A big Christmas surprise from the Beatles

MANILA, Philippines - Forty-seven years ago today, the Beatles gave the world a Christmas gift of a different kind.

Paul McCartney conceived of a television film about a mystery coach tour during a 1967 trip to the US. He developed the idea upon viewing on American TV Ken Kesey’s Merry Pranksters, a psychedelic excursion across America by the counter-culture people in a school bus.

For McCartney, it would recall fond memories of mystery tour rides of his childhood. But he wanted to do it without the drugs angle.

He discussed the idea with John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr who agreed to do an hour-long special, Magical Mystery Tour, to air on British TV over the 1967 Christmas holidays. A frustrated filmmaker, McCartney once showed to director Michelangelo Antonioni his film shorts reminiscent of Andy Warhol’s time-lapse works. Cooperation reappeared under his direction vacated by business manager Brian Epstein who passed on that year.

On June 1, 1967, the Beatles returned to the studio without producer George Martin and recorded Magical Mystery Tour, The Fool on the Hills, Flying, Blue Jay Way, Your Mother Should Know and I Am the Walrus. Designed to prove them as self-contained artists, Martin laid low and allowed them to have their vaunted artistic independence.

Principal photography commenced, a five-day romp of participants and hordes of media people, a mad chase through the British countryside. Conceived for color telecast, a formless movie with Lewis Carroll-inspired fit of playfulness. McCartney and Starr as directors premised on the concept of shooting it and seeing what happens.

Each Beatle contributed impromptu segments and starred in the unscripted portion where professional and amateur performers improvised after the concerned Beatle/s explained their role. An application of their songmaking formula into film that relied on chance and its opportunities. Disorganization marred the shoot.

The horror of spontaneous filmmaking easily reflected on the final output. Post-production took one week and 11 weeks for editing with McCartney taking the job.

Even before its release, Capitol Record released the film’s soundtrack in the US in album form also titled as Magical Mystery Tour, on Nov. 27, 1967 with the 1967 singles.   

On Boxing Day, a holiday traditionally celebrated following Christmas,.BBC screened Magical Mystery Tour in black and white, thus losing much of its psychedelic appeal. British viewers reacted with ambivalence, but critics widely panned the movie. The Daily Express called it “blatant rubbish.”

It failed to deliver viewers’ expectation of matching the witticism and craft of A Hard Day’s Night and Help!

This case proved McCartney’s leadership of the Beatles was defective. He was not Epstein at business organization; he was no Martin at record production; and without Epstein and Martin, the Beatles were four artistic musicians with a lot of credibility and money to waste.

McCartney admitted the Beatles “goofed” at the project for not thinking it out thoroughly. For sure, it was a big holiday surprise from the critically-acclaimed evolvers of rock — a huge first flop!

Boxing Day proved very un-merry for Beatles fans worldwide.