A visit with the Harrison family

The gnome family

Father's Day!

George and his father, Harry

Paul and his father, Jim 

John and his uncle, George (and dog Sally)

Ringo and his Step-Dad, Harry 

I want to wish all of the Fathers out there a very happy Father's Day!    I usually post photographs of the Beatles and their children, but this year I thought I'd do something a little different and post a photo of each guy with their own father or Father figure in their life.       Each of these men influenced each of the guys and made them into the guys we know and love.    It is so sad that John's Uncle George did not live long enough to see John grow up and become a musician.   However the other three fathers were there and supported their son (or in Ringo's case step-son)'s success.   Have a great day to every Dad that visited this blog!

Spending Time with the Harrisons

Dark Horse over the White House

Letters From Mum-- A Review

When Louise Harrison mentioned in her book, My Kid Brother's Band that she had plans to release the letters her mother sent to her during the years of Beatlemania, I was thrilled at the possibility.    The senior Louise Harrison is  a much loved figure in Beatles fan history, and she was known for having a great sense of humor and for writing letters.      Many of the letters she sent to fans between 1963-1970 have appeared on this blog over the years.

Letters from Mum is a audio book from George's sister, Louise.    She reads letters that her mother sent to her from Liverpool to her home in Benton, Illinois during the year of 1963.     I really enjoyed this audio experience.    Louise did a great job reading the letters her mother sent her.   Her Liverpudlian accent really added to the mood of the letters and I am glad that it is her voice that we hear and not an unknown narrator.

The letters themselves are very interesting.  In the middle of hearing a mother telling her daughter normal day to day events, you also get to hear about the beginning of Beatlemania through the eyes of George Harrison's mother.    She talks about fans and mania and about going to Beatle concerts.   She also writes to Louise about George's trip to the U.S. to visit her and how Ringo changed his mind and decided to go to Greece instead of the United States.    It was especially interesting to hear what she had to tell her daughter about Brian Epstein and work Louise was trying to do for him (basically---don't promote all of Brian's groups---focus on your brother).  

I really liked having Mrs. Harrison's humor shine through.   I had to laugh at the story of how she was trying to sneak things through the airport duty free.

The only part of this audio that I disliked was the last track.    It was not a letter written by Mrs. Louise Harrison, but instead was something sister Louise wrote after her brother's death in 2001.   It was a rambling speech that talked about the Benton house turning into a Bed and Breakfast, Louise's charity, Drop In and seeing her brother for the last time.    I didn't feel like this speech fit in with the rest of the material in this disc.    It really should have been left off.

However, don't let that last track denture you from this treasure.  It can be purchased as a CD for $15 or a digital download for $10.   I bought mine through the itunes store.   You can purchase it directly from Louise Harrison's website as well.

http://www.lettersfrommum.com/shop/

Astrid and the Harrison Family

At Madison Square Garden

This is an interesting photo.  Here we see Pattie Boyd and Chris O'Dell along with Harry Harrison in the  background.   They are walking backstage  at Madison Square Garden during the Concert for Bangladesh.  


Note:  This photo was originally found online where it was incorrectly identified as being from the L.A. forum during George Harrison's 1974 Dark Horse Tour.   This didn't make sense because George and Pattie were separated at that time and George was with Olivia while Pattie was with Eric.   After some discussion and research, it was discovered that the photo was from the concert for Bangladesh.  As always, I am sorry for the confusion, but mistakes like this is how we learn and find out new information as Beatle fans.

Remembering the wedding of George and Pattie

50 years ago today, on January 21, 1966  George Harrison married Pattie Boyd with Paul McCartney as the best man.

From what I can tell, fans weren't devastated when George and Pattie got married as they were with Ringo and Maureen the year previously or Paul and Linda in 1969.    I think the reason for this is that first of all, it wasn't a secret that George and Pattie were a couple that was in love.   George never tried to hide Pattie from the press and was honest about his intentions of getting married to her.

Plus the fans were familiar with their  relationship from the start.  From when George and Pattie met on the set of  A Hard Day's Night, to reading about the holidays that they took together, the fans were able to watch the relationship turn into marriage without a shock.  

The other big reason the fans weren't upset is that most girls really adored Pattie Boyd.   She was the ultimate "swinging London" girl.   She was beautiful and very fashionable.   Fans everywhere tried to dress like her and fix their hair like her.    Besides her beauty, fans also saw her as a very sweetheart of a girl and the perfect match for George.

Their wedding was celebrated by almost everyone around the world and today we remember the happy occasion.

All in the family

That Mike McCartney's first wife   girlfriend, Celia with Ringo's parents and George's dad.

Mom and Dad Harrison

This great photo of the Harrison parents was taken in 1964 and is currently available from Tracks on ebay. 

Family and Friends in Liverpool

A lot of the Beatles' family and friends came to see them in concert in Liverpool, which would be expected.    Audience members included Louise and Harold Harrison, Pattie Boyd, Elise and Harry Graves, Jim McCartney along with others in the Beatles family.    Special guests Jimmy Tarbuck (comedian) and MP Bessie Braddock were also among those that were there.

Spending a day with Beatle family in England

I decided to re-post this story for a number of reasons.   The first one being that when I originally posted it on this blog in 2009, my copy of the story was badly creased and some of the words were missing and I had to put ??? in place of the real words.   I now have found a copy that is easier to read.   The second reason is that the photo of Patty with the Harrison family has been popping up on facebook this week and no one seems to know who is in the photos or when/where it was taken, so I hope by re-posting the photos and story, it will help clear things up.  Lastly----it was originally posted over 6 years ago---and it is such a sweet story that it is worth sharing once again!

Reader spends a Day with Beatle family in England
The Beat: April 8, 1967

(Editor’s note: If you’re lucky enough, it can be done. Beatle fan, Patty Juliono spent a fantastic day at the home of Mr. & Mrs. Harrison. A surprise twosome greeted Patty inside the house and the following is Patty’s story of the day she’ll never forget. We hope you’ll enjoy it as much as we did.)

I’ve been writing to Mrs. Harrison ever since I got her address a few years ago, and I have always gotten an answer from her. Last February I went to Paris with my father. Before I left, I wrote Mrs. Harrison a letter telling her that I was coming to Europe and if I ever came to England I would love to see her. When I got to Paris I was surprised to find a letter from her. She said she would love to see me and gave me directions on how to get to her house.



I called her the day we were going to Germany. She sounded so nice. I told her about coming to see her. I asked what would be the best day, Saturday or Sunday. She said either so I picked Sunday. I had to hang up then because we had to hurry to the airport. We had to move the meeting to Saturday because we had to leave on Sunday so we could go to Switzerland on Monday because I had to start school.

When I called she wasn’t home, so my father called later and asked her. She said it was just fine and that she was looking forward to meeting me. So on Friday, March 4, we landed in London, England. I was so excited! I couldn’t believe I was in England! All Friday we went sightseeing. I even had lunch at an English pub!

The next morning we got up at eight, had breakfast then took the bus to the London airport. We had to fly from London to Manchester and then take a train from Manchester to Warrington. When we got to Manchester, my dad decided to take a taxi to Warrington. When we got to Warrington, we had to stop at the train station so we could call Mrs. Harrison and ask how to get from her house from the station.

My dad called and when he got off the phone he had a smile on his face. I asked him why he was smiling – he didn’t say anything. What he was smiling about was that George had answered the phone and he was just thinking what would happen if I had called and George answered the phone. All the way to her house I kept saying wouldn’t it be neat if George was there.

Finally we turned down the road to Mrs. Harrison’s house. Mrs. Harrison was out in the front waiting. I got out of the taxi and gave Mrs. Harrison a box of candy I had brought her. We walked into the house. The door leading into the living room was made of glass. I looked through and saw someone sitting there. Then Mrs. Harrison opened the door and who should be sitting there but Patti --- she is so pretty in person.

Mrs. Harrison introduced us and we sat and talked. And then my dad came in and I introduced them.  Then Mr. Harrison came in and we all started talking. I asked Patti if she had gotten a lot of mean letters from girls after she had married George. She said that she got a few saying “I hate you so much.” After awhile my Dad looked up and smiled and then said, “Well, here’s our boy.” I turned around and there stood George with a big smile on his face! 

He came over and shook my hand then sat in the chair next to me. He offered everyone a cigarette –even me! I joked and started to take one. He laughed and said, “Aren’t you too young?” I never did get one.

My dad and George started to talk about Vietnam. Patti and I just sat and listened and threw in our two-cents once in awhile. Then George started talking about the police protection they get when they’re in America. He said the English police were better. He told me how he had seen policemen take kids and hit them with their clubs. He said English policemen don’t do that. 

Then Mrs. Harrison called us in for a small lunch. We had tea sausages, cheese and bread. I sat between Mrs. Harrison and Patti and George sat across from me. Mrs. Harrison showed me a scrapbook of fans from all over the world. I found a lot of pictures of kids from the United States. I even found a picture of me!

After we ate, I cleared off the table and helped Mrs. Harrison with the dishes. Then my dad suggested we take pictures before the sun went down. We took six pictures outside. After we took the pictures, George’s two brothers, Peter and Henry came with their wives and George’s little niece and nephew, Janet and Paul. We got one picture of Janet. She was very shy. We started talking about cars because George just got a new car which was out front. I think it was a GTO. George started talking about the Munster’s car.

Around five o'clock my dad said it was time to go.  I didn't want to, but we had to catch a train at 5:30.  Mr. Harrison decided to drive us to the train station. I really hated to say good-bye. George and Patti stood in the doorway holding hands. George’s brothers all shook my hand and said they enjoyed meeting me. I told Mrs. Harrison I really had a wonderful time. She was glad.

I got in the car and we drove out the driveway. I turned around and saw Mrs. Harrison standing there waving good-bye. I’ll never forget that day. I really couldn’t believe I had met one of the Beatles!

I did learn one thing about George – he is supposed to be a real good cook. His father told me. Well I still write to Mrs. Harrison and she writes to me. Maybe someday I’ll meet her again. 

At home with Dad

After George wonderful mum, Louise, passed away, George stayed pretty close to his dear old Dad.  As we know, Harold traveled with his son during the 1974 tour.   Does anyone have this article so that I can read it?   I love how Harold Harrison is wearing an "Extra Texture" t-shirt!

Mom and Dad Harrison

A Dark Horse and the commander in chief

All of these are from the creative commons of Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library and taken by Fitz-Patrick

I found these photos of George, Olivia, Ravi, Billy Preston, Harry Harrison and others in the creative commons today!   If you click on them, you can see the photos much better.  I love the colored ones.   These are really awesome!

Mum and Dad Harrison

Party with the Dark Horse

I am still searching high and low for any stories, information and photos about George's 1974 concert in St. Louis.   I know there has to be people out there that have things.    But in the meantime I found this great story about when the tour came to Chicago (so close!).     It was from the April/May 1976 issue of The Write Thing.  

By Char Bass

Chicago November 30, 1974

We arrived at our hotel in Chicago around noon, Chicago time.  We didn’t have time to go to look at our suite, but they gave me the key.  Just as I got back out to the car, 3 black limos pulled up.  My girlfriend, Nellie, and I took it quite calmly.  We had planned to stay in the same hotel as George, but we had only guessed, not actually knowing where he was to stay.   We went on to the concert and the show was fantastic, even from behind the stage where our seats were.  After the show I didn’t feel let down, I was still quite up in the anticipation of something!

Photo by Tony Morelli and published by Flickr Creative Commons license

 

We went back to the hotel slowly through all the traffic, and we finally got to see our suite, and it was quite nice.  When I heard a noise outside our door in the hall, I ran to the door and looked out the peep-hole.   All I Saw was the back of the head of a man with long grey hair closing the door to his suite across the hall.  Soon we saw the limos pull up in front of the hotel again and we knew it was time for George to leave for the evening performance.  We went down to the lobby with our cameras.  No one seemed to object.  We wondered if anyone would mind us taking pictures, so I asked a man standing just a few feet away.  He replied that He didn’t care, but that they weren’t really part of the tour.  We wondered what they meant, they had on Dark Horse badges like everyone else in the lobby.  So I looked at the older man's badge to read the signature.  I just glanced so it wouldn’t be noticeable, it said Harry Harrison!   Then it hit me that was George’s Dad!   I looked up at his face to make sure, and even though his hair was much longer than I've ever seen in a picture,  sure enough I recognized his face.   Then I suddenly remembered the man I had seen in the all through the peep-hole and realized that George's Dad was staying right across the hall from us!

Emil Richards, George with Harold and Pete earlier in the tour

Now the problem was to get Nellie to realize this without saying anything, but while I Was trying to signal her I realized that she was trying to tell me something too.  She got me to look at the man we had questioned earlier, and then I recognized him as George’s brother, Pete!  So then with us both knowing about both men, I started a conversation with Mr. Harrison.  I asked how long the tour was and about his grandchildren, Leslie and Gordon (George’s sister Louise’s children) when I had ;met ten years before.  I told him about Leslie being too little to write at the time, but still wanted to sign autographs like her mother;, and so had drawn a picture of her Uncle George for us.  Mr. Harrison made some reference to Pete, mentioning that he was George’s brother, and was a bit surprised to see that we had recognized both of them.  I made some kind of remark to him about being in Suite 7B and he looked at me rather suspiciously, but I explained that we were in 7A and that I had seen him leave his room.  I asked them if it would be all right if I took their picture and they said, “sure,” so Nellie stood with them and I got a photo of them.  They decided to go to their car then, but Mr. Harrison said that he would see us later as they left.

Photo by George Tebbins

Soon someone asked us to leave the lobby, to go outside.   We didn’t have our coats.  it was cold, windy and spitting snow outside, but out we went so we could get pics of George.  They moved us behind the limo and I couldn’t see over the car well enough, so I stood on a little cement thingy.   I took one picture of George as he came out the door and then as he came closer to the car I began to feel the effects of his presence.  He looked at me strangely. I figured it was the camera and all the noise it made.   But as I got it focused and he was looking straight at me, and when i didn’t take it, he stood there for a few seconds and stared at me, and turned his head a little to the side in wonderment, but I just could not move.  As soon as he got into the car, I came back to my senses.

Later at dinner, I remarked to Nellie, half kidding, that I wished they would hurry up and invite us to the party, cause I Was getting tired.  Well as we were in the hall after trying to unlock our door, Mr. Harrison poked his head out of the door and said, “Would you girls like to go upstairs and see what’s going on?”  Now what do you say to that but Yes!  He added that Pete would take us up, and Pete appeared out of 7C.  it was unbelievable. 

So off we went and when we ended up in 22B, I remembered a girl in the lobby with the name tag Chris O’Dell (Ah, ha Miss O’Dell, I thought) who had been given room 22B.  Anyway George was not there, so Pete told us to sit down and he went to look for him.  He came back and got us a drink and said that George would be there in a little while.  So we sat there trying to calm down.  As I listened to what Pete was telling us, I became slowly aware, as if waking up, of a familiar voice in the room, and then I realized that voice, and gorgeous accent, could only belong to George.  Nellie said that I really jumped, and searched the room with my eyes quickly for him.  Fortunately, he had his back to us, so he didn’t see my reaction, but he was only about 7 feet away.  He had on green corduroy pants, slightly flared, and a green sweater with a V neck and no shirt on under it.  it had long sleeves which he kept pushing up a bit.  I got to see his earrings for the first time, very small and gold, and since he had no shoes or socks on, Nellie noticed that he is flat-footed.  

I really have very little idea what order things happened in while he was in the room. I’ll just try to tell about my observations of him as best I can.  Although I didn’t know then who she was, Olivia was there.  He kissed her just after they came into the room, and before he sat down.  When he decided to sit down, he looked around the room and found one of the chairs around the table empty and he sorta dove at it as if it were going to get away.  Bear brought him a plate of food from the kitchen and some wine and yogurt.  He  picked at the food more than he ate, but he really seemed to like the yogurt.

Well, then George stood and talked to someone at another table.  I could only hear parts of what he was saying, but I can’t repeat any of it, cause I heard his voice and accent, but not really the words even when it was audible.   He couldn’t stand still though, first he’d lean on the table, then on the chair and for a while he even stood down on his knees and talked.  Then he talked to another person and where he stood blocked the entrance/exit to the room.  That wouldn’t have bothered us normally, but we had had a lot to drink (water and tea as well as the alcoholic drink Pete gave us) and we really wanted to get to the bathroom.  The problem was that to get the bathroom, we would have to have moved George.  So we just sat there.

Soon enough George went back to his chair, and when he did, this weird girl came parading in.  She had on a black ballet body leotard, instead of a body shirt, and for a skirt she had on 2 hot pink chamois sewn together at the sides.   The back one was long and the front one was short and the sides were split all the way up.  She also had on a gold chain, belt, black hose and big platform shoes.  She came in and walked right up to George and said, “I met you five or six weeks ago, and I just came up to say hello.”  George looked up to her face and just said, “Oh...hullo,” as if he hoped that would satisfy her and she would go away.   So she goes on to ask him about the meaning of the OM and while they talk he carefully keeping looking at her face until he just had to look at her outfit.  He glanced down quickly and then even faster he looked back up and then very carefully looked somewhere else altogether then her face even, until she decided to go.  By the way, he explained that the 3 part of the OM stands for creation, restoration and destruction and the (: part is the sun and the moon.  During this time I had looked over at George to find him looking at me a couple times.

George sat there telling something to a person in a chair to the far left of us, but as I listened and looked at him, he talked to this person and never missed a word, but he stared straight into my eyes the whole time.  I was completely frozen.  He told about his guitar strap breaking on stage and how when he realized it was letting go, he stuck his foot out to catch the guitar on his shin.   All I could think of is that he is the only one I know that would deliberately get hit on the shin.  He must have realized what was happening to me, cause he stared into my eyes once more after that, and sure enough, the results were the same.    Olivia came over once and asked us if we wanted anything to eat and then right before he left he stood about 3 feet away from us and leaned over the coffee table in front of us to get some matches from Pete and I remember he said, “I thought he was crackers.”  but I don't’ know who he was talking about.  Then I heard him say that he was going to bed, and I looked up to see him with his arm lightly around Olivia’s waist and they said goodnight to everyone .  I felt a desperate urge to do something drastic to keep him there, but I suppressed it and just smiled.  We talked to everyone there for awhile and then we went down to Pete’s room and played cards for a little while before going back to our room.  The next morning we wrote a note to his Dad, thanking him and Pete for asking us up, and we put my beloved OM pendant in it, asking him to give it to George.  Dumb me, I didn’t have it with me while George was in the same room.

To describe George, I can say that i was really shocked at how thin he is.  His face looked just about like I expected, but thinner.  His hair was so fluffy and nice, but his eyes were what I really noticed.  They were so deep brown!   Most people when you look at their eyes you see the white around the color, but when you stare into George's eyes you just see deep brown and a lot of emotion.  It’s really a shame his eyes don’t photograph the way they really look.  If they did, I don't’ think anyone would have ever noticed Paul’s eyes even as gorgeous as they are.

I feel bad sometimes that I didn’t talk to him, but then I think about the girl in the pink chamois skirt and what fool she made of herself, and then to the fact that I wasn’t prepared for the meeting and really couldn't think of anything meaningful to say and I just remember George’s own words, “Silence often says much more, than trying to say what’ s been said before. “  And I know he is right.  

Miss O'Dell and Mr. Harrison

from Chris O'Dell's facebook page

Chris, Harold and his friend, Eileen the summer before the concert for Bangladesh.the Dark Horse Tour.