Terror at Worst Ever Beatles Riot

 Terror at Worst Ever Beatles Riot

By Don Short

Daily Mirror

September 2, 1965

    The fantastic siege of San Francisco is over. Tomorrow, before breakfast, The Beatles will be safely back in Britain, sighing with relief.

     For Beatlemania brought its most frightening toll here last night. They are still counting the casualties after the Beatles' second late-night show at the Cow Palace Stadium; at least 94 teenagers were injured in the crush. Another 231 have been treated for hysterical collapse. Three policemen were knocked out.

     I have seen Beatlemania from its early days, but at the 100 Beatle concerts I've seen, I cannot recall scenes quite as frightening as those last night. The chaos reached a danger point when a great wall of teenagers hurled themselves at a crush barrier to reach the stage and the Beatles.

    . Police Chief Captain David Hanson shouted as he leaped onto the stage, "I've got to stop the show. Otherwise, we'll have a major disaster on our hands. Some of these kids will get killed out there!"

    Then, for the third time, Beatle Paul McCartney pleaded with the crazed fans, "Take it easy!" He yelled down the microphone, "Some are being trampled underneath."

     Somehow, the Beatles managed to get through two more songs. They decided to cut three other numbers, and the show ended. By now, the whole of the stage area was in complete chaos. Unconscious teenagers were plucked from beneath the surging mass and dragged across the stage. Others pretended to faint, hoping they would get a chance to grab the Beatles, but the four idols, surrounded by policemen, were quickly whisked away. 

    More than 325,000 fans have watched the Beatles at their 16 concerts during this second American tour of theirs, a tour that has earned them a million dollars. Their last two concerts here in San Francisco have proved one Beatle theory to be correct, that Beatlemania has never died. It's just that police security has managed to keep it under control, but not in San Francisco last night.

     Just before 7am tomorrow, four tired Beatles will return to London. They will take a holiday before starting recording sessions and making plans for their next film.

     In New York. It was announced that The Beatles' record "Help!" had climbed to the number one position in the show business weekly variety poll.

Beatles Fans Find Hideaway (1965)

 

Beatles Fans Find Hideaway

No writer listed

Los Angeles Evening Citizen News

August 24, 1965

If the Beatles are trying to hide from their teenage faithful at 2850 Benedict Canyon Drive, they're only partially successful. The young fans yesterday swarmed to the supposedly secret hideaway following the arrival of the singers at  International Airport at about 3am Monday.

Security officers guarded the state, but police were harried by calls from neighbors complaining of traffic, crowds, and noise. It was to make a casual observation that the same old situation was as in yore.

 A year ago, The Beatles disturbed the calm of the Southland when they arrived to make a series of public appearances. Now they've returned to perform on Sunday and Monday at the Hollywood Bowl. Both shows, incidentally, have long been sold out.

 Ever faithful, the teenagers scurried around yesterday until one or two other enterprising teens came up with the Benedict Canyon address. From then on, there was no peace. They milled around the gate to the estate in a futile attempt to catch glimpses of their idols.

Tonight, Alan W Livingston, president of Capitol Records, is tossing a private cocktail party for them. One that includes many entertainment greats on the guest list, as the Beatles are reportedly scheduled to host two parties this week. Thus, pandemonium has returned to the Southland, even the Citizen News is being plagued by phone calls about the Beatles, from their countless teenage admirers

Pendleton Girl Describes Reaction to Singing Group (Portland 1965)

 

Pendleton Girl Describes Reaction to Singing Group

By Donna Fisher

East Oregonian

August 26, 1965

Donna Fisher of Pendleton took a Made to Order press card with her when she went to Portland to hear the Beatles last weekend. She was crowded from the jammed  press conference the moaners held, but came up with this story anyway.

The Portland Memorial Coliseum was filled with screaming teens Sunday. The two Beatles performances held 20,000 fans.

Many fans gathered at the Coliseum hours before the Beatles arrived in their five-seat limousine. As they neared the Coliseum on Broadway, the screaming began. Police had warned the teenagers before the Beatles arrived that if they tried to break through, the car would not pass by the scheduled area. The fans were orderly, and only one girl ran past the police after the car entered. She was ushered back to the crowd.

 Running, screaming, sobbing, and yelling broke out as the frantic fans ran to get inside the Coliseum. The first performance started at 3:30 pm. King Curtis and his band, Cannibal and the Headhunters, Brenda Holloway, and Sounds Inc. appeared first.

 When the Beatles ran on stage, the crowd went crazy, but they did keep the proceedings orderly. Only a few fans tried to break through the line of police and were thrown back into the audience. Those who were caught taking flash pictures were to give up their cameras. But for minutes after the Beatles appeared, flashes were going off everywhere.

The Beatles were very much at ease during the afternoon show. They were very outgoing toward the audience, except for Ringo, who only smiled once. At one point, George stopped during a song and waved wildly to the fans at the right.

 The greatest outburst of screams came when they sang “A Hard Day's Night,” “Help” and “I Want to Be Your Man”.

Following the afternoon show, a press conference was held, and the Beatles stayed in the emergency entrance for nearly an hour until they found a hidden exit.

 Before their last performance, they were taken to a cafeteria to meet the Beach Boys for dinner. They entered through a delivery ramp underneath Lloyd Center and proceeded to a private room beneath the restaurant to eat. The manager told me he had served them a drink and talked to them for a few minutes before they left for the second appearance.

It was said their 8pm performance wasn't as long or as exuberant as the afternoon show. After their last song, they were rushed out of the Coliseum, less than a minute ahead of the fans. Near midnight that night, the Beatles flew toward Los Angeles to meet more fans who were anxiously waiting for them.

Beatlemania Hits Area Today (Chicago 1965)

 

Beatle Mania Hits Area Today

No writer listed

Berwyn Life

August 20, 1965

 

To Beatle or not to Beatle? That's the question, and most likely the answer will be the former, as area teenagers flock to Sox Park today for the two performances by their idols, The Beatles.

 Among those representing the community at the song scream fest will be Rose Sisco, 6820 Riverside Drive, Vice President of The Beatles Limited Charter Fan Club, with national headquarters in New York, and Pat Schneider, 6440 West 28th Place, a member of that fan club. Both will be sophomores at Morton West.

 What material do you take to a Beatle concert? The girls report they're going armed with cameras, tape recorders, binoculars, pictures and pens and pencils in hopes of getting close enough to get an autograph.

But that's not all. Should they use the quarterback sneak successfully and manage to get near the performers? They are going to present them with a few gifts, the nature of which are being kept secret for fear of others duplicating them.

And that's not all. Miss Sisco is planning to take a chartered bus with other fans and follow the group to their concert in Minneapolis tomorrow. She says that  she’ll go as far as she can travel with them, “but when Pat and I graduate, we would like to go to England and see the land made famous by the Beatles.”

 Miss Schneider wasn't always impressed by her current favorites. “As matter of fact, the first time I heard a record by them, I didn't like it. But from then on, they were just great.”

 She said the localites saw A Hard Day's Night seven times, owned just about every Beatles record and album made and played them every day. “Many people complain about their long hair, but it's not as long as other singing groups.” they commented.

 Both girls are interested in dramatics. Miss Schneider just recently played Gretel in the Morton summer theater production of Hansel and Gretel.  Rose, who attended Immaculate Heart of Mary last year, is planning on trying out for school plays at Morton.

How long will the Beatles last? The girls feel they will be around for a long while, and even when they fade away, so to speak, the records will still sell.

Man! I'm a Beatle! (Houston 1965)

 

Man! I’m Beatle!

By Hal Roberts

The Houston Post

August 20, 1965

 

Hal Roberts is 18, a drummer, and a senior at Lamar Consolidated High School.

 

Well, I saw the Beatles, but I only heard them a little bit. Even without the screaming, I probably couldn't have heard them much, but when I could hear them, you gotta admit those guys, they are great. Everything tuned perfectly, and they sound better than on television, on The Ed Sullivan Show.

 When we got to the Sheraton-Lincoln, there were a lot of people out front. We met Mr. Don Cork (manager of the Sheraton), and he was looking like he was sweating it out and having a time at the press conference.

There were a lot of press people going around, testing the lights. Brian Epstein came in (Epstein, or Epstein's organization, handles the Beatles). He is the nicest-looking one of the whole bunch. He had on a pinstriped suit and a tie.

There were a lot of girls at the press conference. I guess they were high school editors or something. Dick Dobbyn of KILT came in and told the girls that if there was any sobbing or shrieking, or any crying or anything like that, they would be run out the door by one of the policemen.

When the Beatles came in, the girls acted very nicely, well-behaved. I guess they were scared they might get thrown out. Maybe they were just scared being so close to the Beatles.

 I've seen them in movies and on TV, and they looked exactly the same. They needed a haircut. I mean, even with long hair, they needed a trim or something. They weren't dressed up. They looked pretty gross, but they looked that way in all of their movies. So I guess that's the way they're supposed to look.

One of the questions asked one of the Beatles spokesman before they came in was sort of silly, but interesting. It was about their hair. Some girl asked, “Do they do their own hair?” The spokesman was kind of amazed and repeated the question. Then he said, “They wash it and grow it themselves.”

 I guess the press conference was okay, but I don't think they care too much for the press. I didn't like their attitude too much. I think they ought to have a little more respect for the press. It doesn't matter how big a person gets; he should feel a little more respect for the press and answer the questions. I guess I thought that Paul McCartney's attitude was worse than any of the others. He acted like he didn't really care much for newspapers. George Harrison, he kind of acted like it didn't make any difference at all. I think he should have taken things a little more seriously. I know they've gone through this 1000 times, but the people who write them up are important to them. I thought John Lennon was the most adult of the group. He answered the press Okay, I thought he said a whole lot. He was married before the Beatles got big, and has written his own book, so I guess he's a little more adult.

Someone asked him if he thought they were good musicians. He said they didn't know music, but they do play it a lot, but they didn't read music like a lot of musicians. But he said that a lot of musicians can read notes, but they are not musicians. They are mechanical.

Someone asked Ringo Starr whether he wanted a boy or a girl. He and his wife are expecting a baby, and he said he didn't care, as long as it was one or the other. I heard a girl next to me say that she read the same thing in a magazine. I think Ringo didn't have much to say unless he already had an answer ready.

I'm just giving my impression of the press conference. I'm really sold on the Beatles. I liked them before they got here. You've got to admit they're just great.

 Everyone sure did tell the girls how to act at the Coliseum. Russ Knight and James Bond came on first. Both of them told the girls that if they started jumping out of their seats or running up to the stage, the show would be stopped.

 Everybody stayed in their seats, but the screaming was loud. I was sitting up high, and in the back, I was right under a loudspeaker. Every now and then, I would hear the Beatles. What I heard sounded great.

 I watched a little girl across the aisle. She was really turned on. I thought she was going to pop. Her lip was quivering all the time the Beatles were on, but she didn't faint or anything. She behaved pretty good, except that every now and then she would jump up on her chair. I kept waiting for somebody to shout, “I love you, George or Paul”, but they didn't. People make too much noise. I really don't think the Beatles should perform. Maybe they should just make people pay to see them without performing. I really don't know why somebody's lip would quiver like that, though.

Life With The Beatles (Part 3) - Bewitched, Bothered, Besieged (1964)

 

Life with the Beatles

Bewitched, Bothered, Besieged

By George Harrison

Liverpool Echo

February 27, 1964

    With the sound of that wonderful Washington Coliseum audience's fantastic reception still making their ears tingle, Ringo put it this way, "I wanted it to go on and on. I could feel the screams going right through me."

    

     The Beatles rushed back to the hotel and changed into more formal clothes for the so called charity ball at the British Embassy. It wasn't really a ball in the accepted sense. Two or three times each year the ambassador's wife, Lady Ormsby-Gore (She is now Lady Harlieh, as her husband, Sir David Ormsby- Gore has since succeeded to the family title.) has arranged dance parties for the Embassy staff and their friends, British and American.

     As usual on this occasion, she charged only $5 (about £1 15s) a ticket, which included buffet and drinks.  And she devoted the proceeds to one of her favorite good causes, the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. The 200 tickets she had optimistically printed were snapped up immediately as they became available. A veteran member of the staff told me, as he looked at the packed dance floor. "We've never had such a crowd in all the years I've been here, not even for Sir Winston."

     As the night wore on, things became more merry than one would normally associate with a staid Embassy party, and many of the younger guests let their hair down. The Beatles found themselves constantly being cornered by dinner jacketed men and their evening gown wives demanding, rather than requesting autographs. John Lennon in an aside to me commented, "This lot must have big families. I've signed hundreds of autographs, but everyone says, 'oh, it's not for me. Of course,  I couldn't care less, old boy, but my children asked me to get you to sign. You know?'"

     Hemmed in at every turn by jostling men and women to such an extent that sometimes they could scarcely raise glasses to their lips, John, Paul, Ringo, and George took it all in good part, although once or twice, I detected signs of anger in John when he thought they were being pushed around too much. On each occasion, it was Ringo who stepped in quickly to act as peacemaker. Then he too became somewhat annoyed as one of the laughing guests milling around him suddenly produced a small pair of nail scissors and clipped off a bit of his hair at the back of his neck. 

    Since we have been back to England, I have noted that the foreign secretary in a house of commons replied to questions, has denied that this incident occurred. You have my word for it, Mr. Butler, it most certainly did! Several of us saw it. If you need any confirmation, just ask Ringo. 

    The Embassy party followed the excitement of the Coliseum left the boys tired out, and they slipped on next morning until drug out of their beds to make a quick trip around Washington's historic places for photographs to be taken. They had decided to return by train to New York, although the snow had ceased and the aircrafts were able to use Washington airport in the normal way. But as I knew, that February 12 was Abraham Lincoln's birthday celebrated by all New York schools closing. I thought I'd do better to fly on ahead of them to see what was happening in the city, where the boys were to perform two concerts in the evening at the famous Carnegie Hall.

     I arrived in New York about noon and made for our venerable Plaza Hotel. It was in  a state of siege. The biggest mob of teenage girls we had so far encountered surrounded it. A sergeant told me, "The kids started arriving just after sun up, and they've been pouring in ever since. It's a school holiday, of course, and that explains it."

     Reinforced police barricades confided most of the fans to the square opposite the Plaza's main entrance. Every window overlooking the Plaza entrance was filled with onlookers for this was New York's strangest free spectacle for years, and nobody wanted to miss it. 

    Then the news was announced on the radio that The Beatles were returning by train due to Pennsylvania Station at 4pm. This was the starting signal for a rush by hundreds of girls aboard busses for Penn Station. They were soon joined by more than 1000 others who had flocked back to the station from LaGuardia Airport, where they had been awaiting the boys expected arrival by plane. Railway officials flashed an emergency call for help to the city police, and 100 men, including mounted officers, were transferred at once to the rail terminal to deal with the situation which threatened to get completely out of hand when the Beatles train drew in.

     Every gate was closed bearing access to the platform. Bewildered passengers off incoming trains were shepherded by police to other exits, and all the time, the girls kept up an air splitting, high pitched shriek, which numbed your senses. The four targets for all this commotion were in a special coach at the rear of the Washington train, waiting the word that it would be safe for them to get out. 

    Paul told me later, "We could hear the yelling before the train even stopped. What a row!" At last, officials decided they could probably smuggle the lads out by way of another platform. The coach was  shunted off but the girls were not easily fooled. They spotted the ruse and dashed around to the new exit. Hefty policemen went down under the mad rush by something like 2,000 screaming kids intent on getting near their idols. John, Paul, George, and Ringo started running and  following the railway officials in a dash for a mail bag service entrance.

     With the mob chasing full pelt after them, they got through the gate, which was slammed behind them and locked,stopping the girls in their tracks. Hastily, the boys piled into two taxis that made a rendezvous en route to the hotel with their own hired limousine in which they finished the journey to the Plaza. Their arrival fired off the excited waiting youngsters into a surge through the barricades to reach the car. The sweating, heaving police just managed to hold on long enough for the Beatles to get a few seconds of grace and escape into the hotel before the crowd reached the entrance doors, which were promptly bolted. Inside the Plaza, security guards hired by the management, patrolled every quarter, winkling out kids who had sneaked through the blockade somehow or another. 

    And so we moved across the to historic Carnegie Hall, opening its doors for the first time in 75 years to the beat from Mercyside. The Beatles were smuggled out of the Plaza via the kitchen and an underground employee entrance leading to a quiet street unwatched by fans. The taxi whipped them to the stage door, taking by surprise the 2,000 girls and boys without tickets who were waiting at both ends of the street ready to pounce, expecting them to arrive in their black limousine. The girls gave the battered taxi no more than a glance and the boys were out of it and inside the stage door before they were spotted.

     The towering height of Carnegie Hall's vast, 5,000 seat auditorium, seen from the stage with the balconies rising way up until folks sitting there look like midgets, is a pretty overpowering sight. I know for I was sitting on the stage behind the Beatles who kept turning around to shout quaint comments in my direction throughout the show. A couple of 100 customers who had paid top price of around two guineas for the privilege were also occupying the stage seats. You can also add half a dozen of those inevitable police and security men. They were presumably on the spot, in case we got up to mischief.

     Somehow, out in the packed, huge hall, the Beat-chicks really had a ball. They yelled, they yah- hooed, they squealed. They hardly ever seemed to sit down, and they hung along the plush balconies, hand painted signs reading, "We Love You" and "Beatles stay forever". 

    An elderly Carnegie Hall official said to me, "Do your audiences in England behave like this when the Beatles appear?" I assured him that they did, and he shook his head, sighing, "Extraordinary, truly extraordinary! Never seen anything like it."

     Afterward, the promoter of the show, Theater Three productions, announced that they would offer the Beatles a return engagement in a Carnegie Hall next September. In the audience and enjoying all the excitement were such interesting people as Mrs. Nelson Rockefeller, wife of New York's millionaire governor, with her two children, film actress Lauren Bacall, and Sybil Burton, ex wife of actor Richard Burton.  She admitted  to being a Beatle fan from way back.

     After the show, Mrs. Rockefeller enthused, "It was one of the most extraordinary things I've ever seen. I loved it. They were marvelous." But women newspaper comments Inez Robb, who has a very big following for her syndicated articles, wasn't so happy. She wrote, "This nation, hard pressed on all sides, cannot long endure the squealing syndrome that seizes U.S. adolescents and the presence of the Beatles. Beatlemania, rather than the Beatles, must be destroyed, root and branch if we are to survive. The glassy eyed adenoidal girls always on the verge of knee jerk hysteria, who compromised the Beatles camp followers and television audience could not possibly be interested in this British chamber quartet. They were only interested in an excuse for lapsing into the squealing syndrome with its accompanying spastic movements. I refuse to have anything to do with a 'Stamp out the Beatles' movement. What is imperative is a project to stamp out American adolescence", she fumed.

Fan Besiege Beatles on Italy Tour

Fans Beseige Beatles on Italy Tour

No writer listed

Coventry Evening Telegraph

June 24, 1965

The police allowed only passengers onto the platform when the Beatles arrived at Milan by rail today

for an Italian tour. However, 1,000 teenage fans managed to gather around the ban. They besieged

the ticket office hours before the scheduled arrival, buying tickets to neighboring stations. When the

quartet arrived, the fans, thwarted by a last-minute switch in the arrival platform, charged across the

station waving placards with slogans such as “God, save the Beatles” and “Viva The Beatles.”

 Those at the front of the mob got a brief glimpse of John Paul, George, and Ringo being hustled into

cars, bound for their hotel. It is the group's first visit to Italy. Their first two concerts tonight are at a

Milan sports stadium, seating about 26,000. Later, they go on to Genoa and Rome.

Crazy car ride

 June 23, 1965

Teen Diary Rekindles a Magical Debut

 Teen Diary Rekindles a Magical Debut

By Mary Mack Conger

The Chicago Tribune

September 5, 1984

        20 years ago, a 14-year-old Iowa girl traveled to Chicago to see the Beatles perform at the International Amphitheater. For her, it was an impossible dream come true. She wrote about that day and the events proceeding and following it in a diary. 

        I found that diary in my attic recently, and suddenly it was 1964 again, I was that 14-year-old girl.

 April 11:  The Beatles are coming to the USA! It's true! Sue and I are making plans to see them at the Indiana State Fair. Maybe Sue's sister will take us, but we'll get there if we have to crawl. Mom says, When I get older, I will look back on these days and realize how silly I was, but how can I help it now?

April 12: The Beatles have the two top songs in the nation, number one, "Can't Buy Me Love" and number two, "Twist and Shout".

April 14:   This town is a real hick town. I sure wish I lived in England. But here's some good news, Sue and I learned today that we don't have to go clear to Indianapolis to see the Beatles. They're going to be just next door in Chicago!  Hey, maybe we could go to both places. Now we need to work on getting Sue's sister to take us.

April 15:   Chicago, here we come! Sue's sister said she'd take us. Now I have to start pulling in the babysitting jobs. Got to go now, as always, I've left my homework until 11.

 April 16: WLS is going to have a five-hour Beatles spectacular with a live person-to-person call to all of the Beatles on Saturday. I'm babysitting that night. Can't wait!

 April 17:  Made $3 babysitting last night. That's a start toward my Chicago fund. Sue sent our ticket money in today. I'm tired now.

 April 18: Today, Ron Riley and Art Robbins of WLS had the Beatles on the phone for two hours. They had just finished a session for their new movie called A Hard Day's Night. 

April 19:  I just finished redecorating my room. It looks more Beatle-ized now. 

April 29: No word from Triangle Productions. The tickets are all sold out. We don't know if we will get ours or not. 

May 12:   Sue stayed all night last night, She's washing her hair now. Last night, we called Triangle Productions. They said that tickets and refunds won't be sent out until June 15. That means we'll have to wait until about the 20th to know.

May 24 The Beatles were on The Ed Sullivan Show today, and the Dave Clark Five will be on next week. Forget it. 

June 3:  Ringo was stricken and collapsed at the recording studio today. The doctor said it was tonsillitis. Please, Ringo, don't be sick for your USA tour!

June 7: Today was the day Sue got the reply from Triangle Productions. Were the tickets in the envelope? Yes, they were! Our seats are in the 48th row, the first and second seats. Now, there's three whole months to wait. "Love Me Do" is number one again. 

July 7. Went to see Cleopatra today.  My bird died. It was Ringo's birthday.  

July 26: Sue made our Beatles trip reservations at a little motel in Chicago called the Lake Shore Drive Motel.  It will cost us about $15. My grand total that I have made so far from babysitting and helping grandma to clean her house is $12, so I have to buy film and stuff too.

August 4: The heat is on in Vietnam again.  There's another war threat. Oh, well. 

August 23:  The Beatles were on a repeat of Ed Sullivan today.  School starts in less than a week. But more important is that it's only 11 days until we go to Chicago. I can't believe it!  I wrote two letters to two girls in England today. I hope one of them becomes my pen pal.

September 3:  "And I Love Her" is number one, and "I'll Cry Instead" is number six. One day until blast off!  Karen and I tried to dye our hair today, but it ended up orange. That's right, Orange. I thought I was going to have to go to Chicago like that, but the lady gave us some stuff to fix it. 

September 4: The day is here at last! I worried the whole trip that I had left my ticket at home. I made several trips back to the trunk of the car to be sure that it was there. Sue and I took sack lunches along to eat on the way so that we could save some money. But I hadn't planned on spending so much money on the tollways. Our motel is really a slick place. It has elevators, air conditioning inevery room, television, and a swimming pool.

The first thing we did after unpacking was hit the newspaper stands to catch up on all the Beatle news. Then we walked to the beach.  Lake Shore Drive baffled us. It took forever to cross. Being hicks from the sticks, we didn't know that there was a bridge we could have walked on.

September 5:  The day is gone, and I want it back. I hope I never forget any details of all that happened. This morning, Sue and I were anxious to go and find the amphitheater, so we got in the car and were on our way quickly. Just as we approached the theater, WLS started playing "Twist and  Shout". I knew then that the day was really here. 

The amphitheater is huge! Already, a group of girls was standing in front of the building. When we got there, it was amusing to me. The girls were camped along the side of the building. They were eating sack lunches, and there were lots and lots of newspapers scattered all about. These girls, too, had been reading about the Beatles, I figured. Only noon, and the show didn't start until 830 that night. Sue and I did not want to be left out of anything, so we decided to join them.

 We rushed back to the motel to get dressed. I had planned to spend hours getting ready for this night, but instead, we took 15 minutes. That's a record for us both!  My hair didn't look the best it could, and my nylons had runs in them, but we hurriedly grabbed our cameras, binoculars, and purses and rushed back to the theater. By that time, there were a lot more people there. I had some nice chats with a few policemen, but we sure didn't see eye to eye on my favorite subject-- the Beatles. 

There are a lot of people there whom we met. I thought it was interesting the way various people dressed. Some girls had regular dress-up clothes like Sue and me. Others had cut-offs, Beatles buttons, and ragged gym shoes. There were girls who had on a lot of leather or suede Beatle hats, dark eyes and black socks.

 Sue and I stayed and talked to various girls in line. We noticed that they were carrying Beatles pennants, and we wanted one. Later, a man came along selling them, so we bought one to match our outfits. I got red. Sue got green.

At about four, Sue and I went across the street to eat. We ordered Beatles burgers and played Beatles records on the jukebox. When we got back, we discovered we had lost our place in line, so we had to go to the end. There was a whole crew of adults trying to maintain some order outside the theater. Blockades were set up all around. Only people with tickets were allowed on that side of the street. Every once in a while, the crowd would start screaming. Someone would think she saw a Beatle, and then everyone would start to get hysterical. 

Once, when everyone was screaming, I moved out of line to see what all the excitement was about. Unfortunately, I stepped over the line we had been warned about. Therefore, it was back to the end of the line for me again. At about five, two rescue trucks came. This amused me because there were still three and a half hours until the performance. They were already anticipating emergencies.

 Finally, about an hour later, the doors were opened.  Sue and I had our first look at the amphitheater. It was certainly nothing fancy, but it was gigantic. We bought a really cool Beatles book in the lobby and then went to our seats. We kept walking closer and closer to the front, and couldn't believe how close our seats were to the stage. The time before the show passed quickly. We talked to strangers and even got a few addresses for pen pals. We took pictures of Ringo drums. Those pictures will always be among my most prized possessions, I'm sure. 

September 7: Well, it's over, and I could just cry. This is something I will never forget for the rest of my life. Sue and I wrote the Beatles' signatures on our arms, and we're telling everyone that The Beatles wrote them. Everyone believes us. I don't know when we'll tell them the truth. 

October 19: The world is a horrible mess. On October 15,  Khrushchev resigned. I don't know whether he resigned or whether he was kicked out, but I think it was the latter. Red China has a nuclear bomb now, so that's another worry. Oh, well, why worry? I mean, if we're going to get blown up, I don't guess there's anything I could do about it. 

October 22: Go west! Beat Central!

 October 25:   I cleaned up my room today and went through my Chicago souvenirs. I just can't believe I have seen the Beatles. I just can't believe it. The Ed Sullivan Show is tonight. The Rolling Stones are on.

November 4:   Jerry and the Pacemakers were on  Shindig tonight. Jerry monkeyed at the end.

 December 30: Well, there are only 26 hours left in 1964. I will put this diary away in a secret hiding place. This has truly been the year of the Beatles. Things will change. We will all grow up and old, even the Beatles. What will our futures hold?

The Beatle Bobbies had everything under control

 I LOVE this photo of one of the "Beatles Bobbies!"   If you aren't familiar with these fans  then you need to read my book Dear Beatle People: The Story of The Beatles North American Fan Club (which I have available to sell for $30 for paperback copies).   Not that I am trying to push for book sales -- but it is a long story that I don't have time to retell right now.  But I discovered this photo and it is sweet!  

Early Beatle rioting

 

Brian find a way through the crowd

 

Paul fan waiting for the film

 

I Met The Beatles and Lived to Tell About It

 It has been my belief that the Beatles' 1965 San Francisco concerts were their most dangerous. Reading this first-hand account from an adult who was there covering the concert for a newspaper really showed how dangerous (but fun) it truly was.

 I Met the Beatles and Lived to Tell About it

Written by Wally Trabing

Santa Cruz Sentinel

May 31, 1994

Cow Palace, San Francisco.

     I'm writing this from notes frantically scrawled in the press section at stage side during a matinee performance of The Beatles. There is complete maelstrom and madness about me, a wall of teenagers press against my back. The tears of hysteria have made my sweater sleeve wet near the elbow. The heat of young girls surging to get at the singers is stifling. The screaming of 11,400 youngsters, a noise of such a magnitude I have never before experienced, has turned the Beatles into plain puppets.

     I am four yards from the band and can only see their mouths open and shut and hear an occasional thump from Ringo's drum during the whole performance, of some 12 numbers. I will not be able to hear one word. There are several bodies on stage, girls overcome and hauled there by police to protect them from being crushed.

    Before they came on. Don Mullen of United Press International and I were planning routes of escape if things got out of hand, and we lifted the curtain in front of the stage. Whoo. It was solid wood. We were trapped. 

    Every move, which might mean the Beatles are coming on stage, caused pandemonium. A workman walked through the entryway, set off a roar unequaled by the greatest 49ers touchdown. When they entered, shaggy-haired and thin-bodied, a close-knit, high-vibrated wall screen began and never subsided until they left.

     Police tried to keep them at least 10 feet from the stage, but after the first number, their line weakened, and we were forced against the stage. One officer went down and had to be carried out bodily.  I saw Bob Lindsey of the Mercury News fighting to keep his feet, his face a twisted grimace amid a mass of squirming girls. I was hit with jelly beans and climbed on, and one girl went between my legs and clawed up on the stage. She got to Paul before officers tore her away and carried her off; she had thrown her arms around him and then hesitated, not knowing what to do. Paul was not bothered. 

    The police linked arms and leaned against the tide. Once I was included in the chain, we leaned back at a 45-degree angle and were pushed upright again, inch by inch. 

    The Beatles seemed calm enough. They continued their music. I like their "yellow submarine", and "I want to hold your hand."  But they could have been singing."I've been working on the railroad" and "Old MacDonald", and no one would have known the difference. 

    When George would turn his head slightly toward one section of the huge auditorium, it would set off a wave of screams which rolled over the general den. Two men crouched on stage to throw back those who managed to reach the top. One kid jumped or was bodily hurled back into the crowd.

     I turned around to face the crowd to study their faces. Most were crying in a beseeching manner. Some held up Beatles' photos transfixed as if showing their loyalty. Others waved frantically in an absurd effort to get attention, a glance. Some just stood and screamed and screamed. It was kind of a weird game. 

    The police were not rough. If a youngster fell, an officer would pick her up and sort of place her back in the scrimmage. Several times. The young girls caught me looking at them. They would stop crying, and give a shy smile as if to say, don't worry. This is fun. They returned to being hysterical. This seemed to be a clue to the whole affair. 

    Jelly Beans rained on the stage (once they mentioned they liked them,) as did shoes, hats, flowers, and teddy bears. I think seven or eight rows back, the hysteria was not so pronounced.  Near me, a young girl, hardly nine, was being crushed among the taller kids, and I dragged her out and stood her on a handy chair. I thought she would be ecstatic, but she jumped down and returned to the screaming crush.

     Toward the sixth number, the crush was so pressured at the stage that the youngsters behind us were fainting; we passed the limp ones to the police, who laid them out on stage. I counted 15 bodies at one point.

     The Beatles were knee-deep in prone girls, eyes rolling, their bodies sweating, and their clothing rumpled. The Beatles played on at $1,700 a minute for this half-hour of uninhibited screaming. The kids and other folks paid $7.50 per ticket.

     So what was wrong with that? There was no fighting or mobbing. A few were overcome emotionally and had to be smell salted back to reality. But for my part, I say it was great for the kids. Few times in their young lives did they get a chance to cut loose like this, and like they say, who cares if they did not hear a note? They all knew the music beforehand anyway. 

    The Beatles are a light-hearted, jaunty group that does not seem to take themselves seriously. They spend their pre-performance time in a large trailer behind the stage, watching a TV Western. The area was heavily guarded, but Paul McCartney wandered over toward me, and  I casually mentioned that I enjoyed their homeland. He paused to chat, and I ended up being invited into their mobile unit so he could find a paper to autograph.

At the press conference, they sat on a table, swinging their legs, and said, "Yes, they're often physically afraid when the mob surges forward." Then it was over. I felt sad that I was here, and my kids were at home; it should have been the other way around.

The Grab

 

Beatlemania in Vancouver

 

The BEATLE Girls

 This is the final story from the Beatles visit to Indianapolis, taking place on September 4, 1964.  It was originally published in the Indianapolis Star newspaper on September 2, 1984.

We loved Them Yeah, Yeah, Yeah (part 3)

By Bonnie Britton

At Allison Experimental Corp. on the far west side, a leased turboprop awaited the departure of the foursome and their Support Team on September 4.

30 or 40 people. Most of them were relatives or friends of police assigned to Beatle's security and members of the media, who kept a respectful distance behind barriers on the runway apron. Betsy Williams of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, now Betsy Miller, and six friends were among those waiting for a glimpse of John, Paul, George, and Ringo. They were the B E A T L E S, at least that's what their home sewn. Navy blue jumpers proclaimed.  "And two-foot high, white letters, one per jumper," the mother of two teenagers said in a recent telephone interview.  "I'll never stop being a Beatles fan. You know how it is.  You don't just like them. You love them."

 A former Hoosier, Betsy, learned of the Indiana State Fair shows from a friend. "I don't know if the tickets were even on sale yet."  She said she convinced her mother to drive the seven friends to Indianapolis "if we paid our way."  They came. They heard, and over breakfast the morning after the Beatles concert, they learned the location of the Beatles chartered airplane. Summoning a taxi, the seven girls told the driver where they were going, but instead, they were taken to the wrong airport. A call to the dispatcher sent them to another hangar. A guy came out and said, "There are no Beatles here," but as the taxi was turning around, he put out roadblocks. Figuring roadblocks meant Beatles; they paid the driver and sneaked through the surrounding cornfields looking for an entry point. "We tore up our stockings. We were a mess". She said they were invited into a house near the airfield to clean up and peered through the fence at the plane. "Luckily, several guards helped us get in", but only after eliciting a promise from the girls that they'd behave. "If you'll be good, we'll let you come over", they told them.

Scheduled to leave Indianapolis at 10:30am, The Beatles didn't even arrive at the airport until after 3:30pm, long after the rest of their entourage, small by today's standards, had arrived.

 Their lunches from the airplane were distributed among the sideline crowd, which was growing limper and sweatier by the hour as the temperature climbed to 90 degrees. Behind the barriers, the group's road manager talked to Betsy, the second, E, in, B E A T L E S, and asked which Beatle was their favorite. "Four liked Paul best."  When the Beatles climbed from their limousines, John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr, dressed in dark suits, walked to the plane without glancing at the crowd. McCartney, however, strode to the Harrisburg seven, smiling and pumping hands. Alvina Britton of Greenfield was the last Hoosier to shake McCartney's hand that day. He winked and asked," Okay, Mum?"

 Says Betsy, ."The seven of us were so excited. I don't remember if others were impressed when we returned home. For a long time afterward, we were like a little club. We used to listen to their music for hours and tried to piece together a letter to them by tape recording words from their records."

 The last reunion of the B E A T L E S was at a get-together after high school, arranged by Betsy's Mother.  As her interest in the Beatles subsided, everything went into the attic, "including a tape of us on TV, on the news, shaking hands with Paul, and it all disappeared," she said sadly. After the Beatles, Betsy never fell for another group.  The disillusioned time descended. "As the Beatles married, you realized that you weren't going to be anybody special in their lives."

Philadelphia Freedom

 

September 2, 1964 - Philadelphia, PA 

My Cincinnati photos

 

The copyright to these photos belongs to Sara Schmidt and should not be shared without my permission.  Please be respectful. 

August 27, 1964 -

I collect original Beatles photos and negatives with copyright.   That is my Beatles thing.  I purchased these photos taken by a fan at the Beatles 1964 Cincinnati concert a while back and decided to share them today.   I love photos like these because you know that a fan who brought her own camera to a Beatles concert and was one of the many flashbulbs that went off during the show.   The photo she took of The Beatles isn't great, but it is them without a doubt and they are a little piece of the concert saved 60 years later.  

Ringo's adoring fans