Casey's World of Sports (Cleveland 1966)

 

Casey's World of Sport

By Terry Casey

The Tribune (Ohio)

August 15, 1966

    The Beatles came to Ohio's largest city, and many probably wish they would never heard of the famed singing group. The performance started out in a peaceful manner with four other groups taking the stage, located on second base in the ball field. Most of those who came were interested in only one thing, and that was seeing and hearing the famed mop-haired foursome.

     The Beatles came into the park by a speeding police escort, and then waited in a heavily guarded trailer in the center of the field till their time came to perform. Many kids were so anxious that the trailer door would bring screams. As you could guess, when the English group came on, the cavernous stadium echoed with screams and cheers. 

    During the singing of the Beatles' first song, it appeared that the crowd would act in a fairly safe and refined way, if there is much of a refined way at a Beatles concert. The second song started, and then a few started drifting down the aisle to the lower stands, hoping to get a better view; then more came. At first, a few, then more jumped over the short wall separating the stands from the field. They then were out on the running track around the field with the heavy snow fence, and police officers trying to hold the anxious youngsters back from their idols, who were more than 150 feet away.

     At first, one or two tried jumping over the fence. Then, in an instant, the fence was overrun in several places. On the field were 6,000 screaming teenagers running to the center, trying to get closer to their favorite singing group. It was mob control with police being left completely helpless. When they got on the field, several fanatics tried to climb onto the seven-foot stage, with police surrounding the group on stage. Even though the Beatles were in definite danger from the mob, they finished the song and seemingly didn't notice the confusion. Ringo Starr was dragged from his drums by a fan with police, then moved the Beatles back into their trailer. 

    Those on the field had a choice of moving back or having the concert canceled. They moved back with over 30 minutes required to return things to normal. When the Beatles were doing their final song, many ran to the ramp where the Beatles came in. The kids were tricked as the black limousine sped out the other ramp. 

    In keeping with the fact that this is a sports column, it should be noted that the most disgruntled man in the stadium was Harold Bossard. Mr. Bossard is in charge of keeping the grass green at the stadium. And after the 6000 kids went trampling over the wet diamond, all the grass was killed. On the field were shoes, sandals, sunglasses, purses, and confetti. The riot that the Beatles caused will require the complete reseeding of the infield at the cost of $5,000, and it nearly forced the cancellation of tonight's game. 

    The force of the mob was so great that steel pipes were bent to the ground. After the mob had gone back to their seats, a policeman was asking if he would prefer working at a Beatles concert or in the Hough area during the race riots. He scratched his head and replied, "I don't know."

George on the phone

Photo taken by Dee Ellias 

 August 14, 1966 -  George on the phone at the Sheraton Cleveland Hotel 

Paul: We Put it All Into the Show (Cleveland 1976)P

Paul and Linda interviewed in Detroit

 

Paul: We Put it All Into the Show

By Jane Scott

The Plain Dealer

May 14, 1976

    We heard one of the Beatles Monday night at the Wings Over America concert at the Coliseum. Is there a chance of ever hearing all four of them on stage again?

     "I would say probably no," answered Paul, "and leave it at that."

     He spoke freely and spontaneously at a dressing room interview following the sellout show. The Cleveland Show, fourth in a 20-city tour, drew 20,731. 

    Belkin Productions had offered the famous four $4 million to do a concert back in 1969, but it has nothing to do with money. "We'd do it for 10 bob. It's only really because no one really is interested to do it," Paul said. "It's like a marriage when people keep asking divorced couples when they are getting back together."

    "You can't reheat a soufflé, my mother used to say," interrupted Linda. 

    But Paul didn't slam the door entirely. "Who knows what the future will be? What will it be in 1985?" he asked. 

    Linda, in ankle-length denim culottes and a sweater set, was barefoot on a chair beside Paul, completely wrapped up in the conversation. Stella, 4, the spitting image of her father, but with her mother's blonde hair. Mary, 6, and Heather, 13, raced around the room just like kids do from Parma to Paris. 

    The McCartneys said that they loved the Cleveland concert. They taped it. There is a possibility that a song done here could show up on a live LP. "Soily", the second encore song that has never been recorded, might make it too.

     For me, the interview was rescheduled for yesterday. I had interviewed the Beatles at the Sheridan Cleveland hotel during their appearance here in August, 1966.  I had tried for weeks to get this interview with Paul, even flying to the Detroit show last Friday. Paul looked only a little older. There are laugh lines around his eyes. Now his face is a little fuller. He's a little heavier. His hair is longer, but pulled back behind his ears, and he smiles just as easily. Yes, he has changed.

     "In the last 10 years, I've sort of changed, like we've all changed, basically, in many ways. I'm now married with three kids, which I certainly wasn't then. I don't know. I mean, I could go on for five hours, you know about the actual changes, but it's like it was the '60s, and now it's the '70s. I never really analyzed it."

     (You know what Paul said, back in 1966? Paul had twinkled at questions about his steady, Jane Asher, remember? But then he had said at the time they didn't want to marry until they were perfectly sure) 

    "Each LP will be different from preceding ones," he said. "Touring today," Paul said, "is different than it used to be for the Beatles. Touring was you didn't hear the music as much. That's the kind of basic difference between the music now that you've got to be able to actually put the notes in now. Then we pretty much did put the notes in. We could just about hear ourselves, but some nights we couldn't, and some nights it was a good job." He said he felt that you can hear a lot more with the better sound systems today. 

    The Wings system Monday night was flown above the stage. "The audience these days want to listen. They're more into music," he said. "It was a more hysterical time, a few years back, for everyone, maybe it's like the Kennedy /Ford difference here."

     Is Paul more serious now?  "I'll tell you what," he said. "I'm more myself than I used to be. I would be purposely unserious because you don't really need to get too serious with the press. It takes less time if you don't get serious," Paul said.

     Does the barrage of Beatles questions bother him? "It bothers me, only that I have to kind of keep saying 'probably no'. Then everyone asks why, and the questions are sort of endless. You know?" he said.

     Paul appeared comfortable and relaxed in blue denim slacks, a black sweater, and an off-white vest. He wore an ivory eagle around his neck.

     Does he still get the mob scenes that The Beatles did? "No, not really. Wings drew a mob Sunday night in Toronto, but generally speaking, they don't." This could be an advantage. Paul felt the scene had changed. "The Beatles always used to announce which airport or someone did. Now we don't," he said. "We try to put it all in the show. You know, people come and buy the tickets, and then if that goes down, we don't really get into the other side. People don't judge you by how many showed up at the airport," he said.

     Incidentally, you couldn't judge the Coliseum concert by the airport. Wings chartered BAC 1011,  luxury plane landed at the wrong one, Burke Lakefront. He said limos were waiting at Cleveland Hopkins airport, so the Wings group finally flew to Hopkins, then had to take cabs to the Coliseum.

     Paul's remark during the concert that Linda's mother was from Shaker Heights was no hype. "That was before she married Lee Eastman, Linda's father; she was Louise Linder, but she's gone now, "said Linda 

    "Lindender, wasn't it?" said Paul.

     Chances are that the McCartneys will stay in England in spite of the heavy taxes. "We like it there. It's still good fun in England. It hasn't sunk, you know, like some people think," Paul said, adding that they need a better system to run the country. 

    Does Paul still see John occasionally? "Yeah, if I'm in New York. He lives in New York. You know?" Paul said.

     The other Beatles? Paul doesn't see them much. They're still good friends. He said he had dinner with Ringo recently, but they live in different parts of the globe.

     Where does Ringo live now? "I'm not sure," Paul said. 

    Paul stared at me for a moment. "Say, I remember you now from that '66 interview," he said.

22,000 Scream for McCartney (Cleveland 1976)

 

22,000 Scream for McCartney

By Dick Wootten

The Cleveland Press

May 11, 1976

    10 years ago, at the Cleveland Stadium, four Beatles created pandemonium. Last night at the Coliseum, one Beatle created pandemonium. You would think the passage of time and the subtraction of three Beatles would result in a slightly more subdued reaction on the part of the audience. If you think that, then you misjudge the nature of rock fans.

     I had my hopes up that the age of screamers at concerts was long gone. Ha! Last night at the Coliseum, Paul McCartney and his group called Wings kept 22,000 fans at a fever pitch, of mass hysteria. The roar of the crowd equaled the thickness of the cloud of pot smoke. Flash cubes turned the carnivorous Coliseum into a blitzkrieg. The volume of the music was again deafening. Four gigantic speakers suspended from the ceiling gave the guitar, voice, and keyboard sound a fuzzy, blurry tone. No one could understand the words unless they were already memorized, and most of the audience appeared to have those words committed to memory.

     The first few notes excited a roar of recognition from the denim-clad crowd. Many were in their teens and many more in their 20s. Said one girl about 16, "Tonight's sort of historical I came here so I could say I was here."

     The concert was supposed to start at eight. The doors opened at 7:30, and the lines of fans waiting outside seemed endless. The spongers who joined the lines in front of you didn't help matters. When the crowd was finally inside the building, the lines outside the ladies' room were so long you could hardly make your way into the hall. The crowd was treated as if it were cattle. The experience was totally unpleasant. 

    The concert got underway about 8:40. The lights on the performers shifted from red to yellow to pink and to green. Dry ice fogged McCartney's knees and a red planet was shown rising on a screen above the stage. Very dramatic. All was for effect, and effect it had; everyone screamed. The hard edged music had a headlong and bloodthirsty brutality about it, and it kept hammering away as at your nervous system. At least you can turn down a record. When will show producers learn that ear-numbing volume does not equate with quality? Where is the subtlety? Where is judgment? Where is taste? Even such a Beatles classic as "The Long and Winding Road" was hard to enjoy because of the volume, but for the fans, the charisma was ever-present.

     McCartney sang numbers from such recent record albums as Venus and Mars, Band on the Run, and At the Speed of Sound. He was backed up instrumentally and vocally by his wife, Linda, Denny Laine, Jimmy McCulloch, and Joe English, plus a quartet of wind and brass players. It was all sort of historical, but like the Vietnam War, I'm glad it's over.

Fans were very unhappy with this concert review and they wrote into the editoral section of the newspaper to them know....

On Wings Concert:  McCartney:  Yes; Wootten:  No

The Cleveland Press

May 15, 1976

    I was amazed to read Dick Wootten's review of the McCartney and Wings concert at the Coliseum the other night. It is quite obvious that Wootten detests rock music and the audience that comes with it, and I find it hard to believe that anyone with such an extreme bias would review something he intrinsically hates. The fact that he views rock music, especially that of Wings, as nothing more than insufferable noise, lacking dimension and intricacy, sophisticated technique and melody, shows that he has no understanding of what today's music is about.

 The nature of rock fans consists of an intense love and appreciation for both the performer and his music. The McCartney concert was the most well-received, appreciated concert I've seen in years. The ovations were deafening. It was no less than a fitting tribute to someone who, through his music and his charisma, made our coming of age a little less painful. There was a true undercurrent of love and gratitude flowing between the audience and the performer. To compare that with even the slightest insinuation to the Vietnam War is an affront to every person who ever attended and enjoyed a rock concert. Next time, sir, stay home with your musak tapes and let the testimony of 22,000 other people stand as a proper judgment. -- Sara L. Stein

     Mr. Wootten, can't you appreciate the great thrill many experienced at being able to see Paul McCartney, considered by many to be the best the Beatles had to offer? Or can you only criticize the screaming fans for the excess of noise? Were you expecting a symphony orchestra crowd, Mr. Wootten? You expected that the passage of time and the subtraction of three Beatles would result in a slightly more subdued reaction on the part of the audience. However, great is great, and talent is talent, and neither time nor change can alter those qualities. If the crowd had done anything but scream, I suspect McCartney would have been terribly disappointed. As for the quality of the music, I was amazed at the authenticity of the sound. You found fault with the fact that not all the words of the songs were decipherable. The next time you're at a Cavaliers game, listen to the announcer and see if you can understand his every word, then consider the fact that a rock concert is not a rock concert without amplification. Also, if you haven't noticed, the Coliseum is exceptionally large, and amplification is necessary. It's unfortunate you didn't find room in your article to describe the tasteful song selection, McCartney's quality showmanship, or the exceptionally well-behaved crowd -- Cynthia M Bezpiaty

    I couldn't believe Dick Wootten's terrible write-up on Paul McCartney's concert Monday night at the Coliseum. How could he even compare such an ecstatic, happy event to the Vietnam War? I thought it was the most incredible concert I've ever been to. How could it help but not be with Paul in the lead? I know I will never see anything like it again--- until he returns. -- LeeAnn Drenkhan.

    Anyone with any real knowledge of concerts knows that it's rare to see a fantastic light show, such as Wings had. Maybe dry-ice covering McCartney's shoes isn't so amazing, but how many times can you see laser beams shooting all over the Coliseum and actual album covers coming to life? The sound was fuzzy, but it seemed to improve as the concert went on. Personally, it was the greatest concert I've ever heard or seen, and I wish it could have lasted longer. -- Lynda Baranauskas

    That article was a review of the concert. It was a big put-down. Dick Wootten had few comments on the performance itself. He was too busy picking on every petty thing that annoyed him. -- Marian Hudak 

    The fabulous visual effects used by Wings helped make this concert the most exciting and entertaining concert I've ever had the pleasure of attending. Every song performed that historic night far exceeded any of the studio versions. And finally, there was far less use of pot at this concert than any I have ever been to. 

In retrospect, on Dick Woottens review, I find it totally worthless, a waste of ink and paper space, and completely void of any value, as I and any of the 22,000 musically satisfied fans could tell you.-- Mark Baldy

     I think Dick Wootten's article has about as much class as Paul McCartney's toe! His article is much, MUCH too unfair to the hundreds of 1000s of people and fans who read the Press and didn't see the concert. Mr. Wootten apparently didn't realize who actually was on stage Monday night. Paul McCartney, a living legend, along with his dynamic band, performed one of the finest musical and visual concerts that Cleveland has ever witnessed. I alone speak for the 22,000 people who attended and very much enjoyed the concert --  Jerry Abbadine.

All About Beatles -- In Three Answers (1964)

 

All About Beatles -- In Three Answers (1964)

By Jan Mellow

The Plain Dealer

September 16, 1964

At a press conference yesterday at the Hotel Sheridan in Cleveland, one Beatle, John Lennon, had a few choice answers to the question. The answers went like this:

Q: What do you think of adult attempts to psychoanalyze the kids who like you?

 A: They have nothing better to do.

 Q: Are the answers that come up right? 

 A: No, wrong.

 Q: How do you personally explain Beatlemania?

 A: We don't even try.

    There was no explaining the controlled hysteria of the press conference, one of two in the afternoon, or the determination of the youngsters who managed to get past the police at the hotel.

     The guards were at every exit, amazingly good-natured and tolerant, but firm against the teenagers whose only desire was to get close to the Beatles.  List of contest winners and accredited representatives of newspapers, from dailies to high school sheets referred to frequently, and many a heart was temporarily broken because the name was missing. 

    

    Police had to laugh at some of the tricks the girls tried to use to get into the hotel. One said she had an uncle registered. Could not remember his name or room number. Another fainted on the sidewalk, saying moments later, she thought there was a first aid station in the hotel. 

    A boy with fuzzy cheeks insisted he had reservations for cocktails at the Kong Tiki. An 11-year-old girl offered a stolen key to a $ 35-a-day suite. A boy tried to hide in a packing crate being trucked in.

     Security was so good throughout the day that Chief Richard R Wagner, in civilian clothes, thought he might not be allowed in the parlor floor where the Beatles stayed. Alan J Lowe, Managing Director of the hotel, had scheduled the Beatles for the presidential suite.  At the last minute, Chief Wagner said too many people knew where they were going to be and asked that they be moved, preferably to the floor with the press conference.

     Throughout the afternoon, as a group of girls outside the hotel grew, some jokesters would wave out of the sixth-floor window, and the girls would scream, thinking that was where the Beatles were. Finally, at about 6:30pm and again, at seven, the Beatles finally opened a window of the parlor floor and waved. At those two points, the neat line of girls broke and spilled out from behind the fence of the quadrant, a public square allotted to them, and into the street. Police allowed them freedom until the Beatles' heads looked as if they wore Beatle wigs disappeared.

     Rush Hour was nothing like the problem that had been anticipated. Sidewalks were kept open at all times. Buses moved freely. Taxi cabs were under strict orders to travel only one mile an hour in the square had plenty of room. 

    The girls entertained passersby with their versions of an old football yell. "We like the Beatles and we couldn't be prouder. And if you can't hear us, we'll yell a little louder!" And they did in a crescendo that brought grins to the faces of the policemen. 

    The press conference was typical of  Beatle confusion, noise, and jokes. Someone asked whether they ever thought of the past while standing before screaming audiences. Ringo Starr said, "No, that's only when you're dying."

     Asked, which was which? (Obviously by an adult), they broke into a chant: "Ringo, John, George Paul. Ringo, John, George Paul." That means John Lennon, George Harrison, and Paul McCartney.

     "What is your educational background?" A woman asked.  "Lousy," a Beatle said. "Do you ever quarrel?"  "Yes," a Beatle said. "About what?" "Everything".

     Another one said, "Do you plan a trip to Mexico?"  "We never plan anything," Paul McCartney said, "It's planned for us." "How many rings do you wear?" "I wear four. I have 10," said Ringo Starr.

     Harrison drew pictures throughout the conference. "He always does that," Lennon said. "He makes cartoons of you journalists."

     Security for The Beatles was so good on their arrival and during the day that one of the young men complained. Asked what he thought of the Cleveland police. He said they were "very efficient. They went a little too far last night."  Harrison said the Beatles were taken by routes that bypassed the airport crowd and the hotel greeters.

     Chief Wagner, who took over a small ballroom as police headquarters, didn't care. It was costing the city something like $17,000 in police overtime to protect Beatles fans against themselves, and he meant to get his money's worth, if possible. 

    Lowe agreed. He wanted the Beatles to be comfortable and their fans happy, and for nothing to go wrong in the hotel. Six uniformed men were on guard at all times by the elevator on the parlor floor in the hallway leading to the Beatles' suite.

From the wings in Cleveland

 

Cleveland Rocks

 

The Beatle Beat

 

Jane Scott interviewing Paul in Cleveland in 1966

The Beatle Beat

By Jane Scott (Teen Time Editor)

The Plain Dealer

August 19, 1966

    "What are they really like?"  "Wow!"

     Teen Time has been peppered with questions since the Beatle interview. Sunday. Here's the scoop. The fellows are friendly, warm, interesting, and easy to talk to. 

    "Would you like a cigarette?" Ringo offered as I sat down beside him on the parlor 51 couch in the hotel Sheraton-Cleveland. (He smokes king size filter tipped larks) The shortest Beatle looked a little like a jockey in his gold silk shirt, faded blue jeans, canvas shoes, and, surprise, only one ring on each hand.

     How's Zach? His 11th-month-old son? "Oh, he's leaping about."  Ringo said he calls his wife, Maureen, three times a week while he's on tour. 

    The mop top millionaires have more than six changes of suits for their tour. They wore the same dark green suits in Cleveland that they had worn in Chicago on August 12, and they wore light gray suits with pink-red shirts in Detroit. 

    "How do we decide? It depends on which ones have creases," Ringo explained.  They buy their suits at Hung On You in Chelsea. He said, "Carnaby Street, it's fine, but it's too popular for us to go there."

      Ringo, who rang out with the Old Dark Town Skiffle Group and Rory Storm and the Hurricanes years ago, wants to learn the piano someday. He expects it will take at least 20 years.

     And don't believe any yarns about his being conceited. "The greatest drummers in the world today are Americans," he said. 

    Paul McCartney is the personality Beatle. He's the most boyish, the most expressive. He uses his cigarette to make points when he talks, occasionally rubbing his chin. He wore a striped shirt, was the nattiest dresser of the four. 

    Paul was popping with opinions about British and American TV. "I love American TV," he said, in answer to a question. "They should make BBC more slick. They waste time on the BBC. There's too much light music in only one category." He added, "The big danger is that they could take off good plays from TV and will lose part of our culture," he feels.

     Paul's eyes twinkled when he talked about Jane Asher, his steady date for three years. They both want to be perfectly sure before they settle down to marry anyone. 

    Would marriage help or hurt him? "It doesn't make a blind bit of difference I don't think. It might help in lots of ways. He said, incidentally, he once was blinded temporarily by a fan in England. "I was got once by a cigarette lighter. In fact, it clouded me in the eye and closed my eye for the stay."

     In Chicago, a purple and yellow stuffed animal, a red rubber ball, and a jump rope were plopped up on the stage. Paul had to kick a carton of Winston cigarettes out of the way; as he played, he saw a cigarette lighter flying past him in Detroit Olympia stadium. "It's okay, as long as they throw the light stuff," Paul says, "like paper, for instance."

     Lean, dark George Harrison, with those hollow cheeks, was in deep conversation about lyrics with WIXY 1260, disc jockey Al Gates, George's yellow rib shirt hung out over his brown corduroy pants. "It doesn't matter about prejudice people,"  George was saying.

     John Lennon didn't mind the big question (what about your Jesus statement?) And answered in a calm, unhurried manner. He was sorry. He said it about the way it turned out. John, the first Beatle to be a bridegroom, seems the most mature.

     He's known as the best all-rounder, being a composer, painter, and writer as well. Does he care if others record his music? "No, not if they do it well," he said. 

     Is he writing another book? "Not yet. I haven't time. I want to think about the next one for a long time," he said.

 The Liverpool limelighters should start their next film in January. 

    Yes, the Beatles bobs were a little longer than their recent pictures have indicated. "Longer? I have no idea,"joked Paul, "I haven't looked at it lately," he said, ruffling up the back of his hair. 

    I might add that getting in to talk to the Beatles is almost as difficult as going along on the Lucy and Pat Nugent honeymoon. The plainclothes policemen even stopped Beatle manager Brian Epstein as he walked down the hotel corridor. Only persistent pleading by WIXY, 1260, station manager Norman Wayne broke down press manager Tony Barrow's refusal, and I became the only Cleveland gal at the tape session. WI XY sponsored the August 14 concert here. 

    This was not a regular press conference. Tony Barrow feels that it is sufficient for newspaper reporters to cover the concert and not necessarily to meet the Beatles personally. Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles will be the only exceptions; even the powerful Associated Press was refused in Detroit.

 Which Beatle would I take home? Surprise! John Lennon! Told you he was the most mature.

Refund for Harrison Tickets

 Refund Plan Studied for Harrison Tickets

(No author given)

The Akron Beacon Journal

December 3, 1974

Refund information for the George Harrison concert scheduled for Monday night at the Coliseum will be forthcoming, said a spokesman for Belkin Productions sponsors of the concert. 

The concert was canceled because of impassable roads in the Coliseum area. The spokesman said there was no problem in getting Harrison to the Coliseum because the former Beatles "had his own chartered plane."

 Sheriff Major Howard Taylor, of post 3 in Bath Township, advised the promoters that the concert should be canceled. "The roads in the area were a mess," Taylor said. "I- 271 was blocked, and Ohio 303 had only one lane passable. I told the Belkin people that, in my opinion, the shows should not be held for the safety of the people."

 Two shows were scheduled at 6:00 and 10:00pm. Some out-of-state concertgoers became stranded on I- 271. Others from Cleveland and Columbus, where only a small amount of the snow fell, were already on their way.

 Both shows were sold out, meaning approximately 40,000 rock fans would have attended. A spokesman for Belkin Productions said it was very doubtful that the two shows could be rescheduled, even for early next year.

The curtain goes up

 September 15, 1964 

Scenes from the Cleveland press conference

 

September 15, 1964 - Cleveland, Ohio 

Smiling for the cameras

 

Paul in Cleveland

 

Ping Pong

 May 10, 1976 - Cleveland, Ohio 

Cleveland rockers

Stop the show!

The trailer out back

These photos from Cleveland in 1966 have been posted before, but these are large and more complete.

Wrong airport

I know I posted another photo from this day taken just moments after this one.    Interesting to see the other Wings in the background.

Cleveland hotel

Dave Schwenson, the author of the book "The Beatles in Cleveland" posted this photo on his book's Facebook page last night.   Great fan shot of Paul walking by some girls in the hotel in Cleveland in 1966. 

Cleveland in color