She Robed in Black - Hair that Is --was watched at Beatle concert
(AP Article)
December 19, 1968
American student Elizabeth Marsh tossed back her flaxen hair, slipped out of her long black dress, and sat stark naked in the third row of the Royal Albert Hall Wednesday night. A band of pleading policeman looked on.
Beatle John Lennon and his girlfriend, Yoko Ono, took it in stride. They climbed into a huge bag on stage and wriggled lyrically to the lifting melody of a flute.
Red Face police posted at the hippie happening finally began to make a timid approach towards Elizabeth of Texas, who sat nude and serene. But some of the 600-strong audience at the "alchemical wedding" rose up and formed a human shield around her. Several men stripped in sympathy. Others raced into the area and began dancing wildly to Indian music.
Hall officials pleaded with the bespeckled Elizabeth to get dressed. The audience booed and jeered. The management finally switched off the electricity and threatened to stop the show if Elizabeth didn't put on some clothes. She eventually compromised by putting a coat around her shoulders.
"I don't know why I did it, but at the time, I had some good reason," Elizabeth said later, "I did it all without realizing it was happening. It was the music. I wasn't at all embarrassed." She added.
The happening consisted of Indian music, underground poetry, music, psychedelic lights, and impromptu acts such as John and Yoko's bag wriggling.
Elizabeth's English boyfriend, Peter Evans, 24, said he wasn't in the least embarrassed. "I've seen her in the nude before, but never in public," he admitted.
