1965 at the Piper Club in Rome

Rita swings at the Piper Club in Rome accompanied by British band The Talismen in 1965.

Geraldine Chaplin unwinds at the Piper Club while Rita Pavone blasts away with The Talismen...

Geraldine Chaplin dances away with Manuelo Velasquez, a Spanish camera-man she met while shooting 'Dr. Zhivago' in Spain.

Rita arrives at the Piper Club in Rome under police protection 24 November 1965.

Rita Pavone breaks into a popular number at a night-club in Rome on 24 November 1965. The singer, Italy’s favourite, needed police protection from her ardent fans when she arrived at the Piper Club. She also protected her voice by wrapping her face in a warm muffler. UPI telephoto. 

The Rokes performances at the Piper Club were notorious...

British band The Talismen win a beat band contest sponsored by Record Mirror at Wimbledon in London some time in 1965 (no date, sorry). By August they were all living and working at RAI TV in Rome, Italy where they supported Rita Pavone in her 4-week TV variety show 'Stasera... Rita'. 

Just like the atmosphere of a Cup Final. Only more so – there were  11 different sets of fans all setting up a-roaring and a-yelling. The grand final of the Record Mirror-sponsored ‘All Britain Beat Contest ‘65’ went off violently well at Wimbledon Palais on Sunday evening.

A crowd of 3,000 jam-packed, shoulder-to-shoulder. Banners fluttering and flailing. Roars of approval. And a near breaking-point atmosphere of tension. Tension which went on after the constest in the judges’ room.

 For there was, on actual marking, a dead-heat for first place. Five judges, allocating up to 45 marks per group, had (to the exact half-point) a tie between The Talismen, from Portsmouth, and Themselves, from Hounslow. The individual sections (presentation, original number, musical ability) were re-checked. And it came down to a casting vote from the judges.

The Talismen (two guitars, drums, vocalist) won by a whisker. The Talismen get a contract with Decca Records, two amplifiers from Messrs. Burns (valued 200 pounds), and a set of suits from West End tailor Harry Fenton, and a publishing contract with Keith Prowse Music . For Themselves, there is a recording test with Decca, plus a Burns’ amplifier valued at 75 pounds. The Daltons, from Crawley, came third and The Cosmic Sounds, from Chessington, were fourth. Both get recording tests with Decca. 

Standard among the eleven competing groups were exceptionally, surprisingly, high. Good, well-varied programmes: each group was allowed twelve minutes to show their pace. Order of playing was fixed by a ‘lucky draw’, but again one felt sorry for The Flexmen, who were drawn to open the proceedings. Again, though, someone has to start the show...

Competing groups not mentioned so far were: The Sidekicks, The Minute Men, The Barracudas, The Southbeats, The Rojeens, The M.L. 4. For all of them, it had been a long trail, through the contest heats over the past few months.

Judges? Bill Phillips represented Keith Prowse Music; Dick Rowe, Decca recording manager, watched for future talent; talented songstress Barbara Kay deputized for Vicki Wickham, who was ill; Chris Roberts was there from Burns’ musical instruments sale; and myself, Peter Jones, Record Mirror.