Proud Married Man

The Beatles (with Jimmy Nichol on drums while Ringo Starr was in the hospital for tonsillitis and fever) went on tour as planned to Holland on June 5th or 6th, 1964. Like as they've done so many times, there was a news conference and it's one of the few where fans got to participate on the questioning. I actually love this interview, it's funny and it's a rare moment where John opened by slightly on his married life. He also looked incredibly proud as a married family man. 

Question: Question from the audience was were any of you in love...

"Me!" John

"Yes, he's married." Paul McCartney

"That's right!" John

Question: [inaudible]

"Yes, of course." John

Question: Does that put you in an exceptional position? Are you married?

"I hope someday, yeah." John 

Question (to Paul): Would you get married to the others?

"No, I don't like marriage, no good, no good marriage." Paul McCartney

"It's good! Hmm hmm hmm" John to Paul, pretending to rock a baby in his arms.

Then came a discussion on needing money to get married, as George Harrison put it, for a suit and a hat.

Question (to John, regarding to have money to get married): Was your wife expensive?

"Quite, quite." John

"How much did she cost when you bought her?" Paul McCartney

"She was 50 pounds in Nairobi." John

John pulled a smiley face while Jimmy started laughing hysterically. I loved how John was pretending to rock a baby in his arms to Paul, trying to show why marriage was good. Ironically, Paul apparently thought marriage was good after all, considering he's now been married three times! At the time, he was going out with Jane Asher for about a year.

Jimmy with his son Howard on a beach in England, 1964

Speaking of Jimmy, this may be the only time I could really talk about him for this blog. I honestly do not know if Jimmy ever met Cynthia? He was a last minute replacement when Ringo collapsed and went to the hospital a day before the tour started. It was a tough decision to continue on; John,Paul, and especially George were not happy and would've preferred to be postponed but there were hotels and venues booked, money was spent and to be received, and if the tour got cancelled, hell would've broken loose from all sides except The Beatles. But... the show must go on. Jimmy got the call, did a quick rehearsal, a haircut to match the band mates, had to wear Ringo's stage clothes that did not fit, and off he went on tour. I don't think there was even time to introduce Jimmy to Cynthia, everything happened so fast! Cynthia never wrote or spoke about Jimmy. Jimmy was only a Beatle for two weeks before Ringo rejoined The Beatles in Australia. After that, Jimmy went home and basically disappeared from the public eye after failing to be a successful musician (despite being a talented drummer), very rarely a public appearance. At the time of this writing, Jimmy is still alive in his 80s. Jimmy was also married with a son, Howard (born around 1960), while a Beatle; but the marriage quickly ended afterwards and he became estranged from his son who didn't know if his father was dead or alive. Howard works as a film sound engineer. Jimmy did remarry a second time to Josephina (as of 1996) and worked as a carpenter, his own drum set long gone and struggled to make ends meet.