DISNEY MICKEY MOUSES 'THE BEATLES GET BACK' DVD

By Rip Rense

                In late 1981 and early ’82, I spent three months researching and writing a sprawling nine-part series---plus sidebars---entitled “Off the Beatle Track: The Lost Songs of the Beatles”---in the now defunct Los Angeles Herald Examiner, where I was a staff writer.
               This was as thorough an examination of unreleased Beatles music as I could realize, covering studio material, live recordings, outtakes, alternate versions, early recordings, BBC performances, the “Get Back” album/project. Among other exclusives, I broke the news of the existence of “Leave My Kitten Alone,” the 1963 studio version of “One After 909,” the aborted Ringo Rubber Soul song, “If You’ve Got Trouble,” and the fact that the BBC was collecting any/all songs The Beatles performed exclusively for the Beeb (including at least twelve that had never been on Beatles albums) for an imminent radio special.
               I interviewed: George Martin, Mark Lewisohn, Tony Barrow, Philip Norman, Ken Townsend, Harry Nilsson, Walter Shenson, Neil Aspinall, Clive Epstein (brother of Brian), Brian Southall of EMI, Peter Pilbeam of the BBC, Allan Williams, Pete Best, Beatles historian Walter Podrazik, and many others. To my knowledge, no such project had been done in media before.
                It sold out. Every day.
                From Feb. 28 through March 9, newsracks all over Southern California---including many which Her Ex circulation guys said were always untouched---emptied out. The series made international headlines. In one network news segment, Mick Jagger exclaimed in amazement at the amount of unreleased music.  I was interviewed on radio and television all week, and, with the wonderful conspiratorial cooperation of the great KRLA disc jockey, Dave “The Hullabalooer” Hull, I played bootleg recordings of Beatles BBC material on KRLA---until Capitol/EMI sent a cease-and-desist letter.
                It was great fun!
                My goal, aside from getting out of my regular duties, was to spur Capitol/EMI and Apple to start putting this music out. This almost happened two years later with the Capitol “Sessions” LP (produced by Geoff Emerick), pulled at the last minute over objections from the remaining Beatles and Lennon’s estate (news of which I also broke, this time in the L.A. Times.)  As most people reading this are well aware, much unreleased Beatles music finally came out in the ‘90’s on The Beatles Anthology and the Live at the BBC sets, followed later by Let it Be. . .Naked, and most recently, Peter Jackson’s superb “The Beatles Get Back” TV series.
                All of which is to set up an anecdote. An anecdote, that, in turn, will lead to a comment on Disney’s refusal to release extra “Get Back” footage in the DVD/Blu-Ray set. Yes, there is method in my madness. I am not merely tooting---well, blasting---my horn.
                Here is the anecdote. Brace yourselves for idiocy.
                After my series ran, a friend with “Beatle friends in high places” referred me to St. Martin’s Press. She had spoken with a good friend of hers at the publishing house, touting my series as being perfect for expansion into a book. Which, I’m sure I need not explain, was absolutely true. Friend told me that St. Martins’ was “very excited” about the book prospect, and that I should phone her friend, the St. Martin’s executive---call her Aimless, or Aimee, for short---which I promptly did.
                Ready?

Disney Executives in charge of "The Beatles Get Back" out for a stroll.

                Aimee was very friendly and full of chirpy PR hot air, but her opening statement was, “If people can’t hear this music, I don’t see why they would want to read about it.”
                Yes, I hear all of the readers of this article laughing. I, too, was stunned. I took a mental deep breath, told myself that Aimee obviously was not aware of the intense and pervasive worldwide interest in anything regarding Things Beatle. So I politely and cogently made my pitch---trying to explain it all to her: how there had (at that time) been dozens and dozens of Beatles-related books (often of less substantial topic);, how any book that managed to squeeze the word, “Beatles,” into the title, automatically upped its profit; how my Her Ex series had generated worldwide headlines, TV and radio appearances; how Beatles albums still sold enormously; how successive generations of children and young people continued to grow up with Beatles music; how the death of John Lennon meant there would be no Beatles reunion, making leftover material all the more important, and. . .
                “Well, that’s all very interesting,” said Aimee, “but I still don’t see why anybody would want to read about music that they can’t hear.”
                 And I again launched into an improvised pitch, expanding on what I had already said, and explaining that some of the music had been bootlegged, and was traded by fans, available in “underground” record stores, swap meets, and how it was of such interest that Capitol/EMI had sent a cease-and-desist letter to KRLA when I played bootlegs on the air.
                Then I pointed out the painfully obvious: that my series had been widely read---internationally---despite the fact that people could not hear the music. I figured that was pretty hard evidence. . .
               “But I just don’t see why anybody would want to read about music if they can’t hear it.”
                I am sad, so sad, to say that this is all a true story, people, too true. I spent a full 35 minutes, as I remember, trying to persuade Aimless that a book was not only marketable, but would be a popular, profitable success. . .and she kept repeating that same sentence, over and over and over. At the end of the 35 minutes, I don’t think even Perry Mason could have effectively countered my argument.  Yet she did, with the “I don’t see why anyone . .” refrain, one more time.
               And, well, gee whiz, I kind of ran out of patience---no, I ran out of pitch. It was clear that nothing I could have said was going to change Aimless’s mind. I was left to draw only one conclusion, which I generously shared with her:
              “Well, I don’t know what more to say. I have tried for over a half-hour to explain to you how such a book would easily be successful. It just could not be more obvious. I have given you example after example, argument after argument, evidence after evidence. Yet you do not understand. I don’t know what else to think other than you must just be stupid.”
               What? This killed the deal, you say? Very incisive!
               “Click” was the last thing I ever heard from Aimee. And my Beatles-plugged-in “friend” who had put me in touch with her? Not a word, ever. And while I understand that my comment was duly taken as highly insulting, I had meant it only as a statement of fact.
                Which finally, you will be relieved to know, brings me to the point of this commentary! The fact that Disney has told Peter Jackson that there is no market for extra footage, or future releases, from the 48 remaining hours of “Get Back” footage. . .is just. . .
                Stupid.
                Stupid, stupid, stupid.
                As stupid as Aimee.

                You know, The Beatles' company, Apple, just lucked into Jackson---someone with enormous Beatles knowledge, judgement, savvy, let alone directorial skill---doing this superb documentary, which met with great critical acclaim. The director was initially considered for a multi-media touring exhibit, but took the opportunity to suggest instead that he do a new edit of the "Get Back" material. Except for a couple of callow on-line millennial critics who found the nearly eight-hour series too much for their attention deficit disorder, "The Beatles Get Back" has been widely and correctly praised as a tremendous accomplishment, period. No matter the subject matter.
                One would therefore think that Jackson's considered opinion and recommendation would count for something. As far as Disney is concerned, though, it's you say yes, we say no, hello goodbye. regarding the idea of "extras" or extra footage in the DVD/Blue Ray edition. Jackson has been reduced to saying things like this, as told to Beatles author Robert Rodriguez:
                “I’m hoping that this ‘no extended cut’ will go away. If people seem to really like (the documentary), Disney will do an extended cut. If they think they can make money from it, they’ll do it. Even though they say now. . .’extended cuts don’t sell, there’s nobody buying them.’ If they get a sense---just a sniff, because of the reaction---that they could sell a lot of extended cuts. . .if they thought they could earn ten times as much from Blu-ray sales, then I think an extended cut would come back on to the table.”
                Allow me to amend my prior statement. This is not just about stupidity, it is about greed---deep greed of a variety known only to a company that would charge between $208 and $325 per person for the privilege of entering poor, tarted up, bloated, vulgarized Disneyland. (If Walt were here, he would shut the whole mercenary operation down in shame.) I mean, how much would it cost to put out a separate, expanded edition of the series?
                For the sake of argument, let’s try and look at this somewhat objectively. Let’s say that Disney expects DVD/Blu-ray “Get Back” sales to come mostly from the over-55 crowd that made up 54 percent of viewers who watched the TV special. Does Disney not realize that many of these people already have the series, bootlegged on computer sticks? So why would they spend $25 or $30 for the DVD, or Blu-ray? Especially with inflation, the price of gas, and the forthcoming recession? As for the 46 percent of viewers under 55, who are generally less interested in the proceedings than so-called boomers, why would they purchase the series at all without additional inducement?
                And where did this notion that “extended cuts don’t sell” come from? The whole history of video/DVD/Blu-ray is a story of director’s cuts, extended cuts, special editions, restored scenes, outtakes, bonus discs. To think that more Beatles---one of the most tried-and-true "commodities" ever---will somehow be an impediment to sales is contrary to common sense, reason, the whole history of The Beatles, and, possibly, the Constitution.
               There is also the possibility that Disney, which botched the much anticipated Feb. 8, 2022 release of the series due to an alleged technical glitch---delaying it until summer---has now written the whole thing off as minimally profitable. (Note: making matters worse, an unknown number of Blu-ray editions slipped out, and were long available on eBay before the official release.) This attitude is a good working definition of “wrong-headed.” If anything, the delay and leaks should make additional footage a marketing must.
               I mean, does "Aimee" run Disney's DVD/Blu-ray division?
               Should I even bother to mention the hopelessly old-fashioned notion of history? (Yawn.) The “Get Back” session footage is only the most important footage extant of the greatest phenomenon of the second half of the 20^th century. Oh, okay, and the first half. Oh, okay, and the 21^st (so far.) Oh, okay, probably all history. That’s all.      
               As Jackson put it:
               “The good thing with extended cuts is it doesn’t matter how long it is,” he also told Rodriguez. “Who cares, at that point? The whole thing becomes more (about) the record that you’re leaving behind. Then the stuff disappears in the vault for God knows how many, 300 years? At least we can leave behind the thing that should be left behind for the future people to look at. There is a responsibility. I hope we get that chance.”
                But can Disney---which, contractually, has sole authority of decision here---be bothered with such “okay, boomer” thinking? Apparently not when there is concern over losing money. Yes, this is Triumph of the Till, we’re talking, money über alles. And hey there, hi there, ho there, nobody in Corporationland marches to the dollar sign more rigidly than Mickey Mouse.
              At minimum, there should have been a bonus disc featuring complete performances of all the “Get Back” session songs, from the studio and rooftop. Remember: most performances in the series were fragments, excerpts. Such a disc could have been fleshed out with rehearsals not shown in the series, including “Suzy’s Parlor” and “All Things Must Pass,” as well as the more complete oldies jam sessions. An all-music disc, in other words. A de facto concert. That would help complete the proceedings. It could have been part of the DVD/Blu-ray, and also marketed separately as “Get Back: the Concert.” (Why the rooftop concert alone is being sold as a separate DVD seems despicably exploitive.)
                As to the apparently dreaded idea of expanding the existing nearly eight-hour version, it must be noted that there are literally millions of devoted fans who would eat up every second---whether ten hours, eighteen hours, or all fifty-seven. Jackson knows this, and has exhorted all such fans to “do your bit and demand it” of Disney.
                Address your letters care of Dopey and Goofy.