Drive my car

 

Out with the dog

Inside the Geodome

Paul and his pups

I love these photos because you can see the fan favorite dogs of Paul from the late 1960's:  Eddie and Martha.  

Photos were found here. 

Goodbye Rosie

Rosie outside of Paul's house with some of the regulars

Photos of Rosie Martin holding Eddie taken July 25, 1968 by Scotti Cohn

I am extremely sad to hear from the Paul McCartney sight that Paul's dear housekeeper and nanny, Rosie Martin has passed away at the age of 92.   

Of course, Rosie was a big part of Paul's life from the late 1960's and all of the Wings era and there is a wonderful story Paul tells about how after Linda passed away, Rosie would still say good morning to her.   I think Rosie worked for the McCartney family until around the time Paul married Heather.  Rosie took care of the McCartney children and she traveled with them during the Wings touring days.  It is even said that Paul named the album "Red Rose Speedway" after her.

Rosie was an important person in the Beatles fan community.   She became a friend and someone who was an insider that could give the fans bits of information about Paul's whereabouts.   However, from what I have read, the fans had a lot of respect for Rosie and loved her like a mother.   They didn't seem to take advantage of her and would often ride the Tube or bus with her to made sure she made it back to her home safely.

My sympathies and condolences go out to her family and to the McCartney family as well as the fans who considered her to be a friend.   Rosie was more than just Paul's housekeeper, she was part of the Beatle family and she will be missed by us all.

The Autumn of '68 (part 2)

Last summer I posted the first part of a great story of some American girls who went over to London in the Autumn of 1968 and spent time hanging around Paul's house and getting to know him.    Low and behold I have discovered part two and most of the whole series in "The McCartney Observer."   Sadly, the photos that are shared with the story are in poor photocopy quality.    If anyone has these in better condition and are willing to share them, it would be awesome!

The story was written by Linda Rabe and JoAnn DeFilippe and was published in issue #13 (Spring 1980) of the McCartney Observer.  

Autumn of ’68 (part 2)

Written by Linda Rabe and Jo Ann DeFilippe

We woke up quite late the next day, remembering the night before.  We knew for sure our trip would be the best ever for us.  We went round to see some of the sights and got back in time for dinner at the hotel and went up to our room to get ready to go to Paul’s house leaving about 11pm and took a cab to Cavendish.   It was really quiet except for Eddie who was under the gate crying…so we stuck our hands under the gate to pet him and he was nibbling our fingers!   We climbed the wall to see if Paul’s car was in the yard.  When we didn’t see it there we knew he was at Trident recording so we made ourselves comfortable for the wait for him to come home.   Shortly later we saw two cops coming up the block towards us.  So we casually picked ourselves up and started walking down the block.  Then we head “Hey, Girls!”  We were afraid to turn around, but when we did they were smiling.   We waited for them to catch up to us.  They came up and asked us where Paul was.  We said “Paul who?”  They said, “What were you doing then?”  We said we were walking down the block and heard a dog crying so we stopped to pet it.  We told them we were going to Regents Park and they said don’t go there all the freaks go there this late at night.  So we said we would go to Primrose hill, and they said not to go there because all the homosexuals go there.  All of a sudden a car drives down the block and one of the cops said, “There goes Paul.”  We said it was not.   The one cop told us, “If we told you not to go back to the house you’d be back there in an hour anyway” and he laughed.  We then proceeded to walk to Wellington with them and told them that we were going to go to Scotland and visit our pen pals.  They said good night and started for the prescient and we told them we were going to get a taxi home (such liars).  When they were out of sight we went back to visit the crying dog.

A half hour later a car pulled up with people we had never seen before.  They got out and opened Pauls’ gate with a key and pulled in the yard and shut the gates and went in.  About fifteen minutes later we saw the guy in a window on the third floor next to the music room, when Ivan appeared in his car.  He got out and said hello.  Ivan asked us who was in the house.  Not knowing who the people were we told him some fat guy and his wife.  Ivan laughed.  He ran the bell and said “Paul sent me round.”  No one came to open the gate for him so Ivan had to jump over it again, and let himself in.  We felt bad for Ivan because he didn’t have a key and the other guy did.  Shortly later we saw a car coming up the block and thought it was a cop car so we started up the block again.  We turned around to look and saw Pauls’ brother Mike getting out of the taxi, with the rest of the Scaffold and three girls.  Mike asked who was inside and we said “Some guy and his wife and Ivan.”   Mike said, “Ivan!  What the bloody hell is he doing here?”  Mike took off his jacket and handed it to one of the girls and jumped over the gate, and let everyone in (except us).  A half hour later a cab pulled up and he asked us if we were the ones who wanted a taxi.  We said no it must be them inside.  We rang the bell and mike answered and I told him his cab was here.  Mike, the three girls and the Scaffold and Eddie came out.  We spoke briefly to John of the Scaffold and they got in the taxi and pulled off and left us there with Mike and Eddie.  Mike yelled out to them, “Ta, ra good ta.”  It was almost four in the morning and I decided to ask Mike where Paul was.  He said “He’s said “He’s recording and won’t be home until very late, so why don’t you go home and get to bed.  I think that would be a very good idea, now I think.”  We asked Mike if we could take his picture and then we would go home.   He said ok, each of us took a picture alone with him and once the flash didn’t go off (as usual).  And Mike said not to worry, that sometimes they do flash and sometimes they don’t flash.  We tried again and the flash was bright and Mike said, “Oh shit, that one!”  As we were taking the pictures Mike was holding Eddie and we were petting Eddie.   After we finished Mike said are we going to go home and go to bed new.  We said yes.  Mike said “Well then, I’m satisfied.  Goodnight to you.”  We all said goodnight and went and got a taxi.

We got up late again the next day and just did some sight-seeing and couldn’t wait until that night to go to Paul’s house.  So at 11pm we left for Paul’s house.  We sat around on the curb to his courtyard in front of his gates.  Every time a car came speeding up the block we would say, “Shit, it’s him….it’s not him.”  Then another car came speeding up the block and we thought it was him, because as the car came closer it slowed down, but then it made a slight turn as if to go into the garage across the way.

It just stopped and it looked like a woman driving.  The lights were very bright and it was hard to tell. We were getting very pissed off wondering what the hell she was staring at us for.  This went on for a good five minutes all of a sudden the car came speeding up and made a sharp turn into where we were sitting, almost running us over.  The woman turned out to be Mr. McCartney all by himself.  We jumped up in a hurry afraid of being killed on the spot.  He still sat there starring at us and we thought that maybe we forgot to pu on our trousers.  We stood there holding one carnation each which we swiped form our hotel dining room.  Paul then opened the door and the radio was blasting he was whistling.  He came to Jo Ann and took her carnation and said “thank you.”  He then took Carol’s flower.  He then went to Linda whose flower was stuck in her button hole and had a very tough time getting it out with him standing there patiently and starring.  She finally got the carnation loose and gave it to him, and said, “With love from me to you.”  And Paul said, “ahh.”  He went to the back seat of his Aston and took an album and put the flowers in it.  He was dressed in a beige suit with elephant bells which were just coming in style.  He then walked over to the front of the car to open the gates and Jo Ann said to Linda, “This car is beautiful.”  Paul turned around and said, “Thank you.”  We were surprised he had heard because the motor of the car was very loud and Jo Ann said it very soft.  Still whistling, he got back in the car and we watched him pull into the garage, as he was coming back towards us, Miss Eastman appeared at the door and Eddie came running out.  She was wearing a blue lounging outfit.  Eddie started to run to us and Eastman shut the door.  Jo Ann said “Watch Eddie doesn’t go in the street.”  And Paul then called Eddie and whistled and Eddie turned and ran to him.  Paul still walked over to us tripped over Eddie and we thought he was going to end up on this face.   We all said, “Be careful!”  He started to close one gate and leaned on it and we told him he almost ran us over, and with his silly little smile he said, “I wouldn’t do that.”  We told him that we met his brother the night before.   He pouted and said “Oh yeah.”  (We later found out from a certain source that he gets jealous if you mention another fellow even his brother!)  Paul was looking very tired so we just said goodnight to him and he smiled and said “Hey well, I’ll see you anyway, goodnight!”

The next evening when we arrived at Paul’s house we made ourselves comfortable again.  Around one o’clock the Aston came speeding up the block as usual and turned into the driveway and he sat there smiling at us.  He had on a tan jacket and looked beautiful as always.  Miss Eastman was sitting on his left and staring out the front window of the car and looking quite annoyed as usual.  The motor of the car was loud and Paul asked us “Are you enjoying your holiday?”  It was very difficult to hear him and Jo Ann kept saying “What?” and Paul kept repeating it very patiently.  We finally caught what he was saying and told him yes.  As the two of them remained seated in the car we think they were waiting for each other to get out and open the gate.  Paul then put his left hand on the back of her neck and scratched her neck.  She turned her head away from him and stormed out of the car as Paul sat there patiently and smiled at us.  When she got to the gate the three of us looked at her and smiled.  She wouldn’t smile back.  She just threw her head back very dramatically.  We felt hurt because we didn’t do anything to her.  Paul pulled into the garage.  As we were standing waiting for Paul to come back she looked and just slammed the gates right in our faces!  We then got furious and were going to kick the gate and call her a bitch when we heard Paul’s footsteps passing her by and coming closer to the gates.  EH opened one and leaned on the other and looked at us as if to say he was sorry.  We told him that we met a neighbor of his who was with his dog and told us that you were a very n ice boy.  Paul’s reply was, “Don’t believe him.”  Linda said, “Why you’re not a nice boy”   Paul just smiled and Eddie came running out of the house towards us.  Paul bent to pick him up and said, “Hiya Ed…Hey, well, I’ll see you anyway.  Goodnight.”  We said Goodnight to Paul.

It was Yesterday we Met in a Dream

I have to say that I just LOVE this story.   While I enjoy all of the stories of people meeting one of the Beatles in person, the stories of people who met them while the Beatles were still a band in the 1960's are always so special for me to read.   This one is especially wonderful.    Talk about being at the right place at the right time.  

Just a few observations about this story.   The first is that Paul needed to have better security at his home in the 1960's.   It sounds like girls were breaking easily and stealing things on a frequent basis.  She didn't come through the bathroom window just one time.  You would have thought that after the first time his clothes and things were stolen, he would have found better ways to secure his home so that more things were stolen.   Another thing was just how nice George always is in these stories.   He was so kind to the fans who traveled so far to come to his home.   There have been so many stories about George and his willingness to chat with fans who have knocked on his door.   The last thing that really stands out is that this story mentions Paul's girlfriend, Maggie.  You don't hear much about her in general and I was always under the impression that she was a secret, but it seems that the fans knew about her.   She even spoke with them, so I guess she wasn't the secret girlfriend after all.

This story was written by Sher Miller and was first published is issue #6 (from September 1978) of the McCartney Observer.  All photos were copyright to Sher Miller.

It was Yesterday we met in a dream

By Sher Miller

August 23^rd is a date that stands out in my mind for several reasons.  It was John and Cynthia’s anniversary date, it was the date of the last time the Beatles did a concert in New York and most important of all to me, it was the date of departure for my parents and I go to England.   August 23, 1968 was my first trip to England and definitely the best.  Going to England was my High School graduation present from my father, and believe me it did a lot towards helping me work hard to pass my finals.  We left New York the 23^rd and arrived the morning of the 24^th.  London was a gigantic thrill for me; it had been my dream home since 1964 (along with Liverpool).  It was incredible to finally be there, to really have the dream come true.  We settled in our hotel near Hyde Park and attempted to get some sleep after the plane ride.  I wasn’t haven’t much luck in my room.  I was so excited.  I called my pen pal Margaret and after chatting for a while we arranged we meet at the St. John’s Wood Underground station the next day so I could see Paul’s house as soon as possible.  Next day I said goodbye to my parents (I didn’t see much of them during those two weeks but fortunately they were understanding) and I found my way onto the correct train to St. John’s Wood.  Margaret and her friend Coral were already there and we said our hellos and exchanged presents.  We walked towards Paul’s street and to me it was living in a fantasy.  I just couldn’t believe I was really there.  When I saw the famous Cavendish Avenue street sign and turned down the street I knew immediately this was very real.  

Paul holding Sher's peace beads in his hand.

You can just barely see Eddie's ears

Before Margaret had a chance to say anything I spotted the huge gates that were in front of Paul’s house.  We walked quietly past the deserted gates and peeked over the wall of the house next door.  Everything seemed so quiet I began to think Paul wasn’t home.   We went across the street and sat for about two hours when some girls showed up and stood by the gates.  We watched them for a while just standing around and then suddenly they began to cluster nearer to the gates.  Then we saw a head sticking out of the partly open gates and I about died.  We hurried over there and there was Paul, holding Eddie (a Yorkshire terrier he had given to Jane before they split).  Paul looked so beautiful.  Maybe because it was the first time I’d ever been so close to this man who was my life, but I was just tongue-tied.  I had my camera in one hand and a gift of some Indian peace beads in my other hand and I just stood there like a mummy not taking my eyes off his face.  He wore a light blue turtleneck short sleeved shirt and dark pants.  His eyes were so big and hazel and his hair dark brown with bangs.  What a daze I was in.  Paul spotted Margaret and said hello to her (she used to hang the house quite a lot) and I remember thinking later, “God I wish Paul would remember me like that.  I believe he finally did remember me (not by name) in later years, but then I would’ve given anything to have been some of those English girls.  Finally I got myself to pick up the camera and take a few pics.   The camera was an instamatic that would advance the film automatically, and very noisily, and each time it zipped to the next picture Paul would look over at me with a “what was that?” expression.  Ah recognition at last, even though it was because of a camera.  After about ten minutes, I figured I’d better give him the gift, although by his reaction I needn’t have bothered.  I help up my hand with the beads in it and said, “Paul?”  He turned to me.  “These are for you, they’re Indian peace beads.”  I was absolutely choking on the words I was so shook.  He took them from me and said (get this), “Thank you, very nice…not really, but you’re a guest.”  Well thanks for nothing sir.  I think I said something like, “you can give them back” but he pulled back his hand and wrapped them around it.  He was smiling when he said it but I  didn’t think it was so amusing.  However, at the time I was in too much of a daze to let it bother me.  Margaret didn’t think it was very nice though.  He continued talking to the girls and posing for pictures for a little while longer then closed the gates.  Margaret and I walked to the other corner slowly, deciding if we should go to the new Apple office on Savile Row (it hadn’t even opened yet at that time).  As we were debating about what to do we hear this car horn going crazy behind us.  We turned around and there was Paul driving up in his mini, waving wildly as he drove past.  I was beaming from ear to ear, maybe that was his way of apologizing for the remark about the beads. In any event, I didn’t care what he had said and it ended my first meeting with Paul on just the right note.  We did to go Apple after all that day but no one was there.

 Unfortunately I didn’t keep a diary over there so a lot of the day following are sort of a blur except I know we saw Paul quite a few times driving in and out of his driveway.  After days after my first time seeing Paul anther pen pal and I were walking up to his house and we noticed that something very strange was going on.  A few girls were standing at the gate looking up at the bedroom window on the second floor.  Well my friends and I looked up too and didn’t like what we saw.  There were a few girls inside the house running around grabbing anything they could handle.  Once in a while they’d stick their heads out the window and wave a sock or something thinking they were very funny – we weren’t laughing.  Finally they ran out of the house (obviously Paul wasn’t home) and over the wall next door letting out Martha and Eddie as they did.  They ran up the street and some people followed them and then came back to us reporting that one of the things they had stolen was Paul’s copy of Hunter Davies biography which he hadn’t even read yet and wasn’t released to the public.  We were totally disgusted.  They also got some papers and clothing of his.  Well we decided to wait for Paul and tell him what happened, hoping he wouldn’t think we were involved.  We didn’t have long to wait.  He pulled up in the car and got out smiling at us.  One of the English girls finally got up the nerve to tell him some girls had broken in and taken the biography.  Paul looked furious and he asked us if we knew who they were but we honestly hadn’t seen them at the house before.  We left as soon as Paul went in, after telling us to let him know if we see the girls again.  Next day the girl who had stolen the biography hadn’t shown up and Paul sent Rosie out to see if she had come down.  Finally she did come in the late afternoon with the book and rang the bell after we all really gave it to her.  Rose answered and girl told her she’d give back the book if Paul would come out to get it himself so she could apologize.  When rose came back on the intercom she said Paul would be out later.  We stood around for a while then through a crack in the gate I saw Paul come down the stairs and get into his car, just then a cop came strolling down the street and we had to move away from the gate or be yelled at.  We walked away just as Paul pulled out in the car expecting to see a bunch of girls waiting for him – what screwed up timing that was.  Finally he spotted us standing down the street looking back at him.  He drove the car up to where I was and said, “Who are the ones?”  I pointed ahead of me to where they were standing and he zoomed up to them.  The girl handed him the book through the car window, he said, “Ta, very much” and sped off without giving her a chance to say anything.  I think it really bothered her that he hadn’t’ given her a chance to apologize but she was lucky he didn’t have her arrested. 

Next day we found out from Rosie that Paul and Maggie had gone to Sardinia to get  a tan so I had a chance to do some sightseeing with my folks for a change.  Paul left on a Friday and came back on Tuesday.  We were all down there when he arrived home looking very tan and handsome in a pink suit.  Maggie was very nice and told us the Beatles would be recording later at EMI.  Earlier in the week I had also had the chance (with Paul away) to see John’s home in Weybridge and unexpectedly Julian.  He and Cyn were living there while John and Yoko were in London.  We also saw Ringo’s house and his housekeeper greeted us at the door holding Jason (who was only a year old then).  We seemed to be having good luck in seeing the kids that day.  Lastly, and best of all we went to Esher and met George.  He stood with us and talked at his front door for almost 20 minutes that day even though he had a house full of relatives.  He was so absolutely fantastic to us; especially me for some reason, that even though this is a Paul newsletter I must admit George helped to make that trip something very special.  He was just so nice and sort of shy and really down to earth.  I couldn’t get over it.   He posed with each of us, wore this crazy tie I’d given him around his neck the whole time.  Told me when my finger was covering the lens of the camera one time when attempting to take a pic of him and Margaret then cracking up over it, he even went crazy over this plastic umbrella I‘d bought in London and called Pattie out of the house to see it (don’t ask me).  He had his little nephew, Paul with him out there the whole time and his father watched from the driveway.  He was just so natural and friendly to us this day it was a time I’ll never forget.  Seeing Paul was something special to me because I loved him so much he didn’t even have to do anything, but George actually went out of his way to make us feel comfortable.  It’s something I’ll never forget about him. 

 Anyway, the night Paul came back from Sardinia, we went around to Emi where there was quite a crowd, as there always was when the Beatles were recording.   They were doing the White Album at the time and were expected to record the album for the better part of the month.  I must say my timing was perfect.  One of the Beatles assistants, Kevin, was passing out pieces of paper to the fans there and I managed to get one.  It was an invitation to take part in a Beatles promotion film for “Hey Jude.”  I asked Kevin if only the English girls were being allowed to go.  He assured me that anyone could come and so we all arranged to meet at Paul’s the next day to go to Twickenham not really knowing how incredible the day was going to be.  

First to arrive at the studios were John and Yoko sitting in the front of a small white (everything was white for those two then) van with Mal driving.  It was Ringo being driven in huge black rolls by a chauffeur.  He stopped the car for a few minutes while we all took pictures through the windows.  Ringo just sat there as if it was something he just had to go through till he could run into the studios.  It was a few minutes till the next member arrived and did it in class. A white Jaguar drove up and pulled into EMI’s driveway.  George was at the driver’s seat and he stopped and rolled down the windows slightly to take pieces of paper form the fans for autographs.  There was only one girl standing on the passenger side so I stood behind her trying to see into the car.  The girl bent down at one point and I could see George and apparently he could see me too just then because he looked up at me and smiled and waved.  I smiled back and walked away from the car floating on cloud 9.  Sounds silly now I know, but it meant a lot ot me then to be remembered.  I told Margaret what ha d happened and she thought it was really great he had picked me out of the mob.  By the time Paul arrived quite a few minutes had passed since George had gone in.  Paul always used to come last.  Had to make his entrance I guess.  He stopped the mini to let us take pics and sign autographs.   Paul and George had been the only ones to do so for the fans.  Paul looked very handsome indeed, still wearing his pink suit and looking quite tan.  I took a few photos and he drove in and went into the studios.  Unfortunately I had to leave to meet my parents so I missed them coming out but I heard it was very, very late.   “Hey Jude” had just come out in England then and the first time I heard it I loved it.  Some girls brought down a portable record player to Paul’s one day and were playing “Hey Jude” on it and Paul sent Rose out to tell us to cut out the noise.  Haha!

Well, this point brings me to what is probably the most exciting day of my life:  September 4, 1968.  The entire story of the “Hey Jude” filmingwas printed in The Write Thing a fewissues ago so I won’t go into the whole night again.  I’ll just tell you we were with the Beatles for five hours filming and re-filming the seven minute film that was on the Smothers Brothers TV show October 1968.  In between the actual filming they would jam.  Playing everything from “Hang down your head Tom Dooley” to the Stones records.   It was amazing.  I had never been that close to all four Beatles before, nor would I ever be again. They were so beautiful together, musically and personally.  If I’d known that night how close the Beatles were to splitting up I would have never believed it.  They seemed as close as ever.  I guess that was a tribute to their professional abilities to forget whatever personal crap was going on for the benefit of putting out a perfect product.  Just the fact that they decided to redo the film so many times was an indication of how carefully they created their music.  It was a thrill and a pleasure to have been a part of what was to become the last time they ever performed in front of an audience as The Beatles.  After the film some people (six of us actually) stayed at the studio while everyone else left for the ride back to London (Apple provided the buses to and from the studio which was in a small town outside of London).  We had no transportation back to the city but we didn’t care at that point.  We waited in the studio while the Beatles and David Frost re-did some introduction and while we stood there George once again amazed me.  As he was sitting on the little stage smoking he turned full around to me (I was standing alone watching them) and gave me this huge grin.  Once gain he had acknowledged me.  One of the girls nearby said, “Did you see the look he gave her?”  I was really happy as this was to be my last chance to see him this trip (and not again until 1970 it turned out).  We walked out with Paul to this little studio kitchen and I asked him if we could all pose with him.  He agreed and we stood all around him with Margaret taking my camera to get the picture.  Of course the flash didn’t go off. Paul took the camera and turned it around in his hands a few times (trying to do what I’ll never know).  Then he handed it back to me and said, “Catch me later.”  Naturally the flash did go off a few minutes later but I never did get to pose with Paul.  Oh well.  After about an hour, George and Ringo came out and said goodnight to us and left in separate cars.  Then Paul, John and Yoko came out together and I got a picture of Paul as he stepped into the lighted doorway.  When the flash went off he flung out his arms as if to say “you got me!” (very hammy).  He looked quite tired (it was 1am, so it was understandable) and when I asked him how the film had turned out he said, “great” and gave the thumbs up sign.  He, John and Yoko all got into a limousine and Paul kept waving to us all the way down the road until they were out of sight.  I left London two days later brimming with wonderful memories of seeing Paul for the very first time close up, of talking to him and finding out he was real.  It was a chance to see the Beatles as a group close up and also, unknown to me at the time, it was the last time I would see Paul as a bachelor.  There were so many things about that trip that have remained unsurpassed in the 10 years that have followed and the three other England trips since.  I guess for everyone the first time is always the most special and a decade has done nothing to change that.

 

From the blue shirt Paul files...

Autumn 1968

This is a very nice story that was publish in the fanzine "McCartney's Lover and Friends" which was created by our very own beautiful Marie Lacey in January 1973.  It is found in issue #1.   This is one of the best McCartney fan stories I have read in awhile.   These girls must have had a tape recorder to recall what was said in such detail or they went back to their hotel and wrote down word for word everything that was said.  It was written by Linda Rabe and JoAnn DeFilippe who were from New York.   I found one of the photos that was copied in the fanzine in my files but the other one I had to scan of photo copy and it didn't turn out that great.   If anyone has the photo of Paul with the three girls, it would be so awesome to see.   Hope you enjoy this as much as I did.

Carol, Linda, Paul and JoAnn

In the Autumn of 1968

Linda Rabe & JoAnn Defilippe

On our first day in London, we took the underground tube to St. John’s Wood, and by some miracle we walked in the right direction and found ourselves in front of the street sign which read, “Cavendish Avenue.”  Looking down the block, we saw a mob of girls standing outside THE HOUSE!  We walked up and they told us that they were waiting for Paul to come out and sign autographs.  As we were standing out there, we heard a noise inside the gate and crossed the street so that we could see over the wall.  There, in the doorway, stood Paul.  He looked over and waved and made signs with his hands which seemed to mean, “Wait, one minute, ok?”  Two girls came out of the yard and went around to the stores with Martha and Eddie.  We stayed around until the cops came and then decided to go back to the hotel and eat. 

  We went back the next night and two girls from Scotland told us that he was not home.  We all decided to go for a drink, and then decided to go back to Paul’s house, even though it was after midnight.  When we arrived there, the gates were wide open, and there was a white car in the yard.  One of the Scottish girls told us that it belonged to Paul’s friend, Ivan Vaughn.  She went into the garage and came out with a pair of Paul’s overalls that had a name of a petrol station on it.  We tried to get the buttons off, but it was quite difficult as they were rubber.  Feeling guilty, we decided to put them back.  We all creeped further into the yard, and JoAnn went up the steps to try and peek into the front window.  Then, Camena made a noise in the garage as she was trying to put the overalls back, and we all flew out of the yard in  a bit of a hurry. 

 Two minutes later, a car came speeding up the block, and a green mini appeared in front of us.  Paul was in the car with Miss Eastman (at the time, we didn’t know who she was).  Since we weren’t able to think straight, all we could say was “Hi Paul,” he looked at us and said, “Hi luv”.  A light went on in the car, and he said something to her.  EH got out of the car and started walking over towards us.  She turned and said in a long drawn out nasal voice, “come on, Martha!”  Even Paul looked at her with a confused look on his face.  Trying to remain calm, we told him that we were from New York  and asked if we could talk to him for a minute.  He said sure.  

JoAnn:  Can I take a picture with you?

Paul:  Sure, come over here.

Carol:  Can we take a picture with you?

Paul:  Yeah

We gave the camera to Camena so she could take the picture of us with him. (see photo)  Carol went over and took his arm and Joann walked over to him and slipped her hand through his left arm.  Joann’s hands being cold, found a nice warm spot.  Paul said, “no luv, like this.”  He took JoAnn’s hand and put it over his arm.  He said “Ohhhh” and started to rub her hand to make it warm.  Being that Paul only had two arms Linda (fellow fan from the U.S. not Linda Eastman) didn’t know where to stand.

Linda:  Where do I stand?

Carol:  Sit on the Ground.

Paul:  No, stand here.  (Point in front of himself) As Linda stood in front of him he put his hands on her shoulders.  Swaying back and forth he looked up to the sky and said, “ohh there’s a moon out tonight” and sang “I only have yes for you.”  As we all looked up at him we gave him looks as if to say “forget it, you can’t sing.”  We were forgetting who he was and that hey Jude was then at #1. 

 Camena went to take the picture and the flash wouldn’t go off, and trying a second time, still no luck.  JoAnn said “Oh the flash won’t go off!”  Paul said, “Don’t worry, it will.”  As Linda was standing in front of him, she could feel his body pressing forward and his knees bending into hers.  The third time the flash finally went off.

Paul:  The family portrait taken right after the football game.  We really beat them at that one, didn’t we?  What part of New York are you from – Brooklyn?

We told him what part, and he said that he had never heard of it.  Little does he know that the location just happened to be the same places were Kennedy Airport is and Shea Stadium.

JoAnn:  We went to a club tonight, and couldn’t get in, you had to be a member.

Paul:  What club was that?

JoAnn:  The Speakeasy Club.

Paul:  Couldn’t be.

JoAnn:  It was.

Paul:  But it couldn’t be.

JoAnn:  don’t tell me, I was there, and I saw the sign and it said “Speakeasy.”

Paul:  But you don’t understand, it burnt to the ground.  There’s nothing left.  You have to be an angel to get in.

JoAnn:  Girls, tell him what the name of the club was.

Linda: Blaiser’s Speakeasy

Paul:  Oh yeah, I know the one.  It’s different.  There are a few clubs that you have to be a member to in.  There’s a good one call The Bag.”

Us:  The Bag?

Paul:  Yeah, the Bag O’Nails – you don’t’ have to be a member to get in and it’s cheap.

Linda:  Is it nice?

Paul:  Yeah, but it’s ‘ruff (makes a fist and squints his nose)

Linda:  Thanks a lot!

Paul:  Yeah, but it’s a good club.

JoAnn:  Where is it?

Paul:  Near Regent Street

Joann: Oh, Regent Street.  Where’s that?

Paul:  Near Carnaby Street.

Us:  Oh…Carnaby Street.

Paul:  (making a funny gesture) Oh Carnaby Street!  We’ll just have to go there, and after that we’ll just have to go to the Palace!

Linda:  Did you know that we had a Magical Mystery Tour of our own? (A bus load of girls had gone on a ride around NY, and then up to Bear Mountain, NY)

Paul (looking pathetic) No.  Nobody told me.  Did you know where you were going?

Linda:  Yeah, we had to hire a bus to Bear Mountin.

JoAnn:  you know Mr. Weiss?

Paul:  Yeah (smiling)

JoAnn:  We’re the girls who gave Mr. Weiss the pictures of John’s car, and of a convention we had.  Did you see them when you were there?

Paul:  Yeah, you’re the girls, those were your pictures?

All of a sudden a little brown and black Yorkshire terrier appeared.

JoAnn:  Hi Eddie!

Linda:  Edgar!

Paul:  Eddie

JoAnn:  Can I pick him up?

Paul:  Sure

JoAnn:  Does he…

Paul:  No, he doesn’t bite.  He just might try and get down.

JoAnn was talking and playing with Eddie and he didn’t get down.  Paul came over and took Eddie’s head in his hands (JoAnn’s hair was in Paul’s fingers) and ruffled his fur and kissed him on the mouth.  Martha was walking around and we asked him if Martha and Eddie fought, and he said that they didn’t.

JoAnn:  Can I have your autograph?

Paul: Sure

JoAnn:  My name is JoAnn. As she gave him a pen and he was signing it.  He shook his head yes, and she said could you please write that down.  He said “Oh JoAnn, Joann, I thought you were telling me what your name was. Hi JoAnn, I’m Paul. But that’s silly, you know I’m Paul.   Then Linda said her name to put on the autograph, and Paul just gave her a strange look, and we didn’t know why.  Later, we found out why.

Linda:  Can I take a picture of you and Eddie?

Paul:  Yeah, wait a minute.

He had to pick Eddie up and then he stood there so tall and proud.  And the flash wouldn’t’ go off again.  So Paul decided he was going to fix that problem and just pulled the flash cube off and tried top push another one on, but it still didn’t work.  So, we tried switching the flash cubes again, and Paul posed again, and we finally got the picture (see photo)  He then put Eddie down and he bent down and made noises of a dog barking and Eddie looked at Paul moving his head from side and side and we all went “ahhh.”

Linda:  We have a present for you, but we didn’t bring it with us because we didn’t know we were going to see you.

Paul:  Come back tomorrow.  It’s better to come at night, because during the day I don’t answer the bell.  I change moods rapidly.  He started to shut one gate and Linda went over to him and whispered in his ear, while his hair tickled her nose, “can I kiss you goodnight?”

Paul:  No, not here.

As Linda was backing up, he still held her hand as we said goodnight to him again and told him to say hello to the other boys for us.  Back at the hotel, we had talked about what happened, but Linda couldn’t put into words how it felt when Paul pressed against her. 

 Even though Paul had told us to come back at night, we decided to go around to his house that afternoon to see what was going on.  It’s so hard to stay away.  As usual, there were a lot of girls there and they were asking us questions about what time Paul had come home the night before (don’t know how they found out). 

 While we were there, Miss Eastman had come out to go around to the store.  With her nose high in the air, she just passed everyone right by without a glance.  A half hour later the groceries arrived and they rang the bell which Paul answered and they told him his groceries were here and he said OK and sent Rosie out to collect them.  After a while, a meat truck came and Rosie came out to open the gates for the truck to pull in the yard and send in the meat.  When the groceries had arrived we looked in the box and then stuck in a few notes that our friends from New York had given us to give him.  We were peeking through the crack in the gate and were taking turns standing on the milk crate looking over the wall.  We saw Paul come bopping down the stairs in the house and he had on a yellow shirt and dark trousers. 

  Later in the afternoon, Ivan came and rang the bell which Paul wouldn’t’ answer.  Therefore, Ivan decided to climb the gate, he took a few steps backwards and jumped over the gate (a trick John use to pull).  About an hour later, Paul came rushing out of the house and we ran into the yard next door (#9) to try and see what he was doing. 

We saw him get into his Mini and we went back to his gate.  Ivan opened the gates and Paul pulled out making noises like a racing car.  Martha was in the back seat and Paul had Eddie on his lap.  We knew that he was taking them up to Regents Park as he had done very day then.  Everyone started to snap pictures.  JoAnn took a picture of him and the flash was very bright and hurt his eyes and Paul went “ooh!”  JoAnn felt guilty and wanted to apologize.  When we went back that night, JoAnn asked Linda to remind her. 

  Linda had looked and Paul and pointed to the camera and he nodded that it was ok to take a picture.  Paul waited for Miss Eastman and Ivan to get into the car and then he pulled off.  We decided not to wait around until he came back and went home.  We came back at 11 pm to give Paul his present.  When we arrived there, the gates were closed and we walked over to EMI.  On our way back to Paul’s we saw tow English girls (Anne and Suzanne) standing there.  The gates were open and Paul was standing there with Eddie in his arms and talking to Ivan, who was seated in the car with Miss Eastman next to him.  As Ivan pulled out, we started to walk over to Paul and Ivan said “Goodnight” and we made sure that we said Goodnight to him and we waved.  They pulled off down the block and we stood there with Mr. McCartney himself and again he was making his dog noises.  

Paul:  Did you meet Eddie?  Oh yeah, you met Eddie last night.  Then he said to Carol, “You didn’t meet Eddie.”

Carol:  I did too.

Paul:  Oh, you were here last night?  You look different.

JoAnn to Carol:  Oh, you had your hair back last night and tonight you have it down.

Paul:  Oh, you let your hair down so you could swing (swaying his hips from side to side.)  We were standing in front of him and we were watching him as he put his yellow shirt into his trousers with a silly grin on his face. We looked down to see his orange socks.  He was standing directly in front of a puddle and  he curled his toes up and went “ekkk!”  All of a sudden there was a noise from the top of the wall and Paul said, “shhh! Do you hear that noise?”  He moved closer towards us.

Paul:  Is that one of the fans up there?  Oh no.  It’s that tom cat again.  He scared us last night.  Oh (he looks at the 2 English girls) – have you met these three girls?  These three girls are from New York and they’re alright.

Paul to us:  These two girls are from Hamstead and they’re alright too.

Suzanne to us:  You know you’re alright, he said you’re alright, so that means you’re alright.

Paul stood there smiling with his head down.

Linda:  Can we take a picture?

Paul:  Yes sure. 

He was still talking, but we didn’t know what he was talking about, and we were trying to get the cameras out.

Paul:  come on girls, you’re slow (hitting JoAnn on the hand) Every night when we were small my brother and I used to get a bisquit before we went to bed, and we used to nibble on it very very slowly (with his hand up to his mouth to imitate) to stall for time.  By the way, where did you girls go today?

JoAnn:  We were here all day.

Paul:  You were here all day?!

Linda:  Yeah, we had nothing better to do (jokingly)

As we were getting ready to take the picture Paul said, “Never mind, I’m not in the mood now.  You have to be in a mood to take pictures.”  Meanwhile Eddie kept running around.

Linda:  Does Eddie run in the street?

Paul:  Yes, he does, sometimes. 

And with that Eddie ran into the street.  All Paul had to do was whistle and Eddie came running back.  It didn’t take him long to get back into the street though.  Paul was still talking and talking and suddenly a car came speeding down the black and Paul turned around and called “Eddie.”  Eddie panicked and didn’t know which way to turn.  Thank God the car stopped in time.  Paul turned around and had his hand over his heart.  “I shouldn’t have called him like that because I scared him and he probably would have made it across the street ok.  It’s the same as if a person was crossing the street and a car was coming the person would have noticed the car, but if someone had yelled out the person would have panicked.”

JoAnn:  You’re smart.

The guy that almost hit Eddie was still sitting there in his car, smiling and watching.  Again forgetting who we were with, we said, “Who’s that guy staring at?”  Paul put his head down.

Linda to JoAnn:  You wanted to apologize.

JoAnn:  Oh yeah, I have to apologize.

Paul:  Apologize?  What for?

As JoAnn looked up into his eyes she noticed oen of his veins in the left eye and it left a strange effect on her and she couldn’t say what.

Paul:  So, where’s my present?

Linda:  First we have a couple notes from our friends.

We gave them to him and he said in a pathetic voice, “Is this my present?”

Linda:  No stupid (she said this innocently). 

Paul opened the notes and started to read, but he couldn’t as it was too dark and he said he’d finish reading them inside, and put them in his pocket.  Linda then took out the bottle of wine, slowly, to give him.  He popped her in the chest and said, “Hurry up!”  His eyes just lite up when he saw that bottle.  He held it in his hand and put his arm up in the air and said, “Let’s celebrate!”  He said, “Who wants the first swig?”  We told him he should have some first because it was his bottle.  He started to tear the stuff off the top and dropped it on the ground.  He said to Linda, “Want some?” and she said, “No thank you, I don’t like wine.”  He then took a great big gulp and made a face and shook his head in pleasure and said, “Good stuff, this American wine.” He then went to pass the bottle and Linda suddenly decided she liked wine and took the bottle from him.  She was putting it up to her mouth and he pushed it, hitting her front teeth with the bottle as she drank it.  Linda then gave the bottle to JoAnn and when she was drinking it Paul kept staring at her and the bottle made a funny noise when she took it away from her mouth and the wine swished out of the bottle.  The other girls had a swig and gave the bottle back to Paul.

Paul:  Oh, when I used to work in the mill they used to wake me for my meals, but that was a long time ago, when I was 55.

Suzanne:  Now you’re 80.

Paul:  And these tin-pan groups today, they don’t make music, just noise.

Suzanne:  Like the Beatles.

Paul:  oh them…

Paul started to go towards the gates and close them and he said “Hey well, I’ll see you anyway.  Goodnight.”

We said goodnight and went to get a taxi home.