She Works for The Beatles (1963)

 

Monica can be seen in the black of this photo.  She is standing by the door in a black shirt with dark hair. 

She Works for The Beatles

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Worthing Gazette

December 25, 1963

    Meet the girl who had lunch with Paul last Tuesday. Not any old Paul. She dined with Paul McCartney, who is one priceless quarter of the Beatles.

     The girl is 21 year old. Monica Stringer of Burnham Road Durington, who has worked for the fabulous group. Her whole life is centered on the Beatles, Billy J Kramer and the Dakotas. Cilla Black, the Fourmost, Tommy Quickly-- in fact, the whole bill which appeared on Thank Your Lucky Stars on television on Saturday. Monica works for NEMS Enterprises Ltd on Monmouth street London, with nine other people under Tony Barrow, the press and public relations officer.

     She helps handle the publicity of the chart toppers. Each day, she works from 10am until 6 pm. "It is an exhausting job," she told the Gazette on Saturday during a weekend at home visiting her parents. "The phone goes off every 20 seconds. It is easy to get a headache."

     Phone calls are from newspapers, promoters, manufacturers, other businessmen, and fans. "It is always girls who ring up," said Monica. "They asked me if we have actually met the Beatles, and which is our favorite."

    When Paul was ill, two girls stood outside the office all day crying. They wouldn't go to school. On average, 2,000 letters a day come into the office. Even the postman asked for souvenirs. There have even been letters from Benenden School.

     On Saturday morning, there were still 13 stacks of mail in the office, unopened. Fans used to send colored hair nets full of jelly babies for The Beatles. Now they send peppermint creams, pens for John Lennon, and giant combs. All these things have a special significance in Beatlemania. The fans also send toys, which are then passed on to children in need. 

    One girl wrote saying that she was saving up £70  to buy a ring for one of the foursome. She had to be gently dissuaded. Monica was at the Wimbledon Palais a couple of weeks ago when the Beatles gave a special show for 3,000 fans. This was the event where a six feet wire fence had to be built to separate the audience from The Beatles. Even so, the fence collapsed.

     At the weekend, Monica brought home a special five-minute Christmas record that The Beatles made for their fans. It has Christmas messages from all four, plus mimsy renderings of seasonal songs, all very spontaneous and light-hearted. 

    Whenever the Beatles are in London, they call in at Monica's office. "They are all very nice lads and very witty," she said. "Last Tuesday, Paul came in and asked if anybody had not had lunch. There were four of us who hadn't. So he took us to a steakhouse in Monmouth Street. We had melon, steak, red wine, Christmas pudding, and coffee. We were at lunch for two hours. The table was lit by candlelight. It was all rather nice, really."

     A few weeks ago, a documentary film of The Beatles was made for American television. Monica appeared in the section shot in the London office, and the film was shown over a wide network in the USA.