Category: Music

K3 Kaput

And so it’s farewell. Sunday in Rotterdam, Holland, Kathleen Aerts appeared with Karen Damen and Kristel Verbeke for the last time. K3 — in my opinion one of the very best Pop music girl groups ever assembled — is no more.

Watching the video, to me it appears the farewell performance had little energy and excitement. A replacement for Kathleen will soon be selected, but K3 won’t be the same. I had the same feeling when David Duchovney left “The X-Files.”

More videos from last weekend’s Summer Festival have appeared.

Catch Prue If You Can

For its American release, the 1965 Dave Clark Five movie “Catch Us If You Can” was given the title “Having a Wild Weekend.” If you look quickly, you can catch a couple glimpses of Prue Bury, where she’s made up to look almost like the original Goth girl!

Prue Berry in “Catch Us If You Can”

Prue even dances with… the Wolfman?? There’s a costume party later in the movie with a man dressed as Frankenstein.

Prue Berry in “Catch Us If You Can”

The gent with the hat is Clive Swift, best known as Richard Bucket, the long-suffering husband in the English TV series “Keeping Up Appearances.” Here’s one last quick shot of Prue that I found.

Prue Bury in “Catch Us If You Can”

Anna Quayle in AHDN and beyond

One of the best of the many memorable vignettes in “A Hard Day’s Night” is the exchange between John and “Millie,” played by the wonderful character actress Anna Quayle. In this video is the full scene, followed by Quayle a few years later in an episode of “The Avengers”, and then in a brief role from the 1981 production of “Brideshead Revisited.” Nickolas Grace is the outrageous Anthony Blanche, with a performance that’s over-the-top, yet more reserved than Tim Curry probably would have done it. I end the clip with Anna Quayle talking about her part in AHDN.

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Another AHDN Girl

Along with Prudence Bury, another appearance in “A Hard Day’s Night” that isn’t credited in the film is Margaret Nolan, who was with Paul’s grandfather at the Baccarat table. The scene is an obvious parody of Sean Connery’s introduction in “Dr. No.” I see the James Bond movies as having been the first wave of the British Invasion, helping pave the way for the Beatles. I’ve put together a video with Margaret Nolan in AHDN, followed by a clip from another famous 1964 movie she was in, that I’m sure you know well.

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In 1965, Margaret Nolan was in the Gerry and the Pacemakers movie, “Ferry Cross the Mercy.” Never released on video, it was produced by Beatles manager Brian Epstein, with music by George Martin and cinematography by Gilbert Taylor, who also shot “A Hard Day’s Night.” Do you recognize somebody else in this clip who was in AHDN?

Prudence Berry Bury

Here is another take of Prue Bury’s ex-husband, Terry Hooper, from the DVD of “A Hard Day’s Night.” There are a few seconds of the familiar scene with Prue, Pattie Boyd and Paul McCartney, along with a tantalizing, all-too-brief 5-second candid clip of Prue having her hair fussed over by Betty Glasow.

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As you can see, Prue’s name is misspelled, but at least it was done phonetically.

I pronounce it Berry! A curious name as my father was Belgien !!

A friend from Belgium tells me that “Bury” is indeed not a typical Belgian name. The spelling error occurs in two other places that I know of. First, elsewhere in the “Making of ‘A Hard Day’s Night'” documentary…

Isla Blair, Prudence Bury, Pattie Boyd

… and also in the book, “A Hard Day’s Night: The British Film Guide“.

AHDN cast list

I wonder if Prue’s name was originally penciled in as “Berry” when she gave it on the set back in ’64, and that’s why the error has been repeated? Today she is Prudence Bury-Fuchs, and she lives in France. Prue enjoys putting on stage shows, and in fact she did one called “Daisy Daisy” (if I have the date right) just this past week.

Prue Bury in \

And here is lovely Prue, performing! As Prue’s fan Lia Pamina says, she’s “so cool!”

Prue Bury and friends

Prudence is tentatively scheduled to appear at a Beatles weekend in Ouistreham Normandie (Normandy), France, this coming November 5-8.

Prue was a model for designer Mary Quant, who popularized the miniskirt. I’d like to ask Prue what she thought of the way that the Sixties youth culture went from high fashion on Carnaby Street in Swinging London, to being grungy Hippies in torn jeans and t-shirts?

I am delighted to have found gorgeous and gracious Prudence Bury-Fuchs, and to get to know her a tiny bit. Here’s to you, Prue! (With a little luck I should soon be seeing you in that other movie you told me about.)