Manchester Piccadilly Hotel
By Susan Dilorenzo
McCartney Ltd.
Fall/Winter 1979/1980
I’d brought a Hershey’s Chocolate kiss to give to Paul. It was a large bit of chocolate in a pink box
with large blue lettering that read “A Big Kiss for You.” I’d tried getting close enough to give it to
him before but unfortunately the opportunity never presented itself. Tonight I was bound and determined for
results! I was contemplating just what
I’d say as we sat in the lobby of the hotel.
He’d used the elevator yesterday and we expected him to do this again
today. He surprised everyone by using
the stairs (to our right) and in less than a second, we flew over to the
stairs. It was myself, Doylene, Marie,
Barb, Mary Ann, George, Shelia and Mar.
As if we alone weren’t the equivalent of a crowd, well, you know how it
is when Paul enters onto the scene.
Everyone under the sun materializes.
He was on the escalator then in front of us, so we just hopped on
too!
The award winning ham we all know
and love was waving and posing for everyone at the bottom of the
escalator. Once he laid his head on the railing
with his arms out and pretended to be sleeping.
Linda had gone on ahead, which she’d been doing the whole of the
tour. Doylene hopped off the escalator
and her camera case dropped. She spent
the next few minutes chasing it down the pavement. He started to walk down the tunnel to the
coach and it was here I decided was the moment of truth. Paul had been signing autographs so when I
trembled up to him he smiled at me and stopped walking and poised his pen. I held the chocolate kiss out to him and
asked, “Paul, could I please give this to you?”
He smiled and looked me in the eyes and replied, “You sure can” and
looked down to take it from me and then looked up at me again, continuing to
look me dead in the eyes. It was like
this through the whole encounter and it was divine! He has these magical light brown eyes. Schmaltzy but so true! I explained why the box was marked on one
side. It had been in my camera case at
the show on the 28th and forgetting, I stood on the case to see Paul
better. “I accidentally stepped on it at
the concert trying to see you but I wanted you to have it. I’m sorry.”
You’d expect him to burst out laughing, but on the contrary. He was dearly charming and so very sincere. He replied, “Well, don’t you worry about it.” I took a step back and smiled and looked
down and he walked away. I couldn’t
move. I watched him walking away with my
hands to my mouth, half laughing from blissful hysteria when I see Paul look
down at the kiss, reading the print on the box.
He stopped walking and turned around and looked at me. He smiled at me, that all knowing smile, and
winked.
Then continued outside. Further up ahead Marie had asked Paul to sign
a mounted photograph of hers. He signed
it on the mount at the top and she said, “Oh Paul---I know beggars can’t be
choosers, but I wanted you to sign it at the lights.” He drew an arrow to the lights and smiled at
her, “How’s that?”
I found my feet finally and charged outside, my chin
dragging the pavement. He’d already got
on the coach and I heard Barb call out, “Susie, he’s looking at it!” I ran next to her to get a look and he was saying something, showing it
to Laurence, who was sitting across from Paul and Linda. Laurence looked at it and smiled and Paul
set it on the table and leaned back. He
closed his eyes for a second and then popped back up in his seat, opened it, closed
it and sat back.
Someone in all that confusion, Barb got his autograph too,
which I had missed. Mary Ann took a
picture to capture that moment. It is
nice to have snaps of the memories.
The Piccadilly and not the Midlands Hotel? now that's the common touch.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely LOVE these kind of stories! That's why I subscribed to several fanzines at the time they were running. I happen to know every one of those fans, can't remember a Sheila or a George though. Thank you, it brought back many memories of seeing "the boys"!
ReplyDeleteremember all of them too except for Sheila
DeleteLizzie--I am pretty sure the "George" in this story is George Tebbins. He is in some of the photos from this day.
Deleteyep - Tebbins
DeleteOk, thanks! I remember him from Beatlefest, bought many of his fabulous photos.
Deletecute story - what's interesting tho is that some of same fans over the years always kept asking Paul for his autograph
ReplyDeleteI am guilty of doing that... In the late 60's I asked the boys for autographs for many of my pen-pals all over the world, and for my friends in Brazil, especially Denise (Paul) and Regina (George) who got several. If I'm not mistaken, I asked John for his autograph 16 times for myself!
DeleteHI MS. LIZZIE - HOW'S THE ENGLISH BOOK COMING ALONG?
DeleteHi Anonymous! There is no translation at the moment, I just did a few chapters. Will get back to it when real life allows me. Thank you for your interest.
ReplyDelete