Beatles Slip Into Town (1965)

 Beatles Slip Into Town and Try to Hide

By Charles Champlin

The Los Angeles Times

August 24, 1965

The Beatles crept into Los Angeles under the cover of darkness in the wee hours of Monday morning to begin a few days of vacation before they make the concert scene again Saturday in San Diego.  Then they'll appear here on Sunday and Monday at the Hollywood Bowl.

 They were met at the airport by a throng of two teenagers and a couple of dozen newsmen, airport officials, and security men. Another 100 teenagers who had spent the night chasing rumors from one airline terminal to another were frustrated when the Beatles chartered  Constellation landed on the far side of the runway, opposite the main building.

The two youngsters who lucked out were Debbie Notchman, 12 of 6643, Ampere Avenue, and her friend, Paulette Johnson, 13 of 6629 Ampere. Debbie's mother is Secretary of the charter line, which brought the Beatles to town.

Jaunty, despite the hour (they touched down at 3:15am), Paul McCartney, dapper in a green suede sports jacket, said, “We do not expect any teenagers. They should be home in bed at this hour.”

 Asked what they figured to do here in their free time. Ringo Starr, wearing a dazzling wide striped red and white jersey, said,” Go play polo. What are you going to do?”

 Author John Lennon wore a Scandinavian student's cap, black with a narrow visor.

 The Beatles and their entourage of 30 and their gear were whisked off in four black limousines, two trucks, and two buses. For their vacation they've rented a house at 2850 Benedict Canyon Drive, and will be hosting at least two private parties there during the Week.  Like Nikita Khrushchev, the Boys had expressed a desire to see Disneyland, but at last resort, the necessary security control appeared as unworkable for them as for him, for markedly different reasons.

Tonight, Alan W. Livingston, president of Capitol Records, is tossing a private cocktail party for the Beatles with the star studded invitation list that includes Bing Crosby, Tony Bennett, Eddie Fisher, Rock Hudson, the Dean Martins, the Jack Benny's, the Milton Berles, Richard Chamberlain, the Steve McQueens, Groucho Marx, the Henry Massinis and Doris Day and husband Marty Melcher. Despite some feeling that the Beatles have passed the peak of their popularity, their two concerts, Sunday and Monday nights at the Hollywood Bowl have long since been solid sellouts, and the boys come to town trailing a string of monumentally successful concerts, including one at New York Shea Stadium that drew a capacity turnout of 55,000 and a gross of better than $300,000