Meeting George and giving a kiss!

November 16, 1976 - Copley Hotel in Boston

 

Reader meet George and gets to kiss him!

From Goldmine Magazine

Written by Marylin Blake

 George Harrison was the first Beatle I had ever seen in person, and it was a wonderful encounter, George was in town to promote his new album, 33 & 1/3, and my friend and I tried, unsuccessfully, to crash the press conference.     Undaunted by our failure, we decided to wait it out in the lobby, with about 20 others, in hopes of at least catching a glimpse of George as he came out.  We were finally rewarded for our many hours of waiting as the press conference ended and there he was!  He looked absolutely magnificent, wearing a white with a red carnation stuck in his dark blue shirt.

 Everyone started moving over to him, but all I could do was stand and stare – it was such a revelation to see that George Harrison, a Beatle, was indeed a real person!  I finally got my body in gear and made my way over to him.  He was taking his time, laughing a lot as he chatted and signed autographs for everyone.  Suddenly his security people started moving in on us and motioned for George to leave with them.  I was panicking.  To get this close and not have a chance to talk to him before he got whisked away!   But then George wake away his security guys!  He told them that it was a small group and that he was going to stay until he signed something for all of us.

I was so impressed that at that late hour, after a full day and a long press conference, George anted to stay and meet his fans who had so patiently waited for him.   Finally, I drew up enough courage to speak to him – nothing earthshaking, it was all I could do to remain standing and make my lips form coherent words.  I remember telling him how much pleasure his Beatles music had given me and how moved I was by the depth of his solo work.  I thanked him for being there.  I flipped over the cardboard back of my little spiral notebook for him to sign, which he did.

Then – I don’t know what came over me – I shyly asked him if he would mind if I kissed him on the cheek.   I saw his mouth turn up into the most amazing grin as he looked down at me, looked right into me for what seemed an eternity and nodded his head as he said that it would be OK!  I held onto his outstretched arm for balance as I stood on my tiptoes and gently placed my lips on his cheek.   It was only a moment, but that moment has now grown into 25 years.  That was how I not only got to kiss a Beatle, but more important, that was how I was able to let a wonderfully sweet man named George know how much he meant to me.