McCartney Times

Oscar-winning director Ron Howard brings you closer to The Beatles than ever with unseen footage and intimate interviews in ‘The Beatles: Eight Days a Week – The Touring Years.'(Photo: Central Press, Getty Images)Being a Beatle was the best — except for when it wasn’t.Ron Howard’s new documentary Eight Days a Week: The Touring Years (now on Hulu; expands to additional theaters Friday; out Nov. 18 on Blu-ray/DVD) captures the exhilarating highs of Beatlemania, while being fairly frank about the mortifying lows.A few of the latter that were shared with USA TODAY:1: Strangers were constantly in their hair. Literally.“There were always people like this as we went into the gate,” says Ringo Starr, crooking his fingers through a pretend chain-link fence. In Wales, “I remember it so well,” one determined fan resolutely grabbed hold of the drummer’s shaggy locks.The crowds in Washington were even bolder. At a reception at the British ambassador’s house in 1964, a woman wielding a pair of scissors famously helped herself to a lock of Starr’s hair. “And we thought, ‘No, no, NO,’ ” says Paul McCartney.“We thought it would be quite a cool crowd,” he adds. “But they weren’t cool at all.”

Source: Five times when it wasn’t much fun being a Beatle