Cow Palace, San Francisco,
California,USA #2

Jul 2007 - Auction Info

The Beatles historic conquest of America is often attributed to their live television appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show during February, 1964. While the importance of these appearances cannot be overstated, they were really just the opening salvo in a two stage attack. The Beatles summer tour of North America, a grueling 32 concerts over a 34 day span, completed the invasion of our hearts. The Sullivan shows are readily available on DVD, their crisp black and white adding extra distance to the events. Unfortunately, documentation of the real Beatlemania, the absolute madness of the first American concerts has been largely lost to time. No official concert films were made at this stage of their career and what news footage survives was shot entirely in black and white. To experience the color and energy of these performances today would require a time machine. The Beatles at The Cow Palace, San Francisco is the next best thing. In around five minutes, this excellent film captures the highlights of the opening night (August 19th) of the tour. The silent, 8mm color movie opens with nearly one-and-half minutes of exciting scenes of the opening acts (The Bill Black Combo, The Righteous Brothers and Jackie DeShannon) shot from close range on the floor, slightly to the right of center. By the time The Beatles leap up on the stage to perform, it seems as though the chain link fence bordering the rear of the stage will not be enough to protect them. Parts of nine Beatle songs were captured that night (Twist & Shout, You Can’t Do That, All My Loving, She Loves You, Things We Said Today, Roll Over Beethoven, Boys, A Hard Day’s Night and Long Tall Sally) in lush Kodachrome. After a couple of songs, the filmmaker abandons his original vantage point for a spot among the news cameras (on the front corner of the stage near Paul) to shoot some wonderfully composed segments, including a hysterical fan being hauled away by police right in front of us. During the final song “Long Tall Sally”, our cameraman decides to go for broke, standing boldly at center stage, only inches away from Paul, George and John! This final minute is some the most breathtaking, compelling amateur footage taken of The Beatles we have ever seen. Perhaps the most amazing moments are contained in a shot which pans down from George to Paul, across the stage floor littered with brightly colored jelly beans. Included in this lot is a Digital BetaCam (broadcast quality) master tape of two telecine transfers of the film, one at 16fps “normal” speed and one at half-speed for a total time of over 11 minutes, The original film has been cleaned and stored to archival specs by the renowned Brodsky & Treadway, (who also transferred the film) and the only DVD made from the transfer is included for viewing convenience. As this is a silent film, the photographer's copyright is also included. We’ve been lucky to have see all six color films known to exist from this incredible Beatles tour (three of which circulate in the collecting world). This completely uncirculated, rare film will delight and surprise even the most jaded Beatles fan. A simply amazing film!

Mike Peart Film
(This Film)

16mm Flea Market Find

W Dan Peters