All language subtitles for Miss.ODell.2025.1080p.WEBRip.x264.AAC-[YTS.MX]

Downloaded from
YTS.MX

(upbeat music)

Official YIFY movies site:
YTS.MX

- If you can look
out the window,

obviously behind you,

you see this, sort of,
brick building here.

This brick,

uncolored building here.

When you look at the roofs,

does that kinda take you back

to being in Savile Row
and that kinda look?

- I don't think I'm seeing
the same building you are.

Mine's white.

- Well then, there's
another one there.

(both laugh)

The one next to it.
(Chris laughs)

Okay.

The one next to it.

The one next to it.

How does,

You know, if you look at the,
sort of,

architecture around here,

does it kind of take you back
to that, sort of, period?

- No.

Not really. (laughs)

- Answered the
question straight.

- [Cameraman] That
didn't work then.

- [Chris] My name is
Chris O'Dell,

but some of you may
know me as Miss O'Dell.

In the late 1960s
and early '70s,

life for a girl out of
small town Tucson, Arizona

became pretty extraordinary.

- [Simon] Who's that?

- [Chris] That would be me.

- Jimmy Page told me it
was his party.

- [Chris] Yoko had never been
with John before in public.

I'm gonna ask her,
can I come over

and would you help me
do my makeup sometime?

When you start with The Beatles,

your resume looks really good.

So, go to The Stones,

that's the next step on the run.

- How did it, sort of,
feel like to be responsible

for looking after a band like
the Rolling Stones on tour?

Did it ever, sort of, dawn, oh,
my god,

I'm looking after The
Rolling Stones.

- Hard work, I've
gotta tell you.

- I heard he was a
massive flirt.

- [Chris] Wouldn't you be
if you were Mick Jagger?

- So, do you think Bob
Dylan's act is an act

or do you think that
really is part of his

- No.
- real persona?

- I think it really
is who he is.

I worked with the holy
trinity of rock and roll.

I was with Santana and
Earth, Wind & Fire in Europe.

Then I worked with
Fleetwood Mac, Led Zeppelin,

Phil Collins, Genesis.

Apple was where
everyone wanted to be.

This was the hub of everything.

- Apple Records is not
interested

in signing David Bowie.

(Chris sighs)

And it's typed by you.

- There was an inner circle.

- [Pattie] Mm-hm.

- And that not many people
got into that inner circle.

- [Narrator] Before
she's even 25,

Chris has achieved
the impossible.

- I grew up in an era of
free love, flower power,

sex, booze, drugs, and
rock and roll.

He would take acid and
come in and just

sit on the filing cabinet.

- Oh, geez.

- He was unstable.

You know?
- That's one way

of putting it.
(both laugh)

Oh, you wanna go there?

- I go everywhere.

(Chris laughs)

- [Cameraman] He's like god.

(all laugh)

- But much shorter

(Chris laughs)
and less hair.

- The song "Miss O'Dell"

is more about that than
it is about me.

Oh dear, naive me.

- Who would've known

that that would've been
The Beatles's last concert?

- You know what he said to
me when he first played it?

I'm gonna make you famous.

- He never hated anyone

as much as he hated
Paul McCartney in 1968.

- Oh.
- Kind of almost like

a Britain invasion.

- Like this he went (hands clap)

and pulled the trigger.

- Gosh, we were all crazy.

Okay, and that's the end
of that story. (laughs)

I did acid with one of them

and he took me on his Harley.

(Natalie laughs)

- Yeah,
- Through the streets

of London. (laughs)
- stupid.

- It was like a
sensory overload.

- They called it the Swinging
Sixties for a reason.

Times were so different
then, weren't they?

Birth control pills first
came onto the market.

So many,
- Weren't men happy with that?

Of course they were.
(Chris laughs)

Are you kidding?

- They were thrilled.

Sex became a way of
getting to know each other.

- George is little bit of
a naughty boy.

So, after George and
I got married,

I thought, (gasps) maybe
this was a mistake.

- This is where John and
Yoko first met.

- [Bob] But some people
did refer to you

as groupie at the time.

- Well, I never considered
myself a groupie.

I felt like I worked my
way through all of it.

I wanted love.

All they wanted to do was
hold my hand. (laughs)

But it was also a time
of great change.

There was a feeling
of liberation,

hope, freedom, and excitement.

- [Bob] And I
parachuted down here

into the most incredible energy,

the most amazing scenes
bursting into color.

You know, all the clubs,
the bands,

the arts, the movies.

- [Chris] The fashion.

- [Bob] The fashion.

- [Chris] But much of
this was set

against a darker background

of conflicts and wars that
raged on different continents.

* Yeah they feel the
death plague *

- During the Vietnam War,

I was living in London

and I have to admit,
quite ashamedly,

that I really wasn't exactly
aware of the Vietnam War.

My husband, who's a veteran,
was fighting

and I was doing peace and love
with The Beatles in London.

It wasn't until I came
back some years later

and tried to contact
some people,

that I found out that
some men had been killed,

some were,

had lost limbs,

and a lot had PTSD.

In some ways, it was the
perfect canvas for creatives,

who seized the moment
to tell their stories

and try to make the world
a better place,

or at least a more
meaningful one.

I've come back to the
United Kingdom

to retrace my footsteps here
with filmmaker, Simon Weitzman

and a host of lovely people.

- You were saying,
initially, that it's great

'cause these guys
were from England

and that was a far off land.

But there must been some
of that effect,

with you coming here,

that people looked at
you and (gasps)

she's so amazing.

She comes from America.

Did you get that impression?

- No. (laughs)

- Okay, thanks, and that's
the end of the film.

- And that's the end
of the story.

(upbeat twangy music)

(upbeat twangy music continues)

* I'm the only one down here *

* Who's got nothing to say
about the war or the rice *

* That keeps going astray
on its way to Bombay *

(upbeat twangy music)

* That smog that keeps
polluting up our shores *

* Is boring me to tears *

* Why don't you call me *

* Miss O'Dell *

(upbeat twangy music fades)

- Coming into London was
like coming into a world

so different from everything
I'd just left in Hollywood.

I didn't want
anything to change,

but I could see the changes
that were made there.

It, you know,

It was so overwhelming.

I don't know if I really,
actually, was able to feel

the deep emotions that
were, unlikely, there

because there are just so
many memories.

- Just as a lot of those
American records

were really kicking in,

all of a sudden, bam,

there was The Beatles.

(fans screaming)
(Beatles music plays)

- [Reporter] Some brave
volunteers

among the British police

elect to act with heroism above
and beyond the call of duty

and escort The Beatles
to their car.

(fans screaming)
(Beatles music plays)

So, there you have the
homecoming of The Beatles,

the return of the heroes
to their native land.

They did what the red
coats couldn't do

in the American Revolution.

- Do you ever think back
to that moment

where you are watching
it on TV and thinking,

I can't believe I'm, actually,
now working with these guys?

- Oh, yeah.

It would be ridiculous to
not think back

and see here to there

and think, oh, how'd I do that?

- [Narrator] I know what
you may be thinking.

How does someone from a
small town at the age of 19

get to work with The Beatles?

Well, let's go back.

(tape rewinds)

- My dad was a teacher and
a coach and we lived in,

I was born in Indiana,

but then moved to Oklahoma

to a little town called Keota.

Almost sounds Japanese.

And had a population
of 500 people.

I grew up in really small towns.

We moved to Tucson
when I was 11.

It was just a really
kind of normal childhood.

But for some reason I was
just drawn to a bigger world

than what Tucson had to offer.

- When did you first,
sort of, then become aware

of The Beatles, the
Rolling Stones,

all of these bands coming on?

Like, what was your first
kind of experience of that?

- Actually, I was into Motown.

(soothing rhythmic music)

I think I hit Motown
around 14 or 15.

And I loved

Motown.

I loved the music.

I loved the feel of it.

It expressed what I felt

- Yeah.
- really well.

- So, had The Miracles started?

- Oh.

Smokey.
- Smokey.

- I wanted to marry Smokey.
- When Smokey sings, yes.

(Chris laughs)

I just wanted Smokey.

I realize today, looking back,
that

music is the way that
most of us, as teenagers,

have of understanding
our feelings.

The type of music that we
are listening to

often describes what's
going on for us.

I was in high school
when JFK was shot.

And he was such a handsome man.

He looked like he was the
future of this country.

It was an, actual, trauma
for all of us.

I'll never forget that
day in school,

walking down the hall and
people were talking about it.

It was like, no.

This can't be.

People my age, we were,
kind of like, oh, gosh.

What is this world giving us?

What have we got left to
look forward to?

And along came The Beatles.

For certainly me,

and I think millions of
other people,

there was something
we'd never seen before.

You know, the long hair.

The music was so simple.

I mean, talk,

You know, the difference

between Motown and
The Beatles was

pretty vast.
- Huge, yeah.

Yeah.
- I don't know

that we thought of it
as a British invasion,

which it was.

- [Bob] When The Beatles
did arrive in America,

obviously, there was
that incredible impact

of the "Ed Sullivan Show."

* Oh yeah, I *

- You know, that was such an
interesting thing, wasn't it?

That The Beatles, originally,
were signed to a little label,

the Vee Jay record label.

It was in no position
to cope with the demand

for Beatles records that
eventually transpired.

So, all the singles
that have been

being released in Britain,

hadn't really surfaced
in America yet

until they appeared on
the "Ed Sullivan Show"

and then suddenly all
those records,

you know, "Love Me Do",
"Please Please Me",

"From Me To You,"
"She Loves You",

"I Want To Hold Your Hand",

they all burst into the
charts in America

all at the same time.

- I didn't know that.

And that explains why there
were so many one after the other

hits at that time.
- Yeah.

They had 14
- Yeah.

- of the Billboard Top 100

at one point.
- Amazing.

- And that was unprecedented.

Nobody had ever achieved that.

But it was because of
this, sort of, log jam

- Yeah.
- of records

that hadn't been
properly released

in America yet.
- Ah.

- [Bob] But the press conference

that they did at the airport,

where people in the States
saw them for the first time,

experienced their incredible
chemistry and sense of humor,

and that, in itself
propelled them, didn't it?

- Oh,
- It was part

of the whole
- totally.

- feeling of what this
band was about.

- They were so funny.

- I hear, anyway, that
the four of you

are gonna be millionaires
by the end of the year.

- Really?
- Oh.

- Oh, that's nice.
- Yeah.

(all laugh)
- Hi hopes.

- Congratulations.

- Have you got time to
actually spend this money?

- What money?
- What money?

(all laugh)

- And now suddenly you've
got these four kids,

who apparently are
unaffected by their fame.

They're just, absolutely,
loving every minute of it.

How vigorously and intentionally

are you wanting to weave
yourself into the scene

that was happening there
at that moment?

- You know, I didn't have
any intention.

I wanted to find my
independence.

And so, going to LA, I
really didn't have any

idea what I was doing.

I had met a band that had
played in a club in Tucson,

and one of the guys said, oh,

we're gonna be playing in
San Francisco.

Why don't you stay in my flat?

I went into this
apartment and stayed.

This woman said, I have
to go for a job interview.

I don't want it.

Well, I got to LA when
I was about 19, I think.

I went to Dot Records
and got the job.

At Dot, I really didn't learn
too much about anything.

I just had fun.

I worked for a man who
put out a newsletter,

which back then they did.

They would get the
singles and play them all

and decide which ones should
be played on the radio.

And they would get paid
to advise radio stations

what records to play.

And I worked for him
and did his tip sheet.

Ted Randal Enterprises
was a small little company

in Los Angeles.

He was very close to
Hollywood and Vine.

He did a lot of radio
programming

for Australian stations

and many in the United States.

- The night that you get
called to say,

come to meet Derek Taylor?

- Mm-hm.

- What year is this?

Remind me.

- That would be 1968.

Alan Rider, who was the
promotion man at A&M Records,

introduced me to Derek Taylor.

He worked for The Beatles.

The way that I put it at one
time is, they weren't real.

So, anybody who said
they knew them,

they weren't real either.

So, when Alan said, you've
gotta meet this man.

He's amazing.

Little did I know.

(Bob laughs)

- [Simon] Describe Derek Taylor,

as a person that's never
met Derek Taylor.

What kind of human being was he?

- He was older.

He was in his 30s.

(Simon gasps)

Uh-huh.

Uh-huh, it's true.

It was really scary.

(both laugh)

But he was,

He looked a lot like
Errol Flynn.

He was very dashing.

Very British.

He had short hair.

A cigarette, always.

He was just a little guy.

Not very big.

But just like,

he just, sort of, was
always going.

He had a lot of energy.

I'm in LA.

At this point, I'd lost my job

because I was driving
him around all the time.

He had brought joy into my life.

- Yeah.
- That hadn't been,

a different kind of joy
I'd never known.

And he had a going away
party at Ciro's,

which was hysterical.

And we were up all night and
there was beautiful music

and people,

He was charging people to
come to his going away party,

(Bob laughs)
that he'd invited.

And so, then we took him
to the airport.

His secretary at the time,

We drove him to the airport

and he said to me, go
get me some cigarettes.

Go get me some,

I need some ciggies.

So, I went down,

'cause back then you
didn't have security.

Went down to buy these
ciggies for him.

A carton of cigarettes.

And when I got up there,
the plane was gone.

And I was devastated

because I didn't get
to say goodbye to him.

- Oh, my goodness.

- So, I went, but I've got
his cigarettes.

I was 20.

- [Bob] Yes.

- So, I said to his secretary,

I'm going to San Francisco
where his plane stops,

makes a stop there.

I'm going there to give
him his cigarettes.

And I did.

So, I borrowed her shoes

because I had lost
mine at the club.

I couldn't find them.
(Bob laughs)

And I'm dressed in this
fall and this crazy thing.

Got in an airplane

and showed up at the gate
in San Francisco

and said, oh, you have
to let me on.

I have to get to my friend.

I've got his cigarettes.

And they went, well, we
can't do that.

We're about to leave.

And I went,

I started crying.

So, they said, okay.

So, I ran onto the plane
and found Derek,

and I went, here are your

cigarettes.
- Cigarettes.

(Bob and Chris laugh)

- Derek must have
thought to himself,

oh, my God, this woman,

I mean, she's chased me
to San Francisco

to give me cigarettes.

She must have some
tenacity about her.

- I don't know.
- Um,

do you think that that
was part of his decision,

in terms of getting
you to London,

knowing that you'd
bring something special?

- I can only assume.

Because he really did push it.

He called me when he was in
New York with John and Paul,

when they were doing the
"Tonight Show"

and said, you really
should come to London.

I mean, this would be a
really good time

for you to come to Apple.

I'm like,

I don't think I can do that.

I don't think I have the money.

But I was living with
this aspiring actress

called Terry Garr.

And she had been here to London

and she said, you've got to go.

So, if she hadn't pushed me,

I don't know if I would've.

She convinced me.

- Derek was,

even then, you
sensed that he was

way, way ahead of his time.

- Derek was totally responsible.

He changed the
direction of my life.

There's no doubt about it.

I don't know where I would've
ended up had I not met him

and been offered the
opportunities that he offered.

I was just this little
girl in this little town

who ended up in London in 1968.

It's like, it could
have been anyone.

I was like way down in
the lower levels

of the music business,
at that time.

But just through coincidence,
ended up meeting Derek Taylor,

who was kind of at the top.

Tony, it's good to see you.

- It's great to see you again,

Chris.
- I know,

Listen, I knew your father,

Tommy.
- Yep.

Okay.

- [Chris] He was one of the
most amazing photographers.

He's one of the only
photographers

who really captured The
Beatles right through

- Sure.
- their whole time.

I'd like you to talk
about that a little bit.

- Okay.

The 6th of September,
1963 was the first time

that my dad went with a
journalist, called Mike

to the Odeon Luton,

Hennessey,

to meet The Beatles in
the changing room.

My dad said to the four of them,

listen, when you come
out of the changing room,

can you just stop in
this room here?

I'd like to get a shot of
the four of you together.

So, it became probably one
of the most iconic images

of the young Beatles.

At that time, we called
it the four tie shot,

'cause they all stood there.

But then he worked with
them up to '64

until the tour in America.

He'd been out to Paris.

He'd been locked in the
George Sank Hotel

for three days and nights
because they couldn't get out.

And then they asked
him to go to the states

for the tour in the states.

But his own personal experience

of being locked in that
hotel room with them

and a few other people as well,
was,

he kinda said, very politely,
thanks, but no thanks.

And when I tell this
story to different people,

they kind of like,
the jaw drops.

'cause they say, he
said no to The Beatles.

But he had his own reasons.

And his ambition was to
be a travel photographer.

- [Chris] Look at this.

Here we are again.

George and I.

Only a much better
picture of my outfit.

- [Tony] Absolutely.

Absolutely.

- [Chris] Boy, we were
so groovy back then.

- [Tony] In that photo
of all of the group,

everybody is so trendily dressed

in, what I think, was
durry gur, at that time.

Your outfit is pretty bang on.

It is, absolutely, spot on.

Even the shoes.

- Oh look.

I love those shoes.

Not bad for a yank, huh?

- Whoa, yeah.

You know,
- If you'd seen

the way I arrived in
this country,

you would applaud me.

Actually, I think at that
time, Soho, Kings Row,

- Yeah.
- Biba,

- Yeah.
- Mary Quant.

- Yeah.
- I mean, it,

- 'Cause there's a lot
of Mary Quant in that,

- Yeah.
- in my opinion.

- [Chris] Well, it,

This was London.

- [Tony] Yeah, sure.

- [Chris] At this time.

This was just London.

You could just find so
many cool things.

It was that time in London

when everything was, absolutely,
booming.

You had Vidal Sassoon
on one corner,

Bibas on another,

Mary Quant on the Kings Road.

It was just a fascinating
time in London.

Style was everything.

I think I had more flashbacks
than anywhere else,

'cause the memories,

those were my first months
of working for The Beatles,

so it was the most
exciting period of time.

- So, you arrive in London then.

Where was it when you
parachuted down into Apple?

What were you
experiencing around you?

- Well, it was at
Wigmore Street.

And so, they were in this
one floor, in Wigmore Street,

and all the offices
were all there.

I walked in that,

I think the day I got there,

John and Yoko were
sitting in reception.

And I was talking to Derek,

and Paul walked in and went
into the room next door,

which, at that point, was
the Apple Boutique office.

- [Simon] The first time
you meet the guys in London,

what kind of impression
do they make on you?

Because, of course,
you've seen them

as these little stick men,
as you call it.

- They're stick men.
- The stick men.

And then they're right
in front of you.

So, what does that feel
like to actually meet them?

- Pretty difficult to
express in words?

So, the first time,

well, the first day I
was at Apple was,

I met Paul and John in the
first day that I was there.

I mean, they were just very
friendly and very nice.

Hi, how are you?

Nice to meet you.

And I'm like, (laughs)

I think I was, probably,
paralyzed,

to be honest.

- One by one, then,

How did you begin to establish
a relationship with them?

They're Beatles, aren't they?

So, there's quite a
glass sea ceiling

or glass wall to break
through, isn't there?

So, what would,

What were your,

You know, how did you go about
that, winning their trust?

And,

- John was there, kind of,
around.

George, I met with Derek.

We went to lunch on like
the third day I was here.

And that was the day that
the Apple Boutique opened.

And so, I met him like that.

Ringo was away doing a movie.

I didn't meet,

I didn't meet him for
quite a while.

- And from that time onwards,

did you feel very
comfortable around him?

And which ones did you feel,
perhaps,

initially, most attached to?

- Um.

Paul.

Because he was there every day.

But Paul was there and
he was part of,

He felt like part of
the company.

It was like he was
working there too.

He was easy to get to know.

So, it was very comfortable
being around him.

He kept saying, are you
looking for a job?

'Cause I was just there.

There was no glamour.

It was just, this is
the offices.

And there were a few
Beatles running around.

(Chris and Bob laugh)

- And subsequently, demonstrated
your incredible ability

as an overseer, an organizer.

Somebody to, sort of,

put that chaos into some
sort of order.

- I hope so.

I think that

What would,

You know, it's what it was

is that I came in with
the American work ethic.

And not to put down
the British work ethic,

but it was different back then.

I mean, you know, the
example of that is that

when I said I need
something right away,

that meant tomorrow.

Here, it meant next week.

And I'd go, what?

You can't get it
sooner than that?

I can't believe it.

So, I would push through
barriers that were there.

It was a tough one to do though,

because some of the other
girls that worked at Apple

had been there for quite a while

and they weren't
exactly thrilled

about this American who came,

you know, bouncing in
and would do anything.

I mean, the reason I
got the job was lunches.

I'd go out and get
lunches for them.

But they were going to the deli

and I would go to
the restaurants

and ask them to cook up the
food and let me have the China

and I'd bring them back
in these baskets.

- [Bob] Yes.

- And that's how I got,

finally, got the job.

- And I mean, that's amazing
initiative, isn't it?

- Yeah.

You just gotta do anything, huh?

- I know.

- Derek Taylor wrote in
his book "As Time Goes By",

that he never hated anyone

as much as he hated
Paul McCartney in 1968.

- [Chris] Oh.

- And this is a letter.

We probably don't want a
press department, do we?

And it's a picture
of journalists

and the like, heavily drinking.

- Oh, my gosh.

That's amazing.

Strike out.

We're not applicable.

- [Mark] Yeah.

- And type,
- And not signed.

- No.

Note taken and typed by Jolly
Minor.

- [Mark] Mm.

MBE.

I mean, it's a
beautiful construction.

Paul's
- That'

- [Mark] such a clever artist.

- [Chris] Quite an
amazing thing.

- [Mark] But imagine if
you were receiving that

from your boss, who's
paying your wages.

- [Chris] Did he send
this to Derek

- [Mark] Yeah.

- Well, it is well known,

and was certainly well
known, at that time,

that Derek's,

Derek and George had
the closest relationship

- Yeah.
- of really,

anybody that I knew,
at that point.

And I never really knew
whether he and Paul

had much of a
relationship anyway.

I don't know.

- [Mark] They did.

But it was strained compared
to how it was with John and,

- Apparently. (laughs)

- [Mark] With John and
with George, in particular.

Yeah.

When was the first time
that you met George?

- The first time I met
him, he came into London,

into Wigmore Street.

Derek had said, would you
like to go to lunch today?

And so, I was in his office.

And then George pranced in.

And, literally, George float,

He had a floating walk to him.

Derek introduced us.

And so, we went to the Aretusa

on Kings Road

and there were people
sitting there having lunch.

It looked normal.

Here I was on the Kings
Road in London

with this cape and short
skirt I bought in Hollywood

that was like blue and
orange checkered.

(Mark laughs)
I mean,

I just thought, oh, god,
I look so wrong.

Anyway, we swept in there
and sat down at a seat

and George sat on the
other side of the table.

And you know, once we had
a little wine,

I felt a little more
comfortable.

But I also didn't have
to say anything.

You know, I had to look like,
(laughs)

and respond appropriately.

But no, I didn't have to like,

What would I have said,
at that point?

And then the waiters started
moving all kinds of tables.

And I'm like, looking at Derek,
like, what's going on here?

And Derek said, oh, did
I forget to tell you?

The Apple Boutique fashion
show is happening now,

here, in the same place.

- [Mark] Right.

- Since George was there
and Derek was there,

then John and Yoko came
and sat down.

And then Pattie came in
and sat down.

And the press were all around

because it was the first time
they'd seen John and Yoko out.

And so, of course they were
really snapping away like crazy.

And I'm sitting there going,

what am I doing here? (laughs)

I've been here four days

and I'm sitting at this table.

You know, I looked at Yoko,
at one point,

and said, you're doing great.

(Mark laughs)
And then,

And then Pattie came
and sat down.

And I thought, well,
she looks nicer.

And I was like, maybe I
could talk to her.

So, at the right time, I
reached across

and said, hi, I'm Chris.

I just came from America.

I'm a friend of Derek's.

Would you show me how to
do my makeup sometime?

And she went,

yeah.

Yeah.

Okay. (laughs)

You know, totally
caught off guard.

But in my mind I thought, oh,

I'm gonna end up being
best friends with her.

What did you think?

- I was just so blown away.

I couldn't believe you were,
actually, asking me that.

(Chris laughs)

It seemed like such
an odd request,

at like a dinner, with all
the press there listening.

And you want,

you want to learn about makeup?

- [Chris] I know.

- [Pattie] And then I thought,
oh, how sweet that is.

- Aw.
- Maybe I should help you.

- And then some years later,

you said to me, oh, I
like your makeup.

How do you do it?

And I went, oh.

That's good.

This is full circle.

- [Simon] Your
background's in photography

and you're,

I mean, I love your
photographic work

and then you've got
beautiful eye for it.

You know, the other one's nice,
as well.

But

(Pattie laughs)

- Can I just tell you something,
darling?

- Please.

- Only 'cause it's funny.

(Chris laughs)
I only like funny stories.

So, you know, I'd have
my rolls of film

developed every evening

and then I'd pick them
up the next day.

Contact sheets and Ringo, said,
um,

Pattie, there's something
I have to tell you.

Yes.

Well, the photographs
are very nice,

but they're a bit, sort of,
fuzzy.

They're not really in focus.

And, of course, I
didn't know then,

I'm shortsighted.

And this is before auto focus,
right?

So, I'm focusing with my bad,
short eye.

Right.

So, for me,
(Chris laughs)

looking through the lens,

of course it was sharp,

but of course it wasn't.

'cause you know.

- That's hysterical.

Never would wear your glasses.

- [Pattie] I didn't
know I was shortsighted.

Life was lovely and fuzzy.

- When did you start
taking photographs?

- Oh, many years before
I met George.

- Really?
- Yeah.

'cause when I was a model,

fashion model,

I was,

I worked with hundreds of
photographers.

And my boyfriend, at the
time, was a photographer.

And he encouraged me to save
up my money and buy a camera.

I remember Derek finding
some guy, who needed a job,

and Derek said, I want
you to come into my office

and sit on top of the,

- Filing cabinet.
- filing cabinet.

And this guy, I just thought,
oh, perfect.

He sat up there all day.
(Chris laughs)

- I remember him very well.

- [Pattie] What on
earth was he doing?

- I can't remember his name.

He was high.

He would take acid and come in

and just sit on the
filing cabinet.

Someone asked me once,

were those times all about
sex, drugs, and rock and roll?

(upbeat music)

- [Female Narrator]
Books could be censored.

But now something came along
that was much harder to stop.

Something that millions of
young people would seize

and use as a means to
further separate themselves

from adult society.

* Line on the beam set on
light control *

* Radio tuned to rock and roll *

- Availability of the
pill was suddenly there.

Sex became a way of
getting to know each other.

- A lot's changed since 1967.

- No doubt, love.

But as long as people are
still having promiscuous sex

with many anonymous
partners without protection,

while at the same time,

experimenting with mind
expanding drugs

in a consequence free
environment,

I'll be sound is a pound.

- Pioneers and Americans.

- What is it you're pioneering?

What you wanted to say?

- [Fifi] The sexual revolution.

- [Simon] Looking back, do
you think men took advantage

of a very different morality
regarding sexuality back then?

Or do you think they just
had to play a game to get on?

- [Chris] I never,

I've been wondering
about this myself.

I don't really think
that the men did that.

I think the women
loved the music.

They loved the musicians.

They were mostly men, musicians.

So, I think that the women

were feeling a freedom
they hadn't had before.

I, definitely, don't put the
weight on the men's shoulders

because I don't think they
were taking advantage of it.

I mean, the girls who
wanted to be with them

and have sex with them
for the night,

they wanted them to do it.

So, I don't really think

that the men should
get blamed on this one.

- Here's a flashback that
no one really expected.

Imagine your mother on
an acid trip.

- A curtain, a spider web.

Can you see it?

It's right here in front
of me right now.

Watch.

It passed right through.

- Together you had this
gigantic influence

on the young people.

Right?

And everybody knows
that The Beatles

went through a drug phase.

Did it ever occur to you,

or did you ever stop
thinking of it this way,

that the fact that
this was known,

and the fact that you
were The Beatles,

might have caused thousands of
kids to go into drug problems

that might not have otherwise?

- Uh.

Well,

No, no.

Let him ask the question.
- Shut up, will ya?

- Let him ask the question.
(audience laughs)

- [Simon] Do you feel
yourself being,

sort of, pulled into that world?

Or was there a point
where you thought, (gasps)

this is starting to
get a bit overwhelming?

- Drugs were available.

I mean, they were there.

And they weren't just drugs.

They were really good drugs.
(laughs)

For example, the first
time I ever had the feeling

that maybe I was overdoing it

was when I was at Apple on
Wigmore Street.

- Oh, my god.
- How does this feel like?

Home from home?

- This is like,

This is really home.

- Look.
- This is really home.

- On the 95.

- 95 Wigmore Street.

The beginning.

There was a point where I called
Leslie Cavendish and said,

I'm overdoing it.

I can tell.

I'm starting to get paranoid.

- What was it, the second,
third floor?

Something like that up there.

- Yeah.

Up third.
- But you were sitting there.

Very pretty.

Blonde girl.

A nice little accent.

- [Chris] Leslie Cavendish,
he was so gorgeous.

He was just this handsome guy.

So, naturally I was
attracted to him

and we started talking.

And he told me that he
was the hairdresser.

He did cut their hair.

And he was gonna be, eventually,

I don't know if he knew
it at that time,

but eventually, would have
the Apple hair cutting salon

in the Apple Boutique
on Kings Road.

- She had the severe haircut.

You had this five point cut.

I think she needed
somewhere to stay

and somebody asked me
if I would put her up.

That was over 50 years ago.

We've been great friends since.

- [Simon] You were living
just off the Kings Road.

- Yeah, Chelsea Manor Street.
- So,

on Chelsea Manor Street?

- [Leslie] Yeah.

- [Simon] What do you
think her first impression

of being in that area was?

- Well, I,

You know, let's put it this way.

She's come to London.

She's obviously met a Beatle
or two, within 24 hours.

She's now moved into a
flat in Chelsea.

That's not a bad opening, is it?

How would you imagine,

you know, a lot of people
work hard to get all that.

The nice thing about her

was that she was so
easy to talk to.

You know, she was that
laid back lady

from LA or Tucson, Arizona.

Remember you told me you
got on a plane from LA.

You've ended up in the middle
of London 95 Wigmore Street.

Did you know?

Did you know what was
gonna happen here?

- No, not at all.

How could I have?

I loved Wigmore Street.

It was the part,

It's the place I have
the fondest memories of

because we were all on one floor

and it was just

so like family.
(camera clicks)

Everybody was just there.

It was just pointed out to me,
recently,

that there was only a
four year time span

between the time that The
Beatles were on Ed Sullivan

and when I went to
London to work for them.

To me, at that age,
it seemed like

it was about a hundred years.

It didn't seem that
short a time.

And I just wanted to go
to Liverpool.

The idea of actually
meeting them,

that was pretty much fantasy.

During the trip, we took
a train to Penzance.

I was excited about
meeting Natalie,

whose mother was Debbie,
the Apple receptionist.

I was also very excited
to meet another generation

and see how much she knew
and what she remembered.

Because I already knew

that Debbie had passed
away several years before.

- They're absolutely beautiful.

- I really must come back.

- You've gotta come back.

- [Simon] It's called the
Jurassic Coast, isn't it?

- No, that's Devon.

- [Simon] It's not called
the Jurassic Coast.

(Natalie laughs)

(Chris laughs)

- [Simon] I'm just gonna
turn that down a little bit.

- He never gets to turn that on.

(Natalie laughs)

- [Simon] Yeah, I never turn on.

- We just do this.

- [Simon] We just go from place
to place pretending to film.

- But we're not really

doing anything.
(Natalie laughs)

First of all, everyone
was real young.

- [Natalie] Yeah.

- [Chris] Your mom was 19

- [Natalie] 18, 19, I think.

- 18, 19.
- Yeah.

- I was, um,

- Which is crazy.
- 20, 21.

- Yeah.

- The Beatles were only in
their twenties.

I mean, we were all
really young.

My memory, when I
think of your mom,

first of all, she was the
face of Apple.

You walked in the door
into reception

and there she was.

- Yeah.
- Sitting

right in front of the door.

Let's say this out loud.

Your mom was very beautiful.

- She was gorgeous.
- She was

absolutely gorgeous.
- She was.

- [Chris] Great figure.

- [Natalie] Oh, my god.

Yeah.

Amazing.

- When you think that John
Lennon's office was on,

right off reception.

- [Natalie] Yeah.

- Everybody else was
stuck up in the (laughs)

- Well,

But it's,

You know, not only did
he get the prime spot,

like, street level,
straight to the car,

like, no messing.

But I think it's telling
that they put the mirror in.

He wanted to know.

He wanted his finger on
the pulse of everything

that was going on in his place.

- Right.
- He wanted to know

what was happening.

That's the feeling I get.

I went back there when I,

when we went to the roof
gig anniversary thing.

And we walked down there.

And I suppose because of
the architecture

and because of the nature
of the actual buildings,

it probably hasn't
changed very much.

The shop fronts

but itself, it must look
just the same.

- [Chris] It looks the same.

- [Natalie] Yeah.

- [Chris] The door, it
used to be white.

- [Natalie] Yeah.

- Where it's a different,

it's a darker color now.

But I remember like thinking,
god,

everything looks so small.

- Yeah.
- You know,

in the memory, it all
seems so big.

- [Natalie] Wow.

You were young.

- We were young.
- You were so,

I can't believe,

You know, when I think now,

like, how I was at 17, 18 to 21,
whatever.

Like, you know, you
think you're a grownup,

but you are still a kid, really.

You're still really young.

So much to learn.

And you guys were, you know,

running and working at

and being part of this
incredible thing.

- Amazing, isn't it?
- It's crazy.

- [Chris] Yeah.

I have to tell you.

Sitting here talking to you
is like talking to your mom.

- [Natalie] Aw.

- And it's not even because
you look, amazingly, like her.

- Thank you.

- It's also because
you're the same.

You're that happy, cheery person

that she always was.
- Aw.

Thanks, that's
- That's true.

- really special.

- Yeah.

- I promised myself I'm not
gonna cry today. (laughs)

- You can cry.

You can cry.

We can both cry.

- It just really,

It's really special to be able

to meet someone that knew her,

- Aw.
- although years ago

and can, you know, tell
me what it was like.

She used to tell me stories,

but, you know, probably
not as many as you've got.

She was quite, kind of,
private about it all, really.

She would just be like,
oh, it was just a job.

There was a year where
there was a Christmas party

(Chris laughs)
and,

Well, I'm sure there were
many Christmas parties,

but one where people
took their kids

and John dressed up as
Santa and gave out presents.

- [Chris] That would also be

when the Hell's
Angels were there.

- Okay.
- Yes.

- [Natalie] She did mention

those guys, as well.
- Yes, yes.

- My uncle got given
this shiny red firetruck

that he absolutely loved.

And once all the presents
had been given out,

he looked over and saw
that Julian didn't get one.

There weren't quite
enough presents.

So, he ran over and gave
his present to Julian.

And my uncle remembers this.

It's like one of his
earliest memories.

- [Chris] That is so sweet.

- I don't think it really
landed with him

until he was a little bit older

that Santa Claus was John
Lennon. (laughs)

- Yeah.
- Like I think

that probably like,

when he became like a
young adult,

he would've been like, uh,

- Well, yeah.
- I got given it. (laughs)

- I got given my gift by Santa.

- [Natalie] Yeah.

- That, actually, is also
when one of the Hell's Angels,

that same night,

So, you got the kids down here

and the Hell's Angels up there.

Did she tell you about
the Hell's Angels?

- She told me the day
that they all rocked up

and she was like, I
just heard this almighty

noise of these engines,

these bikes just like,
roaring up the street.

And she said that she was like,

somebody was in a meeting
or having a phone call

or something quite
important was happening.

And she was just really annoyed

that whoever was outside
was making all this noise.

And then she realized, oh, no.

They've stopped.

They're here for us.

- Well, we'd been warned.

George wrote a memo saying
that they were coming to town

and not to,

you know, don't give
them a hard time.

Don't uptight them.

Were his exact words.
(Natalie laughs)

Don't uptight them.

They slowly made their
way up the building.

And when they got to
the fourth floor,

they came into mine.

And I,

so I just went,

I'm American.

Don't mess with me.

- [Natalie] Like, come on, man.

- [Chris] Yeah, come on.

(Natalie laughs)

- [Chris] And so, I got
along great with them.

I hung out with them.

- [Natalie] Cool.

Oh, my god.

I bet that was a riot.

- [Chris] That was a riot.

I did acid with one of them

and he took me on his Harley.

(Natalie laughs)

- Yeah.
- Through the streets

of London.
- Stupid.

(Natalie laughs)

- [Natalie] Stupid but fun.

- [Chris] In snow.

- [Natalie] In,

Are you sure it was snowing?
(laughs)

- [Chris] Well, it was,

Yeah, it was definitely snowing

because we how cold did a skid

and I'm like,
- No.

- [Chris] Whoa.

This is not the way I
choose to die.

- [Natalie] Yeah.

Suddenly it's not so
fun anymore.

- So, you see this
lamppost here?

- Yes.

- I can remember coming
back from work

and there were two Harley
Davidsons up there.

- Oh.

- And I thought to myself,
- I know where this is going.

- And you see where that window?

- Yeah.

- It was open.

Now, as I'm coming down here,

I see smoke coming out.

And I knew they weren't
electing a pope, right?

(Chris laughs)

And I thought, oh, my god.

There's so much smoke
coming out here.

I'm gonna get this,

wee problems here.

And I've walked in, and I knew

that the Hell's Angels
were at Apple.

- Mm-hm.

- And I said to myself,
Chris isn't,

don't tell me Chris is
inviting them back.

(Chris laughs)
And I remember walking in

and they were just sitting here.

We had soft cushions,
Afghan cushions.

- [Chris] Mm-hm.

- [Leslie] And there you were,

sitting in the corner
with Sweet William.

- [Chris] Sweet William.

- [Leslie] And who was
the other guy?

- [Chris] Frisco Pete.

- [Leslie] Frisco Pete

and Frankie.
- Frankie,

- Yeah.
- Hart.

- [Leslie] Frankie Hart.

- [Chris] Frankie Hart.

- And,

and you said, oh, Leslie,
this is my friends.

You know, and they,

- How'd you feel when you
walked inside and that was,

- I was scared because you had,

they had Budweisers there
(Chris laughs)

and I had a beautiful
wooden Afghan table

and I thought they were
gonna go (whistles)

with the bottle tops

- Yeah.
- and ruin my table.

And I was nervous.

I'm thinking, this is my place.

And I'm now nervous.

And I broke the ice.
(Chris laughs)

He said to me,
- This is my place.

- He said to me,

oh, you cut The Beatles' hair,
do you?

And I went, yeah.

And he went,

Suddenly the atmosphere changed.

Then you turn around and said,
yes.

And I said, where have you been?

And you said, oh, I've just
been running around London

on the back of his motorbike.

- Yeah.

Apple was, in my memory
and to me, my feeling,

the hub of the world.

It was like it was where
everyone wanted to be.

Her phone was ringing
all the time.

- [Natalie] Just constant.

- Constant.
- She said

it was a really busy office.

- [Chris] Very busy.

- [Natalie] Was never a minute.

- [Chris] And her,

and the people were
coming in all the time.

There was Jimmy, the doorman,

- Yeah.
- who helped.

- Yeah.
- He, kind of, kept

some of it calmed down.

(Natalie laughs)

One of my favorite stories,

that I'm gonna tell you about

- Okay,
- your mom,

is that Peter Asher and I

were walking back from
lunch one day

and there was this psycha,

or this kind of painted,
sort of, lor,

not a lorry,

but it was a flatbed truck,

- Yeah.
- parked in front of,

And you never knew what was
gonna be coming into Apple.

- Okay.
- So,

Anyway, and then there were
all these people standing,

these guys with no hair
and a ponytail on the back

and all this saffron
and everything.

And it turned out it
was the Krishnas.

- [Natalie] No.

- And it was their first
day coming there.

And so, Peter,

who can be quite shy.

- Okay.
- It was almost like

he went into turtle pose.

It's like, I hope they're
not here to see me.

(Natalie laughs)

And I went, I doubt that Peter.

- Yeah.

- So, we went into the thing.

We went upstairs to our
fourth floor offices

and my phone rang.

And your mom goes, Chris?

Peter's three o'clock
appointment is here,

(Natalie laughs)
or two o'clock

or whatever it was.

And I went, oh.

Is it the people that were

in that truck outside?
- Oh, no.

- And she said, yes. (laughs)

- [Natalie] Well, they're all
stood in reception, probably.

And she's like, on the back.

- Two of them were all
that came in.

- Oh, no.
- And so, I said,

okay, hold them down there.

I'll be right there.

And I went to Peter and said,

uh, they're here for you.

- Oh, no.
(Chris laughs)

(Natalie laughs)

- But that's the kind of thing

she had to deal with

all the time.
- Yeah.

- Is that she always had to call

and act like
everything was normal.

- Mm-hm.

- Because we'd be on the
other end going,

oh, what do they look like?

Or what do they want?

- Yeah.

- I mean, she was the
face of Apple.

- The first time you met
Peter, how did he strike you?

What was the kind of
impression you got from him?

(record skips)

- [Narrator] Oh, shit.

Wrong one.

Or is it?

- Well, I would use the
word reserved.

He was very reserved.

But part of it was

that he had come from
an upper class family.

And my exposure to English
people, at that time,

had been mostly from Liverpool.

It just seemed different.

He seemed very different.

Hello?

- Hi, darling.

(Chris laughs)

- How are you?

- It's been a while.

I'm fine.
- It's been

- Thank you.
- a really long time.

- I'm fine, thank you.

- Good.

Thank you for inviting me here

- It's a pleasure.
- To talk to you.

- Nice to see you.

- You asked me if I
would be your assistant.

- Yes.
- And I said great.

And then I asked you,
what do I do?

And you said, I don't know.

I've never had a personal
assistant before.

(both laugh)

So, we just, kinda,
winged it, at that point.

- Yes, exactly.

And you were,

to be honest, you were a
personal assistant would,

but back then,

when it wasn't insulting to
call someone a secretary,

you were also a secretary.

Because I've seen letters that,

you know, have your
initials on them.

You know, in the old
days it used to be

who dictated them and
who typed them.

And you,
- Funny you should say that.

- Oh.

- 15th of July, 1968
from Peter Asher.

Head of A&R for Apple Records.

Dear sir.

This is addressed to
Kenneth Pitt management.

As we told you on the phone,

Apple Records is not interested
in signing David Bowie.

The reason is that we don't feel

he is what we're looking
for, at the moment.

Thank you for your time.

Yours, sincerely, Peter Asher.

- Oh.
- And is typed

by you.

C-O.
- Yeah.

P-A, Peter Asher.

C-O, Chris O'Dell.

- Yes, I definitely typed it.

God, I wonder if Peter
remembers this.

(upbeat music)

- Yes.

That's a weird one.

I, yeah,

Because what is strange is that

that's not language I
would ever have used.

- Well, I signed it.

- Yes.

Because, I initialed,
- I know it's not

my signature either.
- Yeah.

- 'Cause people have
asked me about that.

- But did you see who,

- Yes, yes.
- we were

- It's David Bowie.

I know.
- rejecting?

- Yeah, yes.

(Chris laughs)

Who's that guy, Ken Pitt.

- [Chris] Huh, I'd never
seen it before.

- [Peter] Apple is not
interested in signing.

The reason is that we don't feel

he's what we're looking
for, at the moment.

That's not a phrase I,
- That's not you.

- I would ever use, no.

- That was probably me.

(Peter laughs)

- Maybe.

- [Chris] And remember we
were only in our twenties.

- Yes.
- If you think about that,

it's pretty amazing.

So, it was the right
time to be doing,

to be going out and having
fun at the end of the day.

But we did work hard.
- Oh, absolutely.

I remember.
- Oh, you did.

You know, you were a
terrific assistant.

- Thank you.
- Providing,

you could be found.

- Oh, yes.
- Occasionally.

Occasionally,
- Occasionally.

- you disappeared.

- I slept under my
desk one night.

(both laugh)

- This does not surprise me.

(Chris laughs)

Yeah, no, it,

You were terrific.

But every now and then,
it was like,

has anybody seen Chris?

(Chris laughs)

And it means that I've
either you fallen asleep

or something much
more interesting

is happening on another floor.

- That could be true.

- Originally.
- I remember you

looking for me once.

I was, (laughs)
(Peter laughs)

You were very patient with me.

That's not even relating to
the time that you told me

I was the first person you knew

who was a week late for work.

(both laugh)

So,

Apple,

I remember you leaving,

but I can't remember
why you left.

I mean, I know I have
a thought that you left

because things were
falling apart, basically.

- Yeah, I left because
I knew about Alan Klein,

by reputation from some
friends in New York

who knew him

and people who also,

who knew The Stones,

who were already, were
not too keen on Alan.

And even at that time,
they started to realize

it was too good to be true.

You know, that he was a bit
of a crook, on the side.

Yeah, I wrote a, actual,
letter of resignation,

which I've asked Apple
if they can find it,

'cause they're pretty
good at finding stuff,

but no one's found it yet.

But I remember writing a
specific letter

explaining why I was leaving.

And then James and I just left.

And I went to LA

and we agreed that I would
become James's manager,

simply because we didn't know

who else we would
trust to do it.

I figured if Brian
Epstein can go

from running a record shop
to managing The Beatles,

I can go from being an artist
to managing James Taylor.

- James Taylor sounds
like a character.

- Yes.

He was my first date,
so to speak.

When I first got here,

Derek hated to see me be gettin'
lonely,

and so, he fixed me
up with James.

And it was the same thing.

I didn't come here to
meet an American guy.

But James was very
different back then.

- [Simon] You were lucky enough

to, kind of, be
around the studios.

Did you get a different
take on them, as people,

in that recording studio?

- You had to move from thinking

they were these little
people like this

to suddenly there were
these real people,

standing in front of you.

So, once that
adjustment was made,

that's the acclimating.

Acclimating to the fact that,
okay, now I'm part of this.

And to the point, that I thought
it was quite okay to say,

Paul, do you mind if I
come to the studio

and watch you record?

Which as it turns out, it,

I did do that, but it
wasn't really okay.

Two of the other girls said,
oh, no, no, no, no, no.

We don't ever do that.

In fact, when Brian was alive,

we weren't even allowed to go

to the same social
events is them.

That,

That doesn't make sense.

And they said, well,
that's kind of the rule.

- No, it was, sort of, it
felt like a male bastion.

It was just for the
guys to have fun.

I thought.

Or I felt that.

- And, as it turned out,
it really was (laughs)

because I did go to the
studio, thanks to Mal Evans,

and I wasn't gonna get
in that night.

And we sat.

And we sat.

And we sat

(Gary laughs)
and I went,

he has no intention of
letting me into the studio.

- [Gary] He was the human
rottweiler, keeping the,

- Exactly.
- Yeah.

- His job was to make
sure nobody got there.

But he did it in
such a nice way.

- Yeah.
- But he didn't want

to upset anyone.
- No.

- Did he?
- I think that,

I'm not sure if I
ever saw you two,

it was when you were
really little.

- Right.
- A friend

I went to school with
has memories of my dad,

kind of, more than me.

He remembers all the parents
coming into the school

when we were about
seven or eight,

all in suit,

all the men were in suits.

And my dad be coming in six
foot three with Afghan coat.

- [Gary] He'd pick us up
outside the school gates

with the cowboy hat,
holster on and all the gear.

(Chris laughs)
- I remember,

I remember the,
- Seriously?

- I remember the car he had
- Yeah.

- 'cause it was a Mercedes,
I think.

Wasn't it?
- Yeah, they,

- It was a Mercedes.
- The hike,

the Apple.
- And that used to

make me feel a little special,

going out in the
Mercedes and that.

So, it's strange what
you do remember,

- I just want to know what we
were like when we were young.

- [Gary] Yeah.

- [Pattie] Younger when,

You would've been a little boy,

so you probably
- Yeah.

- [Pattie] didn't pay
much attention to us.

- I remember

being by a river

and you putting sun
lotion on my back.

- Oh.
- And I'm thinking,

this is nice.

(all laugh)

- I'll be able to tell my
friends about that one.

- I can't remember
which film it was,

but it would've
- Oh, the little boy,

- [Gary] '72, '73.

- Yeah.

- [Gary] Yeah.

11 years old with Pattie Boyd,

you know, doing that.

- [Chris] Rubbing My Back.

- But you,

you were so,

you were the epitome of

being a beautiful young
woman in the '60s.

- Mal was a character.

What a character.

- Oh, yeah.

He and Neil were like Frick
and Frack, in a way. (laughs)

Neil was kind of serious.

And Mal was just fun
and easygoing and loving

and um,

and smart.

He really knew how to work,

how to work the game.

- [Simon] And what were
your impressions of Neil?

- Oh, Neil was amazing.

He was the fifth Beatle.

I don't care what
anybody else says he was.

He was with them from
the beginning.

He was a little intimidating

because he would tell you
exactly what he thought

and he did everything
for the best of them.

And at that time, when I
was going to work for him,

he was starting to put
together all the film

that would later become
"The Long and Winding Road".

Isn't that what it was called?

- I think so.
- The one

that came out?
- Yeah.

- He had another name for it.

But at that time.

But that was the very beginning.

And that was in 1970.

- I took over from Mal.

When Apple started,

Neil,

the dynamic in the studio
was with the four boys,

Mal and Neil.

Those two looked after the band.

Mal looked after the equipment.

Neil looked after their
personal stuff,

whether it's, you know,
hey Neil,

I need to go to
wherever next week.

Can you arrange something?

And so, Neil is liaising
with the office

to sort anything out that
the boys wanted.

And Mal was the equipment man.

And between the two of
them in the studio,

they would also look after
the bands once, you know,

And they also kept each
other company.

'Cause it is boring sittin'
around

in a studio doing nothing.

I can guarantee that.

- [Chris] Mal Evans
was a part-time bouncer

at the Cavern Club

and was hired by Brian Epstein

to be The Beatles roadie,

alongside another great friend
to the boys, Neil Aspenall.

Mal kind of became the older
brother to the four lads

and was their trusted
sidekick on tour.

He was a musically talented man

going on after The
Beatles broke up

to produce the band Bad Finger

and their biggest hit,
"No Matter What".

- Mal, he does always come
across as this, kind of,

like big teddy bear character.

Was that how you saw him?
- He was.

Oh, absolutely.

He was the gate to The Beatles.

And had it not been for
John's friend, Pete Shotton,

who came up and started
talking to me and,

'cause Mal wasn't
gonna let me in.

And then Pete said,

would you like to come
in the studio?

And I went, yeah.

(traffic hums)

- [Cameron] Hello.

- Hello.

- [Cameron] Welcome.

- Here we are.
- How are you?

- Oh, my goodness.

- So, hopefully this room
hasn't changed too much

since you were last here.

- This room has changed a lot.

- Oh, really?

- First of all, it's much
more colorful than it was.

But the board.

I mean, there was this
much smaller board

right in front of the window.

- [Cameron] Yeah, they changed
the positioning, didn't they?

- Yeah.

But they've got little things

so they can see what's
going on in the studio.

That feels so funny.

- Yeah, no monitors back then.

- Yeah.
- The window's in the same,

same spot.
- The window's

in the same spot

and the stairs is in the same.

So, we came into the
studio from down there

and we're sitting
around the piano.

And then John and Yoko came down

and they were, actually,
recording,

I think "Number 9".

- Okay.
- And so, I clapped.

That was my first
Beatle session.

I got to clap.

- That's a strange first session

to walk into that one.

- A strange first session.

(Cameron laughs)

Second time I was here,

I brought George a note
from the Krishnas,

from Peter about the
Krishnas wanting to record.

And then it seems that,
after a while,

they just got to know me here.

And I just, kind of, showed up

at will.

There was one session
that George was doing sub,

he was putting vocals
on a "Savoy Truffle".

And he would go down, put the
voice on and come back up.

And we decided to get a
bottle of wine.

Well, I don't think we decided.

We had a bottle of wine.

And so, it got to the point

where we'd sit here,
drink some wine,

he'd go down there,
I'd follow him,

bring the wine with me,

and then come back up and
down the stairs.

Up and down the stairs.

And after a while we'd
had a lot of wine.

(Cameron laughs)

And I

said, I'll be back.

I'm just gonna go to the ladies'
room.

And I did.

I went to the ladies' room

and there was a sofa.

It was downstairs.

I don't know if there's
still one here.

But this big powder
room with a sofa.

And I laid down and fell asleep,
(laughs)

or passed out.

And the next morning
when I woke up,

it was daytime and I thought,
oh, I gotta get to work.

Where am I? (laughs)

And I walked up and the guard,

the security guard said, oh.

Where were you?

They were looking for you all
evening, trying to find you.

(Cameron laughs)

But anyway, and then
George later said,

what happened to you?

And I went, oh, I went home.

- [Cameron] Yeah.

Went home early.

- [Chris] I passed out.

- Yeah, a little
- Totally.

- [Cameron] rare privilege,

- Yeah.
- Spending the night

at Abbey Road.

- Whoa.

You can feel the energy.

Absolutely.

It's amazing.

- Yeah, and the smell.

- Oh, the smell.

- Sort of, a

musty,
- Yeah,

a musty smell.

- Cigarettes maybe still
in the walls a bit.

- Everybody was smoking,
- Absolutely.

- drinking.

It was good fun

and a good mood.

It was a happy atmosphere.

I can remember the first night

that I actually came into
the control room

when I was, actually,
bringing the letter to George.

And it was just so easy and calm

and nobody freaked out
that I was there.

But of course, Mal had
to let everybody in.

Nobody could really get in
unless Mal said, yeah, it's

Come on in.

okay.

It was very closed.

- [Cameron] And of course,

you're involved with "Hey
Jude", as well, aren't you?

- Yes.

The night that they
were recording,

they were putting on
the orchestra

and they had moved to
Trident Studios.

And again, I booked all
the studio time at Trident.

I didn't at Abbey Road,
but I did at Trident.

- Do you think Trident Studios
have been forgotten about

by people, business mans?

- Oh god, Richard.

It's true.

It has been forgotten by people.

This was a very big
piece of Apple.

Trident Studios was created
by drummer Norman Sheffield,

along with his brother
Barry in 1967.

And it went on to become

one of the most popular
recording studios of its era,

with The Beatles, famously,
recording "Hey Jude" there

in the summer of '68.

They went on to record a
number of hits at the studios,

leading to the likes of
David Bowie, Mark Bowland,

Frank Zappa, Elton John,
the Bee Gees,

the Rolling Stones,
and Carly Simon,

all following in
their footsteps.

I was pretty used to going
to Trident, a lot, actually.

Paul came up to the control
room to talk to George Martin

and as he was leaving, he
said, Chris, come here.

And I thought, okay, whatever.

So, I went down,

'cause the studio was downstairs
from the control room.

And I went down and all the
orchestras standing around

and everybody there
standing around

and Paul said, okay, this
is what we're gonna do.

We're gonna sing this chorus.

And at first I thought,
oh, man, I don't sing.

I don't,

I'll never be able to do this.

So, I tried to be very,
very quiet.

And then after a while,
Paul just,

he just sort of got us
into singing.

And so, it was fun.

Then it got to be fun
and we did it

over and over and over again.

And I can remember a
couple days later, seeing,

We had put posters,

Apple put posters all around
the west end of London,

saying, "Hey Jude".

That was letting people
know it was coming out.

And I remember walking
by and going,

yeah, I sang on that.

That was cool.

- I also was spending quite
a lot of time at Trident

because I was a friend of
Mark Bowland's.

and Mark was working
there with Tony Visconti

and Mark then, kind of,
introduced

David Bowie into the mix.

And David started working
with Tony Visconti.

And I sing on a track of David's

called "Memory Of A
Free Festival".

And this end section of that is

the sun machine is coming down

and we're gonna have a party.

The sun was,

And there were about six
of us on the studio floor

and we were recorded
and then double tracked

and then multi tracked

and then quadruple tracked

until there was like a massive,
kind of,

you know, wall of
voices that created,

They, as Tony and David were
describing it, at the time,

as a "Hey Jude" style
mantra like finish

that faded at the end
of the track.

So, I'd been on that
studio floor (laughs)

- Doing the same thing.
- singing on,

Memory of a,

And you've been on that
studio floor,

singing the end of "Hey Jude".

- Yeah.

So, I heard that "Let It Be",

I've always believed this,

that "Let It Be", when
Paul wrote it

was because your dad used
to say that all the time.

So, Mother Mary,

- In the Aashram, Paul had a
dream and my dad came to him

and they did do a take of
Brother Malcolm.

"Mother Malcolm", yeah.

- But it sounded better
than Mother Mary.

- Mother Mary.

Oh, it was Brother Malcolm.

- Early hours of the morning.

Paul was saying to my dad,
I hope you don't mind,

but it's gonna be Mother Mary.

- Did you know that?

- Oh, no, I didn't know that.

- There is a version on YouTube.

- Ah.

- He did an interview,
- Of him singing

Brother Malcolm.
- On YouTube?

- He did an interview
with David Frost.

- Paul was meditating one day

and I came to him in a vision

and I was just standing
there saying let it be.

Let it be.

And that's where the
song came from.

- But it was when they moved to

the basement of the Apple
building in Savile Row,

that they decided Billy
Preston would come on board.

And you were instrumental
in that, weren't you?

- When I saw "Get Back",
it became very apparent

how he changed the whole
feeling of that

- Yeah.
- Those sessions.

I mean, it was unbelievable.

Everything just changed.

- You were the first person

to put a black man in
the White House.

- I did.

(Tony laughs)
Thank you.

I'm so happy you said that.

I was, because George,

I think George said, can you
find Billy a place to live?

- [Tony] Yeah, yeah.

- So, I looked around.

I don't know how I found it,

but it was apartments
called the White House.

We joked at that time saying,
oh,

I'm the first person to put a
black man in the White House.

- Yeah.

- So, Chris, here we come.

A place that you and I
know really well

- Three Savile Row.

- Yep.

And look.

Can you see up there?

The Beatles played their
last live performance

on the roof of this building,

3rd of January in 1969.

- [Cameron] Did you get
a sense, on the roof,

that this was something very,
very special

or groundbreaking?

Or was it just cold?

- The very famous,

very famous, big, worldwide,
famous

roof top

- Mm-hm.

- concert.

("Get Back" by The Beatles)

- Being on the roof.

I knew this was gonna be a
special moment.

So, to be able to be up there,

thanks to Tony, the
cameraman, he got me up there.

I mean, that was amazing,
actually.

'Cause nobody else was
gonna get up, at that point.

* Jojo was a man who he
though he was a loner *

* But he knew it couldn't last *

* Jojo left his home in Tuscan,
Arizona *

* For some California grass *

- We had to kind of walk up to
my floor to get to the roof.

And we, the girls, we used
to go there and sunbathe

when the sun came out. (laughs)

We'd run upstairs

and lie on the dirty
old roof and sunbathe.

So, you know, we saw them,
kind of, starting to fix it up.

It was a lot of excitement.

But we had had a memo that said
we weren't allowed up there

because the roof wasn't stable.

In fact, I think Barbara
Bennett even told me,

not that long ago,

that she went shopping with
Lori, the switchboard girl.

They didn't even bother
to stick around.

What a thing to miss.

But I, being the pushy American,

somehow managed to get up there.

I was so intrigued to see

how the people on the
street were gonna react.

* Belonged *

* Get back Jojo *

("Get Back" by the
Beatles plays)

* Sweet Loretta Martin
thought she was a woman *

* But she was another man *

- I never, in a million
years, thought that we would

still be talking about
the roof concert

or that I would end up being
one of the only four people

that, actually, had a
seat on the roof. (laughs)

Why weren't you on the roof top?

- [Pattie] We'd had a domestic.

- [Chris] Seriously?

- Yeah.

George was so cross with me
about something or other,

something minor, obviously.

And he didn't say,

he didn't really tell
me what was going on.

I don't know if he knew

that they would be
playing on the roof.

And of course, you know,

like an awful lot of
those situations,

with time, tend become bigger

and more iconic and
more interesting.

He didn't want to be there

and he certainly didn't
want me to be there.

- Well, he,

If I recall he told you that
there weren't people coming.

- Yeah.
- There wasn't an audience.

- He said,

It's like that nothing
was happening, really.

- But there were
only four people

who actually were on
the roof, besides them.

- You were there.

- Ken Mansfield,

Yoko, and Maureen.

- Why was Maureen there?

- I guess Ringo had her come

because she hardly ever
came to Apple.

- No.
- But otherwise,

people think there were all
these people on the roof,

but they were coming out
of the windows

of the other buildings.

No one on the roof at
Apple at the beginning,

except for us four and them,

and the cameramen.

- But I love seeing the
film footage of it

from somebody filming it
on the ground.

- [Chris] Mm-hm.

- And seeing all these
amazing people in shock.

Some of them loved it

and others thought it was
a bit of an intrusion.

- Yes, I am Ray Dagg and
I was the fool

that was misfortunate
enough to be on that roof

the last time The Beatles
ever played together.

I reiterate,

I did not know it was
gonna be their last time

they ever played together.

And, may I say,
neither did they.

Now, in those days, in
the police force,

you didn't argue with your
Sergeant or report on him

or snitch on him or anything.

He said to me,

shut that noise down at
the end of Savile Row.

It's blocking the
whole West End.

Traffic is at a standstill
right out to Hyde Park corner,

which is a couple of miles away,
you know.

So, I walked down the road

and as I got to Apple
headquarters,

I could see I was one
of many police officers

that were down there already.

I've since discovered,
I believe,

that they let me in in those
'cause I looked the youngest,

most fresh faced, libel to
cock things up.

So, they let me in.

When we were inside
talking to 'em,

we didn't even know they
were on the roof.

We thought they were in a
studio with the windows open,

playing out to the crowd.

And it was only 15 minutes in

that we found out they
were, actually, on the roof.

They spent,

I don't know, 30
minutes stalling us.

Kept asking to see somebody.

Kept being told that
they were coming.

They were coming.

But they didn't, eventually.

And I said, well, look,
you know,

you're gonna force me to
take more drastic action

unless I can speak to
somebody about this.

And then about 10 minutes
later, Malcolm Evans,

the late Malcolm Evans,
nice bloke,

came down, and he was the
road manager at the time.

So, he, sort of, handled it all,

and said, would you like
to come on the roof?

So, I said, fine.

So, we went up there

and there they were,
the four of them.

It was quite cold up there,
I remember.

'Cause there had my
great coat on.

And they were well wrapped up,
as well.

You could see up there.

It was dangerous, actually,
because there was,

and all the other
rooftops in Savile Row,

people were hanging off chimneys

and sitting on tops of roofs,
where they shouldn't be.

You know, it was
extremely dangerous.

And there was quite a lot
of people up on the roof.

I, sort of, asked

that I needed them to put
a finite limit

on how many of these
they were going to do.

And came back and said,
well, they're The Beatles.

They do what they want to do,
you know?

And I, sarcastically, said,

so, road manager with you
is just a title, is it?

And he said, yes it is,
I'm afraid.

So, I said, fine.

Well, then let's try
it this way.

And I said, would you
please go over there again

and tell whichever one
you want to talk to,

that if they don't stop,
I'm going to arrest them.

All four of them and
I'm gonna take them down

to West End Central
Police Station.

And he said to me, before
he went over there,

what's the charges?

And I said, obstructing police
in the execution of duty

and highway obstruction.

Now, fortunately, for me,

he didn't know that I
couldn't arrest them for that,

because there's no power of
arrest on private property.

They have to be on
public property.

In other words, out in the road,

for them to be
arrested for that.

I suppose taking it to its
infinite level,

I could've waited outside

until they came out and
arrested them.

But I wasn't gonna do that.

So, that's what I said to him.

He then went over to John

and he started pulling
out their amp plugs.

You can see it
clearly on the film.

And they turned around
and said to me,

You could see them looking
going, what's going on?

You know.

And then he talked to them.

And then they came,

he came back to me after
a minute or so and said,

can they play one more song?

And I said, one more.

That is definitely it.

And then that's when
they played "Get Back".

Fortunately, very fortunately,

I got away with it.

And now people say, didn't
you handle that well?

It could have gone so much,

so much worse the other way.

- I can't remember.

I don't know if I was
in LA then, or

- You were.
- just was out of the office.

I was in LA?
- You were in LA.

- Yeah.

I had a feeling that was it.

- Mm-hm.
- Yeah.

Because as I say, people keep
thinking that I was there.

I've had arguments with people.

People go, no, you were there.

I can see you.

There's your red hair.

I go, that's not me.

It's not my red hair.

That's Kevin Harrington.

I wasn't there.
(Chris laughs)

- [Chris] The amazing thing
about the Rooftop concert

was that it was six months
before the moon landing.

So, we put The
Beatles on the roof

before putting
astronauts on the moon.

1969, almost mirrored 1964
for most of us in the US.

John F. Kennedy's assassination
left us feeling lost.

But then The Beatles came along

to rescue the mood of a
country in 1964.

And we were again left stunned

by the assassination of
Robert Kennedy in mid 1968,

with The Beatles playing
their last concert on the roof

in London in early 1969.

It's strange to think

that there were two
assassinations in the USA

that heralded the world's
greatest bands

in and out of the first
wave of Beatlemania.

- Only one free dress for
each customer.

Only one free dress for
each customer.

- Good of you to come
to Beatles sale.

I've become all peculiar.

(traffic hums)

- One of the things that
is never appreciated

about The Beatles and
Apple and all of that

is that though we know
what they did do

and what did happen,

what very few people know
is what didn't happen,

but could have happened

because there was a chance.

Because they were
always being offered

the opportunities to do
this, that and the other.

Come and be involved in
this and that,

like Woodstock,

- [Chris] Mm-hm.

- [Mark] which they
weren't going to do.

But had they said yes
to any of those things,

they would've gone into
the history we know about.

And instead they stay
in the history

that very few people know about.

- [Narrator] For all
you Millennials

who know, virtually,
nothing of Woodstock,

don't worry, just
imagine it's EDC,

but with poor last
minute planning,

no real super structure
or guest limitations.

We are talking over
500,000 people

coming together in the
name of free love,

flower power, booze, sex,
drugs, and rock and roll.

It was a cultural phenomena,
unmatched,

or as this guy puts it,

- And it is true,

their music is loud

and they dress weirdly
and smoke pot.

- This is something that
often doesn't get remembered.

And their presence in the
American music,

in the consciousness of
American youth

in the late '60s was very,
very strong, wasn't it?

(psychedelic music)

- [John] Not many
people are noticing

all the good that came
out the last 10 years.

The vast gathering of
people in Woodstock,

which is the biggest mass of
people ever gathered together

for anything other
than war before.

Nobody had that big an army
that didn't kill somebody.

(dramatic music)
(engine roars)

(guns fire)

(dramatic music)

(engines roar)
(dramatic music)

(plane whistle)

(dramatic music)

(bombs whistle)

(bombs explode)

(dramatic music)

- [Chris] My husband
was a veteran of Vietnam

and I didn't know a lot
about the Vietnamese war.

I never expected to be
with a veteran.

I don't think I, totally,
understood that

that meant very single guy

I'd gone to high school
with went to Vietnam.

Mostly everyone.

He was in the Army.

Then he was in Special Forces.

And then he was in the
first group of Delta Force.

So, he was serious
about that job.

We would sit and realize

how different our lives
were, at that time.

I would get letters
from some people,

the guys I knew at Apple,

who would send me
letters from Vietnam,

just wanting to make
a connection.

My husband did have PTSD.

He is, he is deceased now.

And the PTSD had a lot
to do with it.

- [Narrator] Post-Traumatic
Stress Disorder or PTSD,

plagues, many veterans.

- [Chris] You know, I
learned a lot from him.

I learned another part of
life I hadn't experienced

when I, probably, should have.

- So, where are you
now in your mind

and what you want to do
and your direction

next?
- Well, actually,

I got caught slightly off
guard by Leon Russell,

who came over and was
working on his first album

with Denny Cordell.

And he wrote a song,
"Pisces Apple Lady".

And I went into the
studio that night

and, suddenly, I heard it

and I heard the words.

And I went, oh, he
really likes me.

(both laugh)

Whoops.

That changes everything.

And so, I left Apple to go
with him back to Los Angeles.

Um,

It was,

It wasn't for a
really long time,

but I lived with him there.

But I really didn't settle

into being some musician's,
old lady.

It just didn't work.

It wasn't me.

I wanted to be back
with the action.

I wanted to be
involved in booking

and doing all kinds of things.

And I just couldn't do that.

Derek happened to
have called me.

- [Bob] Yes.

- After I'd made the
decision that we weren't,

we were gonna split up.

And Derek just outta the
blue called and said,

how are you?

And I said, not so good.

Things aren't working
out so well here.

And he said, why don't
you come back?

Then I went back to Apple.

By this time things have
changed, dramatically.

Alan Klein had really
taken over Apple.

It was made very clear to me

that Alan Klein was not
gonna hire me.

That was when Neil
Aspenall saved me

and said,

come work for me.

You can work for me.

And then a couple,

a week later or two,
George called

and asked me to come
to Friar Park

to live there.
- Right.

It's hard, isn't it,

to even begin to try
and describe to people

the sheer size

and how imposing

as a building Friar Park is.

But I guess in those days
it must've been

a big old rambling,

unheated. (laughs)

- It was so

- Dusty.
- cold.

- Yeah.
(both laugh)

- It was almost as
cold as the roof

- Yes.

- that day.

No, we pull,

Actually, it was kind
of wonderful

because we went,

I was with Kevin
Harrington and George

and I met them at the studio
at Trident, with my bag.

'Cause he said, bring some
stuff with you.

And we drove in the front gate

and there was the lodge,

the front lodge there.

And I went, oh, George,
that's so beautiful.

And he went, that's
the front lodge.

My brother lives there.

I said, oh, okay.

Then we drive a little further
down this long driveway

and there's the middle lodge.

And he goes, no, that's
not it either.

Then you do this bend

and there's the house.

And it's just (gasps)

It's stunning.

Friar Park sounded like a
fairytale place,

but much of it was in disrepair
when George bought it.

I think he paid about
140,000 pounds in 1970,

which doesn't sound much
by today's standards,

but would actually be equivalent

to over 2 million pounds today.

George wanted it so that
he could have privacy,

something all The
Beatles wanted,

but I also think he liked the
sheer eccentricity of it all.

Now, mind you, when he
got the house,

the lakes were all covered
up by the nuns,

so the children,

the orphans who stayed
there during World War II,

wouldn't fall in.

The main mansion was,
apparently, due for demolition.

And the gardens were overgrown
with ivy and brambles.

On top of that,

people had broken in
over the years

and used the grounds as a dump.

So, it was pretty basic living

until George got it all
under control.

By the time I moved
into Friar Park,

they'd only been
there a few months

and a lot of that disrepair
had been cleaned up.

And we were relegated to no heat

and sleeping on cots.

Well, actually, in
sleeping bags.

Terry Doran, who Pattie
always called Ted, or Teddy,

was, actually, living at Friar
Park when I first met him.

Terry had a great
sense of humor.

He was just one long,
stringy guy

who kind of jumped around.

Everybody adored him.

He was assistant to George,
at the time that I met him,

or managing Friar Park.

And I know he'd worked
for John before that.

He was, definitely, part
of the Beatle family.

- So, Terry put me in
the library,

which is down to the lawn,

just off of the um,

the hall.

- [Chris] Right off
the main hall.

- Yeah.

And so, like, I'm like
really stunned

and just like, oh, wow.

You know, here I'm.

What's all this?

And it's dark and it's,

you know, spooky,

I think might be the
correct expression.

- [Chris] It was spooky.

- [Kevin] It was spooky.

- [Chris] It was very spooky.

- So I,

I think we'd had a
couple of drinks by then,

by the time I'm, actually,
on to bed.

And I'm just kipping on
the floor on a mattress

and all I can see is the
light of Henley

shining above the trees right
down the end of the garden.

But on the wall, just
as the winds blowing,

(Chris laughs)
all of these

shadows and everything.

Ah, you know?

And it's like,

oh, whoa.
(Chris laughs)

I mean it was,

it did freak me out a bit.

You know, it was like, whoa,
okay.

Let's just go to sleep

and wake up sober and you know,

(Chris laughs)

have a joint in the morning.

It was,

it was fabulous.

I'll never forget that night.

- So, most of that time
it was George and Pattie,

Terry Doran, you and me,

- Yeah.

- as I recall.

I remember on your
birthday at Friar Park,

we had a party.

I know um,

Peter Frampton,

Peter and Mary Frampton.

And George didn't really wanna
have a party, necessarily,

but he went along with it,

especially, since he could
take them all down in the caves

and show them the caves.

He was very proud of that.

I remember everybody
standing around.

There was just like a
table in the main hall.

There wasn't really,

And a bench.

There wasn't anything else,
I don't think.

And I remember sitting
there and going,

oh, I must be part of
the inner circle.

- [Pattie] Oh, (laughs) did you?

(Chris laughs)
Oh, how sweet.

- The morning the papers
came out that Paul,

with Paul's interview,

saying that he wasn't playing
with The Beatles anymore.

I came downstairs and I
walked in and you were,

for some reason in my mind,

you were always stirring
oatmeal. (laughs)

I don't know why.

Anyway, you were in the kitchen

and you went, oh, Chris, you
can't believe what's happened.

And then all the
papers were there

and it was what, I would
probably

say, the end of the band.

They were getting,

having families and
girlfriends and you know,

And George was dying to
record on his own.

Ringo wanted to go do
more movies.

And, you know, I think,
John just wanted to go off

and do whatever he wanted to do,
his art,

whatever he could do.

So, Paul kept,

he tried the hardest to
keep it together.

He really did.

He was the last to quit.

- [Pattie] George certain had,
you know,

a huge back catalog of
songs he wanted to record.

And John and Paul would only
allow him two on each album.

- How did you feel when
you found out?

- Well, I mean,

George was going through
such a bad phase.

He was always so angry.

I think he was worried
about not having any money.

All Beatles are splitting up.

- And he was also
caught up between

being very spiritual and
still being part of life.

- Yeah, he was confused.
- it was difficult.

- He was very confused.
- Mm-hm.

- And he never really understood

why he was famous in
the first place.

- He didn't wanna be, did he?

- No, he didn't want to be.

Here we are, someone who
doesn't want to be famous.

- Mm-hm.

- He didn't want to be.

And it just gnawed at
him throughout his life.

And I think this is really what,
sort of,

guided him or led him to

have such a
fascination with India,

'cause he thought the
answer could be there

in Indian culture.

- Once all of these arrived,

my presence almost
wasn't needed.

So, which is alright.

Which is all right.

It was a shame.

A bit disappointing.

But it was a shame.

It was, you know,

this is what it was.

The only thing I remember

was when George went on the
road with Delaney and Bonnie.

Pattie's upset.

She's going, George is gone.

You know?

And it's like,

yeah, he's gone with the band.

You know, my first thought
was, you know, Pattie, sorry.

You know, it was like, wow.

Why didn't he take me?

- I'm saying this as
Yoko to John.

You do need to get all
this outta your system.

You need to do something.

You know, there's still a
certain element

of an unexploded bomb in you.

You've gotta let all this out.

Yoko sensed that this was
the time to let John just go.

And that he would,

She knew, somehow, that he
would always return to her.

And of course then he did.

- [Chris] Mm-hm.

She knew him very well,

didn't she?
- Yeah, that's right.

- I think when I saw the "Get
Back" video is when I really,

'cause people have always

continued to blame her for
the breakup of The Beatles.

- That's right.
- And

there were so many reasons.

She was only just a one of them.

But when I was watching
the "Get Back" video,

I suddenly, kind of, got it.

I thought, oh, it's their,

it's their artistic,
creative minds.

It's their art that pulls
them so closely together.

Their thinking in that
conceptual way.

And it really made sense,
for the first time.

Back then,

that's not how we saw it.

We saw it as she was
an interloper.

Then the interview
that came out,

saying that they weren't
gonna play together anymore.

He wasn't.

And so, that day John
came over without Yoko.

First time I'd seen them,
not together.

George's reaction was
pretty swift.

He went suddenly, within
a very short time,

he's like, I'm gonna
make my own album.

And everybody was like, yes.

- Yes.
- So,

he started writing things down

and I typed all the
lyrics, as he wrote them.

He would leave envelopes.

I would sit in the kitchen,

in the old kitchen

and he'd put envelopes or
any pieces of paper down.

And then I would sit and
type up all the song lyrics.

- Just the simple thing of
the title of this record.

"All Things Must Pass",

if you live your life by that,

it makes sense.

- Mm-hm.

- Because it doesn't matter
how great something is

or how awful moments are,

they will pass.

And it's a thing of the
universe, somehow,

if you trust the universe
and lean back into it

and let it help you
guide your life,

it will.

- I was eating all of that up.

- Yes.
- All the eastern

religion,

- Yeah.
- all the eastern philosophy,

I was ready for it.

So, I was a willing
student to just sit there.

Sometimes at night,
everybody just leave.

Pattie and Terry would go, oh,
god.

Okay.

And I would sit there and he
would tell me all these things.

I didn't pick it up in
the lyrics, at that time.

I was just doing my job.

But it also was a period of
time when the Krishnas moved in.

- Yes.

- So, there was an

awful lot of that
- Awful lot of people.

going on at that time.
- Yeah, yeah.

- I mean, the dining room
became a temple

and there was a lot of
meditation and a lot of chanting

and a lot of beads being
(laughs) shined.

- [Bob] Yeah.

- So, it was a very
spiritual time.

I would say, he was my
spiritual mentor.

And actually, I remember
John being much more,

um, approachable
during that time.

He would, actually, you could
have a conversation with him.

And he wasn't doing a
lot of drugs and alcohol.

He was a bit more sober
around that period of time.

It seemed like when they
moved into the beach house

and they started
recording "Harry"

things calmed down, somewhat.

- Yeah.
- It didn't have

the same craziness to it.

But once,

But the story is that it kept,

it was completely
crazy and wild.

Alan Klein and Phil
Spector showed up

to spend the day there.

So, we had,

you know, they were there
all day and we had dinner.

And that was the first
time I'd met Phil.

He's,

He was pretty paranoid.

And I'd see him in LA,

and one night I met him
at a restaurant,

Italian restaurant on the strip.

And we were just drinking
and talking and laughing.

And suddenly, and he
was sitting next to me.

And suddenly, I felt this
pressure here.

And I went,

Phil, what's that?

Because we knew he had guns.

I knew what it was. (laughs)

And he said,

it's a gun.

And I said, well, take it away.

It's cold.

And he did.

And that was the end of that.

But we all kind of knew, one
day it would end tragically.

- [Mark] A curious thing to do.

What a really bizarre,
upsetting, dangerous,

- He had mental health issues.

- thing to do.
- I mean, he was mentally ill.

No doubt about it.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

He shot a hole in the control
room ceiling, didn't he?

At the John Lennon rock
and roll sessions.

- He could have shot
anybody during those times.

I just thought, well,
that's Phil.

He does weird things like that.

And we were in the middle
of a restaurant with,

you know, where everybody
would've seen.

So, it just, you know,
it was like,

oh, Phil, just stop it.

- [Bob] Yeah.

- [Chris] And a part of me
also knew, don't show him fear.

- [Bob] Yeah.

- I think, subconsciously,
that was the other thing.

Don't show him any fear.

Take over.

Take control.

- I mean, the most frightened,
I think,

pretty much my entire life
I've ever been,

was in the early '80s.

A now fading rockstar.

I was round at their house
and it was quite late,

and they were very, very wired.

And they went to,

it was done in the
games room in the house,

and they opened a drawer
and there was a gun,

a revolver in the drawer.

And this guy was brandishing it.

In itself was, kind of,
really scary.

But he opened it up and
spun the barrels.

And there was one bullet in,

There was just one
bullet in the,

And he went like this.

He went (hands slap)

and pulled the trigger.

- Oh.
- And I could have witnessed

him blowing his brains out.

Thank God it was an
empty chamber.

But I,

You know, that freakiness

that you get,
- That would've

freaked me out

- round guns.

You get a sense, even
right back in the '70s

that he had the capability

of doing something,
absolutely, crazy like that.

- Absolutely, he did.

I mean, I can't,

In a way, isn't it
crazy that we,

none of us did anything or
responded, in any way, to that.

- Hm.
- We just all thought,

okay, that's Phil.

- That's just Phil being Phil.

- Yeah, crazy, huh?

(Bob laughs)

- And that was like Jim Gordon,

who was with Derek and
the Dominoes,

who butchered his mother up.

- Don't,

'cause I mean, you knew
him a little, didn't you?

- I knew him.

Oh, he chased me
around with a knife

- Yeah, that's right.
- in the flat

in London.
- Well, wasn't it

Robert Stigwood that saved you?

- Yes.

Robert came home.
- Robert arrived

in the nick of time.

But Robert himself was
quite a character,

wasn't he, as well?

I mean, you know.
- Well, that moment,

he was the best thing I'd
ever seen seen.

- Seen.

(both laugh)

No, but Jim, I mean, he was,

he was the same way.

And we just kind of went,
okay, he's a little weird.

You know, we just didn't
recognize mental illness,

at that time.

And that's what it was.

One day George called and
said, look, I gotta tell you.

You're gonna get fired,

but don't worry.

It's okay.

It's a good thing.

- Oh.
- So,

I waited, for a month,
for them to fire me.

And what I would do is

I'd go sit in reception a
lot with Debbie

and we'd just talk
(Natalie laughs)

and,

or I'd just leave
- Oh, wow.

- and go shopping or whatever.

- Yeah.
- I did all kinds of things.

But I remember it was like,
are they ever gonna fire me?

- Just get on with it.
- I mean,

I just wanna get outta here.

(Natalie laughs)

And finally I was
sitting with her

- Yeah.

- downstairs and her phone rang

and she said, okay, yeah.

Yes, she's here.

Put it down.

And said, Chris, Peter,
who was at

whatever his name was,
- Yeah.

- wants you upstairs.

And I went, this is it.

- It's happening.

- It's happening.

- Oh, God.
- So, I went upstairs

and we put on a perfect act.

I said,

He said, I'm sorry, I'm gonna,

I said, oh, my gosh,
I'm so surprised.

Okay.
(Natlaie laughs)

And then I went downstairs
and said to your mom,

finally,

(both laugh)

- [Bob] We've moved
into the '70s now.

What's next for you?

- Peter Asher called
me and asked me

if I would come back
to LA to work for him.

He was managing James Taylor
and working with Linda.

So, I flew back to LA and
worked for him for about a year.

And I don't know how
you found me,

but somehow you found me

and you rang me and said,

would you like to come in to
Los Angeles and work for me?

- Right.

- I must not have been horrible.

You found (laughs)
- No, no.

I thought you were
- You found me. (laughs)

- a very good assistant.

No, no.
- Okay, thank you.

- Eric Clapton and Derek
and the Dominoes.

Eric's contribution to
the concert for George.

And on this rare occasion,
Eric was warm,

caring, kind, and
just very lovely.

I did a big reevaluation,

a temporary
reevaluation I'd say.

(Chris laughs)

This is the soft side
of Eric Clapton.

I'm glad I've seen it now.

Because he wasn't the
greatest of people.

- It became very apparent
that he was after you.

And I was upset
because of George.

So, I really got angry at him.

And at that time, I was
spending all my time

with Derek and the Dominoes
doing their house thing.

Eric asked me to find a
flat for them, so I did.

And then I stayed there

and I, kind of, helped
them with stuff.

I just would get so angry at him

that he was daring to
come into the relationship

of you and George.

That was his best friend,

or certainly one of his
best friends.

I think he was very
jealous of you.

- [Pattie] He was very
obsessive of me.

- [Chris] What really
did it was his drinking.

Full stop.

It was his drinking.

- I was gonna talk to
you about Bangladesh,

the concert of Bangladesh
and how that came about.

And your involvement in it.

- As I know it,

it was Ravi who got in
touch with George.

He wrote a song for me
called "Miss O'Dell".

And the song really, honestly,
was about Bangladesh (laughs)

really.

That had happened when,

at the time that George
first sang the song for me.

And then that same summer

is when he and Ravi
decided that a concert,

charity concert,
raising money somehow

and a concert was the
obvious way.

He and Pattie were staying
in LA for the summer.

We used Leon's office.

We went through there and
got a lot of the musicians

and a musician named Don
Nicks, who was from Memphis,

got all the background singers.

It wasn't like it was hard to
get musicians to play on it.

I flew to New York

and stayed with mostly
with Pattie and George.

We knew how important it
was for George

that this was,

that this came off right.

It was really important for him.

'Cause it's the first thing he,

first time he'd ever stepped out

and done anything like
that on his own.

- And where was it staged?

- Madison Square Garden.

It was so full.

I mean, it was just,

and the audience loved it.

I mean, can you imagine,

they were getting to see

all these famous
musicians on one show.

How does it feel when someone
writes a song about you?

- Oh, don't be silly.

(Chris laughs)

(both laugh)

- Well, I got,
- People always ask me that.

- Of course they do.
- I'm not gonna,

- They ask me that too.

- Well, I'm not gonna
bullshit you.

- Well, I just wanna
know what you say.

- Oh.
- What do you say?

- I say

I'm so flattered.

(Chris laughs)

Stop it.

No, I'm really flattered.

And (laughs)

Now I don't know how to
speak properly.

- It's a give no one can
ever take away.

- There we are.
- You can use that

if you want.
- Thank you.

- You're welcome.

How did you feel

when you first heard
the song "Miss O'Dell"?

- I must have thought, oh,
great.

How nice.

Chris is,
(Chris laughs)

It's a song about Chris.

- I think that's what you said.

George was playing it
when we were in LA,

at the house you had
rented up by Ricky Nelson,

Ricky and Kris Nelson.

And he was playing it.

And you said to me, oh,
that's so nice.

You know what he said to
me when he first played it?

- What?

- I'm gonna make you famous.

- Did he?

- Mm-hm.
- Why?

Did you want to be famous?

- I didn't.

He wanted me to be.

- How funny.

I wonder why.

- I don't know.
- I wonder,

I don't understand why
people want to be famous.

I still don't understand it.

Do you?

- Um,

- 'Cause they want attention.

They had no attention
as children.

- Well,

it could be that.

It certainly is,

make to feel special.

(film rolls)

- [Narrator] Now, the
definition of fame

has changed drastically
over the decades.

And back in the '70s
and the '60s,

using the term fame was
reserved for A-listers only.

It was a special hierarchy,

a special in-crowd.

And it wasn't as open and
as broad as it is now.

Nowadays, you could, simply,

upload a TikTok video of
your cat or dog

and by definition, I guess,
become famous.

(upbeat twangy music)

* Or the cat with most
hope to fill the Fillmore *

- And then someone told
me that The Stones,

Marshall Chess was
looking for an assistant

because The Stones
were gonna come

and spend a year working
on "Exile on Main Street".

When you start with The Beatles,

your resume looks really good.

So, go to The Stones.

That's the next step on
the rung, right?

- [Bob] Yes.

- So, I went and I interviewed.

And of course, I knew
Mick, which didn't hurt.

And so, I worked for
them for a year in LA.

I found them houses.

Um,

and did lyrics again. (laughs)

- Yes.

- I got to always do lyrics.

And just did all their
personal stuff.

I was their personal assistant,
at that time, for the year.

And then when the
tour time came,

when they were doing
the '72 tour,

I wasn't included

because I didn't have a
job on the tour.

So, they asked me,

Mick said, I'll work
something out.

And um, he did.

He called me up after they'd
been on the road a few weeks

and said, can you bring,

Would you bring these costumes

that Ossie Clarke has
sent to LA up to Chicago?

And I went, all right.

And so, I ended up
working on their tour.

But it was a very
different experience

than working with The Beatles.

Ronny Wood said to me, once,

you're a Beatle person,
aren't you?

And I said, yeah, I really am.

I am more of a Beatle person.

The Stones were great

and they were nice and fun,

but there was just a lot more,

There were a lot more drugs.

There was a lot more
staying up late.

It just was a
different environment

than it had been with
The Beatles.

When we went down to Main Street

and filmed walking
along Main Street,

which was a beautiful
memory, just walking around

and all the homeless
people were kind of going,

is that The Stones?

And they started following us.

It was really nice.

It was kind of like,

Pattie used to say,

musicians were like the Pied
Piper going through a village

and everyone just started
following them

to the sound of their music.

That's what that day felt like.

It was like,
- That's a good,

- we're just walking along.

- [Bob] That's a really good way

of putting it, isn't it?

- Yeah, it was beautiful.

And then getting in a limo

and going back to Beverly
Hills or Bel Air

was totally not, (laughs)

it was totally not in line
with what we were doing.

We'd go to parties.

It was a lot of fun.

On the tour, that was
the problem.

I didn't, actually, have
a specific tour job.

That was the first tour
I ever went on,

1972.

And, basically, Mick and
Keith just said,

well, you just take care of us.

So, if they had laundry,
(laughs)

cleaning,

I'd pick it up in the night

and it would come
back to my room.

Or if they needed
something, I would do that.

I don't really know
why I was there,

come to think of it.

- It sounds exhausting

(Chris laughs)

And, kind of, exhausting,
stressful, exhilarating,

all at the same time.

- It was definitely exhilarating

because,

I mean, first of all, at
every other night

or every couple nights, you
got to see The Stones play,

which was pretty wonderful.

And traveling with them,

they had their own plane.

And there were always these
people like Truman Capote

popping up on the tour,
all of a sudden.

And that was pretty interesting.

But it was extremely
exhausting and stressful.

The tour group,

the people who were running
the tour, quite rightly,

wanted to get rid of all
of the, kind of, riffraff,

because there were a lot
of people traveling with us

that weren't on the tour,

that weren't part of the tour.

And so, they had a big meeting

to decide who was gonna
have to leave.

And Mick and Keith and
Bill made it very clear

that I was not one of them

because all I was doing at
that point was their assistant.

I didn't have anything to do

with the actual tour
organization.

And they said, nope.

And I went home
thinking maybe I,

because we had a break,

and I thought, I don't think
I will go back on the tour.

It's just a little bit
too stressful.

And you know, I don't
feel wanted. (laughs)

And so, I didn't.

When it was time to go back,
I didn't.

And Keith called me,

I think the second night
they were back on tour

and said, why aren't you here?

And I said, I just didn't
feel like I belonged there.

And he said, yes, you do.

Get on a plane,
you're coming back.

That's a kindness that
you would never expect

from either of them.

And in fact, Mick was the
reason I got on the tour

because I wasn't
meant to be on it.

I was their assistant in LA

and he called me up after
about a week and said,

could you go to the airport,

go to duty free, get my
stuff out of,

you know, their costumes
that Ossie Clark did,

and can you pick them up?

And I said, okay, where
shall I ship them?

And he said, just bring
them to Chicago.

You can just bring them.

So, that got me on the tour.

- I wanted to ask you
about Mick Jagger.

I heard he was a massive flirt.

- Well, of course. (laughs)

Wouldn't you be if you
were Mick Jagger?

- Yes, I would be.

Yeah.

- I totally got into the drugs

and the alcohol.

I didn't,

nobody had to push me
into that one.

So, at The Stones, it
was a bad time for me

because by the end of the tour,

by the time I got home,

I had to quit everything.

I had to dry out.

But at that time,
nobody went to AA

and nobody really talked
about, like rehab or doing,

well, there was no rehab,

doing anything to kind
of stay clean.

So, it was not easy.

And I couldn't stay that
way very long.

I think a year I did with
no alcohol and drugs.

- [Bob] Yeah.

- But it was exhausting,

but exhilaratingly exhausting.

- It really was a time of,

Right.

Let's see how far we can go.

- Mm-hm.

- Was that the way
that you saw it?

- Yeah, I think so.

There were no boundaries.

- No.

When I was spending time in LA

in the mid 1970s,

and I spent a lot of time
in LA, at that point,

and was staying quite often,

if not on Sunset Strip,

but usually, at the
Continental Hyatt House.

- Oh know, it, well.
- Just complete madness.

- [Chris] The Riot house.

- The Riot house.

And people referred,

there were a lot of girls that,
basically,

almost kind of lived at
the Hyatt House.

So, they would be there with
a band when they were in.

Let's say Led Zeppelin
would be there

And Led Zeppelin,

the whole Led Zeppelin
entourage would move out.

The Deep Purple entourage
would move in.

- They'd move in with them.
- The girls would still,

and they'd just kind of
reappoint themselves into,

Now those girls, obviously,

the word that described them,
at the time, was groupies.

The word groupie, at the
time, was not a derogatory,

necessarily a derogatory,

certainly not in my
mind it wasn't, anyway.

But some people did refer to
you, at the time, didn't they?

That was the word.
- Not then.

So, it was when I wrote my book

that it's
- Yeah.

- the first time I
ever heard that.

- Yeah, that's right.
- Yeah.

Yeah.
- So, what was your, you know,

what was your feeling
about being grouped?

- Well, it, actually, I had
to really think about it.

Because, first of all,
I was shocked

that they would still
use the word in,

what was it, 2009 or something?

- Yes, yes.
- I thought, really?

We haven't passed that yet?

But then I had to really
think about it.

And I thought, well, I never
considered myself a groupie.

I felt like I was a work,

I worked,

I worked my way
through all of it.

And there were, absolutely,
self-declared groupies.

I mean, Pamela Des Barres.

- Yeah.
- You know,

many of these girls
said, that's what I am.

And so, I had to respect that.

And yet, at the same
time, felt slightly angry

that they had referred
to me as that.

But now, you know, my,

the way I dealt with it, I said,

if it hadn't been for the women,

the men would never have
made it anyway.

- Yes.
- So, we played our

- True.
- part somehow.

- And it, you know, it
does sound ridiculous

to say this now,

but they did have a status.

- Mm-hm.

- They really did have a status.

And particularly, in Los
Angeles, which, you know,

- Particularly
- Yeah.

Where it was rock and roll city.

Those women and those girls
were parts of the whole,

you know, everything
that was going on.

They had their status.

They had their recognition.

You know, it was an ama,

That,

With all the other stuff,
that part of it,

that was part of the
phenomenon of the time.

- And there's something,
you know,

it was only recently
someone sent me an article

that called the,

you know, like the top groupies
of that period of time.

And it included me.

Thank you.
(Bob laughs)

And Pamela Des Barres

and the ones you'd expect.

But it also had Pattie,
Marianne Faithful.

- Yeah.
- And I'm like,

wow.
- Wow.

Yeah.
- So, if you

were just associated and
married to or anything,

you still got called a groupie.

- You had to break away
and stop for a moment

and draw your breath.

- I did.

And I went to work for
a friend of mine in LA,

who had a travel agency,

that I had met through
Peter Asher, actually.

And I went and worked for
her for a year doing touring.

And we came up with
these itineraries

nobody had done before.

So, we took it that
little step further

and developed itineraries,

so when a band would
go into town,

they'd know all of the
restaurants that were close.

They'd, you know,

all these different things
that we would keep adding to it

to make it better and better.

And from that,

I got a call from Barry Imhoff,

who worked for Bill
Graham in LA,

and asked me if I
wanted to go out

on the Crosby Stills
Nash & Young tour.

That tour was, really,
the first time

that I had the
responsibility of a lot.

The other time, with The Stones,

I really only had Mick
and Keith to worry about.

But this was like, everybody.

And it was traveling with
four bands, basically,

- Yes.
- because they

were so separated.

- Yes.

Different management,
presumably.

Different units of
people with each one and

- Different,

They all had their own
kind of people.

- Yeah.

- David, who would've been
the first to admit it,

was a real pain in the neck

because he had to have
cross ventilation.

These are the things you learn.
(laughs)

He had to have cross
ventilation in every hotel room.

That is not easy, to
get cross ventilation.

David didn't like the car he got

or he was upset or something,

so he kicked, (laughs)

he kicked the wall and
broke his toe.

- Very dynamically
difficult though,

there, isn't it?
(Chris sighs)

So, it's like herding
cats, I would imagine.

- Oh, yeah.

- Yeah.

- Oh, totally.

And that was my job.

- [Bob] Santana and
Earth Wind & Fire.

- [Chris] That was my
European experience.

- Yeah.
- Isn't that

an amazing combination

to get for a takeoff?
- It is.

Well, he was early in
Earth, Wind & Fire's career,

presumably,

and they hadn't had the
big hits yet, had they?

- [Chris] Santana was huge.

- [Bob] Santana was huge, yeah.

- Huge in Europe.

So, they brought him along.

He is one of the nicest
people I've ever met.

Just so down to earth.

He certainly was then.

It was a really interesting tour

because I was the advanced
person on that.

And I remember we were
going to Yugoslavia,

Zagreb.

I'm gonna go get the room keys
and get everything together,

'cause that was my job.

And I went in.

Everybody got the crew,
sort of, into their rooms

and the man at the desk,
(laughs)

These things stick with me.

The man at the desk said,

how do you like the hodell
Miss O'Dell? (laughs)

I said, those are things

you'll never forget.
- Oh, that's lovely, isn't it?

Say it again.
- That was so sweet.

- That just sounded great.

- How do you like the
hodell Miss O'Dell?

(Bob laughs)

(Bob claps)

- That's brilliant.

I love that.

- Yeah, those moments stand out.

When we got to London, we went
to Eric and Pattie's house

because Eric wanted to see him
and Pattie wanted to see me.

So, we went to Eric and Pattie's
and spent the night there.

And it was so nice
watching the two of them

because they really,
really admired each other.

Then I worked with Fleetwood
Mac, Phil Collins, Genesis.

Both Phil and Genesis.

Led Zeppelin.

(Led Zeppelin plays)

So, whoever I didn't get
in those '70s,

I got in the early '80s.

- [Bob] In the early '80s.

- Yeah.

- And so, Led Zeppelin then.

Your Led Zeppelin experience.

- Oh, it was really short.

- Short.

Yeah, yeah.
- It was really short.

I think they were only,
actually, doing

a concert in Frankfurt
that we worked with them.

- Yeah.
- And then we went

out to a club afterwards.

A lot of clubbing.

- Bob Dylan,

(Bob laughs)

I mean, the list as
we are walking,

as we are walking our
way through your life,

the list of people that you've,

not just worked with,

into whose life you've
been woven into the fabric,

as it were,

you know, of their lives.

And it's the same
with Bob Dylan.

- I mean, I don't think
I appreciated.

He was not one of my favorites,

as The Beatles, the Stones.

That,

The holy trinity, I call it.

- Yes. (laughs)
- I worked with

the holy trinity of
rock and roll.

- [Simon] What was your
impression

of Bob as a personality?

- He was easy to be around.

When you're on tour
with a group of people,

they become your whole world.

You forget about
everything else around you.

And when you're touring,

even if good friends
come on and join,

it's like they don't fit.

You've become so acclimated

to this one little
group of people.

And that was, definitely,
true with Bob.

I thought he was
easy to be with.

I thought it was one of the
easier tours I'd ever done.

- Some women have, sort of, said

that he has a very
seductive quality to him.

Did you find that?

- I think he's like the,

I've described him in my
book as like the bad boy

that you weren't supposed,

in high school, that you weren't
supposed to hang out with.

He felt like that.

- He was kind of James Dean.

- Yeah, he was kind
of James Dean.

But I met his mother.

(both laugh)

Once you meet the mother,

you know what you're
really dealing with.

And he had the sweetest mother.

I mean, totally normal.

- So, do you think Bob
Dylan's act is an act?

Or do you think that
really is part of his

- No.
- real persona?

- I think it really
is who he is.

I mean, who knows?

I would not be,

I wouldn't even
begin to step out

and say I knew what he
was really like.

I didn't.

But I knew what my
interaction with him was.

I was with Santana and
Earth, Wind & Fire in Europe.

And Barry Imhoff had
split with Bill Graham.

And Barry called me,

I was in Paris, I think,

and said, would you,

can you just come to New York
now and do the Dylan tour?

- [Bob] So, is this
"Rolling Thunder"?

- This is "Rolling Thunder".

- [Bob] Yeah, yeah.

- So, it,

I think there were only
a little core of us

who knew the whole tour.

And so, we started
working on that,

getting the hotels and
everything set up.

They started rehearsing.

Then they were gonna
do a film too.

Talk about overextending.

In some ways, it was the
perfect thing for him to do

because it was like a
traveling circus.

It really was.

And people just kept coming
on, staying for a while.

Everybody was there.

It was exhausting.

- [Bob] It was like a train

with loads and loads
of coaches, wasn't it?

- Oh, yes.
- And people would get on

at certain points and
then get off again

at the station further
down the line.

And so, the people on and off

that came and appeared on
stage, at various moments,

It was incredible, wasn't it?

- It was an amazing tour.

And, of course, Bob
started wearing white face.

- Yes.

- Through all of it.
(Bob laughs)

And then everybody else
started wearing the same thing.

And he was really fun to
watch on stage.

Every tour I did, I had a few
songs that were my favorite.

And his, I had "One More
Cup of Coffee",

a couple of them in a row.

And it was like, I would
go out from backstage

and sit and watch it.

Oh, he was amazing to watch.

And today I appreciate what
a wonderful poet he is.

Then I was supposed to
do the second Dylan tour,

which was gonna be
the west coast.

And I asked for more money.

I said, well, I think I
should be getting more money.

And they said, oh, no.

We're not gonna pay you.

And that's when I
started realizing,

you gotta stick up for
yourself in this place.

And I think I asked
for 750 a week

and I'd been making 500.

So, I said, well then
I'm not going.

So, I didn't go on the second
tour when it first started.

And then Barry called me,

- They began to realize

- three weeks later
- what they were missing.

Yes. (laughs)
- and said,

do you think you can come back.
(laughs)

And I went, 750?

- Yeah.
- He went, okay.

Okay, 750 and per diem.

- [Narrator] Now, I know
what you may be thinking.

750 a week?

That's not that much money.

My unemployment check
last week was about 750.

And for those of you out there,

let me just enlighten
you a little bit.

750 in 1970 is equivalent
to the purchasing power

of about $5,897.73 today.

- [Simon] Chris, do you
have any idea who this guy,

who's randomly doing narration
on this film, actually is?

- I have no idea.

And by that time, I'd
become known as a female

working with females.

So, I went on the road with
Linda Ronstadt after that.

Peter hired me to go out,
- Oh.

- with her.
- What a lovely,

lovely person.
- She's wonderful.

And we've kept in touch.

In fact, I went on the road,

the last time I went on the
road was in 2004 with her.

- Wow.
- Again,

for two separate concert,

not concerts, but two
little tours.

And by that time I went,

I was getting my Master's
Degree in counseling

and she said, please
go on the road.

And I said, I'm waiting
to get my Master's Degree.

And she said, well, come anyway.

And I did.

And that's when I went,
I'll never this again.

It was just way too much

to stand on my own and say that,

at a time when women really
weren't that involved.

I mean, even women musicians,
even singers, had a hard,

female, singers had a hard time.

You know, someone wrote
me the other day

and said, oh, are Paul and John,

or Paul and Ringo involved
in what you're doing?

And it's like, no.

(both laughs)

No.

I can do this all on my own now.
(laughs)

It was difficult.

There weren't a lot of women
in the business at all.

I was the only woman on tour,
basically,

except for the singers.

- Did you find,

I mean, it sounds like everyone
was extremely respectful

to you, during that period.
- Mm-hm.

- Did you,

did you have to, kind of,

put up boundaries and
borders with,

I mean, you don't have
to name anyone.

But with certain people,

did you find that you had
to be much more

on your guard with
certain parts of that,

as, basically, being the
only woman on a tour?

- Um.

Well, actually, of all the
time that I was on tour,

only one person ever gave
me a hard time.

And that's when I was, Linda
Ronstadt's tour manager.

And her,

the guy in charge of
her roadie, basically,

hated that he had to take
instructions from a female.

That really bothered him.

But I think, mostly, my
being on the road had,

I had different roles.

It was like, I was organizing.

I was the mother.

I was the girlfriend to go
talk to when they were upset.

The counselor.

I had many different hats
during that period of time,

but it was the female part that
the guys could come and say,

oh, (mumbles)

I had to watch out that
the girlfriends

and wives didn't get jealous

because they wouldn't be
there most of the time,

but they would come on
here and there.

So, it was important to
let them know

that I wasn't a threat to them.

I've kept in touch with
different people,

Pattie, pretty much,
consistently.

Bobby Whitlock.

May Pang and I are
still in touch.

But when my book came out,

there were some people
who were offended

that I had written a book.

And so, those, friendships,
kind of, went away.

- [Bob] Your overall feeling

about what you did,
what you achieved,

the people that you knew,

how does that make you feel now?

- A huge amount of gratitude.

I think I was so fortunate
to have had the experiences,

to have met the type of
people I met,

creative.

To have been given the
opportunities that I was given

and yet, I'm still who I am now.

The idea that my parents
let me just fly away,

at 20 years old to
another country,

at a time when that wasn't the,

that just wasn't
what people did.

They just let me take off

is pretty astounding to me,
even today.

And then I married an Englishman

and then I had my son in England

and we, eventually,
went back to the States.

But this time,

and it's been around 15
years since I've been here,

a dear friend Hillary, who
used to work with Ringo,

said to me once,

Chris, you're still just
the little town girl.

You just, no matter
how much you do,

you still come outta this
little town of 500 people.

And I think there's some
truth to that.

(upbeat twangy music)

* I'm the only one down here *

* Who's got nothing to say
about the war or the rice *

* That keeps going astray
on its way to Bombay *

(upbeat twangy music)

* The smog that keeps
polluting up our shores *

* Is boring me to tears *

* Why don't you call me *

* Miss O'Dell *

(upbeat twangy music)

* I'm the only one down here *

* Who's got nothing to
fear from the waves *

- The thing about your father

that was so, was so unique,
at that time,

you can see nobody's even
paying attention

to him being there.

He's like a fly on the wall.

I've seen a few photos
of his since.

In fact, it's my most
favorite photo, of all time.

Because it's the one where I
have this really good haircut,

with George.
- Yeah.

- Right.
- Absolutely.

- And when I,

I was amazed when I realized

he had had taken all
those photographs.

- What got me about looking
at all of these images,

everybody's smoking.

You know, we've had this
change of, you know, culture

and where we are now.

And if you smoke you've
gotta go outside.

But I can Is that a cigarette
you've got on there?

- Well, hopefully.

(Tony laughs)

Ah, probably.

* Or the cat with most
hope to fill the Fillmore *

(upbeat twangy music)

* And you're pushing,
shoving, ringing on my bell *

* It's not for me tonight *

* So, won't you call me *

* Miss O'Dell *

(upbeat twangy music fades)