This Saturday, April 24th is the 45th anniversary of the ‘Saturday Night Live’ episode where producer Lorne Michaels offered The Beatles $3000 to come together and perform on the show.
John Lennon and Paul McCartney were actually watching the show that evening in 1976 in Lennon’s New York City apartment just blocks from where the show was broadcast.
McCartney recalled that night: "We said, 'Come on, should we go? It's just down the road.' And for half a second we nearly went. Well that was like as near as it got, you know. Money wasn't good enough."
The very next day, April 25th, Paul again stopped by Lennon’s apartment, but wasn’t welcomed in this time.In 1980, Lennon recalled telling McCartney, "It's not 1956, and turning up at the door isn't the same anymore." The two of them never saw one another again.
Months later during a November, 1976 ‘SNL’ show, George Harrison made an appearance and brought up the $3000 offer…saying, “I’ve come all this way. It’s $3000. That was the deal!”
Michaels replied back to Harrison: "You see, I thought that you would understand, you know, that it was $3000 for four people, that it would just be $750 for each of you. I mean, as far as I’m concerned, you could have the full $3000. But the network...”
[Source: Classic Hits Today]