It’d been a hard day’s night, and John Lennon had been working like a dog.
During The Beatles’ second U.S. tour, many of their scheduled tour dates were double-headers. On August 22, 1965, at the Memorial Coliseum in Portland, Oregon, The Beatles were set to play two shows in front of a total 20,000 fans.
The concerts took place at 3:30 p.m. and 8 p.m., and tickets for both shows were priced at $4, $5 and $6, including a number of free pink tickets for the upper level. While flying to the show from Minneapolis, however, The Beatles received quite a fright as one of the airplane’s four engines caught fire.
According to BeatlesBible.com, Lennon was shaken, and amidst the chaos jotted down a few last messages which he sealed in a film canister for safe keeping. Thankfully, fate had better plans for The Beatles and the plane landed safely. In a moment of comic relief, or perhaps just relief, different sources report hearing either John Lennon or Ringo Starr shouting: “Beatles, women and children first!”
Perhaps in the lightness of being which follows living through a potential disaster, Lennon was captured in a pose reminiscent of Lawrence of Arabia, a character from the 1962 epic historical drama of the same name, but this time waving the Union Jack. But while “Lennon of Arabia” played out his own epic drama in his imagination backstage, The Beatles were embroiled in the days of social injustice and the Civil Rights Movement. In fact, during an era of social unrest and political sorrow (Vietnam, the assassinations of president John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, to name a few), The Beatles brought a new light and energy to America, and changed the world of music, fashion, style, culture and politics forever.
In January 2013, the original contract for the Coliseum concert was released to the public. And, as a testament to the power of love, the contract specified (unusual for the time, but perhaps not for The Beatles): “Artists will not be required to perform before a segregated audience.” Shortly after the second show, the band flew to Los Angeles, but this time in a different plane.
Bob Bonis was fortunate enough to capture this candid moment while backstage, working as The Beatles’ U.S. Tour Manager. Bonis served as U.S. Tour Manager for all three of their U.S. tours (and also for The Rolling Stones’ first five trips stateside). His personal passion for photography is evident, and his close friendship with the bands was captured in intimate, iconic and behind-the-scenes moments such as “Lennon of Arabia.”
This photograph and other rare images of The Beatles and The Rolling Stones from their early and most important days heralding ‘The British Invasion’ are now available for the first time as strictly limited edition fine art prints from The Bob Bonis Archive at BobBonis.com. Each photograph is custom printed by one of the world’s leading fine-art photography printers, and is hand numbered, estate embossed, and comes with a Certificate of Authenticity from the GRAMMY Museum® at L.A. LIVE.
You know you want one. Click HERE to buy your limited edition numbered print now, before they’re sold out.