GP Academy Letter 250809: School's Out!

I thought we’d take a break from the week’s usual “heavy content” and just enjoy ourselves this weekend.

Today I’d like to share something you may find interesting. In the summer of 1964 my parents took my sister and I to visit relatives in England since it would be the last year the family was together before the kids were shipped off to college or prep school.

The Beatles’ first movie, A Hard Day’s Night, was just debuting in England, a couple of weeks before it would appear in America. We were in Leeds at that time so, naturally, my sister and I went to see it. Margaret was especially excited since she had Beatles wallpaper all over her bedroom back at home, and a small “altar” on her dresser. Yes, really.

The movie theater was packed, not with the usual assortment of family members as you would expect, but with a gaggle of teenage girls taking up every available seat.

I should point out that “Beatlemania” was already in full swing. As the movie began playing, scores of girls began screaming and gesticulating hysterically. It was impossible to hear the sound track. I crunched up paper napkins and tried stuffing them in my ears as hearing protection, but it didn’t help much.

I turned around in my seat to look and could see waves of delirious young females mouthing the names of individual band members with tears of joy running from their eyes and looks of sheer abandonment on their faces.

Then I noticed that some of them were throwing clothing at the screen. What was this? Bras and panties? They were still fully dressed so they must have brought extras with them. As a healthy, 18-year old young man one can only imagine my utter fascination. If only I were a Beatle!

I tried lip reading but it wasn’t working. I spent the rest of the movie watching as if it were a silent “talkie” because it might as well have been. When we got back home to America a few weeks later it was playing everywhere and I went to see it again.

This time around screaming wasn’t allowed and I could hear the sound track. A great movie—a classic still. Below is the official movie trailer. Enjoy!

P.S. Tomorrow I’ll tell you a story about my voyage back from England on the Queen Mary and what I learned about market movements when I visited the ship’s bridge.