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Symbolism alert: Today when the Magical Mystery Tour tried to take a shortcut to the charming country village of Widecombe, where they hoped to snag some footage at the annual fair, the bus got stuck on a narrow bridge.
Having said that, I am now going to try to stop piling on. MMT was a colossal disaster, we all know that; then again, hadn’t The Beatles earned the right to a boondoggle at this point? Who am I, having undertaken more than a few half-assed projects in my time, to criticize them for theirs?
In the end, they should probably be judged less by the quality of the end product than by how much fun they had making it. Though even by that standard, today was touch and go. Says The Beatles Bible:
The coach had to be reversed for half a mile, and tempers frayed on board. Footage was made of on-board arguments, though none was used. In the end The Beatles decided to abandon the trip to the fair, disappointing some local fans who had heard about their impending arrival.
Instead, they made their way to Plymouth where, after lunch, The Beatles posed for photographers and taped an interview for the BBC. Later in the afternoon, the welcome-aboard scene that begins Magical Mystery Tour was filmed. The expedition ended the day in Newquay, which is due west of Plymouth on the coast:
When you zoom in, that looks like a long way, but it’s really not.
England, remember, is not really that large of a country.
In Newquay the cast, crew, and entourage stayed at the Atlantic Hotel, which apparently was much to their liking, as they ended up staying for two extra days. If nothing else, Magical Mystery Tour was quite a boon for the British hotel industry.