The Place Where it All Began

I love hearing about the Cavern Club from the 1960's....the original Cavern club.   So this story from the Fall 1964 issue of Datebook magazine is really awesome!  I hope you enjoy it too.

Photo of three Beatles at the Cavern is for auction at the Liverpool Beatles memorabilia auction

The Place Where It all Began

By Cheryl Hillman

Datebook magazine:  Fall 1964

I’d  like to tell you about Liverpool, the city of beat – Beatlesville, as we call it.  I am a seventeen year old English girl and I live, literally, in the heart of the beat scene.  My brother went to school with John Lennon, Paul McCartney lives just a few roads away from us, and the Cavern Club, the place where it all started, is a short bus ride away.

Since the Beatles first visited America, you have been flooded with descriptions of Liverpool tales of Gerry and the Pacemakers, the Searchers, and all the other groups.  My story is not just an account of the Mercy beat scene – anybody could give you that.  What I want to do is take you down to the centre of it all and tell you about the groups, as they really are, and show you what life is like, beat wise for us teenagers who live in Beat City.

The centre of it all is 10 Mathew Street.  This is the Cavern Club, a series of black cellars underneath a dirty, disused warehouse.  It is situated in a narrow back-street in the centre of Liverpool.  The pavement outside the warehouse is very narrow, and when we are queuing for the lunchtime session (noon-2:15) we have to watch out for the large lorries, piled high with crates and boxes trying to squeeze past each other.

When a good group is on, their fans start waiting early.  For the Beatles we used to sleep outside all night, and if a group like the Escorts is appearing we go down at about 7 o’clock in the morning.  During the dinner hour there are only one or two groups on, but at night there are often as many as five or six.

Some people wonder how we have the patience to stand around so long.  The truth is that it isn’t a bit boring because there is always so much going on outside the Cavern.  Somebody usually has a mouth organ, and we talk and pass around snapshots that people have taken of the group.

The fans of various groups usually clan together, especially if they follow their group around and form what we call a sort of “family.”  Each family “owns” a group and they usually follow it around the Liverpool clubs and dance halls, and sometimes around the country.

There are often people outside the Cavern who have travelled miles to get there and then waited all day to see the group, even in winter.  A while ago the Beatles were due to play at the Cavern, but it was a foggy night and only Paul and Pete Best (who was their drummer then) arrived.  

The George came, but there was still no sign of John.  At that time the group travelled in a little red van, so Paul and Pete went out to find him, but they got lost in the fog!

One girl had been waiting all day to see them and she was so disappointed that Bob Wooler (the resident disc jockey) brought her into the band room to see George, who was sitting there waiting for the others to return and wondering what on earth had happened to them.

“Darling,” said bob to the girl, “tell George what you think of the Beatles for being late.”  Whereupon the girl just looked at George, gasped and crumpled up on the floor in a flat faint!

There is a tremendous feeling of unity at the Cavern, and we all help each other whenever it’s needed.  If a girl hasn’t got enough money to get in, for example, she just goes down the queue and as many people as possible give a few pennies or half-pennies until she has raised the money!  

Boys and girls from other parts of the country and the U.S. have heard about this sense of togetherness that we have, and they know about the way we all help each other and show a great deal of hospitality to visitors.  Because of this whenever they have a problem they write to a member of a Liverpool group and ask for help.  

The most sympathetic ones get bombarded with heartcries!  Terry Sylvester, of the Escorts, got a telephone call at 3 o’clock in the morning recently from two teenage girls who were bored with life in London and wanted to come to Liverpool.  They even asked if he could put them up in his house!  The poor boy didn’t want his home turned into a hotel, so he advised them not to run away and told them that they wouldn’t like life in dirty old Liverpool anyway.

Actually we were all rather relieved that they girls didn’t just turn up on his doorstep, because Terry’s the kind-hearted sort who would probably have taken them in – and his poor mother would have had a fit!

To get into the Cavern you have to go down a steep, narrow flight of stone steps.  The club was originally a series of warehouse cellar and the only light (apart from the lights above the small, wooden stage) comes from a few bare bulbs.  There are some seats in front of the stage where you can sit if you want to watch the group rather than dance.

It was on the Cavern stage that many of the top Mersey groups made their debuts before they became famous outside Liverpool.  It was here that the Beatles started.

George Harrison got a black-eye at the Cavern once.  Someone hit him because Pete Best, who used to be the drummer with the Beatles, had been thrown out and replaced by Ringo Starr!

We often hand requests up to the groups on stage.  Once three of us got a long roll of paper (the sort of little roll that comes from a cash register) and filled the whole of it with requests.

We wrote things like “We Made a heart-shaped cushion for you – but we liked it so much that we decided to keep it for ourselves!” and “We wrote a request on an elephant, but it died of anthrax.” 

Then we handed it to the Kirkbys, who took about ten minutes unrolling it and reading the reams and reams of paper.

After they had read it, Joey, the singer came to the microphone and announced, “Some people have just handed us a toilet-roll and we’d like to play this next number for them!”

The atmosphere at the Cavern is easy-going and informal.  When the Escorts were on stage once a girl threw an orange at John Kinrade, the lead guitarist.  John is rather quiet on stage, and we nearly died of surprise when he picked it up and threw it back at her.  Bob Wooler went mad and nearly banned the group from the club for storming the audience!

Facilities for groups at the Cavern are inadequate (there is only one, small, bandroom), but all of them agree that it was modernized it would lose its atmosphere.  However, there have been some changes at the Cavern since it became famous.

A few weeks ago I remarked to one of the Denims that the bandroom was much too small.  “Yes, it is really,” he said, “but you don’t want all mod cons in a place like this, do you?  Blimey they even clean it now!”

The atmosphere at the Cavern is unique (as is the smell, which is musty and sweaty) and it is this, perhaps more than anything else that has made it the Mecca of teenagers all over England.  Teenagers in other towns often tell us how lucky we are to have the Cavern, and other beat-venues like it, and some of them leave home and find jobs in Liverpool so as to be in on it all.  There are no other clubs in England quite like the ones we have here, so they are seldom disappointed with what they find.

After the session, the top of the bill group has to get out of the Cavern somehow.  Once, when the Escorts had finished a lunchtime session, hundreds of girls were waiting outside for them.  An exit has recently been built at the side, and the group dived out of that.  Meanwhile the van was standing outside the front entrance to confuse the fans.  This was pretty hilarious for the road manager, who was loading the instruments into the van and pretending that the boys were still in the Cavern.  He was saying to the fans, “oh yes they’ll be out soon.” And shouting down the steps into the empty club, “Stay down there lads.”

But one girl saw them leaving by the side entrance, and the fans gave chase.  The poor Escorts, without their van, were chased around the centre of Liverpool, in and out of all stores, and had their clothes nearly torn off by the fans until the road manager managed to catch up with them in the van!

Most of the groups, however, don’t have this trouble, because many of their Liverpool fans are “regular”" who soon become personal friends and would rather just stand and talk to them than try to cut their hair off or grab their ties!  Groups like the Searchers and the Pacemakers have terrible trouble, though, because they are out of town so much now that when their fans do see them they go crazy!

Two New York girls recently tried to stow away to get over to Liverpool to see the Cavern, and find out what it’s like down there.  In a way, I wish that they had made I because they would have been fascinated by it all.

The club is in a dirty back street and is rat infested, but there’s nowhere like it on this earth. 

Pete Best, the ex-Beatle who now leads the Pete Best four – says that is a “dark, gloomy cellar with an electrifying atmosphere.”

Those words are so true!

This is Cheryl's own snapshot of Paul getting into his car outside of his house

A pale and teacup name

Datebook wasn't just all full of disappointments (see post below).   In 1965, they ran a contest for the best Beatles drawings, poems or stories.   They picked one winner from each area where the Beatles would be performing during the 1965 North American summer tour to receive a free Beatles concert ticket. 

One such winner was Jennie Stone from Kenmore New York.  She was 17 when she wrote a book of poems that she sent into Datebook and won a ticket to the 1965 Toronto Beatles concert.

The book got into the hands of Paul McCartney who read some of the poems for the BBC and wrote Jennie a nice note.   I hope Jennie got to hear Paul reading her words!   Here is what Datebook said, "Here, in its entirety, is the book of contest winning poems over which Paul McCartney flipped  It was written by 18 year old Jean Marie Savenyu of Smith college last year, when she was a 17-year old senior at Kenmore East H.S. in Kenmore, New York.  That's Paul reading portions of the book, into Brian Matthew's BBC, "Top of the Pops" mike.  While he liked the Jane Asher portions best, Paul was reluctant to read them aloud of the very air.  Datebook has already air-mailed Paul and Jane their own copy of Jean Marie's book."

Datebook reproduced the entire thing.   But here is the Jane Asher poem that Paul supposedly liked so much.  I don't think I get poetry very much....

Jane Asher
a British acress
is seventeen years old
Jane Asher -
a pink and lace name
a pale and teacup name
A pale and fair-skinned girl
with a flower name
She is thin, she has long long hair
of course
She is slow to smile, lovely when she smiles
She smiles and she blushes and she laughs
I do not wonder that
he loves her
I never come so close to him as
she
A light and meadow name
has taken him from me
from the mist of London eve
Cavern Cabash Rajah Club
She is fair and kind
He loves her
But I am fair and faraway
and I seventeen years old
like her

Would you like a Date with a Beatle?

This photo was from an ad in Datebook magazine.   It lures you into the ad by showing this picture of Paul and a fan looking all cozy together and asks the question, "Would you like a date with a Beatle?"   Once you are lured into saying, "Heck yeah!"   You continue to read as Datebook bursts your bubble and says, "well, don't expect us to fix it up for you!  But we can arrange for you is plenty of dates with boys in your own school if you carefully read Datebook's complete guide to Dating!"  Yes for just $3.00 you get all the tips every teenage girl needs to know about dating?  What?   I thought they were going to set me up with a date with Paul?  What about the girl in the picture?  What a rip off....but wait there is more!   Datebook then tells us, "because we can't really get you a date with a Beatle, we will send you a substitute.  A bonus copy of Beatle love Poems.  This pamphlet full of poems dedicated to the Beatles and written by teenagers themselves, will be given free with each order."   Great.   So not only do I NOT get a date with a Beatle.  Instead I get a lousy pamphlet full of sappy poems other girls wrote for the guys I love?   No thanks.  I am keeping my three bucks! 

Giving the Beatles the keys of the city of San Diego

Here is yet another Datebook magazine story about how a 14 year old girl, Susan, attended a Beatles press conference and then gave the key to the city to John.   She even ate a piece of chicken with Ringo.   Although when I read this story, I felt sort of bad for the one guy fan.  He wasn't in the photo and wasn't mentioned again.   

Susan Herd (age 14) O’Farrell Junior High School San Diego, CA

I had written to our mayor, Frank Curron to ask if I would present the Beatles with the Key to the City of San Diego.   In about three days I received a reply asking me to come to the mayor’s office to make further arrangements.  When I arrived at his office I found another girl, Claudia Nesbit, and in a short time two other girls arrived, Marlene Shelton and Susan Clark.  And a boy, Randy Doller, also came. We were seated in the mayor’s office.  He gave each of us a key.  They were small and gold.

We decided Marlene was to give the key to Paul, Susan to George, Claudia to John, and I to Ringo.  Randy was our chairman.  He was there to keep us together.

As the next ten days went by, arrangements were made for s to meet at the open end of Balboa Stadium, where the Beatles were going to perform.  And on August 28 that where I was, right on the nose at 4:30 pm.  The concert was to start at 8:00pm.

After a while reporters started coming for the press conference and someone turned to us said, “Now when we go in girls, let’s not scream.”

Then it started, and when I saw the Beatles so close I thought I would scream, but I didn’t.

The one thing I remember most from the conference was this:  There was a woman reporter sitting in a chair near the table where the Beatles were seated.  She had her skirt pulled up quite high.  Paul looked down at her legs and said, ‘Madam, you had better pull your skirt down.”

Soon after the Beatles had left the room, we were standing all alone just waiting to find out what to do next.  Then we were told to go into the Beatles’ dressing room to leave anything like our purses, cameras and papers outside.  They only thing we could take were the keys.

Paul was the first to greet us.  He walked up to us and shook hands; then George who was lying down as we walked in shook our hands; then John and Ringo.  After Ringo greeted us, he walked to the corner and sat down and started eating some chicken.

I went over to the corner to see Ringo and he asked me if I would like a piece and, of course I said, “Yes.”  So he gave me a small piece because he was very hungry, he said.

Marlene kissed Paul and believe it or not he jumped back and blushed.  Then she asked him for a button and he asked her what button, and she said that button, and he said what button, and she said that button, and after 10 minutes of that she gave up.

That night I had my hair done up rather high and as we posed for our pictures, John put his hand in my hair and said, “Is it alive?”

Each of us was going to give her key to a certain Beatle, but somehow it just didn’t work out that way.  I gave my key to John, and Claudia to George, and Susan to Ringo.  But Marlene gave hers to Paul.

They all said that they were glad we came and happy to get the keys.  John pinned his key to a police badge given to him by one of his guards.   George asked us where we got them and we told him from the mayor.

It was about 9:00 o’clock when we left.  They had to get ready for the show.  We were given front row seats and saw only ten minutes of the group ahead of the Beatles and of course the Beatles and they were wonderful, fab, and gear and anything else great.

Beatles in Toronto

This story is from a 1964 issue of Datebook magazine.   It was written by Heidi Hoffman and Suzanne Crane who were both 15 years old at the time.   I have to wonder if this story really happened, or if these two girl wrote what they wish would have happened.   It sounds strangely a lot like this story I wrote for my Creative Writing class in high school about sneaking around and meeting the Beatles.  But nevertheless, here is their story.

 

Toronto

Heidi Hoffman and Suzanne Crane

Age 15, East Ridge high School, Rochester, New York

When everyone found out that the Beatles were going to tour the U.S., they naturally went out and tried to buy tickets to see the wonderful boys in person.  We were no exception.

For the entire month of March we made it our job to find out where the Beatles were going to tour.  It was the middle of April when we found out that the closest the Beatles were coming to our town was Toronto, Canada.  We immediately wrote to them asking for tickets.  They wrote back full of apologies saying they were all sold out.  We weren’t going to give up that easily and wrote them right back.  They gave us the same reply.  After five more letters we decided to accept their excuse for not letting us in, but agreed that we were going to Toronto anyway in the hope that perhaps we would catch a glimpse of them outside of their hotel.

We spent the first week of September trying to get someone to take us the 200 miles to Toronto.  My sister finally agreed to take us.  We left at 8:00 a.m. At 1:00 we were in Toronto and by 2:00 we found ourselves in front of Maple Leaf Gardens where the Beatles were going to perform.  At 3:00 the police started to let the lucky kids with tickets into the building.

In all the confusion, we ran into two girls at the door with a letter saying they had lost their tickets.  They gave their letter to a policeman who pushed both them and us into the building.  We were so thankful for this stroke of luck that we decided to follow the two girls, which led us right to the special ticket office.  One of the managers there gave them a pass to get seats and then turned to us.  Somehow he thought we had lost our tickets too, and asked us where we wanted to sit.  We told him in the front seats.  He led us into the rail and box seat entrance and another man gave us two seats three rows from the front on Paul’s side of the stage.

At 4:00 the performance began.  After four long acts the Beatles came on stage.  It was wonderful!  John’s hair is really light brown.  Paul had the biggest brown eyes and George is too beautiful for words.  Ringo was, for some reason, mad, for he sat behind his drums looking at no one and drumming with all his might.

They sang ten gear songs and each of the Beatles did a vocal including Ringo who sang, “Boys.”  They were all great.

After their 27-minute performance everyone was very quiet mainly because they were too hoarse to say anything.  Some of the kids started to leave.  We weren’t going to give up now.   We had come this far and we were going to try our best to meet them.

We got up and started to move to the back of the auditorium because of one of the policemen told us the dressing rooms were in the back.  No one was really watching us, so casually we went up the stairs past rows and rows of seats until we came to small balcony overlooking the front entrance.  On the side were stairs which we decided to take figuring we had nothing too loose.  We found ourselves in a long hall with six doors on either side.  We didn’t know what to do next and just stood there for minute.

We heard someone coming around the corner and figured it was the police.  All they could do was throw us out so we stayed where we were.  Suddenly we were face to face with the Beatles! All we were able to do was stand there and stare.

“What have we hare,” said John in his Liverpool accent.

“It’s two girls,” said Paul smoothly.

“So they are,” added Ringo with a smile.

They were still a bit sweaty and quite out of breath.  They stopped for minute to catch their breath before George asked us who we were.  We managed, quite surprisingly, to tell them our names, “Well, this is no way to meet anyone,” said Paul extending his hand.  Before we knew what we were doing, we were shaking hands with the Beatles.

All too soon John told us they were very sorry but they had to get cleaned up for their next performance and a press conference.  Sadly we said goodbye and watched tearfully as they ran into their dressing room.  We went up the stairs past the rows of seats and out of the auditorium to the lobby.  There we sat down on two chairs and just stared at each other with tears streaming down our faces.  A policeman came up to us and asked if we were all right.  We said “yes” and slowly started to walk out of the building.

Dallas press conference - datebook magazine story

This is one of those "Girls who met the Beatles" stories that was published in Datebook magazine in the 1960's.   15 year old Donna Canada of Dallas, Texas was the youngest person to attend the Beatles press conference in Dallas in 1964 and she sure took her job seriously.   Her transcription of the press conference is really good when you compare the text to the youtube video of the press conference.   Especially when you take into consideration that she was a 15 year old Beatlemanaic, was and would have been distracted by the fact that she was in the same room as the Fab 4, she did not have a tape recorder and wrote down everything and she had never been to a press event of any kind before.  Sure she didn't get everything word for word, but she did well.    But what I do not understand is why she turned down Paul McCartney!    Really???   

By Donna Canada (age 15) Thomas C. March Junior high school, Dallas, Texas

The tension was mounting by the minute.  You could understand their being five to ten minutes late, but not thirty.  Where were they?  Had anything happened to them?  Then the call came from Brian Epstein:  the Beatles were caught in a mob at the once beautiful Cabana Motor Hotel.  Fifteen minutes later, their spokesman announced that they were here, and that they would arrive in four minutes.  Since I didn’t have a watch on, I anxiously counted to sixty four times.  I was very nervous, since I had never been to anything this exciting in my whole life.  The policeman who let me in was a  little hesitant, as all the kids outside the door chanted, “That’s not fair, she’s a teenager.”  Two of my friends tried in vain to get in with me.

Through the mist of my day dreams, I saw the familiar mop of George Harrison.  In two minutes, I was right next to him.  I said, “Hi George, how are you?”  He replied smiling, “I’m feeling fine, and you?”  I made no reply, for I saw the next idol step forward.  It was Paul McCartney.  I spoke up quickly, “Hi Paul.”  There was confusion in his large dark eyes.  “Hi,” he replied, very puzzled.  Then a reporter pulled me back, I was so mad. If it hadn’t been for that reporter, I would have been able to meet John and Ringo too.

I couldn’t act like I wanted to act.  I had to act like this type of thing happened to me every day.  I was burning with excitement inside, though.  They announced that the camera men were to go first, the journalists were to go second, and the television and radio men were to go last. 

George was dressed more formally than the others.  He was suited in a blue shirt, black tie, grey jacket and grey slacks.  John wore a green corduroy blazer, white and beige dickie, and black slacks, and Ringo’s taste blared through when he showed up in a blue and white striped shirt, with white collar, black tie, blue jacket and black slacks.

All of them wore high heeled, black leather boots, and the tightly fitting continental slacks that they have made so famous.  Their attire could be described by any American girl, who was familiar at all with the Beatles as nippy, gear or the fabmost.  It truly was.

Questions started racing through the air.  I scribbled on my tiny pad as fast as I could.  I am proud to say I got every question and answer that came up.  This was hard to do for a beginner like me, at my first press conference.

Q:  How are you John?

A:  Fine thanks.  (His reply was with sarcasm)

Q:  When are you leaving Dallas?

A (Ringo) In forty minutes

Q:  What do you like about Dallas the most?

A: (John) the organization.  (At this point John blew smoke in George’s eyes from his Winston.  George was very upset.  Tears were streaming down his face as he rubbed his burning eyes.  Then George added, giving John a dirty look, “It was very hectic.”)

Q:  Ringo, how do you feel about this Ringo for President business?

A:  You better watch yourself down here (laughed) It’s very nice though, but I’m sure I wouldn’t win.

Q:  Mr. Lennon?  (A loud reply came from John, Yeah!) Mr. Lennon, in your book you hinted that you might be an anarchist.  Can you verify this statement?

A:  I don’t even know what that means. (laughed)

Q:  Hey, did you like your hats?

A:  (Ringo) Hey, we sure did.  (in heavy Texas accent)

Q:  Ringo, in California, it was reported that a girl ate the grass that you walked on.  How do you feel about this?

A:  I hope she didn’t get indigestion. (laughed)

Q:  What do you think of the mods and rockers?

A:  (Ringo)  I think they should be locked up.

Q:  Do you ever get scared when you step off a plane or something and you see a mob?

A: (John) No, but we’re more scared here perhaps (in Dallas) (laughed)

Q:  What kind of feeling do you get when you think of all the money you’re making?

A (George) It’s a good feeling to make money (laughed)

Q:  What do you think of the American girls?

A:  (Ringo) A lot.  (laughed)

Q:  Ringo, do you think the girl who wants your tonsils has a chance?

A:  I sure won’t need them, but I don’t think so.

Q:  Who’s the most anxious to get home?

A: (John) Jolly good, me I guess.  I’m very anxious to see the ole wife you know.  (laughed)

Q:  Is there any jealousy among you on or off stage?

A: (Paul) Jealousy?  Of course not.  No jealousy at all.  (At this point Paul took both elbows and dug one into john’s side, the other into George’s.  They were slapping each other all over the chairs.)

Q:  Ringo what sentimental value did that medal that was taken from you have?

A:  None whatsoever, I got it when I was twenty-one.  I just wanted it back.

Q:  George, are you trying to start a fad, like Ringo and his rings by always wearing black turtleneck sweaters?

A:  I guess I am since I’m wearing one now.  (George expressed this with sarcasm, since he wasn’t wearing one.  Paul along with everyone else laughed very loud).

Q:  Have you written any new songs since you’ve come to the United States?

A: (John) Yes, we have, two.

Q:  George , is there a guitar with your name on it yet?

A:  Right now, no, not right now, but later perhaps.  Yes later indeed.

Q:  How long will y’all’s show be tonight?

A:  After thirty minutes, cousin.  (Not sure who said this, but whoever did spoke in a heavy Texas accent and laughed)

Q:  How does the weather affect your long hair?

A:  (Ringo) We sweat. (laughed)

Q:  There are rumors that you cut your show down as low as nine minutes because of the screaming.  Is this true?

A: (Paul) No, our shows and singing length are the same length.  If the audience is a little more courteous than average, we clown longer with them though.

Q:  Are you disappointed that you never get out of your suite with being mobbed so you can’t ever see anything of a city?

A:  Disappointed, of course.  This is what’s to be expected on tour.  After all, it’s our work.  (Paul explained this giggling).

Q:  What will happen with the bubble bursts?

A:  (John) Paul and I will probably carry on.

Q:  John, how come you don’t like to wear your glasses?

A:  Because I don’t want to see you. (laughed)

Q:  Paul, when did you write your first song?

A:  When I was thirteen – I lost my little girl.  (laughed)  It was awful (laughed).

Q:  Mr. Epstein, do you get any time at home?

A: (Brian) None

Q”  Have you bought any luxuries here in the United States?

A” (John) Yes, we have

Q:  What?

A:  (Paul) Fast cars

Q (from KLIF loveable bunny) Ringo have you met any Texas girls yet, do you hope to?

A:  I always hope to! (laughed)

Q:  Paul, is it true you were grabbed and hugged by a girl last night entering the Cabana Motor hotel?

A:  Yes, very nice.

Q:  What do you think when you hear one of your songs sung by someone else?

A:  (Paul) We’re honored; we think it’s marvelous.

Q:  One girl asked a really long question.  I couldn’t get it all down.  After she went through the whole thing and was out of breath, John said

A:  What was that?  (She didn’t bother to repeat it).

Q:  What makes a publisher want to print your song?

A (Paul said this very serious) You write a good one.

Q:  What is your favorite song?

A: (Paul) WE don’t want to promote or anything, but it’s by Cilla Black – the Race of Love, on sale at your local record shops now.  (laughs) (John):  It’s number 18.

Q:  What do you plan to do next?

A: (George)  Take a quiet day off.

Q:  Are you coming back to the United States?

A:  (John)  It’s up to our manager.

Q:  What was your wildest escape from your fans?

A: (Paul) I guess when we were in Seattle, and we escaped in an ambulance.

Q:  What country did you enjoy touring the most?

A:  (John) Britain.   (laughed)  (Paul):  outside England, the United States.

Q: What is a scouser?

A: (John)  A Liverpudlian dish, very tasty.

Q:  The other night in Cleveland, did you find it necessary to be taken off the stage?

A: (George) We found no cause to leave.  It had been much worse than that before.  I think that the captain there was just a little nervous.

Q:  Was this the first time this ever happened?

A: (John) Yes.

Q:  In comparison with all the greetings you’ve had at the airports, how was it last night?

A (Paul):  Very good for the time of night, hectic, but very good indeed.

Q:  George, there is a record out that tells about a girl, who meets and hugs you behind the Cow Palace in San Francisco.  You supposedly said, “Hi Bird.”  Is this true?

A:  We are known to use the word “Bird” to girls.  I NEVER met any girl behind the Cow Palace (Paul nudged him and laughed) and I never use the expression, “hi bird.”  I’ve never heard the record either.

Q:  John how do you feel about royalty?

A”  Oh, I suppose they’re doing all right.  Pretty good job I guess.  I’m not really interested.

Paul smiled constantly.  John played opposites and stayed straight-faced through the whole conference.  His sharp features looked like they were almost frowning.  He was much smaller than his pictures show.  Besides this, he looked exactly the same.  John, I feel was the wittiest.  He spoke up the most, too.

George was very calm and quiet.  But as you can see by his comments, he has wit, too.  George stared at me.  It wasn’t jus ton and off, and it wasn’t a blank stare either.  It was a look.  After about five minutes he winked.  I looked around and there was no one behind me so I winked back.  He surprised me greatly by winking again.  I felt like running up to him and hugging him, but I couldn’t risk being thrown out, so I stuck to my first impulse and winked again.  I’ll never forget it. 

Ringo was my favorite when I arrived, but as I left the conference, was last in line.  Once I tapped him on the shoulder and he didn’t even turn around.  He seemed so bored with the whole thing.  Once in a while, you could detect the flicker of a smile.  He really looked quite different than I expected.  He face showed signs of strain, and it was much thinner than his pictures show.

I’ll never forget my first press conference.  I met most of the KLIF D.J.’s, had a write-up in the paper for being the youngest person there, was asked to speak on the radio, and I met a lot of the reporters and their wives.  I was also invited by Paul to meet him in his dressing room for an autograph.  I declined his offer because I didn’t want to be the only one in there.  I am crazy now that I think of it.  But most of all, I really got to meet and speak with the Beatles.  It was a dream come true.