Meet the Beatles for Real

This account was written by Marianne Goldsmith and it first was published in the June/July 1982 issue of Beatlefan.

Back in the Beatlemania days of the '60's British Beatlefan Marianne Goldsmith won 5 pounds by sending in an account of meeting Paul McCartney to Fabulous magazine. What follows is that account plus another tale of meeting the Beatles.

My sister I lived with our parents in St. John's Wood which was close to Paul McCartney's house and the Abbey Road Studios. One evening a party was going on next door and an Aston Martin was parked in our driveway. I had to go next door and ask if the car could be moved.

Guess who it belonged to? Yes, Paul, so he came with Jane Asher and said he was just going. He and Jane got into the car. I managed to say, "please can I have your autograph" and he turned to Jane and said, "have you got a thingy?" and she gave him a pen.

I produced an envelope for him to sign. His hand glided across it. He put "To Marianne, Love, Paul McCartney xxx." As he handed it to me my hand touched his and I stuttered, "Thank you very much. I don't know how I can thank you." He said "what about a kiss." I think he had been drinking. So I leaned into the car, forgetting about Jane, and kissed him. My head swooned and before I knew it, he had driven off into the night.

Another interesting occasion when we met the Beatles was in December '63 or thereabouts, after the Southampton show at the Gaumont. My sister and I were very excited to hear them live once again, but the screaming was so loud you didn't hear much and if they made a mistake, it would have covered it up.

They sang songs like "From me to you" and "I saw her standing there" They usually started with one of these. Also, "She loves you" and "I want to hold your hand" and rockers such as "roll over Beethoven" and Ringo's speciality, "Boys." Then Paul would sing "All my Loving" or "Till there was you" The atmosphere was electric and everyone enjoyed themselves. I'm glad I was around to experience it at the time as it's hard to describe to anyone.

After the show, my sister and I went around to the side door where about six others had gathered. In the early days, it was easier to meet them later.

AS the crowd was small, the manager let us in because we showed our membership cards -- although this did not give one the automatic right to see them, as we found out on later occasions. The boys were sitting around sweating and catching their breath and discussing the show. Everyone wanted to talk to Paul and he loves to talk to people.

I talked with Ringo. He was very nice to me and in the early days I preferred him, but later preferred Paul like most of my friends. Ringo asked me if I had enjoyed the show. He signed several autographs for us on photos and anything else we had with us. We told him they were for other friends of ours, but we kept them ourselves. It was nice to boast to your friends how many autographs you had and how many shows you had seen.

John asked me if I was a mod or a rocker. I suppose that craze was coming in at the time. Before I had time to answer, John said I was a rocker.

I suppose we spent about 5 or 10 minutes with them, then someone came in and said we had better let them get changed as they had another town to get to. So, reluctantly, we left but still with the memory of the meeting and the kind words they had for us.