The year Marta Fernández Muro met the Beatles
By Boquerini.
https://www.elcorreo.com/
January 11, 2019
It wasn't a chance encounter, but a desired and sought-after one. Actress Marta Fernández Muro was 15 years old in the summer of 1965, when the Beatles performed in Madrid. And Marta, a true Beatlemaniac, was in row 2 of the Plaza de Las Ventas, where they played on July 2nd. Not only that, but she went to Barajas Airport, along with her sisters Teresa, Blanca, and MarÃa Jesús, to welcome them on the plane that brought them from Paris. However, there, the police (the "greys" in the terminology of the time) made things very difficult for them, as they prevented them from entering, and she could only see Ringo through the car's window, which was hurrying them out
of the airport.
When the four from Liverpool planned their 1965 European tour, no one expected them to play in Spain . Franco's regime prevented any sign of modernity. Although their albums sold well, their first film, 'A Hard Day's Night!', had done very well, and they were frequently played on the radio,
in general, their long hair was talked about more than their music.
Promoter Paco Bermúdez had to endure arduous negotiations with the then-Ministry of the Interior to obtain authorization for two concerts (shows, as they were then called), one in Madrid and one
in Barcelona. After a back-and-forth, the tour was allowed, on the condition that the hysteria and unruliness of the fans that had occurred in New York months earlier, which had caused so much talk, wouldn't happen.
A music magazine of the time, Fonorama, attempted to charter a bus to take 50 fans to Barajas to welcome the Beatles, but the authorities refused. At a time when there were no buses, and certainly no Metro, connecting Madrid with the airport, many Beatles fans walked the 6 kilometers to Barajas, dreaming of seeing their idols up close. And the wealthier ones, by taxi or private car.
And so, on July 1st, the day before the performance, Marta Fernández Muro, along with her sisters and a few hundred fans, were on the airport terrace, ready to greet Paul, John, George, and Ringo with shouts and applause. However, the police cleared the terrace and the passenger exit,
preventing anyone from occupying the area.
More police than attendees
The Beatles stayed in suites 111 and 112 of the Hotel Fénix in Madrid's Plaza de Colón. There,
they held their only press conference before a dozen authorized journalists, who asked them
questions like, "When are you going to get a haircut? and "Do you know who Manuel BenÃtez, "El Cordobés," is? " They also posed for photographers signing some barrels of sherry that had been hastily installed in the hotel—a marketing operation, given that at the time there was an
international dispute over the name Jerez, or Sherry, as the British called it, claiming they were
different things, which they ultimately lost in court. And nothing better than seeing the four from Liverpool, who had just been awarded as Members of the British Empire, signing the barrels
of sherry.
The following day, July 3rd, was the performance at Las Ventas, where there were more police than people trying to get in. Tickets ranged from 75 to 400 pesetas at the time , which was really
expensive for young people. To justify the price, there were a large number of opening acts, except for Los Pekenikes, a group of the time, who had nothing to do with young music. The presenter
of the gala was Torrebruno , and among the attendees, who filled just over half the venue, were
figures from the world of music and film such as Miguel RÃos, Micky, Massiel, Pilar Miró, and RocÃo Dúrcal , as well as Marta Fernández Muro, who, with a friend, was able to watch them from row 2, on the chairs placed on the sand of the bullring. The background of the stage was a
curtain on which the Puerta de Alcalá was drawn. The performance, which began after the endless opening acts at 10:10 p.m., didn't go down in history, although the real spectacle, more than on
stage, was in the audience. Days later, Edgar Neville wrote: "There were so many police officers that one more could have taken Gibraltar." Marta Fernández Muro would recall years later that those who attended the concert "were a bit of an object of ridicule, like saying 'look at those girls, how stupid,' when on the contrary, it was us who were doing well, not the rest of
humanity. "
The press barely covered it: "Fortunately, Beatlemania failed," some media outlets headlined. Television completely ignored the event. El Nodo prepared a report on the visit for a supplement called 'Images' that supplemented the newscast 'available to all Spaniards' in some movie theaters. It was produced by filmmakers Pedro Costa and Francesc Bellmunt, but censorship prohibited its
release. Only a one-minute news report was allowed on El Nodo. In the 1990s, some footage of The Beatles in Spain, which had been forgotten in El Nodo's archives, was recovered. Pedro Costa then made a magnificent one-hour documentary entitled 'The Beatles Are Coming!' which was broadcast on Spanish television and can be found on this page.
