#joe brown
George Harrison around the time Somewhere in England was recorded. (1981)
“George scuttles around putting records on the juke-box, playing silly pieces on the piano and generally trying to make everyone feel at home – whereas all the guests are of good bourgeois stock and far more ill at ease with George’s unpredictable caperings than with standing sipping champagne and making polite conversation […] Table seating has been worked out by Olivia, who clutches a piece of paper as nervously as George earlier pottered with the juke-box. I end up sitting next to George, with Joan and Derek (Taylor) and Eric up our end […] George confesses to feeling uncomfortable with a ‘posh’ evening like this, which I find reassuring -– all the glitter and glamour that money can buy, all the success and adulation, has only affected our George very superficially.” - Michael Palin,“November 1979”,Diaries 1969-1979 [x]
“George, as usual in such places, is extremely ill at ease to start with. He resents the ‘posh’ service and feels that, considering he can afford to buy the restaurant several times over, the staff are unnecessarily snotty.” - Michael Palin,“June 1983”,Diaries 1980–1988 [x]
“George graciously invited us to his ‘pad’ to visit. He couldn’t have been sweeter & more hospitable, repeatedly making certain everyone was comfortable ‘Can I get you another orange juice? Do you want to sit over here? Have you heard this rare Roy Orbison record?’ etc. […] I asked Olivia why she thought George was so nice. She explained simply that George comes from a working class background & this was fitting behavior. All I could think was, 'Here’s a guy who’s been on top of the world, never really left & I am getting treated like I was at home – only better!’” - Will Lee [x]
“I will never forget the welcoming look on his face and was taken by how he embraced all of us as Joe [Brown] introduced each […] I was taken by the lack of servants on hand to usher us into the castle, but it was [a] nice surprise to have George, alone, invite us into the kitchen to sit around a small table while he made tea and coffee. Yes, George made the tea and coffee.” - Night Glare [x]
