[1]Homepage

[1]Homepage

Accessibility links

* [2]Skip to content
* [3]Accessibility Help

[4]BBC Account
[5]Notifications
* [6]Home
* [7]News
* [8]Sport
* [9]Weather
* [10]iPlayer
* [11]Sounds
* [12]CBBC
* [13]CBeebies
* [14]Food
* [15]Bitesize
* [16]Arts
* [17]Taster
* [18]Local
* [19]Three
* [20]Menu

[21]Search
Search the BBC ____________________ (BUTTON) Search the BBC

[22]Culture [23]Menu
* Home
* Film
* Art
* Books
* TV
* Photography
* Featured section
Designed
* Featured section
Culture in Quarantine
*

(Credit: Bill Ande at billande.com)
* [24]Music
* [25]Pop music

How the fake Beatles conned South America

In 1964, South American fans eagerly awaited the arrival of the Fab
Four – but four Americans named Tom, Vic, Bill and Dave turned up
instead. It’s a bizarre story of a con gone wrong, writes Ed Prideaux.
* [26]Share on Facebook
* [27]Share on Twitter
* [28]Share on Reddit
* [29]Share on WhatsApp
* [30]Share on Google+
* [31]Share by Email

* [32]Share on Facebook
* [33]Share on Twitter
* [34]Share on Reddit
* [35]Share on StumbleUpon
* [36]Share on Google+
* [37]Share by Email

* By Ed Prideaux

24 April 2020

In the spring of 1964, as Beatlemania swept the world, newspaper
headlines announced that The Beatles would be travelling to South
America that summer. Millions awaited their arrival with bated breath
– and in July, when four young moptops descended into Buenos Aires
Airport, it seemed that teenage dreams were about to come true.

More like this:
- [38]The surprising tale of Kylie’s hotpants
- [39]The soft power roots of K-pop
- [40]Liverpool’s alternative Fab Four

The Beatles were actually nowhere near Argentina at the time. The
British group – who split 50 years ago this month – were back home in
London, on a rare rest stop between concerts and recording. But with or
without their knowledge, four young guys from Florida named Tom, Vic,
Bill and Dave had taken their place.

There had been a terrible mix-up.

[41]View image of (Credit Bill Ande at billande.com)

Previously a bar band called The Ardells, the quartet were now 'The
American Beetles', or sometimes just 'The Beetles' for short. "When The
Beatles got to be famous," their manager Bob Yorey recalls in [42]The
Day The Beatles Came To Argentina, a 2017 documentary directed by
Fernando Pérez, "I said, 'You know what? They’re the English Beatles.
I’m gonna make up a group…'

We wore our hair the same, we dressed the same, we wore suits. It
was pretty good – Bill Ande

"I got these four guys and I said, 'Listen. Grow your hair and we’re
gonna call you ‘The American Beetles'.’" They duly obliged. "We wore
our hair the same, we dressed the same, we wore suits. It was pretty
good", Bill Ande, their lead guitarist, tells BBC Culture, over the
phone. Both a joke and a timely cash-grab, the group’s rebrand had won
them big crowds and fresh attention from promoters back home.

An impresario named Rudy Duclós spotted them in a Miami club. He was
from Argentina, he explained, and he was keen to book them on a tour of
South America. Yet in selling the group to promoters and venues, Duclós
hadn’t quite mentioned the 'American Beetles' part. He’d pitched them
as the real thing. Contracts were signed, the press was primed, and
teenagers anxiously awaited their arrival. The Beatles were coming.

Carlos Santino was a child in 1964. "I remember the moment when they
announced that The Beatles [would] come to Argentina because of my
cousin", Santino recalls in the Pérez documentary. "She was going
nuts".

[43]View image of (Credit: Fernando Perez)

In Peru, [44]headlines in La Crónica and La Prensa declared that 'The
Famous Beatles Would Come in May' and that 'Channel 4 is finalising the
contract'.

Duclós soon conned the band a spot on Argentinian TV. "I was working at
the video room, and we couldn't believe it ourselves that The Beatles
would be coming here. Alejandro Romay [the media mogul]… claimed to
have secured a fabulous deal", recalled Roberto Monfort, an employee of
Channel 9 at the time.

'Between indignation and laughter'

Competition for The American Beetles had been so hot, in fact, that
both Channel 13 and Channel 9 in Argentina had booked them for the same
night, and a mediation was arranged on the band's arrival at Buenos
Aires Airport. While Channel 9 held the upper hand through an
enforceable contract, Channel 13's close ties to local authorities soon
afforded them the winning ticket. But not for long. Alejandro Romay,
Channel 9’s slick-haired chairman, had little time for such details. He
called Karadajian, a star in a contemporary wrestling show called
Titanes in el Ring (Titans in the Ring), and asked him to bring his
"heavyweights" for an "unorthodox" solution. "The bouncers went right
over to the five boys, and they practically hung them over their
shoulders", Romay explained [45]in a 1998 interview with Zoo TV.

When they went on air – the people realised that they were not the
real Beatles, but the fake Beatles

"Everybody was chasing them: the police, the people from Channel 13,
the judge", Romay added. "... Already in Palermo [a neighbourhood in
Buenos Aires], I had the trucks and everything set up. We got
there, "went to a hotel [in] the suburbs in San Telmo that nobody knew
about and we locked them up."

More than 50 years later, though, details can get a little hazy. For
all the swiftness of Romay's "unorthodox" capture, it seems that
Channel 13 temporarily stole at least one member back. Bill Ande tells
BBC Culture that "when we got off the plane, they took us to a TV
station", where "[our] drummer was kidnapped by a different station and
they went through a whole thing to get him back".

[46]View image of (Credit: Uruguay Press)

'Kidnappings' and TV wrestlers aside, the band soon made it to Channel
9 in one piece. They were the main act booked on a programme called The
Laughter Festival, and an excited assembly of wide-eyed teenagers filed
neatly into the stands. The American Beetles waited behind the camera,
guitars and sticks at the ready, as the host issued his opening
proclamation. Carlos Santino’s cousin was, again, "going nuts". Then
the camera turned towards the band. "When she saw it wasn’t Paul
McCartney who was coming out from behind the curtain, she started to
cry inconsolably" he said. Roberto Monfort, the Channel 9 employee who
had been amazed at the first announcement, recalls that disillusionment
set in fast. "When they went on air, yes – the people realised that
they were not the real Beatles, but the fake Beatles."

"Between indignation and laughter" is how he summarised much of the
night’s reception. "There were some people who were having fun. But
others were waiting for the real Beatles, and they felt defrauded."

"No, people went crazy! They bought it!", the boss Romay claimed in the
Zoo TV interview. Oddly enough, Romay himself was swept by a change of
heart before the broadcast aired. "I want no part in this lie to the
people. I’ll take a plane and go to Punta del Este [a beach resort]",
Romay remembered telling staff. "I don’t want to know a thing about
what’s going on." At the same time, though, his new-found conscience
hadn’t stopped him reaping the rewards. "We had 63 rating points with
The Beetles. I think it was the highest peak in the [channel’s]
history."

Counterculture backlash

A country had been conned. But while their Channel 9 appearance had
avoided outright hostility, The American Beetles’ later concerts were a
different story altogether. "I remember in some of the soccer
auditoriums, you had a few guys throwing coins", says Bob, the band’s
manager. "Mostly everybody really liked our music and what we were
doing. It was usually a certain element of people – jealous guys, you
know", remembers Bill. "Sometimes they’d throw coins. Maybe rocks. We’d
do a concert and have to get the hell out!"

The South American press were less forgiving. 'They have hair in their
vocal cords! They sing bad, but they act worse!' went one headline.
'The Beetles showed that all the talent they have is in their hair!'
screamed another. [47]Crónica[48] called the tour 'a farce far greater
than their disputed male presence', and devoted column inches
throughout the month to their attacks. The American Beetles were
'antimelodic', 'howling songwriters', and drew comparisons to los
pelucones, the wig-wearing conservatives of 19th-Century Chile. As for
their singing, reporters claimed bluntly, '…they are awful'.

The state media criticism was so intense that the band gained about
the same quantity of coverage as The Beatles themselves by the end
of 1964

The press response was about far more than music, though, and more than
likely reflected the continent’s troubled political situation.
Argentina and Brazil particularly were governed by right-wing juntas
intent on total control. All aspects of public life – from music and
politics to education – were [49]purged and monitored for liberal
influence. Buenos Aires’ Radio Freedom banned The American Beetles’
music for being "sexually ambiguous" – as described by The
Administrative Commission, an Orwellian state organ that regulated the
press. The state media criticism was so intense, in fact, that the band
gained about the same quantity of coverage as The Beatles themselves by
the end of 1964.

In Spain – likewise caught up in fascism, under Franco – The American
Beetles even formed the scapegoat for an [50]episode of false state
propaganda. Pueblo, a conservative newspaper, wrote salaciously of a
frenzied outburst of vandalism following the band’s performance in
Madrid, with young crowds apparently driven to a deranged violence by
the music. Yet their lead guitarist has no recollection of any such
events having occurred.

[51]View image of (Credit: La Crónica)

Tensions were rumbling. For every song they censored, a counterculture
was growing apace beneath autocrats’ noses. And since the real band
never came, for a new breed of longhairs The American Beetles would
hold a strangely powerful significance. They inspired competitors to
make their own Beatle-posing bands. One Argentine group, [52]Los Buhos,
made headlines that summer. With a name translating as The Owls, the
group’s membership consisted of the parodic Juan, Yusti, Jorge and
Rango, and claimed to Antena magazine that they were "more Beatles than
The Beetles".

Most crucially, a TV performance in Uruguay inspired the formation of a
genuinely nation-shifting band. Led by frontman Hugh Fattoruso, Los
Shakers were a vanguard in the later 'Uruguayan Invasion' in Argentina,
a movement that helped to birth the country’s revolutionary rock
nacional music scene.

"The first time we saw guys with long hair making music was The
American Beetles on TV", Fattoruso said in a 1993 interview with Página
30 magazine. "A week after seeing these guys, news arrives in
Montevideo that there is a group like this in England, and that women
go crazy and the cities stop when they talk about them on the radio."
Like thousands of others, Fattoruso and his brothers soon watched A
Hard Day’s Night at the cinema, and their lives were changed forever.

'A scam with mixed returns'

Even to this day, The Beatles hold a potent spell over much
of [53]Latin America, with Beatle engagement on YouTube in Argentina,
Mexico and Uruguay as high as in the UK. You might wonder, then, why
the real Beatles never made an appearance. As well as housing some of
their most enthusiastic fans, Latin America’s American Beetles’ ruse
had created a clear imperative to dull the confusion. The Beatles
machine had already made important moves in this direction anyway. The
label issued an emergency press release to confirm the falsity of The
Beetles’ persona; merchandise was upgraded to emphasise their English
roots; signs, movie posters and album covers were recast. And when
scores of money could be made, too, why not just make the trip?

In a word: poverty. In 1964, South American markets formed but a
fraction of those in the US, Australia and Europe. Peru, one of the
stop-offs for The American Beetles, had an [54]economy the size of
the [55]UK’s in the aftermath of World War One. The average Brazilian
had an annual income 13 times less than the average American. Venues,
promoters and agents simply couldn’t afford The Beatles’ fee, and the
result was a shortage of supply that The American Beetles were more
than willing to fill.

[56]View image of (Credit: Bill Ande at billande.com)

The American Beetles isn’t just a story of poverty, though. It’s also a
story of deception. It’s a band formed with jokey – if not slightly
grifting – intentions, only to be sucked into a scam with mixed
returns. But whatever the lessons of The American Beetles, one thing is
for sure: they were a silly rock 'n' roll band taking a chance. And
once the tour concluded, the presence of both 'American' and 'Beetles'
in their name made getting any radio airplay a challenge. DJs
apparently prioritised British groups, and the explicit parodic element
made it hard to take them seriously as recorded artists.

They changed their name again to The Razor’s Edge and cut a [57]single
for Pow! Records in 1966. Success eluded them, however, and the band
would go their separate ways by the end of the decade. Following the
recent deaths of Tom Condra and Dave Hieronymus, the band’s drummer and
rhythm guitarist, it’s up to Bill Ande, Vic Gray and their manager Bob
Yorey to carry the legacy.

But for thousands of now-elderly Beatlemaniacos, The American Beetles
will hold an enduring – and no doubt bizarre – place in their hearts.

If you would like to comment on this story or anything else you have
seen on BBC Culture, head over to our [58]Facebook page or message us
on [59]Twitter.

And if you liked this story, [60]sign up for the weekly bbc.com
features newsletter, called The Essential List. A handpicked selection
of stories from BBC Future, Culture, Worklife and Travel, delivered to
your inbox every Friday.

Follow BBC Culture

* Facebook
* Twitter

[61]

Cultural Calendar

Shiota Mori

15

Jun

27

Oct
[62]art
[63]

The Soul Trembles

Op Art, Tate Liverpool

21

Jul

16

Jun
[64]art
[65]

Op Art in Focus

At Home with Art

02

Nov

01

Jul
[66]art
[67]

At Home with Art

Filter events by:
[ ] North America
[ ] Latin America
[ ] Europe
[ ] Middle East and Africa
[ ] Asia
[ ] Australia and New Zealand
Type:
[ ] Art
[ ] Music
[ ] Film
When:
[All______________]
Filter events

*

Explore the BBC

* [68]Home
* [69]News
* [70]Sport
* [71]Weather
* [72]iPlayer
* [73]Sounds
* [74]CBBC
* [75]CBeebies
* [76]Food
* [77]Bitesize
* [78]Arts
* [79]Taster
* [80]Local
* [81]Three

* [82]Terms of Use
* [83]About the BBC
* [84]Privacy Policy
* [85]Cookies
* [86]Accessibility Help
* [87]Parental Guidance
* [88]Contact the BBC
* [89]Get Personalised Newsletters

Copyright © 2020 BBC. The BBC is not responsible for the content of
external sites. [90]Read about our approach to external linking.

References

Visible links
1. https://www.bbc.co.uk/
2. http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20200423-how-the-fake-beatles-conned-south-america#orb-modules
3. https://www.bbc.co.uk/accessibility/
4. https://account.bbc.com/account
5. http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20200423-how-the-fake-beatles-conned-south-america
6. https://www.bbc.co.uk/
7. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news
8. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport
9. https://www.bbc.co.uk/weather
10. https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer
11. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds
12. https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc
13. https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies
14. https://www.bbc.co.uk/food
15. https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize
16. https://www.bbc.co.uk/arts
17. https://www.bbc.co.uk/taster
18. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/localnews
19. https://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcthree
20. http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20200423-how-the-fake-beatles-conned-south-america#orb-footer
21. https://search.bbc.co.uk/search
22. http://www.bbc.com/culture
23. http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20200423-how-the-fake-beatles-conned-south-america#nav-bottom
24. http://www.bbc.com/culture/tags/music
25. http://www.bbc.com/culture/tags/pop-music
26. https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20200423-how-the-fake-beatles-conned-south-america?ocid=ww.social.link.facebook&t=How the fake Beatles conned South America
27. https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=How the fake Beatles conned South America&url=http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20200423-how-the-fake-beatles-conned-south-america?ocid=ww.social.link.twitter&via=BBC_Culture
28. https://www.reddit.com/submit?url=http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20200423-how-the-fake-beatles-conned-south-america?ocid=ww.social.link.reddit&title=How the fake Beatles conned South America
29. whatsapp://send/?text=How the fake Beatles conned South America: http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20200423-how-the-fake-beatles-conned-south-america?ocid=ww.social.link.whatsapp
30. https://plus.google.com/share?url=http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20200423-how-the-fake-beatles-conned-south-america?ocid=ww.social.link.googleplus
31. mailto:?subject=Shared from BBC:How the fake Beatles conned South America&body=http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20200423-how-the-fake-beatles-conned-south-america?ocid=ww.social.link.email
32. https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20200423-how-the-fake-beatles-conned-south-america?ocid=ww.social.link.facebook&t=How the fake Beatles conned South America
33. https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=How the fake Beatles conned South America&url=http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20200423-how-the-fake-beatles-conned-south-america?ocid=ww.social.link.twitter&via=BBC_Culture
34. https://www.reddit.com/submit?url=http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20200423-how-the-fake-beatles-conned-south-america?ocid=ww.social.link.reddit&title=How the fake Beatles conned South America
35. http://www.stumbleupon.com/submit?url=http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20200423-how-the-fake-beatles-conned-south-america?ocid=ww.social.link.stumbleupon
36. https://plus.google.com/share?url=http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20200423-how-the-fake-beatles-conned-south-america?ocid=ww.social.link.googleplus
37. mailto:?subject=Shared from BBC:How the fake Beatles conned South America&body=http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20200423-how-the-fake-beatles-conned-south-america?ocid=ww.social.link.email
38. http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20200314-the-history-of-pop-in-11-objects
39. http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20200309-the-soft-power-roots-of-k-pop
40. http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20200211-the-real-thing-liverpools-alternative-fab-four
41. https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/wwfeatures/wm/live/624_351/images/live/p0/8b/9b/p08b9b77.jpg
42. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaRWOSWg_oU&list=LLizVicShIbnBho95M0EQmTQ&index=2&t=0s
43. https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/wwfeatures/wm/live/624_351/images/live/p0/8b/9b/p08b9b4r.jpg
44. http://www.arkivperu.com/los-beatles-en-peru-1964-65/
45. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVFBw_5W7jk
46. https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/wwfeatures/wm/live/624_351/images/live/p0/8b/99/p08b99sb.jpg
47. http://rodbujan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/tesina-comunicacion-beatles-rodrigo-bujan.pdf#page=77
48. http://rodbujan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/tesina-comunicacion-beatles-rodrigo-bujan.pdf#page=77
49. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/321653872_Tomorrow_never_knows_The_Influence_of_the_Beatles'_Music_in_Brazil
50. http://www.agenteprovocador.es/publicaciones/the-beetles-caos-en-madrid
51. https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/wwfeatures/wm/live/624_351/images/live/p0/8b/9b/p08b9b1f.jpg
52. http://rodbujan.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/tesina-comunicacion-beatles-rodrigo-bujan.pdf#page=69
53. https://chartmasters.org/2019/07/beatles-global-heatmap/
54. https://countryeconomy.com/gdp?year=1964
55. https://www.ukpublicspending.co.uk/spending_chart_1800_1950UKb_17c1li011mcn__UK_Gross_Domestic_Product_GDP_History
56. https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/wwfeatures/wm/live/624_351/images/live/p0/8b/9b/p08b9b83.jpg
57. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=517XQlVCjGg
58. https://www.facebook.com/pages/BBC-Culture/237388053065908
59. https://twitter.com/bbc_culture
60. http://pages.emails.bbc.com/subscribe/
61. http://www.bbc.com/culture/calendar
62. http://www.bbc.com/culture/calendar?type=art
63. http://www.bbc.com/culture/event/20181213-the-soul-trembles
64. http://www.bbc.com/culture/calendar?type=art
65. http://www.bbc.com/culture/event/20180719-op-art-in-focus
66. http://www.bbc.com/culture/calendar?type=art
67. http://www.bbc.com/culture/event/20160916-at-home-with-art
68. https://www.bbc.co.uk/
69. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news
70. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport
71. https://www.bbc.co.uk/weather
72. https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer
73. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds
74. https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc
75. https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies
76. https://www.bbc.co.uk/food
77. https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize
78. https://www.bbc.co.uk/arts
79. https://www.bbc.co.uk/taster
80. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/localnews
81. https://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcthree
82. https://www.bbc.co.uk/usingthebbc/terms/
83. https://www.bbc.co.uk/aboutthebbc
84. https://www.bbc.co.uk/usingthebbc/privacy/
85. https://www.bbc.co.uk/usingthebbc/cookies/
86. https://www.bbc.co.uk/accessibility/
87. https://www.bbc.co.uk/guidance
88. https://www.bbc.co.uk/contact
89. https://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcnewsletter
90. https://www.bbc.co.uk/help/web/links/

Hidden links:
92. http://www.bbc.com/culture
93. http://www.bbc.com/culture/sections/film
94. http://www.bbc.com/culture/sections/art
95. http://www.bbc.com/culture/tags/books
96. http://www.bbc.com/culture/tags/television
97. http://www.bbc.com/culture/tags/photography
98. http://www.bbc.com/culture/designed
99. http://www.bbc.com/culture/tags/culture-in-quarantine
100. https://www.facebook.com/BBCCulture
101. https://twitter.com/BBC_CULTURE
102. http://www.bbc.com/culture/event/20181213-the-soul-trembles
103. http://www.bbc.com/culture/event/20180719-op-art-in-focus
104. http://www.bbc.com/culture/event/20160916-at-home-with-art