A Hard Day’s Night is the first movie starring the Beatles. It was filmed and released in 1964. Here are a few trivia questions related to the film. The answers are below the last question.
(1) How many times is the name “Beatles” mentioned in A Hard Day’s Night?
(2) The movie has a character of a grandfather to which Beatle?
(3) Name the Beatle and his future wife that met on the set of A Hard Day’s Night.
(4) What is the only word that Pattie Boyd says in the film?
(5) The movie’s title originated from something said by which Beatle?
(6) What 13 year old child actor, who would later become a famous drummer/vocalist, was an extra in A Hard Day’s Night?
(7) Besides A Hard Day’s Night, what other Beatles’ films did actor Victor Spinetti appear in?
(8) What did Ringo reply when asked if he’s a Mod or a Rocker?
(9) Who directed A Hard Day’s Night?
(10) In the scene where The Beatles are running and playing in the field, a body double filled in for which Beatle who wasn’t actually there?
Answers:
(1) Zero – No one says the word “Beatles”
(2) Paul. Wilfrid Brambell played Paul’s fictional grandfather John McCartney
(3) George Harrison and Pattie Boyd
(4) “Prisoners?”
(5) Ringo. As he explained in an interview with DJ Dave Hull in 1964: “We went to do a job, and we’d worked all day and we happened to work all night. I came up still thinking it was day I suppose, and I said, ‘It’s been a hard day…’ and I looked around and saw it was dark so I said, ‘…night!’ So we came to A Hard Day’s Night.”
(6) Phil Collins. Phil is wearing glasses and can be seen in the audience at the television theater. On a side note, in 1970, at age 19, Collins played percussion on the George Harrison song “The Art of Dying”.
(7) Help! and Magical Mystery Tour
(8) “I’m a mocker”
(9) Richard Lester
(10) John, who was away promoting his book “John Lennon: In His Own Write.” Some close-up shots of him were later edited into the scene.
“With a Little Help from My Friends” was briefly called “Bad Finger Boogie” during the early writing stage. Later it was titled “A Little Help from My Friends” and then finally “With a Little Help from My Friends”. The working title of “Bad Finger Boogie” came about because John Lennon had been forced to rely on his middle finger when playing the song’s piano part, having injured his forefinger earlier.
The song was written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney specifically for drummer Ringo Starr to sing for the Beatles’ 1967 album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.
“Bad Finger Boogie” would later be the inspiration for the band name Badfinger. At the time, Badfinger had a recording contract with the Beatles’ Apple Records label. Some of the Apple staff were wanting to rename the band formerly known as The Iveys. Apple’s Neil Aspinall said, “Badfinger just popped in my head. It was from an old Lennon thing. He was playing the piano and he had a bad finger so he called the piece he was playing ‘Bad Finger Boogie’ (which evolved into ‘With A Little Help From My Friends’)”.
Badfinger member Joey Molland said this, “Well, I believe it was a working title to the song “With A Little Help From My Friends.” I think John Lennon played piano on the Rhodes and after that they thought he wasn’t the greatest pianist in the world, so they called it “Bad Finger Boogie.” So, that “Bad Finger Boogie” was roaming around the offices. It was Neil Aspinall who suggested Badfinger.”
Linda Louise Eastman and Barbara Bach were in attendance at the famous Beatles’ August 15th, 1965 concert at Shea Stadium in New York. Though they didn’t know it at the time, Linda would later marry Paul McCartney (March 12, 1969), and Barbara would go on to marry Ringo Starr (April 27, 1981).
Back in August 1965, the soon to be 18 year old Barbara Bach was not really a Beatles fan. She was only in attendance at the Shea Stadium concert as a chaperone to her younger sister Marjorie. Barbara preferred the music of Bob Dylan, Aretha Franklin, and Ray Charles.
In contrast, Linda Eastman was there as a fan. Paul McCartney said, “Linda was also there — but as she was a real music fan she was quite (annoyed) with everyone screaming. I think she enjoyed the experience, but she genuinely wanted to hear the show. That wasn’t the deal though. Not then.”
See also: Where did Ringo Starr first meet his wife Barbara Bach?
The Beatles’ song “Yesterday” started out with the working title of “Scrambled Eggs.” Although credited to Lennon/McCartney, the song was written by Paul McCartney alone. Paul is also the only Beatle performing on the record. It’s the first official recording by The Beatles that only one member of the band appeared on. A string quartet accompanies McCartney’s acoustic guitar playing and vocals.
The melody of “Yesterday” came to McCartney before any words were written, so he used substitute working lyrics until he could come up with something more suitable. A few years ago Paul said, “For me, the thing was, it’s a magic song, because I woke up one morning and I dreamed it. Then over the next couple of months, I put proper words to it, because the original words were, ‘scrambled eggs, oh my baby, how I love your legs,’ which I thought, ‘maybe not.’”
McCartney composed the melody in a dream while living with then girlfriend Jane Asher and her family. When he woke up, he hurried to a piano and played the tune to help him remember it.
“Yesterday” was originally recorded for the Beatles’ 1965 album Help!
Billy Preston played the organ on the song “Let It Be” and the Fender Rhodes electric piano on “Get Back” and “Don’t Let Me Down” during the recording of the Let It Be album and film (earlier called Get Back). George Harrison brought Preston in to temporarily ease some of the tension in the studio during the tumultuous sessions. Also, the Beatles intended to record the tracks “live”, with no overdubbing, so it helped to have a fifth musician playing keyboards. At one point during the sessions, John Lennon suggested that Billy could join the band as the “Fifth Beatle”, but Paul McCartney nixed the idea saying that it was bad enough with four.
The “Get Back”/”Don’t Let Me Down” single was credited to “The Beatles with Billy Preston”. This was the only time an outsider was given this type of credit on an official Beatles-sanctioned release. Tony Sheridan had shared credit on some Hamburg-era recordings, but these were unsanctioned reissues on which the Beatles were primarily the backing group.
Preston also played Hammond organ on the tracks “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)” and “Something” that appeared on the Abbey Road album.
The Beatles first met Billy Preston in 1962 when he was part of Little Richard’s touring band. Manager Brian Epstein had organized a Liverpool show in which the Beatles opened for.
