Tuesday, September 14, 2010

But there's so much they don't know about Apple Scruffs

George Harrison was right you know. There IS so much we don't understand about Apple Scruffs. There is a lot of bad information and strange assumptions about these Beatle fans that I have been doing some of my own research to understand who the Apple Scruffs were and what they experienced while they stood outside the studios and homes of the Beatles. This all got me thinking about how I ever first heard about the Scruffs and I was reminded of the 1992 book by Bill Harry called the Beatles Encyclopedia. I became a fan in 1990 and this book meant everything to me at the time! So I dug out the book and re-read what it says under "Apple Scruffs." Most of this stuff basically came from the Carol Bedford book.

Apple Scruffs

The name of a group of the Beatles' most dedicated fans began to call themselves.

A number of the girls, mainly from Britain and America, left their homes to move to London in order to follow the Beatles around, spending endless hours waiting outside recording studios, houses and the Apple building itself, hoping for a glimpse of their idols.

What made this act of dedication so unusual was that the girls didn't just hang aorund for a few days or week or months, but spent a few years devoting their time to Beatles-watching.

They regarded themselves as an extra-special group and included Margo, Sue-John, Chris, Di, Kathy, Virginia, Dani, Wendy, Jill, Lucy, Carol, Tommy and Jimmy.

AFter they'd got to know each other from sitting around on the step fo 3 Savile Row, the girls decided to offically call themselves Apple Scruffs. Tommy was the only boy they would allow to join the group at the time, although later they admitted Jimmy. The Scruffs came mainly from America - Houston, New York, Chicago and Cleveland.

Margo Stevens was the leader of the Scruffs and in 1970 they launched their own Apple Scruffs magazine. This contained so much information about Beatles activities that even members of the Apple staff read it to find out what was going on and the Beatles themselves also received copies.

A group of Apple Scruffs broke into Paul McCartney's house in Cavendish Avenue one day by climbing up a ladder and entering through an open bathroom window. THey stole clothes and photographs. Some of the photographs were important to Paul and he told Margo about them, and she managed to get them back for him. As a result, Paul wrote the song, "She came in Through the Bathroom Window."  THIS INFORMATION IS FALSE!!!

When the girls were waiting outside the recording studios one night where George had been recording, he suddenly came out and invited them into the studio where he played them a song he's written specially for them, "Apple Scruffs" which was included on his All Things must Pass album.

The Apple Scruffs eventually disbanded in December 1973, after the Savile Row building was no longer occupied, adn as the members of the Beatles had gone their separate ways. They occassionally gathered together for reunions. One of the girls, Carol Bedford, wrote a book about the Scruffs and called it "Waiting for the Beatles" One of the boys, Jimmy Lyford, died of an AIDS-related disease in San Francisco in October 1988.

If any of you out there had any information about the Apple Scruffs to be included in upcoming blog posts or if you have any questions you are wanting answers to about the Scruffs (not that I can find out, but I can try!). Please contact me.

22 comments:

  1. Dear Sara, one of the Scruffs has just started writing a book - I'll let you all know. As much as I love our group, I have to say that when I got to London in February 1967 there was already a group of girls that had been following the boys for years, but they didn't have a formal name, and only a few of them went on to become Scruffs. Some of them still follow Paul to this day. The Apple Scruffs only came about in 1969. For me, the best year to follow the boys was 1967.

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  2. Unfortunately, my dear friend Tommy (we remained friends forever) also died of AIDS many years ago. I still miss him! In the years I lived in New York, whenever one of the boys was in town, or they were going to be on TV, or there was something new coming out, he would call me and say "Beatle alert, Beatle alert!" - that was always so funny!

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  3. a few errors in your Apple Scruffs story above! Only the real Scruffs know the truth and most of the Scruffs like to keep it private. Lizzie's response is true.

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  4. Are the Apple Scruffs the girls interviewed in this clip?:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYpLFfxy_4c

    because they seem pretty pretty damn freaky (not to mention bloody rude about Linda)!

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  5. Well here we go again!!! I guess the true stories will come out eventually...but only when we decide to tell them!

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  6. amazing how things have been twisted over the years. There are names mentioned above who weren't even Scruffs!

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  7. I realize that the article I posted in not accurate and that some of the names are totally wrong! That is why I would like to get the correct information out there eventually. There are so many lies about the Apple Scruffs in books and online. They are a part of the history of the Beatles and those of us who couldn't be there would like to know the truth about Beatles history and not the version the press or whoever wants us to hear.

    At one time I thought anyone who hung around the Beatles recording studios and homes were Apple Scruffs, like the name had been around for years (which now I realize doesn't even make sense since Apple wasn't even Apple until '68). But while they didn't have names there were girl that hung around. I don't know. So many of us wish we were those girls and I get on these kicks where I must learn everything about something. And right now my kick is the Apple Scruffs and other Beatle fan "regulars"

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  8. BBC Radio 2 did a documentary on them in the 90s:

    http://rs878.rapidshare.com/files/393586863/BBC_RADIO_2_-_Apple_Scruffs__1996_.mp3

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  9. Dear Sara, as I said before, I am on a mission to get all those stories out. My book is almost ready and one of my Scruff friends has just started writing about our group. I want to get the stories of so many people from all over the world that I met outside the studios and Paul's house and put them together in a series of books, along with their fab photos. Just give me some time and it will happen. I'm still in touch with most of them.

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  10. I cant wait to read lizzie's book whenever it comes out. I do have a question I would love to ask any apple Scruff about John and Paul but I'm afraid to ask it!

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  11. Can I just say one more thing....although it probably won't end there! We didn't have a 'Leader'!!!!

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  12. With all the different anonymous, I don't know what to say. Can you people rename yourselves as #1, #2, etc? It gets confusing at times. And thanks for the link, premierludwig, I sent it along to the Scruffs and other fans.

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  13. Not all fans that went to Cavendish and Abbey Road for years and years were Apple Scruffs!

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  14. I repeat: As much as I love our group, I have to say that when I got to London in February 1967 there was already a group of girls that had been following the boys for years, but they didn't have a formal name, and only a few of them went on to become Scruffs. Some of them still follow Paul to this day. The Apple Scruffs only came about in 1969. The first time Gill and Margo saw Paul, as far as I know, was on the day he got married. I didn't go there that day. I stayed at my boyfriend's home and watched it on the news.

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  15. at least two of the Scruffs were in that earlier group of fans from 1966 :)

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  16. WHO were the Apple Scruffs? Not the Beatles fans, the original Apple Scruffs.

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    1. I do not understand this question. The original Apple Scruffs were Beatle fans. If there was a group of people called "The Apple Scruffs" that has nothing to do with the Beatles, then I would not know anything about that. Since I have a Beatles blog and all...that is sort of what I study. It is three years later and I am STILL trying to sort out all of this Apple Scruffs mystery.

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    2. Who said we werent Beatle fans? Why were we there then? Course we were!!

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  17. Fascinating part of Beatle history, all the Apple Scruffs and their personal memories.
    I'd love to hear of those Scruffs who were in Saville Row in Jan 69 when the Beatles took to the rooftop and played one last time in public. That time isn't covered in Carol's book. As I see it, each girl's individual memories of that time = important, even where they differ. They are more authoritative, in many cases, than journalists covering the stories.

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  18. Thats me in this photo, second from the left, standing next to Margot, with Gill Pritchard and Judy Pugh from New York City. That trouser suite I'm wearing was powder blue!!!

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  19. Do any of you have any information on Jimmy Lyford

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  20. I've always wondered what became of little Bam Bam (never referred to by his real name), who Margo cared for and who was very much a part of Beatles history even if he wasn't aware at the time! He must be coming up to 50 now?

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