The Beatles: Image and the Media

303 Pages·2007·0.96 MB·English

by  Michael R. Frontani

the beatles: image and the media

the
beatles
image and the media
michael r. frontani
university press of mississippi jackson
www.upress.state.ms.us
The University Press of Mississippi is a member of the Association
of American University Presses.
Copyright © 2007 by University Press of Mississippi
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
First edition 2007
∞
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Frontani, Michael R.
The Beatles : image and the media / Michael R. Frontani. — 1st ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-1-57806-965-1 (cloth : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 1-57806-965-3 (cloth : alk. paper)
ISBN-13: 978-1-57806-966-8 (pbk. : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 1-57806-966-1 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Beatles. I. Title.
ML421.B4 F76
782.42166092'2—dc22
2006029326
British Library Cataloging-in-Publication Data available
For my “Fab Four,”
Heidi, Dante, Thelma, and Roy
With Love

contents
ix Preface
one
“The Twentieth Century’s Greatest Romance”:
Imagining the Beatles
1
two
“Ladies and Gentlemen, The Beatles!”:
Introducing the Image
20
three
“Preparing Our Teenagers for Riot and Ultimate Revolution”:
The Touring Years, 1964–66
70
four
“The Mood of the Sixties”:
The Beatles as Artists, 1966–68
126
vii
viii contents
fi ve
“Beatlepeople”:
Rolling Stone, 1967–70
178
six
“Beautiful People”:
The Beatles’ Idealized Past
215
237 Notes
255 Bibliography
275 Index
preface
On the night of December 8, 1980, as John Lennon and his wife
Yoko Ono returned to their New York City home from a recording
session, a voice from the shadows called, “Mr. Lennon.” As Lennon
turned to face the speaker, Mark David Chapman pumped four bul-
lets from his Charter Arms .38 caliber revolver into the musician’s
back and shoulder. “I’m shot!” gasped Lennon as he stumbled into
the doorman’s offi ce. Chapman dropped his gun, which was quickly
kicked aside by the doorman. “Do you know what you just did?”
asked the doorman. “I just shot John Lennon,” replied Chapman.
Lennon was pronounced dead upon his arrival at Roosevelt Hospi-
tal, located fi fteen blocks from Lennon’s Dakota apartment (“Death
of a Beatle” 35–36).
The death of Lennon set in motion a month of activities and
commentaries honoring and remembering the fallen ex-Beatle. The
night of the murder, mourners began to gather outside the wrought-
iron gates of the Dakota apartment building in which Lennon and
Ono had lived since 1973. By 1 a.m. the crowd had grown to fi ve
hundred (Ledbetter B7).1 News of his death spread quickly around
the world. According to the Times of London, “Sorrow over the loss
of a prodigally talented musician is mixed with horror that, once
again in America, an assassin has found it a matter of absurd sim-
plicity to destroy a life at whim. In the immediate aftermath, the
killing is being compared with the murder of President Kennedy
ix