In late1962 Albert Grossman brought Bob Dylan over to England to perform in a beatnik style drama called "Madhouse on Castle Street" for BBC 2. The play was written by Evan Jones and directed by Philip Saville. The production featured a young Bob Dylan, who was soon to become a major star. (You can find the full 57 minute documentary on You Tube. I was unable to upload it here.)
The original film was made between December 18th,1962 and finished by January 3rd, 1963 and broadcast on January 13th. Starring David Warner, Maureen Pryor, James Mellor, and Ursula Howells, the play was about a young man who is so disillusioned with society that he decides to lock himself in his room until society changes. That part was supposed to be played by Bob Dylan, but his inability to learn his lines changed that. Another problem was keeping him on the set. He kept wandering off to smoke pot.
The play was made with electronic video cameras, but recorded onto film rather than tape. No full copy of the show survives because in those days BBC erased the tapes for re-use. Britain was still suffering shortages of everything due to the Second World War. There were just 2 copies left, but these, too, were destroyed in 1968, which is odd because by that time Dylan was a world wide sucess.
Peppered with hits of the time, the archival footage provides an insight into the winter of 1962, which was one of the coldest on record.
Dylan performed 2 songs, "Ballad of a Gliding Star" and "Blowing in the Wind." His "minder" for the week was Andrew Loog Oldham. He earned £5 for the trouble. This was just before he began to manage the Rolling Stones.
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