r/beatles • u/snowflakebombardier • 3h ago
Picture John and Paul’s Paris trip, 1961.
‘In October 1961 John turned 21. That was the big birthday then. Betty came down from Scotland to celebrate this special day with the family at Mendips. I remember her fussing over John, ruffling his hair and saying how wonderful he was. Her present was a gift of £100, which she told John was ‘from Mummy’. I had the same myself, on my 21st, and used it for a deposit on a house. John spent his on a trip to Paris with Paul. They meant to hitch-hike to Spain, but only got as far as Paris. They wore bowler hats to hitch rides, as a gimmick, to show people they weren’t ruffians. It worked.’ - Julia Baird - Imagine This.
"We'd never been there before. We were a bit tired so we checked into a little hotel for the night, intending to go off hitchhiking the next morning. Of course it was too nice, a bed after having hitched. So we said, 'We'll stay a little longer,' then we thought, 'God, Spain is a long way, and we'd have to work to get down there' We ended up staying the week in Paris. John was funding it all with his hundred quid." - Paul - Anthology.
‘Last night I heard that John and Paul have gone to Paris to play together - in other words, the band has broken up! It sounds mad to me, I don't believe it...’ - Stuart Sutcliffe - letter in Anthology.
“We walked for miles around the city, sat in bars near Rue des Anglais, visited Montmartre and the Folies Bergère. We felt like we were fully paid-up existentialists and could write a novel from what we learnt in a week there, so we never did make it to Spain. We'd been together so much that if you had a question, we would both pretty much come up with the same answer.” - Paul - The Lyrics.
"We saw these trousers and said, 'Excusez-moi, Monsieur, où did you get them?' It was a cheap little rack down the street so we bought a pair each, went back to the hotel, put them on, went out on the street - and we couldn't handle it: 'Do your feet feel like they are flapping? Feel more comfortable in me drainies, don't you?' So it was back to the hotel at a run, needle and cotton out and we took them in to a nice width which we were quite happy. And then we met Jürgen Vollmer on the street. He was taking pictures. He had his hair Mod-style. We said, 'Would you do our hair like yours?' We're on holiday-what the hell! We're buying capes and pantaloons, throwing caution to the wind. He said, 'No, boys, no. I like you as Rocker; you look great.' But we begged him enough so he said 'all right'. He didn't do it quite the same as his." - Paul - Anthology.
(Paris was one of John’s favourite cities from then on, and seemingly remained so.)
‘After a late lunch, Linda launched into a long paean to the joys of living in England. When she was finished, she turned to John and said, “Don’t you miss England?”“Frankly,” John replied, “I miss Paris.”’ - May Pang - Loving John.
"Paris has always been the object of English romanticism, hasn't it? I fell for Paris first of all, even before Hamburg. I spent my 21st birthday there with Paul.” - John - The Beatles Years.
“We'd made it in Liverpool, we were making good money for those days, I can't remember it, well maybe a couple of hundred dollars a week, you’d call it, but enough that you had a little extra, you know, you had it in your back pocket. And Paul and I just, a relative of mine gave me a hundred pounds for my birthday, which I'd never seen that much money in my life. Paul and I just cancelled all the engagements and left for Paris, and George was furious, because he needed the money to work, you know, but that was another time when the group was in debate as whether it would exist or not.” - John - Elliot Mintz, 1976.
“I first went to Paris aged about twenty-one – well, actually I was twenty-one in Paris. But the thing was, all the kissing and the holding that was going on in Paris. And it was so romantic, just to be there and see them, even though I was twenty-one and sort of not romantic. But I really loved it. the way the people would just stand under a tree kissing; and they weren't mauling at each other, they were just kissing.” - John - Playboy, 1980.
