Ray & Raita Landing In Geneva (1964)

In the 60s Ray Charles’ – sometimes almost yearly – arrival at a local national airport regularly made it to TV news broadcasts (in France it would even remain a yearly ritual well until the 90s). Here is a 17-second clip with footage from his landing at Cointrin Airport in Geneva, together with his girlfriend Raita Outinen (aka Johnson), in August 1964, from the French-Swiss news programme Carrefour.

The caption on the website of the Swiss TV archive adds the date 7 August to the clip, but that should probably be the 3d*, the date of the news paper clipping (left). On the 4th Ray performed at La Patinoire in Geneva (a “Triomphe”, Le Temps wrote).

* On August 3 Ray was seenat Schiphol Amsterdam Airport; in Geneva he landed with Dutch carrier KLM Airlines.