10 Things You Didn’t Know About the ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’ Movie
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band hit theaters three days after my 13th birthday in 1978. My bedroom walls were papered with its stars — the Bee Gees, Peter Frampton and Paul Nicholas — so it seemed like the best present ever. Little did I know that those stars, plus a multitude of bemused movie critics, considered the Robert Stigwood stinker anything but a gift. Now, you can judge for yourself on Netflix, where the film has become available for streaming.
How a hit Beatles album became a failed film
Stigwood launched his career in theater and music management, and The Bee Gees and Eric Clapton were two of his earliest — and most successful — clients. But when both stumbled in the early ’70s, Stigwood turned to movie production. He founded his own record company, RSO Records, and then got to work blending movies with the most popular music of the time. Success after success followed.
Stigwood produced Tommy, a rock opera based on The Who’s 1969 album, which debuted in 1975. The film, which starred the British hard rock band, plus Clapton, Ann-Margaret, Elton John and Tina Turner, was acclaimed, as was the soundtrack. Stigwood followed it up by producing the disco smash Saturday Night Fever — populated with new and existing songs by the Bee Gees — in 1977. Again, both film and soundtrack proved blockbusters. Next, Stigwood produced Grease. Starring Fever’s John Travolta and pop princess Olivia Newton-John, this movie about an unlikely 1950s high school romance shattered box office records, and its irresistible soundtrack remains one of the top-selling records of all time.
Stigwood was on a roll. And then came Sgt. Pepper’s.
Maybe Stigwood was feeling invincible. Maybe he thought The Beatles-meets-the Bee Gees was a can’t-miss combo for the time. In any case, Stigwood based his movie on the 1974, Lennon-approved off-Broadway musical that he produced, which was loosely based on Beatles’ 1967 heralded concept album. It told the story of a beloved, multigenerational small-town band (Frampton and the Bee Gees) seduced by the evils of the music industry.
He packed the production with pop and movie stars who perhaps should’ve known better and hoped the music would serve as a plot. Or that moviegoers would be distracted by flowing man hair, skintight spandex and then white-hot comedian Steve Martin doing his thing as a crackpot dentist.
Mere weeks into the production, signs were everywhere that failure was afoot.
1 The Bee Gees tried to bail two weeks in
Universal/courtesy Everett Collection
Though Saturday Night Fever made them superstars, the brothers Gibb quickly realized they’d been duped by The Beatles’ involvement in Pepper’s. And, in a disastrous and highly publicized move, Robin Gibb opined that their pop-shlock version of the Fab Four’s tunes would usurp the Beatles’ masterpiece in young moviegoers’ minds. But they stuck it out, and rarely mentioned the film or the soundtrack again.
2 Frampton wanted out, too
Stigwood also oversold the Beatles’ enthusiasm for the film to its lead. Frampton was riding high on the success of his 1976 smash Frampton Comes Alive! when he signed on as Billy Shears. Only then did he learn that the Beatles wanted no part in the film.
“It was a disaster from the beginning,” Frampton eventually told Yahoo Entertainment. “Once I arrived on the set that first day, I guess I could have walked off, but it would have probably cost millions, and I’d have got sued and everything. So, I just went along with it at that point.” And millions of young ladies were grateful for it.
3 Billy Preston was the only musical member of the cast to play with the Beatles
Universal/courtesy Everett Collection
Preston, sometimes known as “the Fifth Beatle” since he appeared on numerous Beatles recordings, cameoed in the film as the gilded, reanimated Sgt. Pepper weathervane who encouraged the band to “Get Back” to where they once belonged.
4 Frampton played guitar on the Barry Gibb-penned song “Grease”
Gibb had invited Framptin to sing and provide backing vocals on the Frankie Valli title track for the Grease soundtrack. But that didn’t equate with the Bee Gees’ respect for Peter’s acting talents on the set of Pepper’s. Rumor has it the Bee Gees might have preferred their baby brother Andy in the role.
5 Grease’s Olivia Newton-John passed on playing Strawberry Fields
Universal/courtesy Everett Collection
Rock Hudson and Doris Day refused to play Strawberry’s mom and dad. Donna Summer turned down Lucy. And Bob Hope said no to Mr. Kite, so Beatles fan George Burns stepped in.
6 KISS told Stigwood to kiss off
Instead of playing the Future Villain Band — a role that went to a slinky Steven Tyler and Aerosmith, who, critics agree, were a rare Pepper’s highlight — the makeup-loving rockers made the 1978 TV movie, KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park. Even ardent KISS fans hated the low budget camp-fest, and most band members refused to talk about the movie. Mick Jagger also passed on the chance to play a solo Future Villain.
7 Alice Cooper checked himself out of rehab to play bad guy Father Sun
Universal/courtesy Everett Collection
His ballerina wife, Sheryl, also tagged along to play a dancer. Cooper’s appearance earned Lennon’s only stamp of approval from the production.
8 That was probably Frampton’s actual dog in his misty memories of Strawberry Fields
A large German Shepherd Dog accompanies Frampton’s Billy Shears and his beloved Strawberry (Sandy Farina, in her first and last movie role) as they frolic through Billy’s grief-stricken memories. Though he isn’t credited, the fluffy pooch is likely Frampton’s real-life beloved Rocky, whom he honored with the tune “Rocky’s Hot Club” on Frampton Comes Alive!
9 Stigwood went all in on the film’s bizarro musical finale
Engraved invites were sent to a massive roster of celebrities, including Carol Channing, Keith Carradine, Leif Garrett, Sha-Na-Na, Etta James and Tina Turner, most of whom didn’t know the words. The “Special Guests” who accepted were treated to individual limos, luxe hotel rooms, sumptuous eat and drink and private tents onset.
10 The premiere was unattended by some and hated by others
Though John Lennon and George Harrison passed, Sir Paul McCartney and Sir Ringo Starr both attended — and hated — the premiere. Harrison later expressed sympathy from the movie’s devastating impact on the Bee Gees’ and Frampton’s careers.
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May 2019
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