Reporter, Ed Rudy was lucky enough to travel with the Beatles when they first arrived in America. In continuation of the 50th Anniversary of the Beatles, I am posting all three parts of Ed Rudy's story that he originally wrote in 1964. I found these three parts re-published in the fanzine 'With a little help from my friends.' Part one was from the January 1984 issue which was celebrating the Beatles 20th anniversary. While there are some things in this article that we know now to be different (such as who said what at the press conference) it is always interesting to read something written at the time.
The first American Tour of the Beatles…from Start to Finish
By Ed Rudy (1964)
Beatlesmania and the Beatles is the story of the two most hectic and gear weeks in my life and it shall always be a long-remembered and cherished moment of my lifetime.I was one of the privileged few—the only American newsman-announcer that took the entire U.S.A. tour with the Beatles.It was exciting and fab all the way.Every hour of every day was packed with interesting events and the greetings, from Beatle fans everywhere, were unbelievable.Somewhere, during this two week period I contracted “Beatlemania” and this pleasant disease will be with me for a long, long time.
My story begins on Tuesday, February 7, 1964.Little did I know when I picked up the telephone and wrote down my assignment, that I would be on the “go” night and day, and packing a week into every day for a solid two week period following the Beatle boys throughout their U.S.A. tour.I was informed by my news services, Radio Pulse Beat News to meet a Boeing 707 at the Kennedy Airport in New York and conduct a tape interview with four young Englishmen going under the name of “The Beatles.”
February weather in New York is cold and this day was no exception.The sky was clear and as I drove out the 10 miles or so to the Kennedy Airport, on the outskirts of the city, in the Queens suburb of New York, I thought about the tough problems encountered in air travel where airports are generally located at inaccessible fringe areas of the big cities that, often it takes longer to get to and from an airport than it does to fly to your destination.The Kennedy Airport, by itself, is spread out over many, many square miles of ground.There is even an airport bus service that shuttles travelers from one airline terminal to the other at Kennedy.
As I neared the airport, the air seemed charged with excitement and the airport itself looked unusually busy in the distance.The parking lot was crowded with cars, across from the Pan-American terminal, and hundreds of people were streaming through the doors of the Pan-Am building.I thought to myself, maybe some big world celebrity is coming in today. Perhaps I can interview whoever this important person may be and kill two birds with one stone.I parked my car and with tape recorder in hand, proceeded over to the Pan-Am terminal.Suddenly, I was told who this crowd had come to meet.It was absolutely the most unbelievable sight one could see and, I doubt that I will ever see again until the Beatle boys come back to visit us.This crowd, of over 8,000 people, made up mostly of teenagers, was on hand to greet the same Englishmen I was to interview…”the Beatles.”It was amazing to see such a huge congregation of people, on a very cold day, travelling to such a tough spot to get to as Kennedy Airport on hand to greet a group of four boys who had only come into my life, a few hours ago who I had never heard about before.
As Pan-American’s silver Boeing 707 jet touched down, whistles and screams filled the air.More than 400 correspondents, photographers and TV cameramen were on hand to record “The Beatle” arrival, which established a record in itself.Never, before were there so many people on hand to greet anybody, in the history of the airport, and the din of the screaming and shouting was even louder than the jet engines as the plane taxied up to the arrival center.
Beatle fans, it was said, had begun farming as early as 4 a.m.Friday morning, although the Beatles weren’t due until mid-afternoon.So some of the fans on hand had been waiting 10 or 11 hours for this moment to catch a fast glimpse of the Beatle boys as they emerged from the plane.Now, the portable stairway was being fitted into place and a ground steward ran up the stairs to unlock the plane’s door.
Bursting out, amid the most deafening din of “oohs” and “aahs” “screams” and “shouting” “whistles” and “cheers,” came one after another of the Beatle boys until there were four.Here were The Beatles –four young Englishmen named John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr who had, already, this day established a record for having the greatest crowd of airport greeters on hand ever!
As the boys came down the stairway, they were hustled into a room set aside for a press conference.The rear of the room was lined wall to wall with TV and newsreel cameramen.Photographers and reporters pushed, shouted and cursed as they tried to get near the Beatle boys.The unusually large room was bursting at the seams and still, many more were trying to get through the door and into the press conference room.It was pure bedlam.The press conference was a scene of wild uproar and confusion.Unless you were practically on top of the Beatle boys, it was impossible to hear them.It was near to impossible to tape an interviewfor only a few seconds was the air cleared of chaos and confusion and the Beatles were able to answer a few of the questions shouted at them by newsmen.
“What do you attribute your success to?” was one of the questions asked.The Beatles answered, almost in unison, “If we knew, we’d each become a manager with successful groups!”Another question asked was, “Are you embarrassed by the Beatlemania you’ve created here in America? “to which they replied in unison, “No!”,George added in a kidding manner, “We like lunatics anyhow!”to his “no.”A member of the press asked, “When are you going to get haircuts?”Ringo shot back a fast, “We all had haircuts yesterday.You should have seen us the day before!”
Another interviewer asked about what they thought of “Stamp out the Beatles Campaign” being started by a Detroit group.Said George, “We’re organizing a Stamp out Detroit Campaign.”Said Ringo, “how big are these fellows?”When they were asked about what they thought of Beethoven, Paul replied, “We like him fine—especially his poems.”One of their big hit records is, of course, “Roll Over Beethoven.”Time allotted for the Press Conference passed quickly and it was time to take the Beatles to their cars and into the city to their hotel.The crowded press room was soon emptied and all the reporters were off on the “Beatlebeat.”
Once outside the press conference room, each Beatle was assigned to a rented Hertz Cadillac limousine and we were among the very few reporters who managed to ride to the Hotel Plaza with them.The four limousines trailed Beatle fans by the carload, but made amazingly good time reaching the city.
As the limousines rounded the corner of Fifth Avenue and Central Park South, where they Plaza Hotel is located they had to slow down and edge their way through crowds of Beatle fans.The staid and plush Plaza Hotel was to be over-run with Beatles and the management will long remember this Beatle day.
Actually, the hotel did not really anticipate the Beatlemania bombardment when Bud Hellawell and Brown Megs of Capitol Records, had reserved Suites 1209 to 1216 for John, Paul, George and Ringo.The Plaza is one of the New York’s oldest and most conservative hotels.A plush landmark where the elite of society meet.
Yet, on Friday, the 7th of February, the Beatles got into the woodwork and the management had to cope with many problems never before encountered.Private detective agency guards were hurriedly called in and the corridors leading to the 12thfloor were guarded.Other plainclothes detectives patrolled the stairways and entrances leading into the hotel.The New York City police department had to assign a unit of 30 policemen on Beatle duty.As well as providing a squad of mounted policemen on horses.No exception or preferential treatment was given to the Beatles they were treated as any head of state or foreign potentate would be treated and protected.Nevertheless, it was a little rough on some of the Beatle fans and police barriers for blocks around the Plaza hotel held back crowds of teenage fans.
The Beatles had another press conference and several small sessions limited reporters to smaller groups each group given about 15 minutes to collect their news data with these interviews being held in their Plaza Hotel suite.They ordered dinner sent up to their rooms, took a few hours off to rest and relax then presided over a party for New York’s disc jockeys when they decided to call a halt on their first day in the U.S.
Saturday, February 8th, they awoke early in the morning, each calling the other on the house telephones from their individual rooms to arrange a time when they could get together for breakfast.
Both “Murray the K” a top New York deejay, on station WINS and I taped interviews with the Beatle boys.During the interviews, George Harrison developed a sore throat.So the hotel physician, a Doctor Gordon was called in right away.The doc suggested that George should stay in bed.George’s sister, who is married to an American and lives in Illinois, happened to be on hand.She took over as a nurse for her brother.
Paul, John and Ringo came to visit George, while he was in bed, to see how things were.They were waiting for a transatlantic call from Brian Matthew, English deejay, from London.Brian conducts the “Saturday Club” program and wants to tape an interview for his English audience of fans.
At around 10 in the morning, Paul, John and Ringo leave the hotel for pictures in the park for New York’s famous Central Park is across the street from the Plaza Hotel.They check in again with George then leave with the American, English, Swiss, Belgian, Swedish and French photographers trailing after them.The Cadillac limousines are left at the front of the hotel as a decoy.Fan meanwhile have smartened up, and they too cross over to the park.The huge crowd of Beatle fans create confusion so policemen start to try to create some order out of chaos.They seal off part of Central Park and the boys pose for all kinds of photographs.It is cold, there is a light snow on the ground and the lake is frozen.One of New York’s few surviving horse-drawn carriages that take sightseeing groups through Central Park is engaged by the Beatle boys and they pose for more photographs riding on top of and driving the carriage through the park.They are followed by the big crowd of photographers plus the mounted police and, of course, a large group of fans.
The limousines picked up the three Beatleboys in the park and they heard from the television studio and converted theatre on 52nd Street and Broadway approximately ten blocks away from the hotel.Beatle fans are everywhere and the going is rough.Mounted policemen try to clear the way and eventually we get to the theatre room rehearsal of the Ed Sullivan show where again, we have to struggle through crowds of Beatle fans.
The theatre is filled with more photographers, newsreel cameramen and reporters.Before rehearsal, the Beatle boys must become members of AFTRA (American Federation of Television and Radio Artists) s they take time to sign up and join this union.
I first want to welcome all newcomers to Meet the Beatles...for Real! I see the stat numbers going up and I am so happy that you are here with us during such a special time for Beatle fans.
I hope you find that MTBFR isn't just another Beatles blog, but is a special place for Beatle fans. I try to run it similar to the Beatle fanzines of the 1970's. So there is plenty of rare photos and stories f fans who met one or more of the Beatles in person. I also have reviews of books, concerts and events. Plus there are fun contests that anyone can participate in.
Speaking of contests, the Beatles word scramble contest is still happening. I am extending the deadline because I am going to the Fest this weekend. So you now have until Feb 11th (this Monday) to send your answers into me. Remember that there will be 5 winners for this contest and each person will get a print of the Beatles at LAX from Vincent Vigil's collection. So far there are 32 contestants. In case you can't find the word scramble here it is again. Remember that all of the answers are people, places and things that are associated with the Beatles 1st U.S. visit in February 1964.
I will announce the winners on February 12, assuming that I am back home from the Fest and not stranded in a blizzard in New York City.
Yes, I WILL be at the Fest for Beatle fans this weekend in New York City! I know that many of you will be there as well. PLEASE come and say hello! I am speaking on a panel with other female Beatles scholars on Saturday at 12:30 in the Carnegie Room. The topic of the discussion will be about the legacy of the Beatles. If you are there, please come and participate! For those of you who can't make it to the Fest, I will have a full report when I return. And at least you will be able to see the big TV special on Sunday night. I will have to miss it because I am at the Fest.
For the time being, I am putting my "regularly scheduled programing" on hold here at MTBFR so that I can bring you special reports that I have dug out of my vaults and found online about the Beatles 1st U.S. visit and those involved. I will return with rare solo photos (I am hanging onto one of John from 1979 that is great) and stories and other periods of time of the Beatles in March. But for the time being, the only thing you are going to see is from February 1964. I hope you all enjoy it!
On February 9, 1964 the Beatles made their American television debut on the Ed Sullivan Show.That is has been well documented and discussed.Over 700 people were in the audience and saw the performance in person and 73 million people saw it live on the televisions in their homes.But the Beatles weren’t the only performers that evening on the Ed Sullivan show.What about those other acts that everyone had to sit through to see the Beatles again?Who were they are what ever became of them, I found myself wondering this week as I watched my DVD of the Complete Ed Sullivan performance.
So I decided to find out.The answers are a little surprising to me.
The first performer after the Beatles sang “All my loving” “’Till there was you” and “She loves you” was a magician named Fred Kaps.Kaps was seen doing card tricks and his famous salt shaker trick where he pours salt out of one hand.If you watch the entire Sullivan Show, you will hear that Fred Kaps segment was previous recorded.I imagine this was done because the salt Kaps used would have been all over the stage floor and couldn’t have been cleaned up in time for the other performers.There are jokes about what a bad gig Kaps had and how it must have ruined his career since he had the unfortunate task of performing right after the Beatles.And while maybe a lot of Beatle fans took a bathroom break during Kaps’ act, it didn’t seem to hurt his career any.To this day he is considered to have been a great magician and was inducted into the magicians’ hall of fame.
Following the magic act was a performance that came straight from Broadway, Georgia Brown and company from the Tony award winning musical, Oliver.As is well known today, the actor playing the Artful Dodger was none other than future Monkee, Davy Jones.This performance of the songs “I’ll do Anything” and “As long as he needs me” went over well with the Beatle-fan audience.It might have helped that Oliver was a British musical with British actors, and Beatle fans are known for loving most anything from England.Davy Jones did not meet the Beatles that night, but he aware of them.Jones recalls the frenzy: “I watched the Beatles from the side of the stage, I saw the girls going crazy, and I said to myself, this is it, I want a piece of that.”
Thenext performer was Frank Gorshin who did a comedy routine that was about how the country would be ran if famous performers were in Washington (which is a bit funny since so many actors have turned into politicians over the years).Gorshin did a lot of impressions, most of which do not make any sense to modern audiences.And while there were some chuckles from the audience during Gorshin’s act, it really wasn’t the type of comedy routine that Beatle fans would enjoy.Gorshin told Newsweek in 1999, “I was in Australia. I had been hired to play some clubs down in Sydney. Now, when I got to Australia, all I heard people talking about was the Beatles. And at that time, I didn't know what the Beatles were. This was something brand-new. When I finished playing in Sydney, I went directly to New York to appear on "The Ed Sullivan Show." Now, I didn't know who was going to be on the show with me. And I'm up in my dressing room. I look out my window. And I see thousands of kids, and I'm wondering, how did they know I was going to be on the show? Subsequently, of course, I found out that the Beatles were going to be on, too.
I was notified to go downstairs and get ready to go on. Which I did. I went downstairs and stood in the wings. Somebody had just finished performing, and Sullivan was saying, "And now ladies and gentlemen... creating a sensation everywhere they go... let's really hear it for the Beatles!" Well, pandemonium broke out. It was nothing but screams. Kids jumping up and down. I had never witnessed that kind of adulation. The Beatles did their numbers, but I didn't really hear them. I heard nothing but the screams. I was consumed with the idea that they could do this to people--that they could get this kind of reaction.
Then the Beatles finished. When Sullivan came back on the stage, the kids kept screaming--right through his introduction of me! So when I walked on, already I was getting screams. I went through all my bits, and they just kept screaming. I did a routine called "Stars Over Washington." The premise was that actors were becoming so involved with politics that I could see the day when they'd be running the government. I finished up, and those kids were still screaming.
Frank Gorshin later became known for being the Riddler on Batman.
Then Sullivan introduced someone important in the audience, Terry McDermott who had just won a gold medal in the 1964 Olympics for speed skating.While Terry wasn’t a performer on the show, he did get a chance to meet the Beatles backstage before the program began.Terry spoke with the Detroit News this past week to remember when he and his wife, Virginia met the Beatles.
“I knew they were a singing group from England, but I didn’t know much about ’em — I don’t think I’d ever heard their music,” McDermott said, laughing.
Virginia, who was two months pregnant with the couple’s first child, remembers the Beatles as much for their civility — “They were so polite and so gentlemanly,” she says — as their celebrity.
Besides speed skating, Terry McDermott was a barber back in his hometown and a staged photograph was taken of McDermott pretending to cut Paul’s hair while the others looked on in shock.
Another British performer on the bill was Tessie O’Shea.While Tessie’s music was not the rock and roll the teenagers enjoyed, there was something about this robust, happy woman playing her banjo with all her might that was enjoyable to the audience.Appearing on the Ed Sullivan Show along with the Beatles helped Tessie’s already growing career.After the show, she became a sought after performer and many teenagers wanted to speak with her since she had met the Beatles.Because of her newfound popularity, she appeared in many television shows and movies on both sides of the ocean, including the Disney film, “Bedknobs and Broomsticks.”
The last performance before the Beatles came back onto the Sullivan stage was the comedy duo McCall and Brill.This newlywed team was excited about their big break on national television.After their rehearsal, Ed Sullivan had told them to revise their act.They were working in their dressing room when there was a knock on the door. Brill remembers for a book about the Ed Sullivan show, “We opened it up and it was this weird looking kid with strange hair, and he said something that sounded like, ‘Give us a ko, glove.’So he said it again and after the third time we realized he was saying, “Give us a Coke, luv” (as there was a Coke machine in their dressing room).The boy turned out to be John Lennon and he doodled a sketch of the couple on a napkin which they threw out.
In 2004, they did an interview with the Washington Post about their performance.“It was a nightmare,” says McCall. “We just about wanted to kill ourselves.”They started their comedy skit about a producer looking to hire a new actress for a film.They got very few laughs.The team themselves say that it was “dead silence” during the skit, but in watching it you will hear quite a bit of laughter during a joke about squashing the Beatles.The silence was devastating to the duo.”We were in a daze,” Brill says. “It was an out-of-body experience. I know we were onstage and I know we were doing something, but that’s it.”When someone on the Sullivan show did a good job, Ed would motion them over and shake their hand.Ed did not motion over to McCall and Brill after the act was finished.
They felt defeated and discouraged and their career took a long time to recover from their performance right before the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan show.
Finally the Beatles returned to the stage and sang two more numbers, “I saw her Standing there” and the number one hit song at the time, “I wanna hold your hand.”
Many viewers may have turned off their television sets for the night after that.The Beatles were finished, but Ed Sullivan had one more act, and it was a strange one.Well and Four Fays are described as acrobats and physical comedy.I can’t find any information about this group, maybe because their act was a bit strange.However, the daughter of the couple was Toni Basil (choreographer and “Mickey” singer).
So there you have it.Despite popular belief, most of the acts that appeared on the Sullivan show alongside the Beatles went on and had great careers.
As I continue to dig through the files to figure out who was there and what happened during the Beatles 1st U.S. visit, I found issue #415 of Rolling Stone magazine (February 16, 1984) which celebrated the Beatles 20th anniversary. Inside of it there are many, many stories of folks who were "there." I am going to reproduce a few of them for your enjoyment. The first is a girl named Caroline Marsh who was able to have a brief conversation with George shortly after he arrived in America.
Caroline is the girl holding the George photo
I've just seen a Face From Rolling Stone issue 415
I came down ahead of time and was staying with a friend of mine. It was Saturday (sic) morning. They were giving a blow-by-blow account of the Beatles arrival on the radio. I thought to myself, "Gee, I think I'll go out to the airport and see them."
I got to the airport, took one look at the crowd and said, "Oh dear. I can't deal with this." I got into a taxi and said "Take me into town." The driver said, "Are you coming from seeing the Beatles?" I said, "there are too many people out there." He said, "Look around -the Beatles are right next to you."
And there they were. four big, black limousines with a Beatle in each. At the stoplight, the driver said, "I'll start from the back, and you tell me which one to stop at." I saw the one with George Harrison and told him, "Stop here!"
Our conversation was published in the New York Herald Tribune because their reporter, Tom Wolfe was in the limo with Harrison.
Caroline: How does one go about meeting a Beatle? George: One says 'Hello.' Caroline: Hello. Eight more will be down from Wellesley.
The Beatles were very important to me. I was a nice, ordinary girl. They changed my life. I had considered going to law school, but it seemed awfully uninteresting compared to rock and roll.
The Beatles made me realize anything in life was possible. They were just so far out of my realm of experience. It was as though they were from another planet. It was as though there is life somewhere else.
(Marsh got a job at Mercury Records instead of going to law school. Then she worked as a publicist for Traffic, The Spencer Davis Group and Cream. She is now (1984) an editorial assistant at Pantheon Books in New York.)
This evening on the CBS Evening News there was a story about my favorite fan on the Sullivan show. I always think of her as the "shock" girl. She comes on right after the camera pans to Ringo towards the end of "I wanna hold your hand." She is wearing glasses and is so excited and then calm down a bit and then sort of jumps a little as if someone had just shocked her. And while I have been trying to figure out who she was for years, I am glad that CBS found her.
You can watch their video here. This is the transcript of the article. (I want to keep it here for later years when it is gone from the CBS page)
Ed Sullivan, 50 years ago this Sunday -- it was a really big show. Fifty thousand people requested tickets to see The Beatles that night, but there were only 728 seats in CBS Studio 50 – which is known today as the Ed Sullivan Theater. Andrea Tebbets was 13 years old that night in 1964, and she scored the hottest ticket in town. "I remember just the thrill of hearing them start to sing," she said.
She had come from Connecticut with her mother to hear The Beatles American debut at The Ed Sullivan Show. Her grandfather, an advertising executive, had gotten them the tickets. In the theater, now home to David Letterman, they saw a section of open seats in the balcony. "And the usher said 'No, you can't sit there. That's for the screamers,'" Tebbets said. "And my mom to her enduring credit said, 'Oh, that's alright,'" she said. That night, Tebbets wouldn't just be part of the audience. She'd be part of a broadcast seen by more than 73 million people.
As the Beatles sang "I Wanna Hold Your Hand," the camera slowly swooped in over the band toward Ringo and then ..."There I am!" Tebbets said.
"I was chewing gum," she said. "I had the little ladybug earrings. I'd just had my ears pierced. And that's it."
She looked happy to be at the show.
"I was," she said. "I was beside myself. I really was."
"It was, I guess, my 15 seconds of fame. And also my 15 seconds of popularity in junior high school. Because I was about as uncool as you could get," she said. "Mostly known in school for being clumsy and a Girl Scout and the secretary of the science club, and then here I was on national television." As a fan, she'd collected Beatles' magazines and cards. At an exhibition opening this week at the Library of Performing Arts in New York, some of the souvenirs on display in a typical teenager's bedroom were actually hers.
"Oh, a museum piece, me," she said.
That 13-year-old girl grew up to be a tax attorney with the U.S. Justice Department. "Part of the whole Beatles' phenomenon was people like me," she said. "It was the fans. It was the screamers." Those who thought it all was just noise were wrong. It was the sound of the future.
What did landing in New York look like to Ringo? Well here is a photo he snapped with his camera through the window of the airplane. This might be Miami--it is hard to tell. But still this is what he saw as the plane taxied to a stop. This photo came from the Teen magazine that published a bunch of Ringo's photos in 1964 and strangely it isn't in his new book.
CBS anchor Walter Cronkite scored tickets to the "Sullivan Show" for his teenage daughters Nancy and Kathy.
"The Beatles were already huge, and huge to me — monumental!" Kathy Cronkite says. "The idea of seeing them in person was like going to another planet. And when we got there we were screaming our heads off, so we couldn't hear the music.
"Then, afterward, we got to meet them," she adds. "They were very nice. They put their arms around us for a picture, which was really fabulous. Ringo and I happened to be standing next to each other, and he was MY Beatle. So that was especially exciting."
For Cronkite, a former actress who appeared in the classic film "Network" but is now a mental-health advocate, many of the details have vanished with the passage of time.
"In the scope of the rest of my life, it has faded in significance somewhat," she says, but takes pains to emphasize, "I don't mean it wasn't important. At the time it was absolutely huge. And back then, when I was 13, I'm sure I thought it was the main thing that would EVER matter."
I found an interview from NPR done for the 40th anniversary of the Beatles with the girl who was the very first fan showed during "All my Loving" on the Ed Sullivan Show. Her name is Robin Lynn and she was 15 years old when 73 million people first saw her on television.
I took a cab with my friend, Judy to the Ed Sullivan Theater. We waited outside and it was cold. I was directed upstairs and found a seat. In front of me was a big, burly guy that tells me, 'You might be on television. You can do whatever you want, but don't stand up.' Everything was a blur after that because I realized I could be on television.
Q: Describe what you were wearing that night
I wasn't wearing blue jeans. One wouldn't wear blue jeans. I was wearing a pink dress. I think what was noticeable about me was my hair. I had a huge spit curl.
Q: What about how you behaved on the show?
I describe myself as panting and sighing. There was the build up and then the sigh.
Q: How did people react when you got hom?
It was a very quick event. I did focus on Paul, but it was quick all the same. Before I knew it, I was back out in the cold hailing a taxi that took me to my dark apartment. You have to understand, I didn't get the tape for 10 years. The first time I saw it was at the Museum of Broadcasting in New York City. I went in one day and discovered it was one of the most popular requested television shows and they put on a segment every day at 3p.m. And that I was! Forever 15 at 3 p.m. I remember once my kids were watching "The Wonder Years" and they started pointing to the television saying 'There you are Mom!' and then came all the retrospectives-- The Best of Ed Sullivan, the Best of the Beatles and I knew when they came on, I was attached to it. It's the Beatles and me--what could be cooler than that?
Here is another article from the Feb 16, 1984 issue of Rolling Stone (issue 415). This story is about two friends, Christian and Joanne (both 17 at the time) who were able to meet the Beatles at the Plaza Hotel.
Christina: My father was the photographer at the Plaza. He was told that there wold be a press conference. I came because I had access and Joanne came because she was editor of the school paper. We couldn't tell a soul. I probably was dying to tell somebody i my class, but we were sworn not to.
Joanne: We thought it would be a fun idea to get a picture and meet the Beatles. I was not some lunatic - crazy- screaming fan, but I enjoyed their music.
Christina: The Beatles were sitting at a table with microphones. We were the only teenagers in the room. We went back to school, then I came back to the hotel later on. I had a picture of myself taken with each one autographing my picture, and then I got a picture of Paul, George and Ringo. It was a very exciting time. I remember making prints and bringing them to school. I sold them for a dollar a piece. They sold like hot cakes.
This is what I wrote about what happened:
Joanne and I practically exploded in the taxi on the way back to school. Although we had seen and spoken to the Beatles, the real excitement didn't come until the whole idea had penetrated our minds and we realized what had happened. We knew the pinnacle of our excitement would come when we told the girls at school. And so it did. In the heat of our excitement, we tried to tell our fantastic tale, but I just gave up and went over to the blackboard and wrote "We met, saw and spoke to the Beatles." School life had to go on, and a few moments later, I found myself sitting before a typewriter, earnestly endeavoring to work my shaking fingers across the keyboard. Now that's what I call Beatlemania...
The biggest moment for me during the whole day was after school when I went back to the Plaza, only to find myself on the 12th floor. When I had my picture taken with three of the boys, and Paul put his arm around me. Well for a split second, I didn't know what to do! Somehow it didn't seem right to put my arm around him, so I decided to put my arms behind my back. Not only that, but Paul and Ringo signed kisses with their autographs! No doubt you can tell I enjoyed my assignment for my school paper.
(Christina is now (1984) a professional photographer and president of her father's old studio in the Plaza. Joanne is now Sister Joanne Safian, a high school English teacher in Westchester, New York).
I first met Jude Southerland Kessler two years ago at the Chicago Fest for Beatle fans. We were both speaking on the women's Beatles scholar panel. I felt like I was way out of my league. I mean Jude has written two great books about John Lennon, has a popular webcast and goes around the country speaking about the Beatles. And me? I run a Beatles blog from my house in Illinois where I mostly scan photos from old magazines and type out stories of fans meeting the Beatles. But Jude is such a sweet women, and she had a way of making me feel so much better about what I do and that I belonged there just as much as she did.
Jude writes for the "Do you remember" site and has written an article about the Beatles arriving in America. I got an email this week from the site asking me to publish a link to her article. I usually don't do that, but because Jude wrote it, I wanted to help support my fellow John Lennon lover.
This story I found in the February 1984 issue of Life magazine. It had a big article that celebrated the Beatles 20th anniversary. The 20th anniversary was a pretty big deal it seems. Like the Rolling Stone magazine I have been featuring, this Life magazine also speaks to individuals who were in New York at and had an encounter of some sort with the Beatles in February 1964. This story is about Gregg Salomone, who was just 5 years old when he met the boys.
A month before the Beatles' scheduled arrival in New york, the Plaza Hotel decided it would turn down their request for reservations. Gregg Salomone remembers the crisis. His father, Alphonse, the hotel manager, announced at dinner in the family penthouse in the Plaza, "I'm going to have to cancel because I'm afraid the hotel won't be able to handle it." At that point, says Gregg, "My sister screamed, 'The Beatles!' and began crying. It was because of her carrying on that my father let the whole thing go through.
Gregg had a photo taken with the Ringo, Paul and George along with sister and a friend. Just before the photo was snapped, says Salomone, Paul noticed the boy's fly was open. "He said, 'Excuse me.' and bent down and zipped me up."
Here is part 2 of the Ed Rudy article. I will post part 3 next week. This was found in issue #46 (from April 1984) issue of With a Little Help From my Friends.
So much for Ed's story that George stayed home. You can see him here with his sister, Louise.
This is the only color photograph I know of that show the guys going to the night clubs. Notice that Ringo is here with his date, Geri Miller (who I have posted a story about in the past)
Someone snapped John and Cyn leaving the Playboy club. I hope Brian didn't find out!
During the early rehearsal period, the Beatles’ road manager, Neil Aspinall fills in for George but suddenly George come into the studio and everybody is happy, particularly Paul, John and Ringo.There is applause and cheers as George takes his place in the Beatle line from everyone:studio technicians, newsmen and even Ed Sullivan.
After rehearsals George goes back to the hotel and to bed while Paul, John and Ringo go to the exclusive “21” club for dinner.The dinner was arranged by Capitol Records.The record executives select filet mignons, pheasant under glass and other gourmet delicacies.The Beatles order chops and mashed potatoes.The management enforces their strict orders against table-hopping.Nobody is allowed to get near the Beatles.Paul tackles an order of crepe suzettes while John and Ringo go on a tour of the wine cellar.Ringo glances at all the wine bottles, then humorously asks, “Where’s the Cokes?”
After diner, the Beatle boys headed back to their limousines and made a whirlwind tour of the city with special emphasis on the unique winding streets of Greenwich Village.They intended to visit some of the Bohemian bistros but the dense crowds, reacting to their presence, prevented this.
Arriving back at their hotel, they stop in to see George and find that his throat is improving.They take time to conduct special interviews; they answer telephone calls from deejays from all over America.They turn on the radio and listen to their music being played on just about every radio station they can dial in.The second great day in America for the Beatle boys comes to a close.
On Sunday, February 9th, the Beatle boys sleep late then get together for mid-morn breakfast.We take time to interview them for another of our taped interviews just before they leave for the early dress rehearsal of tonight’s Sullivan show plus the tape to show for February 23.
Beatle fans are packed into the theatre during this rehearsal period.The theater is filled right up to the rafters.The noise is deafening and Ed Sullivan wisecracks, “Let’s have less noise—else I’ll send for a barber!”Rehearsals go well.The February 23rd show is taped.There is a brief period where the Beatles take time to rest, grab a fast bite to eat, get themselves ready for the live show.The Beatles are a little unhappy.They want to say something to their American audience to their American fans everywhere for making their visit so great and for the wonderful welcome received wherever they go.Sullivan will not let them speak.He wants them to play only.They end up performing only and no thank you speeches!
During the live show, John’s microphone was accidentally off during one number.The Beatles boys are not happy about this incident.They feel that this unbalanced the number.However the show is over, the mistake was made and that’s that.
Deejay Murray the K takes the Beatle boys over to the Playboy club after the television show.They head back to the hotel first where George decides to go to bed early.
Paul, John and Ringo plus Murray the K decide to walk over to the Playboy club from the hotel, about a half block away.They are mobbed by Beatle fans even at this late time of the night and policemen assigned to the Beatles for protection help escort them to the club. They go to the penthouse lounge section of the club, followed by reporters, photographers, policemen.They relax a little from a hectic day to the sounds of soft music, provided by a combo of piano and bass.John is overheard saying, “This is music we really think is gear – we do Rock n Skiffle for money!”
The Beatles entourage with the Beatle boys, Paul, John and Ringo leading, then head for the “Peppermint Lounge” the place where the “Twist” originated.There is a group of four male entertainers in the Peppermint show who did an impromptu takeoff of the Beatles.Of all the people there, Paul, John and Ringo find this skit the most amusing—laugh the hardest and longest.
The photographs and newsmen have packed the place.Hundreds of pictures are being taken and everybody is in each other’s way.Ringo is an expert dancer and he twists with one of the girls int eh show.Everybody, but everybody is trying to get near a Beatle boy.Papers and pens are shoved towards them from every direction for autographs. It’s the end of a very great day for the Beatle three. They head back for the Plaza Hotel.It is 4:30a.m. according to my wristwatch.
On Monday, February 10, the Beatle boys had arranged their schedule so that this day would be free to do with as they chose. However, there were still hundreds of reporters and photographers that applied for interviews and hundreds of deejays that wanted to tape interviews for air play.So the day was designated as “p” day …for the press, although it turned out to be for “panic” because of the confusion.Conference upon conference was held.
Asked one member of the press, “which is the sexy one?”Paul took this question and answered it quickly, “Our manager, Brian Epstein is the one.”One female reporter asked the question, “who selects your clothes?” Answered the Beatles in unison, “We choose our own, but tell me, who chooses yours?”The female reporter shot back, “My husband!”Then she continued with another question, “Are there any subjects you prefer not to discuss?”John then shot back a fast, “Yeah, your husband!”
A question was directed to Ringo by a reporter as to why he said less than the other Beatles during the press conference.Said Ringo, “I’m the anonymous Beatles but as long as they split the money with me, I don’t mind it!”Another question asked the Beatle boys was “What do you consider the greatest danger?Dandruff or nuclear bombs?”George was fast to answer this one, “We consider bomb!We already got dandruff!”
Press conferences lasted all afternoon into the early evening and great many interviews and quite a few picture sessions.Throughout the afternoon, the Beatles munched away on roast beef sandwiches and Cokes.Around 7:00 in the evening, the Beatles decided to relax a little while before going on a tour of some of the New York nite clubs.We left them, at this time, to join a few other members of the press who decided we would all have a bite to eat before continuing on the evening tour with the Beatles.
When we returned to the hotel, the Beatles were ready to leave and followed in cars behind them.We first headed for the “Headliners Club” and we met Jill Hayworth here.The party then headed for the “Improvisation Coffee house and Restaurant”
The club was filled with people, of all ages, who were so stunned by the Beatles’ visit that they couldn’t’ believe their eyes.The club started to really get packed, when news leaked out in the neighborhood.Everyone wanted to get in.When it came time to leave, Ringo almost stepped into the bass drum.At around 4:00a.m., the Beatles decided to call it a day and head back to the hotel.
So I am back from the Fest for Beatle fans and I am exhausted! But before I crash, I wanted to share a few things.
One of the guest speakers at the Fest was a man named Vince Calandra. He worked on the Ed Sullivan Show and was there for all 3 of the Beatles performances as well as Shea Stadium. He had some of the most amazing stories and I could have listened to him for days.
One of the things he talked about was how one of the producers decided to put each Beatle's name on the screen and put "sorry girls he's married" underneath John Lennon. This was not cleared with Brian Epstein and Brian was furious when he saw it! Brian had worked really hard to keep Cynthia a secret in America. None on the staff of the Sullivan show were told who she was or even her first name! And Brian worked hard to make sure that Cyn was in very little of the filming or photographs. And yet here it is literally broadcasted on national television that Lennon had a wife! And yet that fact did not take away anything from the Beatles popularity.
At the Fest, in the room where things were being sold, were the original cards that showed the names. How cool is that?
Ringo was enjoying a night of dancing at the Peppermint Lounge but when it was time to leave, he was attacked by a teenage fan. Well....he wasn't attacked in the way that he was hurt or anything. but it sure looked like it shocked him.
50 Years ago today the Beatles were quite busy with a day-long press conference at the Plaza hotel. Here are some of my favorite photos from the press reception that followed.
Here is today's story from the Feb 16, 1964 issue of Rolling Stone (issue 415). It is about Carroll James, who was the first deejay to have played 'I Wanna Hold Your Hand' on the air (note: he is not the first person to play the Beatles on air).
It was a Tuesday. The Beatles came by train because of the snow. It was quite a mob scene at Union Station. They picked them up in limos and got 'em over to the Coliseum, where they did a news conference at about there, four o'clock. I was on the air at the time. Then, after that, they came out to the studio for an interview. There were times when I couldn't tell whether they were making fun of me or not. For instance, when they talked about being influenced by Small Blind Johnny. I said, "Small Blind Johnny?"
They said, "Oh yes, he played with Big Deaf Arthur."
Carroll- "John, they call you the chief Beatle..."
John- "Carroll, I don't call you names."
Carroll: "What do you think of President Johnson?"
Ringo: "We haven't met him. Does he buy our records?"
Carroll: "What are your favorite sports?"
Paul: "Sleeping"
Carroll: "Excluding America and England, what are your favorite counties you have visited?"
John: "Excluding America and England, what's left?"
Carroll: "Does anyone in the group speak a foreign language?"
Paul: "We all speak fluent shoe."
Carroll: "John, who was responsible for your haircuts?"
John: "Well, Carroll, let's just say that it's bigger than both of us."
The whole story dates back to December 10th. This young lady, Marsha Albert, saw them on the Cronkite news. They did a piece from London or Liverpool. now, I had seen it, too, but she wrote in to me and said, 'Hey, why don't we have some of this great music here?'
And I said, "All righty! There's nothing we won't do for our listeners! So we called up BOAC and within one or two days had the record flown over, and carried by a stewardess.
I listened to it and said, "I don't know. It's a big hit there, but who knows what will happen here." I was afraid to say, "This is it, baby."
Then I called up Marsha, asked her to come on the show and introduce it. She said, "Ladies and gentlemen, for the first time in America, the Beatles singing 'I want to hold your hand.'
The switchboard lit up immediately. The kids went absolutely wild. They didn't just say, "We like it." They said, "We want to hear it again." So I did something I had never done before. I played the song a second time, I had it exclusively for about 10 days. It became a very exciting time for me.
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