The Beatles on the Box (Pt. 3)

The Beatles' reign can be divided into two parts according to the types of TV appearances they made. From about October 1962 until mid-June 1966 they would appear often on TV, either live or on videotape. They would actually perform their songs live for the TV cameras, or they would mime (lip-sync) their latest hits.

Starting in late 1965, that stopped. They began filming promos of their releases. Some of these very occasional promos showed actual or mimed performances by the Beatles, and some were more like today's music videos, with fanciful scenes unfolding on-screen while the actual sound of the record was heard as the audio track.

Here is a filmed promo for "Hey Jude." It was filmed at Twickenham studios in the Greater London area on September 4, 1968 — one of at least three versions filmed of "Hey Jude" that day, along with at least two versions of "Revolution" filmed the same day:



This may well be the version that I saw shown in America on October 6, 1968, on the "Smothers Brothers' Comedy Hour" on CBS TV.

On October 7, 1968, the day after the Smothers' Brothers "Hey Jude" broadcast, the Motion Picture Association of America adopted the film rating system that, with some changes, we still have today. It replaced the Production Code, which kept any supposedly objectionable material from appearing in motion pictures, with a system by which the amount and kinds of such material would determine a rating. By virtue of the rating, younger people could be excluded from seeing a film — entirely, or unless accompanied by a parent or guardian.

Here is one of the "Revolution" promos filmed also at Twickenham on September 4, 1968:



It may be the one which was screened on the Smothers Brothers' show on October 13, 1968. The very next day, October 14, the world saw the first live telecast from a manned US spacecraft (Apollo 7).