Paul McCartney attends the Capitol Convention in Los Angeles

On June 20, 1968, Paul McCartney travelled to the USA for Apple’s promotional activities. His mission was to attend the Capitol Convention in Los Angeles and present The Beatles’ vision for their new label, Apple, to the Capitol Records executives. Tony Bramwell, Ron Kass, the head of Apple Records, and Ivan Vaughan were accompanying Paul on this journey. With no direct flight from London to Los Angeles available, they stopped in New York.

On this day, June 21, they flew from New York to Los Angeles, arriving early in the day. Their stay was at the Beverly Hills Hotel. The morning was spent shopping, and the afternoon was dedicated to attending the Capitol Convention.

The Capitol Convention took place at the Century Plaza Hotel, and Paul delivered a brief speech before playing a promotional film directed by Apple’s Tony Bramwell and shot on June 11, 1968, in the EMI Studios at Abbey Road. It was then announced that The Beatles would record, produce, and release their music in the United States and Canada under their new Apple Corps Music label. Capitol Records would be responsible for the manufacturing and distribution of their releases. The first Beatles release under the new deal was the “Hey Jude / Revolution” single, which came out in August 1968.

In the evening, the gang went partying at some LA clubs.

(P.S.: Tony Bramwell provided conflicting accounts of the events on those days, so the timeline and sequence are somewhat speculative.)

I had booked Paul a bungalow at the Beverly Hills Hotel for the privacy and atmosphere conducive to writing songs for the White Album, the recording of which Paul had just left behind in London for a few days. We entered the lobby of the hotel through the front, and Paul stopped at the desk to pick up messages. A young boy of about twelve was checking into the hotel with his mother when all of a sudden he realized that he was standing next to a Beatle. He was so stunned that he turned to Paul and started pointing at him and stammering, “You’re… you’re… you’re… you’re…”

“That’s right,” Paul interrupted, “Stevie Wonder!”

“Right,” the young fellow quickly agreed. “Stevie Wonder!” As we walked away, the boy’s eyes and mouth remained frozen in the maxed out open position until we walked out the door and into the garden paths that led to the bungalow outside the lobby.

Ken Mansfield – From “The White Book: The Beatles, the Bands, the Biz: An Insider’s Look at an Era” by Ken Mansfield, 2007

The Beverly Hills Hotel, built in 1912 and massively done over in the early ’90s, is a giant pink lodge sort of a building, just west of Los Angeles proper, tucked into twelve florally abundant acres in what was a desert not so long ago, before they brought the water in. […] It is the “Hotel California.” and much more, a perennial player in the entertainment industry and a love-nest in a league of its own. Warren Beatty and Leslie Caron, Jennifer Jones and Norton Simon, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, and the John Ono Lennons famously diddled here. […]

About twenty discreet little houses, each with four or five opulent rooms, the bungalows have their own driveway from the street that borders the hotel grounds […] Bungalow five, the most legendary of all the cottages (the preferred love-nest of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, Marilyn Monroe and Yves Montand, etc.), with four bedrooms — these days it is available for $4,000 a night — was PaulMcCartney’s home-away-from-home that June.

From “Linda McCartney – A Portrait” by Danny Fields, 2000

At the luxurious Beverly Hills Hotel we were given a bungalow beside the pool. It seemed like heaven! The first thing we did was change and go for a swim. Cliché as it might be, but, this is the life, I thought, as Paul and I floated side by side on lilos, drinks in hand and gazing at the blue sky as the heavy scent of jasmine and orange blossom wafted in the air.

That afternoon, we decided to shop on Sunset Strip. To me, everything was wildly expensive, but Paul didn’t care.

‘Sign for anything you want,’ he told me. It was a bizarre situation. Here was a young man worth many millions who didn’t have a penny on him. A bit like royalty, I suppose. At any rate, everyone was more than happy to have our signatures.

‘Make the bill out to Apple,’ Ivan and I said grandly, collapsing into giggles around the corner on Rodeo Drive. It seemed unreal. Even Paul said that after several years he still couldn’t get used to this way of life…

On our shopping trip, Paul and I bought Nehru jackets. Paul’s was red velvet and mine was white silk. We also bought several pairs of exotic sunglasses with pink lenses at a psychedelic optique, which we clowned around in. One pair would have done, but we couldn’t make up our minds which we liked and in the end Paul said, ‘To hell with it. Let’s have ’em all.’ Once again, as we signed the outrageous bill, we found it wildly funny and ran into the street, laughing like people who had done a runner from the Chinese restaurant without paying.

Tony Bramwell – From “Magical Mystery Tours: My Life with the Beatles“, 2005

We had a convenient coincidence working in our favor once the Beatles made the decision that Capitol would distribute Apple. We were getting ready to hold our annual convention in Los Angeles, scheduled for the third week of June 1968. Every salesman, field rep, district and divisional branch manager, as well as all promotion and field merchandising managers were going to be in one room at the same time. In addition, all the major executives and employees from the [Capitol] “Tower” would be in attendance.

Wouldn’t it be great if one of the Beatles were to come to the convention? After all, it was a fairly standard occurrence that when a major distribution deal is made with a new label, one of the owners would almost always appear to announce the new business relationship. […]

[Paul said he would come] We sneaked Paul into town without anyone knowing. No one except Gortikov, me, and the upper, upper echelon knew that we would be distributing Apple records. Gortikov had set the stage by announcing that we were going to have a special guest make a big announcement at the convention as a preliminary excitement teaser. I don’t think anyone ever imagined that it was about Apple and would be made in person by a Beatle.

The convention was in progress, and the big day, Friday, June 21, arrived. […] It was totally dark in the auditorium — we secreted Paul from a holding suite at the Century Plaza Hotel to the convention room. We had arranged for a stagehand to bring the room lights slowly up as he started walking down the aisle from the back of the auditorium. A long gasp came out of the gathering as they began to realize that a real, live “in person” Beatle had walked into their midst.Paul, ever the diplomat, began waving, smiling, shaking hands, and giving ’60s-style high-fives as he made his way to the stage. Simultaneously, as if by some cosmic cue, everyone started cheering, clapping, standing up, and shouting with joy. […] When the Capitol “gang” quieted down, Paul made the announcementabout Apple. The place went absolutely berserk!Later, Paul attended an outside cocktail party at the Century Plaza Hotel where he spent time with the field sales / promo / merchandising employees, taking pictures with each one, chatting with them, sharing his fame in an exquisitely common manner that endeared him and his band mates to a group of hard-working people forever.

Ken Mansfield – From “The White Book: The Beatles, the Bands, the Biz: An Insider’s Look at an Era” by Ken Mansfield, 2007

Paul delivered a short speech to announce that EMI/Capitol would distribute Apple Records and, from now on, The Beatles were on the Apple label. That was a cue for me to show the film. Paul spent time doing the old meet-and-greet and being photographed with top Capitol executives, Alan Livingston, Stanley Gortikov and Ken Fritz. It was a PR masterpiece.

Tony Bramwell – From “Magical Mystery Tours: My Life with the Beatles“, 2005

A few weeks later Paul was back in America, accompanied by Ron Kass. This trip was made expressly for him to speak at a record convention for Capitol Records in Los Angeles. Paul was the only Beatle who would consider addressing a business meeting attended by beer-bellied rack jobbers in polyester leisure suits, but Paul knew the value of good public relations. He also wanted his “western communism” to work, and he knew that as far as Apple Records went, the Capitol distributors were in a position to help them do it. Much to Ron Kass’ amusement, Paul spent the day glad-handing distributors and signing autographs for their children back home. He did everything except hand out cigars.

Peter Brown – From “The Love You Make: An Insider’s Story of the Beatles“, 2002

When we took him to the convention we went through the basement and took an elevator to the 15th floor. We were walking down the hall when one of our promo men from Atlanta popped out of a doorway, spotted Paul, stopped dead, then ran up the him and gave him a big hug and said, “Hey man, howary, how’s it goin'” Paul hugged him right back saying, “Hey, great to see ya, how’s it goin’?” When the guy finally went on down the hall, we asked Paul if he knew him. Paul said he’d never seen him before.

Ken Mansfield or Larry Delaney – From Capitol Records – Quoted in Meet the Beatles for Real: Paul McCartney where?

As the news that Paul was in town spread like wildfire, the girls began to appear in their droves again. Our first stop was Romanoff’s, Frank Sinatra’s favorite restaurant, run by a sort of Russian prince. Then, we were off clubbing. The Factory was next on the agenda. Located in the middle of a large industrial warehouse, the members were mostly Hollywood elite, people like Paul Newman and Steve McQueen. Paul Wasserman, “Wasso,” the top Hollywood press agent, sat with us, greeting and introducing, pointing names out. (He’s still in the business, at the top of the tree as the Stones’ press officer.) Sammy Davis Jr. was there and came over to our table for a chat.

Tony Bramwell – From “Magical Mystery Tours: My Life with the Beatles“, 2005

WITH PAUL TO HOLLYWOOD (by Tony Bramwell)

PAUL was due to fly from London Airport to Los Angeles at two o’clock on Thursday afternoon, June 20. At one o’clock he invited me to go with him which meant delaying our flight until later in the day. We caught a 6 p.m. plane, got to New York seven hours later, switched flights and arrived in Los Angeles in the middle of the night. Third member of the party was Paul’s old friend Ivan Vaughan, the guy who introduced him to John something like 12 years ago in Liverpool.

We went straight to the Beverly Hills Hotel where we shared a vast 3-bed-roomed bungalow—one of a dozen dotted around the grounds of the hotel in amongst the palm trees and other luxuriant Californian greenery.

On Friday morning, still tired but rarin’ to go, we were picked up by Ron Kass (head of Apple Records) for a shopping spree down Sunset Strip. Bought a few jackets and some American sunglasses. A bit later we showed the Capitol Records people the film we’d made of The Beatles in London, a short colour movie designed to promote Apple — and Apple Records in particular — to the salesmen and executives actending Capitol’s big convention. This was the main reason for our trip because during the convention the big announcement was being made that Capitol would be distributing The Beatles’ Apple Records in America.

SURPRISE

Other than the heads of Capitol, not a soul knew a Beatle was coming to Los Angeles so we didn’t have any crowd problems to begin with. We were sitting in an ice cream parlour eating giant sundaes. Most of the customers did a sort of double-take but decided that it couldn’t be Paul McCartney over in the corner because The Beatles were 6,000 miles away in London… weren’t they?

Two little girls — I’d say they were 12 or 13 — at the next table scared for a while, played it cool and then paid their bill and left. A minute later they came tearing back for autographs screaming their heads off!

The convention was being held at a very modern new hotel, the Century Plaza, which has a fantastic set of fountains outside. I went over on Friday afternoon to hear the various speeches but Paul stayed back at the hotel because he was to be the Big Surprise. Eventually, as the convention drew to a close, came the special announcement from the stage and Paul was brought on. Imagine the reaction amongst the crowd of about 400 Capitol people when Paul just walked through from the back of the hall. Everyone went berserk and gave him a fine welcome. And the Apple promotion film was screened — showing The Beatles at work in the Apple offices in the recording studios and so forth. And it showed our great new girl discovery, songstress Mary Hopkin which was a great way of introducing her to all those important American record experts. […]

Tony Bramwell – From the Beatles Monthly Book, N°61, August 1968

Beatles Set Apple Corps With Capitol

LOS ANGELES — Under an exclusive agreement concluded with Capitol Records, the Beatles will record, produce and be released in the United States and Canada on their own new Apple Corps Music label. The disks will be manufactured and distributed by Capitol. These highlights of the Beatles-Capitol deal were jointly announced late last week by Beatle Paul McCartney and Ronald S. Kass, head of Apple Corps Music, and Alan Livingston and Stanley Gortikov, respectively president of Capitol Industries, and president of Capitol Records, Inc.

Apple Music, a division of Apple Corps Ltd., plans to have facilities in all key music markets of the world. Its intent is to develop new talent.

Apple Music’s first product — both albums and singles — is scheduled for release in midJuly or early August. Production is already underway.

An historical building in London, at 3 Saville Row, has been purchased by the Beatles to house their new Apple Corps operation. The five-story structure is being redesigned and will house recording studios along with other facilities.

Initial negotiations between Apple and several U.S. majors started in February with the arrival in New York of Neil S. Aspinall, managing director of the Apple organization. Negotiations shifted to the West Coast where the deal with Capitol was closed.

From Billboard – June 29, 1968

A Beatle Slips Into Town

A Beatle can’t seem to “slip” into any town, but the Beatles never stop trying. Last week it was Paul McCartney, who arrived on a 2 a.m. plane and took up residence for four days at the Beverly Hills Hotel. He was here to lay the groundwork for a deal between the Beatles’ Apple Corps, Ltd., and Capitol Records, with Capitol releasing their product. McCartney was hosted at The Factory by owner Peter Bren and wife Linda, and it was gawksville, with the stars staring at him. Among those at his table were Capitol’s Allan (Nancy Olson) Livingstons, his own music publishing chief Ronald Kass, and Tony Bramwell, another of his officers, whose date, Denise Frank, a Hertz-Rent-a-Car girl at Beverly Hills, arrived late from work, and in uniform, proving that Hertz tries harder …

From Los Angeles Times – June 25, 1968

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