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Saturday 3 December 2016

Marrakesh: New Year 1967.


Sotheby's is currently selling a few candid snaps at a ludicrous price. Still, one or two interesting ones including this; almost certainly taken in Marrakesh during John, Cyn and Victor Spinetti's post-Chrimbo holiday in 1967. If I had to wager on a location, I'd put my offal infested plastic fiver down against Talitha Getty's Palais de Zahir.

John Hopkins (that's John Hopkins the American writer and friend to the Beats, not to be confused with John Hopkins the British counter-cultural figure and friend to the etc.), who attended the end of year party at the Palace in '67, described it thusly in his Tangier Diaries: "Last night Paul and Talitha Getty threw a New Year's Eve party at their palace in the Medina. Paul McCartney and John Lennon were there, flat on their backs. They couldn't get off the floor let alone talk. I've never seen so many people out of control."

Now, Macca certainly wasn't there; he was flat on his back in another location. But to someone who wasn't really paying attention (fill in your own reasons), I suppose from a distance Victor Spinetti might have been mistaken for Paul (and indeed, in this instance, probably was). If you examine the picture above, that's almost certainly Victor to Cynthia's right.

Incidentally, a quick search on-line reveals a few interior images taken in le Palais, which is full of similar alcoves:



Thanks to Lizzie Bravo for forwarding the pic.
Also, further apologies for the lack of activity round these parts. Can't be helped at the moment, but there will be occasional posts as and when...

3 comments:

  1. Very interesting, as usual! I was in London at the time but don't remember them going to Marrakesh. Mind you, at 16, and prior to mobile phones and the Internet, I didn't know that much anyway...

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  2. What I find fascinating is that all the Beatle books I have read do not seem to have mentioned this before. Wogblog has mentioned a trip to Sweden by George and Paul that I don't recall reading about before. I suppose lesson is that the books have tended to recycle the same old stuff while other important events have been ignored

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  3. Thanks for another interesting post- I thought I knew pretty much all JL's trips n holidays, particularly during the Fabs era, but I confess I had not known about this trip! I think that APPLE held a Xmas party Xmas '67 and it was the one where JL came dressed as a teddy-boy in brothel-creepers & chains. Cynthia was dressed as a QUality Street lady and Patti Harrison as wearing "Seven veils and not much else" and caught the Lennon eye (all from A TWIST OF LENNON) But Cynthia doesn't mention the N.African trip and now here else has either. Life goes on at 'Mendips', the controlling Mrs is still in the ascendant. But for how long? As she appears v unwell. Did not know that 'Magic Alex' had left the party. Manged to meet Klaus Voormann last year which was good.

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