Crowding around Paul

Photo found on the Gilly's tumblr page.  Always nice to see the sweater vest in color. :)

Fuzzy Coat

Full photo

I posted this photo before, but here it is again in a much more complete version.  

Sweater vest in color

I can never pass up a chance to post a photo of Paul in the sweater vest.

Bright red jacket

Magical Mystery and Talisman

I just got a new computer.  It is a touchscreen All-in-one and I am trying to figure it all out.  So I hope this blog doesn't seem like too much of a mess, because everything here on my end looks extremely different than it did on my old computer.

Anyhow, I am going through my old files and I found this photo of John from 1967.  I don't recall having this photo before.  Two fans appear behind him.  He is wearing the "Magical Mystery tour" coat of many colors jacket and his Talisman necklace.   What is that book in his hand?   Anyone know when or where this photo was taken?   From the information I gather from clicking on it, it appears that I got this photo from an eBay auction in June of 2006.

Paul in a red jacket

Beatles are wanted

Letter written to photographer, Robert Freeman from Linda Burrowes on January 1, 1989.

The three girls in your photograph are myself, my sister, Norma, and our friend Ruth.  I've spoken to my sister to refresh the memories for your Beatles book because it's very hard to put into words what we remember from the period as fans.  So here they are!

First the sweaters.  The essential thing was that they had to be dark and crew-necked-as like the Beatles' own gear as possible.  Since we were penniless schoolgirls this called for some ingenuity.  Mine was a white sweater belonging to my father, dyed black, a very messy procedure achieved when my mother was out of the house.  Norma's sweater also belonged to my father and was his words issue sweater.  The WANTED-BEATLES slogan was embroidered on, based loosely on Western movie "wanted" designs.  We like to think they were the first slogan sweaters of their kind.  Unfortunately they don't exist any more.  Norma had ot have the design unpicked and the sweater given back to Dad to wear to work.  When you consider we wore those hot, hair sweaters for a whole week sitting outside the Palace Court Hotel, Bournemouth, in the August sunshine, it says much for our devotion.

I suppose that week in August is something we'll always remember.  We'd been fans since hearing "Love me Do", had seen the Beatles with Roy Orbison at the Gaumont, Southampton in February 1963, and in the Spring had seen them at Salisbury City Hall.  This was a small place where we'd been able to stand right at the front of the stage.  Incidentally, we'd arrived and queued at 3'oclock in the afternoon - the only fans to get there so early.  We were questioned by a policewoman who couldn't understand why we were hanging around so early!

when we found out that they were appearing for a week in Bournemouth in the summer holidays we were thrilled.  We could only afford to see the show once, but we had front row seats and we planned, with the help of a British Rail cheapie weekly ticket, to spend the week in Bournemouth, looking for them during the day.  We lived near Southampton, twenty miles away, and traveled to Bournemouth every day.    I think we imagined we might bump into them on the beach.  In fact we discovered they were staying at the hotel right next to the theatre and so consequently spent the whole week patiently waiting on a park bench opposite the hotel.  Our reward, apart from being photographed by you, were several sightings of the Beatles when they wandered out onto their balconies, a conversation with Paul when he left the hotel with his father, I think, and obtaining autographs of all but John when they set off for their appearance on local television.  They only thing to hand was the box which contained our small transistor radio. I still have it, though the autographs are becoming fainter.

 I find it hard to put into words our devotion to them at that time and the intensity of our fan worship.  In fact if my children behaved like we did!  Perversely, by the end of the year, when Beatlemania had overtaken the whole teenage population, we were much cooler.  I think the thrill was that we were a gorup of the earliest, keenest fans.

    

autograph book

John either before or after the press conference for "How I won the War" in Germany.  September 1966

The Grapefruit jacket

Here is a great photo of John Lennon at one of the 1971 London signing of Yoko's book, Grapefruit.   The jacket that John is wearing this day was up for auction a while back.   I recognized it right away.   I know John wore this jacket frequently during the "Imagine" period, but I think of it as the "Grapefruit" jacket.

John and his coat of many colors

This entire post and all comments connected to it have been removed due to the threat of being sued by Weiss & Weiss LLC

Striped tie

I seem to have several fan photos of Ringo wearing this tie. I will have to look closely and see if they are all from the same day.

Beatles sweatshirts

Some fans are showing off their Beatles pride with adorable Beatles sweatshirts! This was back in the days when you were not allowed to wear these type of shirts in school. Hard to believe!

Flower jacket

Does John seem to be outside of Cavendish here??

George at the WB parties of 1976

Tempy Snow wrote a very lengthy account of following George around the United States while he was promoting his album 33 1/3 in the January/February 1977 issue of The Write Thing. I will post the first part tonight and the second part later in the week. It was a really fun story to read!

November 15^th, Monday: The morning road to Chicago was long and endless and I was so paralyzed with tension I didn’t even realize that Chicago was where I had seen my 1^st George concert almost exactly two years ago. Upon arrival we played a hunch and spent the afternoon at O’hara airport meeting every incoming LA flight with baited breath and raised cameras with our commands form New York: George, Sharon, Carol and Nancy. From George Harrison, though there was absolutely no show (We found out later he’d flown in via WB jet at the other airport). After 12 years of similar failure my disappointment was all too familiar, however one of us left O’hara walking on air – George Tebbens found out he’d been invited into the party.

Kay, Barb and I checked into a downtown hotel. In the room I thought over and over, “Kay, Barb, we’ve got to crash the party!” At that point I couldn’t verbalize. I could only walk to the window, stare out at the skyscrapers and pray; let me meet him after 12 years, let me meet him – but you know I’ll be satisfied with a view of his left elbow. We then drove to the Whitehall where we’d heard George was staying (the party would be held at the Ambassador) and sat in the lobby with Sharon and Carol and Nancy trying to look bland until we were kicked out. Outside, by th waiting limos; nobody was bland; we were all in states of heightening tension. I stood there, trying to convince myself of what was about to happen and vowing to keep my hands off my camera so I could see him.

Then suddenly there he was, strolling out the door in a brown jumpsuit and Billboard sweater. The mind can blow strange fuses; he was in vivid color but the people with him were in black and white. My first emotion was sharp disbelief. That gorgeous man was George Harrison? Cameras flashed, bodies pressed forward. He blurred past me but stopped at the limo to sign an autograph. I made it up to his side, held out my piece of paper and as he signed his fingers brushed my hand. I strained my hand forward so the touch could last longer --- well 12 years is a long time not to be able to touch a friend.

Then he was gone, swallowed up by the big black limo. I was numb, almost too numb to feel joy. I was also satisfied; what had begun with Rolling Stone was now all worth it.

However, my comrades had some senses left. As I clutched my precious piece of paper they herded me into a taxi and cried, “To the Ambassador!” Miraculously enough, we made I there before him! The crowd waiting was huge and a few seconds later George was whizzed through a swirl of screams and grabbing hands. Amazing shades of 1964!

As we stood there, our amazement grew. The windows of the party room overlooked the sidewalk and the crowd stood below chanting “George! George! George!” Flashes went off nonstop behind the curtained windows and the excitement inside made the outside excitement that much more intense. Finally George came to a window and stood there, grinning and waving while the crowd went bananas. Key, Barb and I merely gaped; it was 1964! For a second the ancient potent magic engulfed as all.

Back to 1976 and how to crash. We left Sharon, Nancy and Carol to their plans, went back to the hotel and put on our party clothes. We returned to the Ambassador and took temporary sanctuary in the room of another Cinci fan, Howie, while we made battle plans. Howie, even though an Ambassador guest, had had no luck getting in. Kay went bravely downstairs, gave the guards at the door a story and was told to come back in 15 minutes. Sitting in a hotel room knowing George was a few floors away, did strange things to one’s sanity, however when Kay went down again everyone’s fingers were crossed. A minute later she called form the lobby, “He’s gone already. We missed him leave!”

Dejected, we went to the Whitehall and sat in the bar with George Tebbins, listening to his stories about the party and looking at his prizes, a press kit and a 33 1/3 t-shirt. We were glad for George but our own miserable failure still stung a bit.

Snapshot of Ringo Starr

I didn't realize that Ringo owned one of those pink button shirts Now I have seen one on Ringo, John and Paul. Did George have one too?

A chat with Paul

George with a pretty girl

I always love photos of a Beatle in a sweater. And these are some very nice George Harrison photos. Anyone know what event that was? I would guess these photos to have been from 1976 (based on George's length of hair and the style). And even bigger of a question is who is the pretty girl hanging on George's arm? I think I have seen her before, but I can't place it.... And I can't be the only person thinking this.....where is Olivia?

Yellow Sub sandwich

So it is said that the photo of the guys holding a huge sub sandwich was taken in 1964 from when the Beatles played in New Jersey. The first issue I have with that date is that George looks like he has one of those mustaches that were drawn in by Beatle Book Monthly in late 1966. Click on the photo and look at the large version, because really....it looks drawn on. Maybe it is. And my 2nd thing is that Ringo is wearing a vest from 1967. Maybe he originally got it in 1964, but as you see here, he wore it in 1967. I don't know where I am going with this thought, but I guess I just question the date of New Jersey 1964.

Green hooded sweatshirt

Who remembers when Paul and Linda were on Saturday Night Live in 1993? I have happy memories of watching this show, a little more than excited to see Paul live on television. My favorite skit from that show was the song "Red-Hooded Sweatshirt" sung by Adam Sandler. Paul and Linda have a short cameo in it and I laughed so hard! Well here is Paul in a green hooded sweatshirt from the same year, 1993. I can't help but wonder if Linda didn't start singing "Green hooded sweatshirt...." to Paul when he put it on that day.