The BBC gave it a second broadcast, but it did not change opinions.
#Magical mystery tour full
Ringo Starr made a personal appeal to the BBC to show Magical Mystery Tour again, in full colour. Another part was that not much had happened on camera, for long parts of the programme, and it showed. Another part was because most of the viewers did not understand what was supposed to be happening. Part of the reason for its failure was because it was shown in black-and-white, while colour was an important feature. Magical Mystery Tour appeared on British television on Boxing Day in 1967, and was a surprising flop. Another band, the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, played live during a striptease performance. The songs featured in the show included "The Fool on the Hill", "I Am The Walrus", "Blue Jay Way", an instrumental song, "Flying", and "Your Mother Should Know", with a choreographed dance sequence. Spots for songs and performances were included in Magical Mystery Tour, and so was a storyline explaining what the trip was about. Later a Beatles assistant said the traffic jams should have also been filmed. Most of the commotion ended after Lennon personally removed the MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR lettering from the sides of the bus. In trying to be spontaneous, nobody had worked out a destination for the bus, or the trip. People who saw the bus go by expected a "happening" of some kind, but none had been planned. People followed the bus for miles, and caused traffic jams. What turned into a bigger event than filming Magical Mystery Tour was the entourage that began to surround the bus, wondering what the "tour" was all about. There also was not much for scenery along the roads, or entertainment among the passengers. By the time things were set up, John Lennon and George Harrison had changed their minds about performing, and spent much of the bus trip asleep. Without him to look over business details, things ran into trouble.
#Magical mystery tour movie
Making the movie was one of the first jobs of the Beatles's new company, Apple Corps.Įpstein unfortunately died before filming began.
#Magical mystery tour professional
They had success with promos, and wanted to try making a whole programme, to appear on television during the Christmas holidays.īeatles manager Brian Epstein helped set up the production, and the Beatles asked friends, members of their staff, and some professional actors to ride with them in a rented bus over a holiday weekend, and film whatever happened, with magical elements to be added later. After they stopped giving concerts in 1966, they had started making their own promotional films (called "promos"), much like today's music videos. The other Beatles liked the idea for the show, and made plans to produce and direct it themselves.
McCartney based the idea on Ken Kesey's Merry Pranksters, who travelled the United States in a bus, and also " mystery tours", which were low-budget weekend vacation trips taken in England. He drew a clock face on a paper plate, and filled it with parts of the show he imagined. Paul McCartney had the original idea for Magical Mystery Tour, coming back from the Monterey Pop Festival in California, during the summer of 1967.
It is also the movie's title song, and the name of its soundtrack recording. Magical Mystery Tour is a 1967 television movie made by The Beatles. 25 April – 7 November 1967, EMI and Olympic Studios, London