![]() He described Magical Mystery Tour as “a willfully inexplicable TV special which put most of the audience to sleep” and added: “The Beatles were no longer in control of their time. We’ll know better next time.” He also said, “I mean, you couldn’t call the Queen’s speech a gas, either, could you?” Writing in 1981, sociomusicologist Simon Frith said that the film was symptomatic of the transformation of “pop” into “rock”, the latter being concerned with art and self-expression over mass entertainment. It was a challenge and it didn’t come off. Hunter Davies, the Beatles’ official biographer at the time, said: “It was the first time in memory that any artist felt obliged to make a public apology for his work.” McCartney later spoke to the press, saying: “We don’t say it was a good film. He was introduced by David Frost as the “man most responsible” for Magical Mystery Tour. On 27 December, McCartney appeared on ITV’s The David Frost Programme to defend the film. Brown said that during a private screening for NEMS management staff, the reaction had been “unanimous … it was awful”, yet McCartney was convinced that the film would be warmly received, and ignored Brown’s advice to scrap the project and save the band from embarrassment. Beatles aide Peter Brown blamed McCartney for its failure. As a result of the unfavourable reviews, networks in the US declined to show the film there. ![]() The film had a repeated showing on 5 January 1968, this time broadcast in colour, on BBC2, but there were only about 200,000 colour TV receivers in the UK at the time. It’s like reviewing a mono version of a stereo record.” It was the Beatles’ first critical failure. Can you imagine, around Christmas? And then they reviewed it in black and white. So it looked awful and was a disaster.” Lennon later said: “What the BBC – stupid idiots – did, they showed it in black and white first. George Martin, the band’s producer, later said: “When it came out originally on British television, it was a colour film but shown in black and white, because they didn’t have colour on BBC1 in those days. Magical Mystery Tour was broadcast in the UK on 26 December on BBC1, which at the time only broadcast in black and white for technical reasons. ![]() ![]() The film’s negative reception in the UK press dissuaded US television networks from broadcasting it. “ Magical Mystery Tour” was broadcast in colour on BBC2, on January 5, 1968. In an interview with Ray Connolly in the Evening Standard published the same day, he acknowledged the criticism, saying “ I suppose if you look at it from the point of view of good Boxing Day entertainment we goofed really.” On December 28, another interview, where Paul acknowledge “ We boobed“, was published in The Daily Mirror. Undeterred, Paul McCartney appeared on The Frost Programme the following day, December 27, to defend the film. However, the initial broadcast was in black and white, and it was met with harsh criticism from both viewers and critics, marking the first major failure for The Beatles. On this day, December 26, the British television channel BBC1 aired “ Magical Mystery Tour” for the first time. These scenes were filmed on October 29, October 31, and November 3. During the editing process, they realized that some additional scenes were needed to enhance the film. Despite initially believing that the editing process would take only a week, it took a total of 11 weeks to complete. On September 25, they immediately began the arduous process of editing “ Magical Mystery Tour“. From September 19 to 24, the Beatles relocated to West Malling Air Station in Maidstone, Kent, where they filmed interior and exterior shots for the project. On September 18, filming resumed with the crew choosing the Raymond Revuebar strip club in London’s Soho district as the location for the day’s shoot. The first leg of filming occurred from September 11 to 15 in and around Newquay. Production of The Beatles’ “ Magical Mystery Tour” TV special took place throughout September 1967, with some additional scenes filmed in late October / early November.
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