The Beatles’ Magical Mystery Tour airs on THIRTEEN's
Great Performances
"The Beatles’ Magical Mystery Tour" airs
Friday, December 14th at 9pm on WTVP-HD. At 8pm watch the 'Magical Mystery Tour Revisited' - the story behind
the film.
– Newly restored and with a remixed soundtrack, the surreal film makes its national American TV debut –
The Beatles’ Magical Mystery Tour -- the controversial surreal film made by The
Beatles and broadcast by the BBC in 1967 and unavailable for decades – comes to THIRTEEN’s Great Performances,
Friday, December 14th at 9pm on WTVP-HD. Right before the film watch the
Magical Mystery Tour Revisited
- the story behind the film - at 8pm.
By the end of that year, The Beatles had achieved a creativity unprecedented in popular music. Their
triumphant summer release Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band was both avant-garde and an instant hit. It
went straight to No.1 in June and remained there for the rest of the year. They immersed themselves in the fiercely
radical art of the new counter culture and decided to make a film on their own terms, not as pop stars but as artists.
However, was their adoring public ready for the move?
The film featured six new songs: “Magical Mystery Tour,” “The Fool on the Hill,” “Flying,” “I Am the
Walrus,” “Blue Jay Way” and “Your Mother Should Know.” They’ve all become classics but the loose unscripted narrative,
very much in the experimental mood of the art of the time, proved too much for the majority of viewers.
Magical Mystery Tour is a surreal take on the British working class tradition of a
coach trip to the seaside, featuring an eccentric cast of characters, some played by professional actors. Other
passengers included friends, associates and people they’d just invited along for the ride. In September, they set
off from London and headed west to Cornwall where most of the film was shot.
The film was broadcast in black and white at 8:35 p.m. on BBC One on Britain’s Boxing Day 1967 to
a family audience expecting a frothy entertainment in the style of A Hard Day’s Night and Help! It
followed a Petula Clark special and preceded a Norman Wisdom feature film.
While the music itself had been rapturously received in the form of a double EP high in the
charts, the response to the film from the establishment TV critics and the majority of the 15 million adult viewers
was negative to the point of vitriolic in some cases. As a result, the film was never nationally broadcast in the
US and had only limited distribution elsewhere.
Some of the musical extracts have become familiar, and though the film did appear briefly on VHS in
the late 80s, it has only otherwise been available on bootleg DVD. Forty-five years on, how many of its viewers
are still around? And how many of them remember? The chances are that very few under the age of 50 have ever seen
it. “Magical Mystery Tour – is that the cartoon film?” is the most common response to the title.
Its life has been lived as an album, albeit a monumental one, not even as the double EP of the original release.
Now, all this time later, the true setting of those fabulous songs is available again. The film has
been fully restored to the highest technical standard with a remixed soundtrack. Properly presented for the first
time, Magical Mystery Tour comes out of the shadows and onto the screen.
***
For 50 years, THIRTEEN has been making the most of the rich resources and passionate people of New
York and the world, reaching millions of people with on-air and online programming that celebrates arts and
culture, offers insightful commentary on the news of the day, explores the worlds of science and nature, and
invites students of all ages to have fun while learning.
For Great Performances, Bill O’Donnell is series producer, and David Horn is executive
producer.
Major funding for the Great Performances telecast is provided by the Irene Diamond Fund,
The Starr Foundation, Vivian Milstein, The Agnes Varis Trust, the Philip and Janice Levin Foundation, and public
television viewers. Visit Great Performances Online at
www.pbs.org/gperf for
additional information about this and other programs.
“Magical Mystery Tour” Cast & credits:
John Lennon
Paul McCartney
George Harrison
Ringo Starr
Ivor Cutler (Mr Bloodvessel)
Jessie Robins (Ringo’s aunt)
Victor Spinetti (army sergeant)
Derek Royle (Jolly Jimmy)
Nat Jackley (Rubber Man)
Mandy Weet (hostess)
George Claydon (photographer)
Nicola (little girl)
Shirley Evans (accordionist)
Maggie Wright (starlet)
Jan Carson (stripper)
The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band (band in strip club) Production: Denis O’Dell Assisted by: Gavrik Losey 1st Assistant [Director]: Andrew Birkin Director of Photography: Richard Starkey Cameramen: Aubrey Dewar, Tony Busbridge, Daniel Lacamore, Michael Seresin Editor: Roy Benson Design: Roger Graham, Keith Liddiard Sound: Michael Lax Sound Editor: Gordon Daniel
About WNET
In 2012, WNET is celebrating the 50th Anniversary of THIRTEEN, New York’s flagship public media provider. As the parent
company of THIRTEEN and WLIW21 and operator of NJTV, WNET brings quality arts, education and public affairs programming
to over 5 million viewers each week. WNET produces and presents such acclaimed PBS series as Nature, Great
Performances, American Masters, Need to Know, Charlie Rose and a range of documentaries,
children’s programs, and local news and cultural offerings available on air and online. Pioneers in educational
programming, WNET has created such groundbreaking series as Get the Math, Oh Noah! and Cyberchase
and provides tools for educators that bring compelling content to life in the classroom and at home. WNET highlights
the tri-state’s unique culture and diverse communities through NYC-ARTS, Reel 13, NJ Today and
MetroFocus, the multi-platform news magazine focusing on the New York region.
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For further information contact Linda Miller, WTVP Vice President of
Programming,
at (309) 495-0591 or linda.miller@wtvp.org
