#they were completely exhausted by this point

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“The Beatles were shown two episodes [of their cartoon series], I Want To Hold Your HandandA Hard Day’s Night, and two sing-alongs. Lance Percival was listening closely to the reactions of Paul and Ringo since he was their voices in the series. Paul seemed to enjoy it and so did Ringo but Ringo was concerned that they had made him the ‘dummie.’ Lance explained that he was just following the script. John asked why there were no bouncing balls in the sing-alongs like the old time toons. The group was photographed in front of the cartoon mural and then asked some questions by the press before settling in at the tables of food and drinks. Ed Vane, ABC-TV executive remembered the mood of each Beatle during the party. He said that Ringo was very quiet until the cameras started rolling. George was uncomfortable from the start by the blinding flashing lights of Norman’s camera. Paul was very polite and charming, asking incredibly sophisticated marketing questions, and John was the clown, running around on all fours and playing under the buffet table.

Yes, in typical Lennon fashion, John went underneath one of the buffet tables. Each Beatle bodyguard was on their fifth or sixth pint of beer and hadn’t taken notice of where the guys were by that point. Norman Kauffman was lucky enough to be personally involved in the event. He noticed that John had gone under one of the tables. He went underneath to ask if everything was alright. John said yes and that he could do with a bottle of wine if one was available. Of course Norman got a bottle and a glass and poured the wine and chatted with John for fifteen minutes before John’s bodyguard noticed that his Beatle was missing and got very anxious and nervous. Norman actually tried to come out from under the table when John pulled him back and said, ‘let them worry.’ Norman got quite a talking to by his superiors, who thought he should have coaxed John out from under the table a little sooner.”

– “The Fabs Meet The Toons” by Mitchell Axelrod from Beatlology Magazine (Nov/Dec 2004 Edition)

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