This is the final story from the Beatles visit to Indianapolis, taking place on September 4, 1964. It was originally published in the Indianapolis Star newspaper on September 2, 1984.
We loved Them Yeah, Yeah, Yeah (part 3)
By Bonnie Britton
At Allison Experimental Corp. on the far west side, a leased turboprop awaited the departure of the foursome and their Support Team on September 4.
30 or 40 people. Most of them were relatives or friends of police assigned to Beatle's security and members of the media, who kept a respectful distance behind barriers on the runway apron. Betsy Williams of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, now Betsy Miller, and six friends were among those waiting for a glimpse of John, Paul, George, and Ringo. They were the B E A T L E S, at least that's what their home sewn. Navy blue jumpers proclaimed. "And two-foot high, white letters, one per jumper," the mother of two teenagers said in a recent telephone interview. "I'll never stop being a Beatles fan. You know how it is. You don't just like them. You love them."
A former Hoosier, Betsy, learned of the Indiana State Fair shows from a friend. "I don't know if the tickets were even on sale yet." She said she convinced her mother to drive the seven friends to Indianapolis "if we paid our way." They came. They heard, and over breakfast the morning after the Beatles concert, they learned the location of the Beatles chartered airplane. Summoning a taxi, the seven girls told the driver where they were going, but instead, they were taken to the wrong airport. A call to the dispatcher sent them to another hangar. A guy came out and said, "There are no Beatles here," but as the taxi was turning around, he put out roadblocks. Figuring roadblocks meant Beatles; they paid the driver and sneaked through the surrounding cornfields looking for an entry point. "We tore up our stockings. We were a mess". She said they were invited into a house near the airfield to clean up and peered through the fence at the plane. "Luckily, several guards helped us get in", but only after eliciting a promise from the girls that they'd behave. "If you'll be good, we'll let you come over", they told them.
Scheduled to leave Indianapolis at 10:30am, The Beatles didn't even arrive at the airport until after 3:30pm, long after the rest of their entourage, small by today's standards, had arrived.
Their lunches from the airplane were distributed among the sideline crowd, which was growing limper and sweatier by the hour as the temperature climbed to 90 degrees. Behind the barriers, the group's road manager talked to Betsy, the second, E, in, B E A T L E S, and asked which Beatle was their favorite. "Four liked Paul best." When the Beatles climbed from their limousines, John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr, dressed in dark suits, walked to the plane without glancing at the crowd. McCartney, however, strode to the Harrisburg seven, smiling and pumping hands. Alvina Britton of Greenfield was the last Hoosier to shake McCartney's hand that day. He winked and asked," Okay, Mum?"
Says Betsy, ."The seven of us were so excited. I don't remember if others were impressed when we returned home. For a long time afterward, we were like a little club. We used to listen to their music for hours and tried to piece together a letter to them by tape recording words from their records."
The last reunion of the B E A T L E S was at a get-together after high school, arranged by Betsy's Mother. As her interest in the Beatles subsided, everything went into the attic, "including a tape of us on TV, on the news, shaking hands with Paul, and it all disappeared," she said sadly. After the Beatles, Betsy never fell for another group. The disillusioned time descended. "As the Beatles married, you realized that you weren't going to be anybody special in their lives."
enjoyable
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