This story was published in the Indianapolis Star newspaper on September 2, 1984.
We Loved Them Yeah Yeah Yeah (part 2)
Written by Bonnie Britton
More than 25,000 people, most of them teenage girls, paid to watch the Beatles at the fairgrounds. Jack Marks, at the time, an 11-year veteran Indiana State Police Trooper, got paid to watch the Beatles.
He called drummer Ringo Starr "just a poor kid a long way from home". His assessment of the other Beatles is less kind. "They were more demanding. Paul McCartney and John Lennon seemed smart-alecky."
It was early in the morning of September 4, after the grandstand show, that we got them back to the Speedway motel. He recalled the security people relieved because we've gotten through with no problems, no riots, like in many places,
On the way to their rooms, the troopers look down at the pool from the second floor. "One of us says, 'There's old Ringo,' and somebody suggests,'Let's go throw him in the pool.' He convinced them not to toss Ringo in. (He couldn't swim, according to at least one fan magazine), and they joined the Beatle poolside when one of the troopers proposed taking a ride before going to bed. Ringo said, according to Marx, "I could go with you" and climbed into the back seat of the car.
Their tour took on Speedway, Meridian Street, Monument Circle, and the governor's mansion. "I mean, what could you see at night?"
Ringo was hungry, so Marks suggested that they go to his house in Noblesville, rouse Marks's wife from bed, and have her fix breakfast. Marks had forgotten, however, that their Morgan horses were going to be shown at the State Fair. When they arrived, a light was on in the barn.
With a little prompting, Ringo told Doyne Marks, who was grooming the animals, "Get in the house, make us some breakfast." She wasn't too impressed, Marks said and told Ringo that she was busy and he would have to get his own breakfast.
Instead, they fixed coffee at home, then went to the former Ben's Island Restaurant north of Carmel. Several diners recognized the Beatle and asked for autographs. "I told them, 'Let him eat in peace, and he'll give autographs later.' When we were finished, he signed autographs, shook hands, and kissed some kids."
Ringo's absence from the Speedway Motel hadn't gone unnoticed. "When their manager woke up, Ringo was missing, and when we came back, Sheriff Major Alva Funk went into orbit. The deputy on duty told him Ringo left with some troopers and a car." In retrospect, Mark said he could understand that Ringo was a" high-priced piece of property" and that their early morning escapade caused some justified concern.
"He was just a young kid, 23, and they'd fly into a city, get locked in a room, do a show, and get back on a plane. He was just thankful to get out."
Marks, who drove one of the three Oldsmobile limousines that carried John Paul, George, and Ringo to the airport, said the Beatles manager came out to their plane just before takeoff with the message that Ringo asked to see him. "He just wanted to say 'thanks' for a good time, that he was treated well and appreciated it." Marks said.
Although he probably spent more time with Ringo than anybody in Indianapolis, Marks failed to get an autograph or take pictures. The Marks children were instructed not to tell their friends about the Beatle visit. "I think it was a year before our daughter told her best friend," he said. Even in conservative Indiana," he added, "we had visions of people digging up the driveway if they found out he'd been here."
They do, however, still possess a coffee mug, now broken, that Ringo drank from that morning, the chair in which he sat, and half a package of cigarettes the Beatle left behind.
To this day, Marks remains pertinently unflapped by the historic assignment. After all, he says there were other celebrity encounters, and Tennessee Ernie Ford, who also appeared at the fair that year, even gave him a record album.
Noticing how slight and small Ringo looks next to the tall, strapping men in blue. Considering what Ringo went through in his youth, he is a living, breathing example of a man who was meant to not only survive but thrive.
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