Leigh Can't Find Her Beatles in Smoke Filled Room (1965)

Would you have recognized this face if you saw it? (I would!)

 Leigh Can't Find Her Beatles in Smoke Filled Room

By Leigh Kimbrough

The Atlanta Constitution

August 14, 1965

Leigh Kimbrough, a 1965 graduate of Cross Keys High School, interviewed the Beatles before their September 11, 1964, appearance in Jacksonville, Florida.

     Imagine what it would be like to elbow your way into a smoke-filled room crowded with people, glance helplessly around, looking for a familiar face, and finally, get up the courage to ask a stranger for help. "Excuse me, sir," you mutter, "Are the Beatles here yet?" "No, they aren't," Is  the obviously annoyed answer you get from the very British stranger who immediately turns his back on you and continues talking to his companion.

     You, one of the most loyal Beatles fans of them all, stand there for  a minute mentally scratching your head. (The room is too crowded to scratch physically.)

     "I've know I've seen him somewhere before," you think, searching your memory book of faces for the right name. Then the light dawns. It could only be one person: John Lennon!

     That's how it happened to yours truly in Jacksonville last fall, and that's how it's likely to happen at the press conference in Atlanta next week. The Beatles, John, Paul, Ringo, and George mill around in the crowd until the time for the conference.

     They aren't dressed alike, as they are for performances, but wear a variety of street clothes, and with the current male trend towards shaggy haircuts, it's hard to distinguish the Liverpudlians from many other rockers, even though you've gazed at 1000 photographs of the foursome. You've heard about their sarcastic, funny answers to the questions fired at them by journalists and prying fans. You get a real sampling of it when the press gathering begins. Here are a few of the questions and answers from the Jacksonville press conference.

     Q: What do you think of American food? 

    A: Can't stand it, especially hotel food. (Meanwhile, they're stuffing themselves on food provided by the hotel where they were staying.)

     Q: Do you ever go unnoticed? 

    A: Only when we take off our wigs. 

    Q: Does your hair need any special attention?

     A: No, mostly inattention.

 The two married Beatles shy away from questions about their wives, and all four, if they don't like the question that's asked, will answer in monosyllables or not at all. 

    Speaking of wives, a large assortment of females, tall ones and short ones, blondes and redheads, are likely to try the old ruse "I'm Cynthia Lennon. Please let me through to see my husband." One woman who resembled Fidel Castro without a beard tried to crash the gates in Jacksonville by insisting that she was Mrs. Lennon. Understandably, she got nowhere.