Girls Invade Beatle Lair
By Bob Riggins
The Los Angeles Evening Citizen
News
August 26, 1965
“John and Paul are finks.” This is the judgment more heartbroken than
bitter of two cut and bruised teenage Beverly Hills girls who were snubbed by
their heroes after staging a commando-type raid on the Beatles' hilltop
hideaway last night.
The girls are Linda Dunn, 16, 528,
W. Olympic Boulevard, and Jenny Reis, 16, 443, S. Elm Drive. The fallen idols
in question are Misters Lennon and McCartney, the songwriting half of the
hysteria-provoking Liverpool string quartet.
Linda and Jenny were among hundreds of
teenagers who trooped to the top of Benedict Canyon Drive yesterday to worship
at the Beatles' temporary Los Angeles shrine. But the girls were out for more
than a mere ritualistic ceremony. They wanted a face to face confessional.
Undaunted in such pursuits by the security
guards ringing the temple, Linda and Jenny scrambled down a ravine beside the
house and spent more than an hour clawing their way back up a steep, heavily
brushed slope behind the Beatles' backyard. “It was really rough,: said Linda, “I
ripped my slacks and cut my foot, and Jenny lost her glasses, and I think we
both got poison ivy.”
The girls finally reached their objective, but
while tiptoeing alongside the swimming pool, they were grabbed by one of the
Beatles ' bodyguards. “He grabbed me so hard he made me cry,” confessed Linda. But that pain was nothing compared to what
they suffered a moment later, on route to an unceremonious objection through
the front door, the girls were dragged through the living room of the Beatles
nest, and there they were, two of the mythical creatures themselves close
enough to whisper to instead of shriek at. “John was resting on a couch, and Paul was
sitting on a chair, talking on a telephone, looking right at us, not more than
two yards away,” detailed Jenny. But
then the moment of truth: “I screamed
out at them, but they didn't say a word,” Linda explained. “We were pushed
right past them, and they just looked the other way and completely ignored us.”
Without a I want to hold your hand or please,
please me to console them, the girls were deposited back on the street among
their less adventuresome cohorts, with a warning from a security guard, “You
better watch yourselves from now on, you could have really got hurt out there.”
While admitting the Beatles are entitled to
some privacy. Linda and Jenny said it was heartbreaking to learn that all the
stories about the singer's warmth and friendliness toward their admirers are
strictly a myth. “The way we looked all dirty and our hair messed up and
everything, they must have known what we went through to see them, at least
they could have congratulated us for getting through the guards, or said hello
or goodbye or anything,” said a disillusioned Linda.
“We still like their music,” they
sighed, “But it will never be the same.”
At last reports, Linda and Jenny have been the
only successful invaders of The Beatles' mountain retreat. But according to
their story, it wasn't worth the trouble.
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