''Charlie Is My Darling'', directed by Peter Whitehead and produced by

the Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for over six decades, they are one of the most popular, influential, and enduring bands of the Album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the band pione ...

' manager

Andrew Loog Oldham Andrew Loog Oldham (born 29 January 1944) is an English record producer, talent manager, impresario and author. He was manager and producer of the Rolling Stones from 1963 to 1967, and was noted for his flamboyant style. Early life Oldham's f ...

, was the first

documentary film A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

about the Rolling Stones. Intended as a

screen test A screen test is a method of determining the suitability of an actor or actress for performing on film or in a particular role. It is typically a secondary or later stage in the audition process. The performer is generally given a scene, or sel ...

for the band, to see how their musical charisma would translate into film, the footage was shot during the band's second tour of Ireland on 3 and 4 September 1965, and was finished in the spring of 1966. It was given its premiere at the

Mannheim Film Festival The Mannheim-Heidelberg International Film Festival (), often referred to by the German-language initialism IFFMH, is an annual film festival established in 1952 hosted jointly by the cities of Mannheim and Heidelberg in Baden-Württemberg, the ...

in October 1966. But the film was never officially released, due to the legal fights between the Rolling Stones and

Allen Klein Allen Klein (December 18, 1931 – July 4, 2009) was an American businessman whose aggressive negotiation tactics affected industry standards for compensating recording artists. He founded ABKCO Music & Records Incorporated. Klein increased pr ...

and a burglary in Oldham's office, which saw all prints disappear. Nearly fifty years later, in 2012, a new film using restored footage and entitled ''Charlie Is My Darling – Ireland 1965'' was released by Allen Klein's

ABKCO Records ABKCO Music & Records, Inc. (Allen & Betty Klein Company) is an American independent record label, music publisher, and film and video production company. It owns and/or administers the rights to music by Sam Cooke, the Rolling Stones, the Animal ...

, which owns the rights to all older Stones material. ''Charlie Is My Darling – Ireland 1965'' came about when director

Michael Gochanour Michael "Mick" Gochanour is a Grammy Award-winning American film director, producer, composer, and entertainment executive. He is best known for his filmmaking and film restoration with The Rolling Stones, Alejandro Jodorowsky and Sam Cooke. As ...

discovered additional unprocessed footage of the 1965 Rolling Stones screen test. Gochanour spent two years editing and remixing the '60s material, adding a story line and synching music to Rolling Stones concert footage that had originally been filmed without sound. The result was ''Charlie Is My Darling – 1965''. One of Gochanour's objectives in making the film was "to show The Rolling Stones in a way the world had never seen them before; as a band just coming into their own – raw, visceral, innocent and with purpose." The 64-minute documentary, ''Charlie Is My Darling – Ireland 1965'', follows the Stones (

Mick Jagger Sir Michael Philip Jagger (born 26 July 1943) is an English musician. He is known as the lead singer and one of the founder members of The Rolling Stones. Jagger has co-written most of the band's songs with lead guitarist Keith Richards; Jagge ...

Keith Richards Keith Richards (born 18 December 1943) is an English musician, songwriter, singer and record producer who is an original member, guitarist, secondary vocalist, and co-principal songwriter of the Rolling Stones. His songwriting partnership wi ...

Brian Jones Lewis Brian Hopkin Jones (28 February 1942 – 3 July 1969) was an English musician and founder of the Rolling Stones. Initially a slide guitarist, he went on to sing backing vocals and played a wide variety of instruments on Rolling Stones r ...

Bill Wyman William George Wyman ( né Perks; born 24 October 1936) is an English musician who was the bass guitarist with the rock band the Rolling Stones from 1962 to 1993. Wyman was part of the band's first stable lineup and performed on their first 19 ...

, and

Charlie Watts Charles Robert Watts (2 June 1941 – 24 August 2021) was an English musician who was the drummer of the Rolling Stones from 1963 until his death in 2021. Originally trained as a Graphic designer, graphic artist, Watts developed an interest i ...

) from their car trip out of London to

Heathrow Airport Heathrow Airport , also colloquially known as London Heathrow Airport and named ''London Airport'' until 1966, is the primary and largest international airport serving London, the capital and most populous city of England and the United Kingdo ...

, and from there to

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

where they had two concerts at the Adelphi Theatre on 3 September. The next day they take a train up to

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

for two concerts at the ABC Theatre, before returning to London by plane the following day. Besides stage shots from the concerts (where the second Dublin concert ends in total chaos as fans storm the stage), the film contains scenes from a hotel room in Dublin (where Keith and Mick for fun perform a few

Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

songs as well as a couple of their own), scenes from their train trip to Belfast, another impromptu song session by a piano (with both Keith and Andrew Oldham playing the piano while Mick impersonates

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer and actor. Referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one of the most significant cultural figures of the ...

singing "

Santa Bring My Baby Back (To Me) "Santa Bring My Baby Back (to Me)" is a 1957 Christmas song by Aaron Schroeder and Claude Demetrius, recorded by Elvis Presley. The song was released on the RCA Victor ''Elvis' Christmas Album'' in 1957. Background The song, written by Aaron Sc ...

" and

Fats Domino Antoine Caliste Domino Jr. (February 26, 1928 – October 24, 2017), known as Fats Domino, was an American singer-songwriter and pianist. One of the pioneers of rock and roll music, Domino sold more than 65 million records. Born in New Orl ...

's version of "

Blueberry Hill "Blueberry Hill" is a popular American song published in 1940 and first recorded and released by Sammy Kaye in 1940 on RCA Victor. It is best remembered for its 1950s rock and roll version by Fats Domino. Glenn Miller peaked at no. 2 on the ' ...

"), and finally their flight back to London. Intermixed with this are interviews with the band members where they talk about fame, fans and future. ''Charlie Is My Darling – Ireland 1965'' premiered at the Walter Reade Theater in New York City on 29 September 2012, as part of the 2012

New York Film Festival The New York Film Festival (NYFF) is a film festival held every fall in New York City, presented by Film at Lincoln Center. Founded in 1963 by Richard Roud and Amos Vogel with the support of Lincoln Center president William Schuman, NYFF i ...

, and was released on DVD and Blu-ray in November 2012. On 25 November 2012, it was shown by

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matte ...

as part of BBC's "The Rolling Stones at 50" celebrations. A Super Deluxe Edition box set of the film versions and audio albums was released 13 November 2012 which contained 2 CDs, 10" vinyl, DVD, Blu-ray and a numbered limited edition enlarged film cell in 200+ unique variations.

Awards

''Charlie is My Darling – Ireland 1965'' won the

Grammy Award for Best Historical Album The Grammy Award for Best Historical Album has been presented since 1979 and recognizes achievements in audio restoration. Since this category's creation, the award had several minor name changes: *In 1979 the award was known as Best Historical R ...

at 2014’s

56th Annual Grammy Awards The 56th Annual Grammy Awards presentation was held on January 26, 2014, at Staples Center in Los Angeles. The show was broadcast on CBS at 8 p.m. ET/PT and was hosted for the third time by LL Cool J. The show was moved to January to avoid co ...

''Live 1965: Music from Charlie Is My Darling''

''Live 1965: Music from Charlie Is My Darling'', the audio album featuring the songs in the documentary, was released 24 November 2014 on

as a stand-alone release as a digital download and streaming audio.

Track listing

Charts

References

External links

*
''Variety'', 26 October 1966: ''Charlie is My Darling'', review
Retrieved 2 December 2012
The Arts Desk, 26 November 2012: ''The Story of Charlie Is My Darling''
Retrieved 2 December 2012
Official website for the new, restored version
Retrieved 2 December 2012
Ultimate Classic Rock, November 2012: "The Rolling Stones, ''Charlie is My Darling'' – Ireland 1965" – DVD review
Retrieved 2 December 2012

Retrieved 2 December 2012 {{The Rolling Stones albums 1966 films 1966 short documentary films 1966 independent films Black-and-white documentary films British independent films Films shot in Ireland Rockumentaries The Rolling Stones documentary films 1960s English-language films 1960s British films British musical documentary films English-language documentary films English-language independent films