold two and a half million records in England this year. They are George Harrison, who sings and plays the lead guitar; John Lennon, who sings and plays the rhythm guitar and the harmonica; Paul McCartney, who sings and plays the bass guitar, and Ringo Starr, who plays drums and occasionally sings."

Everything was set. Fast forward to February and the Beatles are in the house on Feb. 8, 1964,  rehearsing for their first appearance.  The Fab Four were, at that moment, the Fab Three. John Lennon, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr were playing without George Harrison, who was back at the hotel ill.

"Neil Aspinall was standing in for (George Harrison) at the rehearsal. And they were actually singing and trying to get levels on the guitars and the voices," Calandra says. "And they had a crisis. Louise Harrison, George’s sister, was at the hotel trying to get through security. And she went to the guards and said, 'Hi, I’m George Harrison’s sister.' And the the New York cops said to her, 'Yeah, lady, and so are the other 5,000 kids out there screaming.' And so they called the studio and they said, “Neil, get back to the Plaza and get George’s sister through security."

Because it was a Saturday, he says, most of the Sullivan staff was dressed casually. "We usually didn’t have to wear jackets and shirts and ties on a Saturday, but I was going to the theater that night and I had a dark blazer and a light blue shirt on and no tie. And they were wearing dark jackets. And Bob Precht said, ‘Well, Vince is about George’s size. Vince could go out and stand-in.' "

Sullivan was laughing

"I actually went out and Mal Evans also gave me his guitar to hold. And everyone was, like, hysterical," he says. "And then Sullivan comes over ... and he starts laughing. And he said this doesn’t look right. And I think it was either he or Eddie Brinkman came over and put one of those ridiculous, you know, Beatle wigs on my head. ...So I was up there like a good half hour."

Calandra says he was a familiar face from the Sullivan staff to the Beatles. "I was like the liason between the Sullivan show and Brian Epstein and Mal Evans and Neil Aspinall for their calls," he says.  "Anytime they needed anything, I was the go-to guy because I was the production guy. So I got to know them fairly well. Mal, especially, and Neil. But I stood up there and they actually sang the songs." What songs? "All the stuff they were doing on the weekend. Everything that appeared on the show."

The Beatles' appearance wasn't the only famous moment from the show he was involved in. Calandra heard Mick Jagger say "F--- off, mate" when the Rolling Stones were told to change the lyrics to "Let's Spend the Night Together." They later ignored the order and sang the original title. 

He recalls a similar incident with the Doors. "They were warned about the song 'Light My Fire.' They went and did it live. And we went up to the dressing room and Precht read them the riot act. You know, ‘Sullivan really thought you guys were great and we were gonna give you six more shots. You’ll never do 'The Ed Sullivan Show' again. And then (Morrison) said, “Well, yeah, we already did ‘The Ed Sullivan Show.’ "

Then there was the Sullivan show that never happened. "We were supposed to do a special with Jimi Hendrix and Rudolph Nureyev," Calandra says. "Rudolph Nureyev was going to dance to Jimi Hendrix's music. We in the green room having a meeting. And three weeks later, Jimi Hendrix OD’d in Europe."

Besides being involved with the Beatles' first appearance on the Sullivan show, Calandra was associate producer for the ABC-TV special filmed with the Beatles at Shea Stadium in 1965.

Last-minute taping

"Oh my God, that was one of the greatest nights of my life. It was incredible," he says.

He says the taping was put together at the last minute. "ABC decided to buy it and Brian (Epstein) called Precht and said, “We just sold the show to ABC. You think you can put a crew together and shoot the concert? And Bob said, 'Sure.' I was going on vacation. I was already packed in my car. I was going up to Maine or North Carolina. And Precht called me and he said, ‘The Beatles are doing the show on Sunday,' which was in August. They were taping one of the shows. ... And they’re going to do Shea Stadium on that Thursday and he said, ‘Can you cancel your vacation for a couple of days and work on the special with us?’ And I said, ‘Sure.’ "

"I remember I was staying at the Warwick.  I had a camera crew. One of my jobs was to shoot the guys coming in and out of the hotel. Which I guess a few nights they snuck out, which I didn’t know about. But I was sort of like the coordinating guy with them at the ballpark. And I was the one on the phone with the helicopter and La Guardia getting the times they took off from the pier."

He also says he saw Paul McCartney write out the setlist for the Shea show that night. "Which I gave to Bob Precht," he says. "And no one ever found what happened to that. Can you imagine what that would be worth?

"And you know what I loved about these guys?," he continues. "All they asked for that night … and they asked so politely it was embarrassing ... all they wanted in the dressing room at Shea Stadium were four Army cots, some clean towels, a black and white television, a small television and Coca-Cola. That’s what they wanted. Four Army cots."

His contacts with the Beatles have been rare in the years since.

"I had one experience with Ringo when I was producing 'The John Davidson Show.' He was kind of weird. He was going through one of his bad periods then. And I saw John Lennon one time in Vegas. I was with 'The Mike Douglas Show.' ... This guy walked over to him and said, 'Hi, I’m so-and-so with “The Mike Douglas Show.’’ Lennon looked at him and turned and walked away from him."

McCartney remembered

But McCartney didn't forget him when they ran into each other around 1993 when he was working for Paramount Television. It was a memorable encounter. It's not every day someone get treated like a star by a Beatle.

"I was producing (the) Vicki Lawrence talk show. And Joe Dera was handling publicity for Paul and Linda McCartney then. And Linda had this vegetarian book out. Vicki Lawrence was a fanatic Beatle fan. She wanted to meet Linda. And Joe said, ‘We’re in town only for one night. We gotta do ‘Arsenio’ because Arsenio approached Paul about doing a one-hour special on his new album. And Paul was coming to the studio to look over the facility and the control room and the audio and everything."

Calandra says the "Arsenio" special didn't happen. "Paul wanted a lot of stuff audio-wise done and it would have cost then an extra hundred and some odd thousand and Paramount wouldn’t go for it.  So that went away."

But McCartney did show up at the talk show taping. And Calandra had a surprise for him.

"There’s a book out  ... called ‘Really Big Show’ about Ed Sullivan by Andrew Solt. Has all the big stars over 23 years. And, of course, like four pages devoted to the Beatles. So I know Paul was a big fan. I got a copy of the book and I said, ‘You know, I’m gonna give it to him as a gift.’"

"I get to the studio, and, of course, he’s got all these security guards around him. Linda’s being prepped by the producer and he’s standing outside on the stage ... but you could tell everyone’s like staring at him during the breaks and everything.

"I’m standing there with the book and he walks over to Paul and he starts talking to him. And Paul kind of looks over like he recognizes me. And he walks over and says, “God, Vince. How many years?’ and I really felt good. ... He comes over and he hugs me.  .. Who would know all these years later, you know, my God, where our lives have been? I gave him the book."

"And he says, ‘Oh my God, this is classic.’ I said, ‘Here, this is a gift for you.’ And he says, “Nah, I can’t take it.’ ‘What do you mean you can’t take it.’ He says, ‘I’ll only take it if you would autograph it.'"

So he did. "I autographed the book, ‘To Paul McCartney,” Calanda says with a little pride in his voice.

(Thanks to Martin Lewis for providing "The Ed Sullivan Show" picture used in this story.)