It Was 50 Years Ago Today... | Page 3 | Fab Forum | The Beatles Bible

I am not quite sure where to put this answer as I don’t know where this question cropped up, however… this thread seems as good a place as any.

Referencing a New York Post article,

Ahhh Girl said (via email)

Everything else says George didn’t go to the Sullivan rehearsal. In this article his sister says he did.

We need our ultimate fact checker on this.

This surprised me and I have been checking as many sources as possible, including earlier interviews with Louise.

Now, this is definitely a new one on me, and not — that I am aware of — a version that Louise has told before.

Her version here disagrees with all the evidence.

And the NYTimes article you reference has other mistakes as well. Jane Asher travelling with Paul is a new one on me, and if she did she was extremely well hidden.

Here is my understanding.

They flew into New York on the 7th. It was quickly realised George was quite ill, and a call was put out to Louise, who arrived at some stage on the 8th — there is some dispute about just how early in the day she got to the Plaza.

For the majority of the rehearsal, which was for camera angles, Neil Aspinall stood in for George. For a part of it, Vince Calandra (a CBS employee) stood in as Neil was called back to the hotel. According to Calandra this was because Louise was not being allowed into the hotel.

On the morning of the 9th, there was another rehearsal, where Neil again stood in. This is all well documented by photographers, and no photograph claims to show George at the CBS Studios before the afternoon taping of their third appearance on the show.

Whatever Louise’s revised account of this weekend fifty years ago says, press access was not restricted, as shown by the amount of photographs that exist, and yet none show George there before the afternoon of the 9th.

I do hope this helps.

Here are some of the rehearsal photographs, which all show a distinct lack of George:

And with Vince standing in after Neil had had to go back to the hotel:

When somebody comes up with a photograph of George there on the 8th, I’ll tip my hat to Louise for telling us something new, but he is absent from every photograph known to have been that day.

I agree that there are some claims that George was there at least briefly on the 8th, I am yet to see a definitive photograph – and you would think that had he turned up for a photocall on the 8th, there would be many – that show him there. I have searched, and I cannot find one picture of him at CBS that is definitely dated to the 8th.

Louise, however, has him taking part in the rehearsal, which is patently wrong.

The majority claims for all four Beatles and Ed Sullivan, is that they are from the afternoon of the 9th, preceding the taping of their third appearance.