Customer Reviews

The Longest Cocktail Party: An Insider's Diary of The Beatles, Their Million-Dollar 'Apple' Empire and Its Wild Rise and Fall

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This is not exactly a traditional look at historic subjects, a comprehensive biography - or anything like it.

What this is, is a taste of what it was like to be in the midst of the heady days of the Beatles' Apple Corps. We get to meet, hear and see an ever-changing cast of strange characters, bits of juicy gossip, weird goings-on and the like.

DiLello makes no effort to be comprehensive, detailed or offer any scholarly insights. That's not what this book is about, nor for. It's a recollection of his time in what happened to be the pop music hotspot of the 60s, and nothing more. For that, he's done a terrific job of re-creating the times, and this is a book that might not open any new areas of scholarship, but is really about as much fun reading as you can find.

Mojo Books has reissued 1972's Playboy Press classic "The Longest Cocktail Party," an account of the days (high, absurd, and finally waning) at the Beatles Apple Corps, Ltd. in London from 1968 to 1970. Refreshing for its irreverent attitude toward the Fabs, the book gives the reader a vivid sense of what life in the late 60's was like inside the hallowed sanctum of 95 Wigmore Street, London, surely one of hippiedom's central, if exclusive, centers of revolutionary mellow-vibed power. That the hapless Beatles were trying to make up a new kind of hip, human corporation as they went along (without any earthly precedent), and that there were any number of variously motivated hip entrepreneurs willing to pitch in (or at least lounge about with a rum & coke) makes Apple's relative success all the more impressive. This book tells how they did it.

"The Longest Cocktail Party" reads like a diary, filled with short illustrative stories, and one can't help smile at the well-meaning if naive ideas that seemed to fill the very air. For those who missed those heady days (or forgot them altogether) the idealism, earnestness & naivete are all a bit touching. DiLello keeps the tone light and nonjudgmental, and the anecdotes are never less than entertaining. It's all here: the failed Apple boutique, the lovable charlatan Magic Alex forever refining his imminent technological marvels, the endless parade of squatters, hopefuls & pie-eyed pilgrims hoping for a glimpse, never mind an audience with the Royals.

Our author used his vague contacts & native American hipsterism to impress himself as essential to the Beatle's Press Officer, Mr Derek Taylor. Our opportunistic narrator installs himself at Apple as "House Hippie," eventually parlaying the position to a brief role as Director of Public Relations. One disappointment is that, given his first and last obligation to Press Officer Taylor, firsthand anecdotes directly relating to the Fabs are a bit thin. Given the circus described it's not hard to see why the Beatles themselves were a rare sight in the Apple offices; the few times they do appear it is usually with chaotic if not downright unpleasant results. No matter, though-- the daily life at Apple was a riot in it's own right of visiting Hells Angels, merry buffets, and even the appearance of writer Ken Kesey who had been signed to a spoken word contract. Still, at the heart of the firm there was Apple Records to be managed, and DiLello does an admirable job detailing the daily operation of the label; signing & promotional shenanigans for White Trash (later rechristened Badfinger), provincial singer Mary Hopkin, the Modern Jazz Quartet, even, and a very young James Taylor. Naturally none of these acts even approached profitable, and Apple's operations naturally focused on the promotion, management, and whims of the four main breadwinners. DeLillo relates a not atypical request from John & Yoko to locate and post some hundreds of acorns in clear mylar boxes to world leaders as a peace offering, and much of Apple (and the latter part of the book) detail the new couple's combination of conceptual art and press management. From John & Yoko's marriage fiasco, their various Bed-Ins and work for peace, the suddenly unmanageable and venomous press, it's all there from an insider's perspective. Inevitably the book closes with details of the extended legal wrangling that brought Apple Corps, Ltd and the attendant cocktail party to a final close. Completists and purists will be happy to find reprints of the legal transcripts that served as Apple's epitaph and the Beatles death knell.

This reviewer's honest impression is that the book was written in 1972 as a quick attempt to cash in on the author's proximity to a rare and unique period in time and place, but this alone is not enough to withhold recommendation. For the Beatle fan it is an essential read, a must-have, and even for the casual observer it is a fascinating tale of money, hubris, and the usual good and bad intentions found where humans tread. That four well-meaning lads with more money than God and a gaggle of hangers-on struggled to make their own sense of a time never seen before or repeated exactly again, a time no one has even yet adequately explained, well, at the very least it makes for good history. Besides its wealth of ripping good yarns and Beatle-stories found nowhere else "The Last Cocktail Party" may find value to future readers as an anecdotal primary history on the birth and consequences of what came to be called Super Stardom.

In early 1968, The Beatles formed "Apple," a company they could call their own. One that would produce not only their own records but the music of talented newcomers. It had an electronics division, a films section, a fashion store and an avant-garde recording label called "Zapple." It was a bold experiment that crashed in a heap due to poor management and divisions within the group. By early 1971 it was all over, as were The Beatles.

Richard Dilello (or The House Hippie as he calls himself) became an assistant in the press office and was witness to all the comings-and-goings. This is his chronicle of the rise and fall of the Apple empire from the trenches.
Dilello provides a breezy, diary-like account of the company and the times in which they were set. His fly-on-the-wall memoir is often very amusing and descriptive, providing Beatle fans with a real feel for the era and the Apple dream.

Unfortunately, although he covers the surface adequately, he rarely scratches it and the book lacks a depth that one would expect from someone so close to the action. He never really forwards an opinion (his opinion) of any of The Beatles or Yoko Ono or Allan Klein or Derek Taylor or Mary Hopkin or Jackie Lomax or any of the other players in this significant part of Beatle history. It's almost as if he were scared of offending people and wanted to write a book that everybody would like. Consequently, it comes across as an overlong, detailed report written through rose-colored glasses. Perhaps this is how he genuinely saw it, but the flip, anecdotal voice of the text, over depth and analysis makes this book less than what it could have been.

For readers wishing to know more about The Beatles, there are better books out there. For Beatle fans, this is indeed a book that belongs on your bookshelf, as it has historic interest but it's not the must-have that you may think it is and you may be disappointed at what it fails to deliver given the promises made on the cover notes.

Originally published in 1972, it was reprinted in 2000 with a new foreword by Dilello. The book also features several appendices including: A chronology from 1962-1968, Beatles' tour information and a Beatle discography which includes recordings from other Apple artists.

My old paperback is in my safety deposit box! This book tells more about the corruption that follows genius than any other...and it is extremely funny.The strange traffic at Apple is more interesting than the infrequent glimpses of the Beatles themselves. I am still grateful to the House Hippie for writing it all down. It would have been too easy just to sit in the lobbey and let it all wash over him.

I guess there are times this book is funny but I found it to be EXTREMELY sad. Apple was intended by the Beatles to be a clearing house for creativity but the Apple management lacked vision and organizational abilities. As a result the whole enterprise was a money wasting disaster that raised a lot of people's expectations and delivered only one English folkie and the short-lived band 'Badfinger'. James Taylor, discovered by Apple, was mismanaged and ultimately had to leave in order to start his career!

To me one of the most illuminating passages in the story is when DeLillo describes hopeful photographers presenting their portfolios for consideration at the press office, unaware that in reality all photo contracts were handled through old-fashioned cronyism. And the press office was the closest thing to effectiveness at Apple! And boxes of mouldering poetry in the 'black hole' closet...

Bought "The Longest Cocktail Party" at O'Hare Airport at a paperback kiosk for about $1.95. It was published by Playboy Press. Loaned it to...who knows. Now it's a special order at $40! Argghh! Definetly the best, if not only, insight on the daily workings at the Beatles "Apple Corps" company during the time that the Beatles were still together. Richard Di Lello (last I knew a Hollywood scriptwriter) was a young American hippy who became intimately involved with Apple as a photographer, and chronicles the idealistic rise, and ultimately ego driven fall of Apple (you can easily surmise the egos involved, god love 'em). Hilarious stories include Di Lello sitting in a cafe and hearing some arrogant prig say, "cut yer hair", with Di Lello turning to confront said prig, and finding the owner of the voice to be Paul McCartney. There's also Lauren Becall (sp?) bringing her kids to meet The Beatles, and George Harrison being frightened away by her son with, who was it, Jason Robards? It's been awhile. Gotta read it. It's much funnier than I can tell. Hey, pick me and you can forget the hundred bucks. Just send this book. I can't believe I let it go.

Of all the Beatles books I've ever read, this one is hands-down the oddest. Not an exhaustively checked fact fest, but more of a space cadet memoir, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Richard Dilello was the "house hippie" at the Beatles Apple offices, a position that allowed him a ringside seat for what had to be one of the most entertaining, misguided, and heartbreaking business ventures ever conceived. It has its moments, quite a few of them actually, but the whole thing is awash in a tide of sadness because we all know how things turned out in the end.

The most remarkable thing about this book is how it got there at all.
It wasn't written after the event but as it happenned and was made as a sort of Diary.
Its also great to read as a third person narrative.
The author doesn't parade his own opinions about anything he just tells it as it was.
More or less in on the ground floor as Apple began
For a more definitive account of Apple read THOSE WERE THE DAYS,published by Cherry Red

This book was great for an insider view...which is rare. Its amazing there aren't more like this, but I've read the Beatles kept a "close friends" only atmosphere.
The book was full of hippie dazes and a bizarre insight to the times. After reading so many Beatle books I found this a really refreshing read.
If you like this one you also might like APPLE TO THE CORE...

If you like reading Beatles books, this is one of the better ones. Not just a re-hash of the same old, this is fresh and alive.