"...When I Was Younger, So Much Younger Than Today....."

 

As we nudge toward a 50th anniversary, a bit of Beatle business...

(right after, of course, the inevitable word(s) from one sponsor or another)


 

 

1965....this then 13 year old aspiring rock and roller got through, via phone, to WTIX in New Orleans, in those days one of the two primary top 40 AM stations, to "ask a question" of their special guest of the moment, one Louise Harrison Caldwell.....I don't remember what I asked....and, fifty years later, it seems almost a little silly that it was such a big deal to have spoken with the sister of a Beatle, as opposed to. say, a Beatle himself, but...it was....

oh...wait....I remember now...

I asked her what the name of the forthcoming second Beatles movie was going to be....

And like every good sister who is doing her best to be a good promoter, Louise Harrison Caldwell, actual sister of an actual Beatle answered me....

Right there, on the air, for all of the Greater New Orleans area radio listening audience to hear.

As a result, for just a few weeks, in 1965, I enjoyed a life of minor celebrity amongst my peers, having been the one to not only get through to actually speak to an actual sister of an actual Beatle, but the one who secured the big deal reveal of the title of the follow-up to our, up till then, favorite-ist film of all time...

"A Hard Day's Night"

Louise Harrison Caldwell and I had "had a chat"....

And she had given me, for all the Greater New Orleans area radio listening audience to hear, the, up till then, title of that forthcoming follow-up to our, up till then, favorite-ist film of all time which would, undoubtedly, become our new favorite-ist film of all time.

"Eight Arms To Hold You".

The second feature length, fun filled, music soaked film by those cheeky lads from Liverpool who, by then, had, at any given time, at least four or five hits in the Top 40 charts at any given time.

The Beatles.

And a 13 year old aspiring rock and roller had actually spoken to an actual sister of one of those actual Beatles.

Louise Harrison Caldwell.

Who, being the loving sister, and savvy promoter, that she was, had graciously given that 13 year old the scoop of a lifetime, what with spilling the beans about that title.

Never letting on, total pro that she was, that the producers and those cheeky lads from Liverpool had already decided on a title change for that forthcoming, soon to be favorite-ist film of all time, but had, for reasons of their own, determined that they weren't ready to make that information public.

For when it was released in that summer of 1965, "Eight Arms To Hold You" had become...

And the actual sister of an actual Beatle had never let on.

Making it, unknowingly, possible for a 13 year old aspiring rock and roller to enjoy, for a few weeks, a minor celebrity.

Nicely played, Louise Harrison Caldwell.

Nicely played.