Acknowledgement: Rolling Stone Magazine - the Beatles antology - the Beatles Bible -
Roy Orbison's son Alex has acquired the movie rights to The Beatle Who Vanished, a book about Jimmie Nicol, the drummer who briefly filled in for a tonsillitis-ridden Ringo Starr during the Beatles' 1964 tour. "The arc of Jimmie Nicol as a person and the overall ride of his intersection with that historic high point of what seemed to be the beginnings of Beatlemania," Alex Orbison told Billboard after purchasing the rights to Jim Berkenstadt's 2013 book.
"In June 1964, the world tour began. We went to Scandinavia, Holland, Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand. Ringo missed part of the tour because he was in hospital with tonsillitis. We couldn't cancel, so the idea was to get a stand-in. We got Jimmie Nicol, a session drummer from London. He played well - obviously not the same as Ringo, but he covered well.
It wasn't an easy thing for Jimmie to stand in for Ringo, and have all that fame thrust upon him. And the minute his tenure was over, he wasn't famous any more: 'I was the guy who stood in for Ringo!' But he did great and Ringo joined us out in Australia when he had recovered."
Paul McCartney
Anthology
The day before the Beatles were scheduled to embark on a world tour in June 1964, Starr was hospitalized with tonsilitis and pharyngitis. Unable to postpone the trek, the Beatles hired, on George Martin's recommendation, 24-year-old Nicol to fill in for Starr; Nicol previously drummed on a cash-grab Beatles covers album and thus already knew the songs, the Beatles Bible writes.
Nicol's tenure with the Beatles lasted 13 days, 10 concerts and one TV appearance before Starr rejoined the group in Australia. Beatles manager Brian Epstein gave Nicol a £500 check, a watch inscribed "From The Beatles and Brian Epstein to Jimmy - with appreciation and gratitude" and a ride to the airport.
They nearly didn't do the Australia tour. George [Harrison] is a very loyal person, and he said, 'If Ringo's not part of the group, it's not The Beatles. I don't see why we should do it, and I'm not going to.' It took all of Brian's and my persuasion to tell George that if he didn't do it he was letting everybody down.
Jimmie Nicol was a very good drummer, who came along and learnt Ringo's parts well. Obviously, he had to rehearse with the guys. They came and worked through all the songs at Abbey Road so he got to know them. He did the job excellently, and faded into obscurity immediately afterwards.
George Martin
Anthology
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On 3 June 1964 George Martin called Nicol, on the order of Brian Epstein, inviting him to become a temporary Beatle. At the time he was at his home in Barnes, west London.
Nicol's first rehearsal with The Beatles was at 3pm that day at Abbey Road, and lasted just one hour. It wasn't captured on tape, but studio records show that they performed six songs from The Beatles' current stage routine: I Want To Hold Your Hand, She Loves You, I Saw Her Standing There, This Boy, Can't Buy Me Love and Long Tall Sally.
"The boys were very kind but I felt like an intruder. They accepted me but you can't just go into a group like that - they have their own atmosphere, their own sense of humour. It's a little clique and outsiders just can't break in." Jimmy Nicol
