#9 Dream come True (repost)

This week's flashback post is from the June 1976 issue of McLen fanzine and was written by Margie Paturzo.

#9 Dream Come True

From Issue #12 (June 1976) issue of MacLen

By Margie Paturzo

On the morning of May 24, 1976, Monday, Kathy S. and I woke up early and proceeded to go to the Dakotas. We arrived there at 9:45 and sat down in the front on the railing.  The doorman was giving us dirty looks, but we didn’t care.  We sat and waited.

Around 10:30, some more girls joined us.  We all sat there talking about John and showing each other pictures we carried with us.  Then, one of the girls, Karen B., said, “Here comes Sean.”  We all turned to look and we saw this elderly look and we saw this elderly Japanese woman wheeling a beautiful baby in a stroller.  We were all delighted as we watched him pass by us.  I must admit, he is cute.  He was wearing shorts and had on a white hat and what looked like some kind of Japanese slippers.

After he went by, we were even more excited ‘cos we figured that John would be out soon.  We were wrong.  We waited and waited and around 12:15, the nanny brought Sean back.  Again we were delighted and we were sure John would be out after the nanny took Sean up.  Or so we thought.

Around 2:15 or so, Ann joined us with Pat and Joy (from “With a Little Help from my friends” fame) and Maryann.  We talked for a while and Kathy and I told them about seeing Sean.  After a while, Pat, Joy, and Maryann left.  Ann joined the rest of us to wait for John.

We started getting hungry so Ann went down the corner and got us hotdogs and sodas.  Believe me, hotdogs never tasted so good!   I kept thinking, “Watch John come out and see me with a hot dog in me gob!”

Around 3:10, Sean was wheeled out again.  I must add that no one took pics ‘cos we were afraid the nanny would tell John and then he would be furious when he did come out.  So we just watched, Ann getting her first glimpse of Sean.  And then we continued to wait.

We were all standing on the doorman’s side of the entrance at that time.  Well, after about another hour, Ann and I walked over to the other side.  I sat on the wall while Ann stood in front of me and the other side.  I sat on the wall while Ann stood in front of me and talked to me.  Well, at around 3:30,  I caught a glimpse of two people, a man, and a woman, walking out.  I recognized Yoko first, because of her long, frizzy hair.  Well, Ann hadn’t noticed them yet and was still busy talking to me, so I said, “It’s him, it’s him!” as I recognized the man in the white Levis.  Yoko must have heard me ‘cos she turned around to look at us, smiled and said, “Hi.”  By this time, Ann and I were on our way over to them.  So was everyone on the other side.

John was looking up and down the street for a cab and when Ann and I arrived by his left side, he was looking the other way.  Well,  Ann backed away and started taking pictures.  So I took out my pen and paper and said, “John?”  Well, he jumped back, looked at me and said, “Oooh, you scared me.”  In turn, I said “Oh John I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.  Can I have your autograph?”   All this time I was looking up into his face, unable to believe I was there with HIM!  He took the pen and paper and proceeded to sign his name.  I moved over in front of Yoko and John handed me back the pen and paper (see black and white photo).  I took it and was shaking so bad from being nervous that I hugged Yoko and told her how beautiful I thought Sean was (The things one will do when they see their favorite Beatle!).  Anyroad, I stood near Yoko, out of everyone’s way while they took pictures, and just watched that man.  While he was signing Kathy’s autograph, he asked where we all were from.  Well, everyone was yelling out their hometowns:  Chicago, Ohio, Delaware and then I yelled out “Connecticut!”.  Well, he must’ve realized (or thought) that I was the one he had written a letter to recently thanking me for “whatever I had sent him” to quote his words.  He looked up and glanced at me for a second, then went back to doing what he was doing.  I nearly melted into the ground.  All I kept saying in my mind was, “thank God he didn’t ask me if I was Margie.”

He finished what he was doing and looked up and raised his finger and said, “Here’s the cab.”  He took Yoko’s hand and started to cross the street.  Everyone yelled, “Goodbye John” and watched him cross the street to the waiting taxi.  I immediately started crying ‘cos I just couldn’t believe what had just happened.  Kathy and I hugged each other and cried (her favorite is John too, can you guess?)   We watched the taxi until it turned out of sight and then we ourselves took a taxi – to the Stanhope Hotel, where Paul stays.  Within an hour of seeing John, we saw Paul leaving his hotel.  But that in itself is another story…

It's John Lennon!

Everyone gets to meet Macca

The next day...

People forget that The Beatles went right back to the studio and worked after the rooftop concert.  It might have ended the movie, but it didn't end the work that was needed for the album.  (photos from January 31, 1969)

A peek inside

Friendly Ringo

The Lennons and the Boyles

Tea time in India

photos taken by Pattie Boyd 

Bothering George during a meal

50 years ago: The Rooftop Concert

It was 50 years ago, on January 30, 1969, that the Beatles performed on the rooftop of 3 Savile Row.  Many different events have gone on over the world today to celebrate.   Fans met at the building and sang the songs the Beatles sang that day,  Beatles tribute bands have been performing on rooftops to crowds of fans.   And most importantly, The Beatles have announced that new footage from Let it Be is going to be released alongside the Let it Be film!   Can it really be true??   

Good 'Ol Mister Wilson

Part of the tribe

"Neil we need to talk to you about George and John...."

Who is in the background

First I see a nice little family photo of the McCartneys as they get off an airplane.  But then I look behind them and there is someone trying to look sort of like George Harrison and sort of like John Lennon.   Amazing how the Beatles' influenced so many people -- even those on the same flight at the McCartneys. 

Teens Interview Mary Hopkin

Here is a nice fan story about meeting Apple artist, Mary Hopkin.  It was from the November 1969 issue of Datebook magazine as part of their "Teens Interview" column.   

Photos were taken by Marianne Nicoletti

Teen Interview with Mary Hopkin
by Ingrid Annoust Lancelot (Brox, NY)

Mary Hopkin exits from backstage of the Ed Sullivan Theatre in all ebullience.  Her eyes are liquid sapphires; her teeth are of sparkling ivory; her lips, red, soft and shiny bedazzle her perpetual smile.  Her hair, longish and poetic, gloriously contours her pearly face with the radiance of flaxen gold.  She is petite, almost delicate and hauntingly reminiscent of a porcelain figurine.

Like bees around the fairest orange blossom, the crowd swarms around the legend form Pontardawe for a glance, a touch, and perhaps an autograph.  She is graciously obliging, blushing now and then at compliments.  This fact has not been overrated.  Blushing just happens naturally with Mary Hopkin.  Cameras flash here and there as Mary gracefully evades the embrace of an old man.   she is courteous to all, taking great pain to sign each and every piece of paper.  She is not enerved or impatient.  One gets the impression that she understands how much this means to a far:  she's been through it herself.  All around her are delightfully amazed, "How beautiful she is!" exclaims a middle-aged woman.  "She's cool!" acquiesces a long hair fellow.  Someone tells her how great she was on the show.  "Oh, really?  Thank you!" replies Mary as she signs another autograph.  She is doing well considering the fact that her arms are laden with her guitar and valise.

Meanwhile, her manager, Stanley Sharrington, tries to call her attention to the fact that almost half an hour as gone by and she has a busy schedule to keep.  So Mary Hopkin attempts to slip by unnoticed; but then, a group of hippies spot her and have something terribly important to tell her.  She is delayed once more.  Finally, her manager invites them to the hotel.  There is no big limousine waiting, no security.  Mary Hopkin carries her instrument herself and walks up Broadway and Seventh Avenue in the most natural manner.  There is no sophistication about her.  She is not a put on.  Mary Hopkin is for real.

A few days pass by and Mary Hopkin begins her engagement at the Royal Box of the Americans.  She finds the atmosphere of the club a bit frightening.  "They're right on top of you... I'd rather just be sitting in the audience and have someone say, 'Oh, come on, Mary, sing something!'"

Mary Hopkin insists that she still is the same ordinary girl she was before it all happened.  It all began when a mysterious telegram arrived from London asking Mary Hopkin to call a Peter  Brown, collect.  He turned out to have been Paul McCartney, after all, asking her to come to London to record.  The rest, of course, is history.  The fact that she is everybody's darling is somewhat of a surprise to her.  "I don't deserve it...I'm just an ordinary girl who likes singing."

The only thing ordinary about Mary Hopkin is perhaps her childhood.  At fourteen, she received her first guitar from her grandmother, took an interest in folk music and made a fifty-mile journey every Saturday to take singing lessons in Swansea.  She later became the vocalist of a trio of neighborhood boys.  ("I wanted to save enough money for a trip to Scandinavia.") When the trio broke up, they urged her to go on her own, and she did continuing to play in the Working Men's clubs in Cardiff, a Welsh town, risking expulsion from high school.   She left in her last year, anyway, because with an Apple contract in hand, the dull facts and figures of music and English classes we no longer relevant to her future.  "I never go the beauty of them," she explains.

So time runs short and the rest of the interview cannot possibly be scheduled.  The Hopkin family arrives to New York on Friday, June 13, and of course, Mary's time is taken up showing them the town.  In the faint hope of continuing the interview in spite of all, you present yourself on the floor of the Hopkin suite at 11:30 pm on Tuesday evening.  They are all out.  Just when you are about to give up hope, the elevator door opens to reveal Stanley Sharrington and Carol Hopkin, apparently coming from a festivity of some sort.  He recognizes you and greets you, apologizing you and greets you, apologizing for any inconvience you might have had.


Carol Hopkin looks on with an air of bewilderment.  After introductions, she excuses herself, "I have some packing to do..."  you ask her if she would like to pose for a picture.  She politely refuses.  "I'd rather not.  Mary's the one with all the talent.  I don't even sing!"

One cannot notice the quite composure about her, too.  She exits.  Mr. Sharrington explains that Mary went to a show, but that she should be up any minute -- and then excuses himself too; he has some packing to do.  Finally, Miss Hopkin appears.  She smiles.  you know that she is tired and to force an interview on her now would be a crime.  She appreciates the fact that you don't and invites you to interview her on the way to the airport.  To disturb her so early the next morning is out of the question.  So she promises the interview in September when she returns to New York after having toured South America and Japan.  you thank her and say goodnight.  you wish her the best.  But then, what else could you wish Mary Hopkin?

Magical Mystery snaps

One fortunate fans got to meet the Beatles on the beach during the filming of Magical Mystery Tour and took a few snaps.   He also got three of the Beatles' autographs that day.  He tried to get Ringo to sign, but Ringo wasn't in a good mood. 

Taking orders from the Beatles

Photo op with Paul McCartney

The Day George Martin dropped by

Meet the Matadors

Reunited and it feels so good

Sailing in the harbor