By Robin Titone and Goldie Friende (Brooklyn, NY)
McCartney Lovers and Friends
1973
It all began on an ordinary, dull day, when, while glancing through the local TV section of the newspaper, Robin came across the guest list for the upcoming Tonight Show: four words, John Lennon, Paul McCartney-- pandemonium. "But that's taped here!!" Conclusion: John and Paul are coming to New York!
First point, in case: We have to look good for them. After all, they may see us from 400 feet away, waving from the observation deck--crash diets and exercise programs. After 10 minutes of that, we were off to point 2. Point two: check out arrival time and hotels. Unfortunately, we didn't get the hotel information, but we did find out the flight time of arrival, and that was enough for now. The plane was due in at 3:30 pm, so, of course, we were at good old JFK at 9:00 am. Great. No one was there. We would have them all to ourselves. Well, after five hours of sitting downstairs, self-assured and confident, we moseyed up to the observation deck to find what seemed to be 1000s of people crowding the rails. Where they all came from, God knows, but sure as hell, there they were, and we were in back of all of them.
The plane was landing. We knew this because we heard someone up front say so, Now the decision where was the best place to stand as thrones of people ran from side to side? The plane slowly taxied in. God, was this really it? It really was! And after climbing over people and pushing our way through, we finally got to the front of the rails, only to see the plane change direction and watch the crowd change with it. By the time it stopped, we had a great view of 14 rows of people in front of us. The Screams started and the waving broke out, and there we were in back of the crowd.
By now, Robin was standing on a boy's back, screaming and crying, and Goldie was somewhere on her knees, trying to crawl through. But alas, to no avail. When we finally met at the rail, there were no Beatles; we had missed them. While contemplating jumping off, Robin, the girl wonder, yelled, "Customs!" We ran like hell and made it just in time to see an entourage of people walking through. And lo and behold, Paul, he looked like a walking picture. Hysterics broke out. But where is John? We knew he was there, but couldn't see him at the time. His hair was longer and blonder than we had ever known, and we didn't recognize him! They walked through a door downstairs and were out of sight.
Everyone ran to meet them downstairs. Robin and another girl went running, but wait, where's Goldie? She looked around at the surging mob. Where is she? Shit! We're going to miss them! We had to find her first. We started calling her name. After a while, we had all the passengers and airport employees doing the same. Meanwhile, back under a bench up at customs, Goldie wakes up. We still haven't figured out whether she actually fainted or was just dazed. She finds herself alone after hearing a stranger calling her name. She gets herself oriented and catches up with her friends. Now we join the mob downstairs when the police decided to get into the act. Well, it seems Goldie was not satisfied with her first screw up. Now she decided to lose her sandal in the mob. There was no way to bend down, and so there we were kicking around for it. The cops are getting rough and pushing us back. In the midst of all the pleas from the fans, they couldn't realize that we were only pleading for a shoe, incredible as it may seem.
Well, in any case, John and Paul escaped. Goldie found her shoe, and we went home. The next day was May 12, the Carson taping. The NBC building is huge with several entrances. The same old mob was there, and to make a long story short, we missed them again. This time, we were determined with a few others. We managed to sneak backstage. We saw everybody except guess who. We saw Simon and Garfunkel, the Bee Gees, Soupy Sales, Tony Bennett, and nasty old Tallulah Bankhead, but no Paul or John. We hid in the bathroom for a while, but were soon kicked out.
We found out that WMCA was to play an interview with them that evening. We were still in the city and couldn't hear it. Robin called home and asked her mother to tape it. When she came home after a totally miserable day, Robin found one question and answer on her tape recorder. Her mother thought that was the entire interview! That was it, the straw that broke the camel's back. We just started crying, and Robin threw a tantrum.
For some reason, her mother felt sorry for us and agreed to call Mal Evans to see if he'd tell her where they were staying. He was very nice and understood what we were going through. Then they started talking about the problems of parenthood. He told her they'd be leaving the next day and that they were not at the St. Regis Hotel, as everyone thought; he couldn't provide more information.
The next day, we did find their whereabouts. They were at Nat Wieses. The mob was there as usual, but this time, there was no escaping us. We had them cornered. After seven hours of waiting, with an occasional glimpse of Paul peeking out of the window, the limousine pulled up. It was 6pm. Flashes went off, and out they came. John was in his white suit, and Paul was in black. It was incredible. They were right there, no more than two feet away. Now, those of you who have been lucky enough to see them know that seeing a Beatle does funny things to a person. For example, it aids in the deterioration of the mind. Robin became very athletic in order to get a better look, jumping over a car using no hands. Goldie, standing right next to them, suddenly got temporary amnesia and could not think of their names. They were sitting in the car with the door open, and the idiot kept yelling, "Beatles! God bless you. I love you. Beatles!" They kept nodding and smiling politely.
Well, that was it. In two minutes, they had come and gone, and we somehow found our way back to the train station silently, not knowing how to digest what had just we've just been through.
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