Beatles Brush off disappointed fans

Newspaper caption:  It took the Beatles 18 seconds to get from their plane into a limousine adn away from Lunken Airport.  From left, the Beatles are Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, John Lennon and George Harrison.   Photo by Gordon Baer

Beatles' Brush of Disappoints fan

The scene this time was nothing like the 1964 Beatles arrival, but the frenzy then was aided by their daylight landing.

It doesn't signify any shift in sentiment by their followers in 1964, almost 13,000 attended the Cincinnati Gardens show.  tonight about 18,000 are expected at Crosley Field.

And last night, the best advance planning probably belonged to the two girls who showed up at the baseball park after the stage had been installed near second base.

They chipped away part of the stage timbers for souvenirs, then kissed the infield dirt by the handful, replacing it near the stage steps in hopes the Beatles might walk on their kisses.

That was precisely the atmosphere expected by Tom Dixon, Cincinnati police captain who headed the squad at Lunken and Vernon Manor this morning.  He said his men were prepared for anything, even the remote possibility someone might want to harm the Beatles.

But his main job he said was to protect them from their followers.  Kissers, he indicated are more of a threat than killers.

It must be true, for the limousine parked behind Vernon Manor at 3:30a.m. bore the script, written on the dusty trunk, "Hi Ringo," and "I love you Paul," and the dirty fingers belongs to Charlene Dessaur and Pam Kruger.

Unlike the press, their adoration knows no bounds and they do not insist upon professional conduct.  And that, as they say, is show business.