Tuesday, July 24, 2012

August 1972

This is another article (I have several to type up) from the issue #1 (January 1973) of the fanzine by Marie Lacey called "McCartney Lovers and Friends."   It is about some fans who meet up with Paul during his Wings European tour in 1972 and then right after the tour at his home.   What I find the most interesting is this one sentence about how one of the girls was a "baddie" and was known as the girl who threw chocolate mousse in Paul's face.   What?   What happened there?  Why did she do that?   This story was written by Kris Martell who lived in New York City but was staying in London at the time.


 
McCartney’s Lovers and Friends
January 1973
Written by Kris Martell (NYC)

After a lot of disappoints and much confusion, Pat Miller and I were off to see Wings in Holland.  We were not sure if we had tickets or not.  We had called Holland a few times and got different answers every time.  We wanted to go to all of the concerts in Holland, that being Breda, Groningen, Rotterdam and Amsterdam.  After several calls to the Dutch Tourist Office, it seemed that Paul kept changing his mind and cancelled out on a few (Breda included).  With the little money we had, it seemed that Amsterdam would be all we would make.  So, on august 19, Pat and I were lucky and got a KLM flight (stand-by) to Amsterdam.  We were really happy that we got that flight because if we didn’t, a boat that left that midnight was the last resort and that didn’t please us too much!  Everything was so sudden that I left with just a knap-sack on my back and we were off.  We were in the Netherlands by 9:30p.m. and headed for the Dutch Information Center.  They found Pat and I the cheapest dormitory on Kriserstraat, right on the docks (it was beautiful there) for only $2.00 per night, breakfast included.  The next day, we must have walked all over the city, every place from Ann Frank’s house to Rembrandt’s.  But, our first stop was the Concert Gerbou.  Stopping to ask some of the natives for directions, we came upon a group of young people who told us the concert was the night before.  Pat and I just couldn’t get over it, we believe it so much.  He had changed dates so many times right and left, why not Amsterdam as well?  It wasn’t until we had our tickets in our hands that we were happy.  You might say we floated across the city for 7 ½ hours.  We looked all over for his hotel, including Dam Square because we thought that would be the most likely place, but no such luck.  So we walked around the canals, took a boat trip and just enjoyed the beautiful city.  The concert was at 7pm on August 20th so we got to the Concert Gerbou at 5:30 pm.  Around 6, we saw a little white bus coming towards us to Paul, Linda and the rest of the group, plus Mary, Heather and Stella.  Pat and I were the only visible fans around.  A few technicians were scattered nearby as they were using the Stones Mobile.  Paul came out in his white jacket holding Stella.  Mary was holding onto Denny Laine, and Heather to Linda.  He came right towards us, gave a big smile and said “hello girls” to which Linda turned around and smiled.  By this time, we were both getting a bit spastic!  Pat was totally shocked because her relationship with Paul wasn’t exactly the best (She was one of the “baddies” known for throwing a chocolate mousse in Paul’s face).   Was just so happy because he made it just so personal talking to us.  Well after the concert they all came out to listen to the playbacks in the mobile.  By this time a crowd had assembled but nothing like what I had experienced in Frankfurt.  He came out of the hall, giving the “thumbs up” sign, smiling and wearing sunglasses.  The whole family went into the mobile after him.  We could hear the playbacks from outside.  One of my friends managed to get inside and another of my friends followed.  They were two English girls that had been standing outside his home for all the years that he has lived there.  One of them went over to Paul, who was sitting in a chair listening to the playbacks.  She went over to him to say that she was not going to hang around the house anymore.  Paul seemed very pleased, took her hand and said that it was for the best.  Linda shed a few tears as they left.  It was really a very touching thing, the best way to end off the evening.  Paul must have been very happy, knowing that they had come this far to see him, and then to get in his van and say something like that.  Linda kept saying that she didn’t mind them coming in after a concert like this and talking and they seemed pleased that they had enjoyed themselves at the concert.  In 45 minutes the group came out and went into the white van.  Everybody cheered and Paul gave the “thumbs up” sign again.  The notable bus was absent.  Pat and I got to the airport and slept there for the night.  That was some experience.  I’d never done it before!  But it was great fun and by this time we were on Cloud 9.  I didn’t realize so many people sleep out at airports but half of the departure lounge was full of people.  I’ve got many memories from that night including banging a vending machine at 3am (we were hungry and had no money) then cleaning my feet in the bathroom and then trying to sleep while some janitor vacuumed the airport floor.  But the best memory was the Concert Gerbou!  We got to London the next day, literally exhausted. I slept all day and felt a bit sick.  At 9pm Alf from the Apple Offices came over to our flat and stayed for two hours.  He had his white Rolls parked right in front of the apartment – wonder what the neighbors thought!?!  By the 23rd I was still sick and sleeping.  Pattie went to the “Godfather” premiere with Neilson.  By the 25th (Friday) I was well recovered.  We thought that Paul might be coming home.  The concert in Berlin was the night before.  I really had my doubts though; we all thought he’d be going to Scotland for a rest.  Besides myself and my two friends from L.A., there was Harllet Vdo from Germany, Karen from Kansas, Angela, Mirella from Italy and two girls from Georgia that I had met two years ago.  We spent a few hours at #9, when Rosie came out and said that he’d be home “shortly.”  Food arrived, Martha was home, everything looked great!  I still had my doubts from previous experiences.  He was scheduled to come home between 6-7 pm.  We waited all day and never left, just to make sure.  We heard the phone ring and a few times we were so sure that it was Paul calling saying he’d be home in a week or so and not then.  Well at 8pm, the red Lamgerghini came around the corner.  (I still wonder how it got to the airport to meet him).  He got out to open the gate and had on a beautiful yellow and green shirt with his suspenders and tight black pants.  He said, “You know we really don’t like people hanging around the house.”  My friend said, “Well, we just wanted to welcome you home, Paul.”  Paul said, “Yeah, but we don’t like people hanging around the house.”  My friend said “We saw you in concert and it was really good.”  At the time, Paul was down on the ground unlocking the gate and he only half-heard what she said. HE looked up and said, “What?”  My friend said, “We saw the show in Paris and it was great.”  Paul said, “Oh thank you.”  As he was closing the gate, she gave him a letter from one of the English girls and he said, “Oh Ok.”  And “Goodbye.”  While this was going on, my other friend was talking to Linda who was in the car.  We had gotten flowers for her.  My friend gave them to her and said, “These are for you.”  Linda looked a bit surprised and said, “oh.”  Then my friend said “These are for Paris, Frankfurt, Amsterdam and Montreux.”  (I had gone to Frankfurt and Amsterdam, she to Paris and Karen to Montreux).  Linda took them and winked!  So did Heather, who had Stella on her lap.  When they went in, we all left, except for the two girls from Georgia.  They waited for Rosie, and walked her to the station.  Rosie said Linda came in and said, “They’re still out there.”  But Paul wasn’t affected by it at all.  Rosie said that they had been having some arguments and things were being thrown around.  She asked us if Linda was really as rich as the papers made her out to be.  She just couldn’t get over the fact that she was from such a well-to-do family.  Rosie also mentioned that the only thing Linda cooked for dinner was soup, some vegetables and sandwiches (all the time). 

13 comments:

  1. We must get to the bottom of this chocolate mousse incident!!! If anyone can do it...you can!

    It reminds me of the "Little Girl" tape, where the fan has the temerity to say "sometimes you put your foot in your mouth!", bwahahaha! Poor Paulie!

    Speculation about the chocolate mousse incident:

    1.) The fan was mad because of all the news reports of Paul quiting the Beatles or a year later, when he had to sue them.

    2.) She didn't like Magical Mystery Tour in black and white.

    3.) She thought it was "Faul", and not Paul. "You're not Paul!!! YOU'RE NOT PAUL!" Tosses the mousse in Macca's face. "Take that, imposter!"

    4.)She was mad at Paul marrying Linda.

    5.) She was mortified at the lack of quality material on "Red Rose Speedway". Oh wait, that came after 1972.....nevermind!

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  2. straight from my forthcoming book: "tuesday, august 12, 1969 - went to emi after work. an idiot touched john's behind and he was quite mad. one of the girls threw mousse on paul's face. total chaos."

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  3. Nice article, thanks for the information.

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  4. Lizzie, I am so much looking forward to your book! Can I send the money yet?
    BTW how about not only revealing your diary entries but maybe also adding a comment in hindsight, like: "don`t even recall the incident these day" or "in fact it was me touching John`s behind but I didn`t dare to admit it even to myself" or "the mousse has been prepared by Apple Sruff Marianne and she actually planned to give it to Paul but when she learned that he would be with Linda this evening her jelousy got the better of her" (all made up but you get the idea)?

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  5. hi ken, i am finishing the portuguese version of my book, so the english one will still take some time. you have no idea how much work it involves... we decided to make a book that is totally different to what's out there, and there are hundreds or photos, images, scans - i kept so many little things from those days! at this point, i can no longer make any major changes to the writing, so your suggestion - appealing as it is - won't be able to be a part of this one. thanks for your interest and i will keep you all informed. i know i am very slow, plus i do 10 things at the same time, and i apologize for keeping you all waiting so long.

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  6. There never was an Apple Scruff called Marianne. Can I say once again please that not every Beatles fan who was around in the 60's in London was an Apple Scruff or became an Apple Scruff.

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  7. Pat Miller was not and did not become an Apple Scruff, Also none of the girls mentioned in this article were Scruffs.

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  8. Hi Anonymous....I don't think Ken was trying to say there was a real person named Marianne, but just used that name as an example. No one but the people who were there seem to know the names of who were the Scruffs (although I am learning). I knew that Pat Miller and others in this story were never Apple Scruffs, thus I did not put the "Apple Scruff" label on the tag.

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  9. ah thanks Sara I realise that now but I guess I just wanted to point out again that not all fans who were around at the time were Scruffs.

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  10. Yes, you are right, Sara. I totally made these lines up to illustrate an idea. In fact I used the name "Marianne" BECAUSE I never heard of a Apple Scruff of that name! ;-)

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  11. i also understood that ken was using the name marianne as an example, and not saying "she" was a real scruff.

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  12. Good idea though Anon Scruff because people are confused about the Apple Scruffs. George had no idea how right he was when he said, "there's so much they don't know about Apple Scruffs"

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  13. Surely the mousse incident and the tension that can be apreciated in the article between Paul/Linda and the fans was due to the whole fans being mad at Paul marrying Linda thing. We know there was a lot if tension between her (and in consequence Paul) and them at the time. Probably the incident happened when in some occasion Paul asked them to to hang out outside his house or to stop following them.
    Interesting to see details like these for sure.

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