Today's story is one of some fans that met The Beatles during the recording of the White Album in September 1968. The girl writing the story is Trudy and she is a Ringo girl. Tomorrow I will post the same story through the eyes of two of the other girls on the trip.
One of the fun things I like to do when I read one of these stories is to go through my photos and see if I have any of the photos taken by these fans. I THINK the photo Ringo at Sunny Heights is of him and Trudy. Ringo is wearing what he is said to have been wearing in this story and his look is Autumn 1968. However, I am not totally sure.
I also find it extremely interesting that the Beatles took a break from recording to go watch TV at Paul's house for a few hours. I really want to dig deeper and figure out what they might have been watching that night.
How Trudy met Ringo
The Pottie Bird Beatle Chapter newsletter
April 1970
By Trudy Nieman
England – in one word “Richie.” I met him.
It took a while but I did it.
Should I start right from the beginning?
The first day there, September 3, 1968, we met Paul coming out of
EMI. Our hotel was two blocks from
Paul’s so we were there every hour – almost.
We talked to Paul’s cousin, John, from Liverpool. He was about 14 or 15. We saw the dog Paul gave Jane. He’s really cute.
On September 5, we went to Weybridge, We went to Richie’s
house. Mo answered. I said, “Mo?” She said, “Yes?” Then I
couldn’t say anything. Jay said, “Could
we see Ringo?” Mo said, “We have company and he’s very busy.” I asked if she would take my Magical Mystery
Tour book and have him sign it. I asked
her if she would sign but she said she never signs. I asked if I could take her picture but she
said she never poses for photos. She
brought the books, Sue and mine back.
Richie wrote “Love Ringo Starr.”
I asked when Richie would be done.
She said, “In 2 or more minutes.
He has to go to work.” I asked if
I could come back tomorrow and she said “yes.”
I gave her a vase but couldn’t find the car to go with it.
September 6, we started to walk to Richie’s house when it
started to rain. I bought Mo some
flowers. We walked up to the house and I
knocked, and an older lady appeared answered. I asked if Mo was home and she said, “No,
she’s out shopping now.” Richie was
sleeping. We left and decided to find
John’s house but no luck – and we got soaked.
We went back to the hotel to dry off, then we went to Richie’s
again. This time at Richie’s house there
was a limousine. I brought back the
flowers and asked if I could see Mo.
When Mo came Zak came out. Sue
took a photo and it came out beautifully.
I gave Mo the flowers and asked if Richie could see us now. Mom said, “I’m very sorry but we still have
company and he’s busy.”
Then we went off to George’s house. Sue knocked (George is her fave) and an older
woman, Margaret, answered. Sue asked if
Pattie was home. She said, “Yes, just
Pattie, just a minute.” We waited a few
minutes then Pattie came. Sue gave
Pattie the gift she had for her, then Sue asked if George was there. Pattie said, “Yes, he is but he just washed
his hair.” Sue said, “Can we take your
pic?” Pattie said, “Yes.” She said if we waited up by the gate George
would be out in 20 minutes. So we wait
for about an hour and George came out with Pattie. George got in the car and drove towards the
gate. He pulled right up in front of
us. He signed our books and he said,
“Oh, you got Ringo already.” We took
photos and I remembered for one to turn my tape recorder on. It was 6:45 and George was late for EMI, so
he had to go. He was very nice and his
hair was beautiful.
September 7, Sue and I went to find John’s house and
did. It’s beautiful! Then we went to Richie’s house. I knocked and the housekeeper answered. I asked if Mo and Richie were home. She said, “No, they’re out now.” I asked when
they would be in, she said around noon.
Sue said about what time. She
said around 2 or 3. We had to check out
of the hotel and leave for Salisbury.
The next few days we spent in Liverpool. We met the owner and manager of the Cavern
and a new group, “The Curiosity Shop.”
The manager took us downstairs and we all sat on the Beatles’ stage for
about 2 hours talking and taking photos.
Some members of the Curiosity Shop came down and so did the Cavern D.J.
–it was just great. Norm, the manager,
invited us to come the net day and hear The Curiosity Shop rehearse. So we came.
Norm put on some old Beatles songs.
We stayed until 6:00pm and left for the train to London. By the way – the group is good!
During our stay there we went to see Mr. and Mrs.
Harrison. They were really great. She had us almost crying when we left!
We also worked in the Fan Club for a few hours and took a
lot of pictures.
On September 12, at night we went to EMI and saw John and
Yoko for the first time. They left early
and Paul seemed to be upset. Sort of
nervous and jumpy.
Sue and I went to Germany for the next few days and Jay and
Mary stayed in London. Germany was very
nice. We saw the Star Club.
On Monday, September 16, Sue and I arrived back from Hamburg,
at 3am. That night we all went to see
“Yellow Submarine.” We watched it two
times. It’s really great; in color; and
a wonderful and meaningful story.
September 17, that night we went to EMI and we got there
about 6:45. Paul arrived first at 7pm. I
asked him to sign our MMT books. I gave
him a look like “please” and stepped back.
Paul looked at me and did the same thing. Then I laughed and so did he. George arrived next. He got out of his car and signed only 2 or 3
autographs. Someone said, “Hey, there’s
Mal.” I looked. George walked by me fast and I said, “George
that was too fast.” He got up to the top
step and turned around and smiled.
Richie arrived next. Mary took a
photo and Richie looked up from locking his car and gave Mary a dirty
look. I asked him for his autograph and
he said, “Give them to the man.” Richie
really got me mad. A girl told me that
every time Mo is with him, he is like that.
Then Mal left and picked up John and Yoko. John rushed in but turned around and smiled
when he got to the top of the steps.
Yoko was right behind him. Around
8:30pm Richie and Mo came out walking hand in hand.
I wrote a note and gave it to Mal to give to Richie. I told him that I’d been to his house 3 times
and had no luck in meeting him. I told
him that tomorrow around 2:30 or 3:00 we would be at his house and it would be
my last chance to see him. I enclosed
one photo and a postcard, the postcard for my pen pal’s birthday, for Richie to
sign.
I gave them to Mal but it was getting late so we had to
leave. Mal never came out with the
photos.
September 18, we went to Richie’s house. The time was 3:30pm when we arrived. The house was all quiet and it seemed no one
was home. This time I had Sue knock on
the door. I thought it would be bad luck
if I did it since every time I did it before, he wasn’t home or was busy. Richie’s maid answered. We said, “Is Richie home?” She said, “Yes, he is. Just a minute.” Then she came back. “Are you the American girls?” “Yes we are!”
“Just a minute. He is expecting
you.” She left and who appeared at the
door next? Richie!!! He was wearing a long, hip-length black
velvet suit coat and purple velvet pants.
He said, “Whose birthday is it?” I said "my pen pal". Then at the same time, Sue said, “It’s Trudy’s
birthday this Friday!” He looked at us
all mixed up. I didn’t know Sue had
given a note to Mal for Richie about my birthday, which never go to him as we
found out from Richie, but my note did.
Richie said, “I gave those photos to Mal, but when Mal went outside to
give them to you, you were gone.” I
started to explain about the subway stops running but Jay interrupted me. I asked him to sign my photos of him. The pen wouldn’t write at first. He was answering questions they were asking
him. He was very nice and he was
beautiful. Sue was snapping pictures
like mad. I wanted to take a photo of
him but I wanted someone else to get it with him and Mary jumped right in. I said, “OK!” Then Richie put his head on
Mary’s shoulder, and that got me mad! I
said, “Now that’s too close!!” I stood
there and I wouldn’t take the picture.
Richie smiled when I said that and he moved his lovely head. Wow! Then I took the photo. Jay asked if they would be recording at EMI
that night and Richie said, “Yes, I’ll be leaving in 10 minutes.” So we figured we’d better go. I said, “We’ll see you at EMI tonight!” Richie said, “OK, Goodbye.” We tried to hurry back to London to see The Beatles
arrive at EMI. We arrived at 7:00 and
found that all the Beatles arrived early.
Richie came around 5 with Mo again.
We decided that we would go back to the hotel and out to get something
to eat. We came back around 9:30 and
found that all the Beatles left. Margo
said they all came running out of EMI, jumped into their cars and drove
off. They all went over to Paul’s
house. At about 11pm they all came
back. George in his car, and Richie and
Mo in theirs. Richie parked right by the
gate. When he got out he saw me, smiled
and locked his car. I said, “Richie can
I take a photo of you?” He said, “yes.”
Then he gave me a wild pose. He’s
beautiful! He seemed to be so happy! After they drove up, Mal came with John and
Yoko. Then Paul drove up. A girl asked what was going on and Paul said,
“We went to watch a T.V. show.” Everyone
went, “Oh.” And Paul said, “Oh!” Paul had his long overcoat on. Mal came out and brought my photos. He said he was sorry someone hung the photo
up of Richie and it tore. We left since
Mal said they would work late that night.
September 19 – we left for Liverpool again. We went to the fan club and then to the
Cavern. When we walked in Harry and
Sammy, two members of the Curiosity Shop were rehearsing a new song the owner of
the Cavern wrote. They really surprised
me. They remembered us and seemed happy
to see us. Later they were dancing to
the song and they reminded me of The Beatles and how they kid around. We asked if they would be playing that
night. They said at 11:30pm. They had to play at some other club
first. When 11:30 came and they returned
to the Cavern they were too hot and tired to play. So it just happened that the last train left
at 12:30am. We had no place to
sleep. We thought we could stay at the
Lime Street Station, but it was closed.
So we went to the hotel where we stayed last time and asked for a
room. They were full. I asked if we could at least stay in the
lobby and the doorman said yes. So at
7:55am we left for London.
September 20 at 6:30pm we left for EMI. We got there in a matter of minutes. George arrived first. I got some good photos of him. Richie and Mo came next. Richie’s chauffeur was driving through. When Mal came, he had Paul, John and Yoko. John and Yoko went right in and Paul was
signing a few photos, so I took a few pics.
Kevin said they would work late again, so since we were all coming down
with colds and had only had about 4 hours of sleep, we left.
September 21 – Sue’s pen pal and her friend, my pen pal, Margaret, and I all went shopping. Margaret stayed
with us, so we went to see Yellow Submarine, and then she stayed overnight.
September 22 – We went to Margaret’s house and saw all of
Beatles things.
September 23 – at 10:30, I hate to say, we left London. It was a clear and cool day. The sun was shining but we were all crying
inside and little on the outside.
Well, we all enjoyed England and we can’t wait to go
again. I don’t know if I’ll make it next
year but if I do – I’ll be there – right on Richie’s doorstep and in front of
EMI when they come and go.
The Beatles took a break from recording to go to Paul's house to watch the rock and roll movie from the 1950's The Girl Can't Help It starring Jane Mansfield and some classic rockets from that era. Isn't this fairly common knowledge? (MarkZapp)
ReplyDeleteWow -- I had no idea. Maybe common knowledge to others, but I thought I just discovered some interesting tidbit of information -- come to find out everyone else already knew! Oh well. Thanks MarkZapp!
DeleteAnother interesting read. I'm looking forward to the perspective of the other 2 girls. Thank you for the time and effort you take in doing these, Sara.
ReplyDelete