The Melody Lingers on

Lots of interesting information about the Kansas City stop in this newspaper article. 

Song is gone, but Melody Lingers On

Writer unknown

Kansas City Star

Their song has ended, but the echo lingers on.  In the first placid day AB (After Beatles), new freshets of incredibility burst forth to add to the stream of rich folk legend.

The rumpled bed linen used by the Beatles during their one day stay in Kansas City –16 sheets and eight pillow cases has been sold for $750.  Officials of the Hotel Muehlebach confirmed the transaction today between the hotel and a man named Lawrence Einhorn of Chicago.

Einhorn called long distance yesterday, the spokesman said, even before the Beatles had left for Dallas, and offered to buy the used linen.  His check for $750 was to have been mailed last night from Chicago.  Einhorn could not be reached today at his home, and his precise reason for wanting the linen is not known by the hotel.

Muehlebach officials said they were besieged most of yesterday, and expect to be again today, by requests for articles used or touched by the four singers.  There have, however, been no other purchase offers.  

One girl yesterday dialed the switchboard and asked if the hotel would save the bathtub in which Paul, George, Ringo and John, presumably sometime between their 2 o’clock in the morning arrival and their departure last night –bathed.

The tub, the hotel declared, certainly will be saved.  It will be saved right there in the $100 a day Terrace penthouse, and anyone who can foot the rent is welcome to soak in it.

A doubtful claim was raised last night by an operator in a downtown beauty salon, who said she was called to the Beatles’ room late yesterday afternoon to administer a rigidly supervised trim.

“I got out my scissors –they said I had to use scissors and tapered their bangs just one quarter of an inch,” she said.

“The Beatles just bantered back and forth, but their managers watched me like a hawk to make sure Id didn’t take off any more than I was supposed to.”

The beautician said she was told:  “Don’t take the hair.”  

“I sure didn’t want it,” she said.  She declined to give her name, fearful, she said, that “those kids will drive me crazy.”

Maj James Newman, one of the police officers directing security coverage during the Beatles’ visit, said he doubted the woman’s story.

“The Beatles said at their press conference they hadn’t had a barber since they left England,” he noted, “and didn’t intend to.  I think we’d have known about it.”

There were other sagas of misadventure and triumph.  The plans of two fans who drove five hours and 250 miles to attend the concert were canceled abruptly at the last minute when their car and another collided downtown as they were going to the Municipal Stadium.  Nervous and outwardly disgusted but not seriously hurt in the accident at Thirteenth street and Grand Avenue were two sisters from Florissant, Missouri – Miss Judith Ann White, 22, and Miss Janet Sue White, 15.  Judith suffered a bruised right shoulder and Janet a bruised right eye.

The girls had $8.50 ticket for the performance but refused offers of transportation to the stadium after the accident. “We decided we were too nervous to go; we couldn’t really enjoy them now,” the older sister said after the wreck about 7 o’clock.

She said she and her sister had gone to the hotel to try to get a glimpse of the singers.  “We saw some hands but we don’t’ know if they were theirs,” she added.

Even a train derailment could not stop 165 Beatle fans from attending the concert.  The last car of the group’s special train from Topeka derailed near Wilder in Johnson County.  Wilder is just south of Bonner Springs.

Busses were dispatched to take the fans to the stadium and the group arrived on time.  There were no injuries.

Five men who police said were selling Beatle buttons and pennants at the stadium were arrested and charged with failure to have a peddler’s license.  Three of the men were discharge in municipal court today on pleas of not guilty.   Two others were fined $20 each.

In the sobering retrospect of a new day, Charles O. Finley, who is something between $50,000 and $100,000 poorer for having sponsored the show, maintained:  “I don’t consider it any loss at all.”  

“The Beatles were brought here for the enjoyment of the children in this area,” Finley said, “and watching them last night they had complete enjoyment.  I’m happy about that.  Mercy hospital benefited by $25,000.  The hospital gained, and I had a great gain by seeing the children and the hospital again.”

Beatles arrive

Beatles arrive

By C.W.  Gusewelle

Kansas City Star

There must be something sad and unfulfilling about being the rage of your age at 2 o’clock in the morning, with the rain pelting down and maybe 100 wet persons looking at you from behind lines of policemen who will not let them touch you.

 The four young men came singly out from the plane and down the steps – George Harrison, Ringo Starr, Paul McCartney, and John Lennon (although later, among the waiting 100, there was some uncertainty about the order of their emergence).

What the eye remembered was a sharp image of the faces of enthusiasm and indifference, of arrogance and imitated joy.  And, of course the hair.

The hair of the Beatles is undoubtedly coiffed and sanitized beyond suspicion.  But there is no escaping that it is the way you see hair worn by gandies and alkies and forgotten men, hanging lank and forlorn over the backs of their collars. 

The small crowd surged forward against the police line, waving and crying out in a brief spasm of excitement.

Then the limousine carried the Beatles away.  A youth in shorts and a sweatshirt ran a little way beside it, grinning in through the window and pointing frantically at his own shaggy hairdo.

The car outdistanced him and he stopped, looking embarrassed, his legs spattered with water from the tires.  No one fainted.

“I got three pictures of him,” screeched a girl with a box camera, the cords standing out in her neck.  “I got three pictures of George Harrison.”

Following Beatles fans is like fighting the Viet Cong:  they are possessed of a mystifying mobility.  Already some of the same ones had gotten to the entrance of the Muehlebach Towers.

Policemen barred them from the elevator doors that led to Mecca—the 18^th floor suite where their heroes had settled in.

Seven bellmen wrestled 200 pieces of luggage.  Another, John Shamel, 24 years old, waited to take their orders for room service.

Three buckwheat cakes and tea for Ringo, Shamel reported.  Two orders of bacon and eggs; one grilled cheese sandwich.  Also four orders of coffee, a plate of sliced tomatoes, two glasses of milk and a pitcher of orange juice.

They were sitting around a table, Shamel said, with their coats off, playing cards.  Pitch, he added discreetly. 

Already in the room were a Missouri country ham, apple cider, a mincemeat pie and a watermelon, gifts from a Kansas City actress.

The cider was open, Shamel noted.  The pie was cut and the watermelon eaten.  It was going on 3 o’clock.  No wonder the boys had looked sallow.

Below, the stories were endless and tragic.  The girls who had gone to the wrong airport, Mid-Continent International in Platte County… Others who still clutched long-stemmed roses they hadn’t been able to deliver. 

One who had waited at the hotel since 3 o’clock, had gone out for a package of cigarettes at 2 o’clock and had missed the completely.  She sat now, alone with her misery, at a table in a darkened ballroom.

By the slim margin of the last police line of defense, two girls were deprived of immortality.  They found a single, unguarded elevator on the floor below the main hotel lobby, rode it to the third floor and walked to the eighteenth.  

“Hi,” they greeted the waiting detective.  “You’ve got the wrong floor,” he told them and ushered them back downstairs. 

More coffee, Shamel reported at 4:30 o’clock, and an order of toast.  More of the mincemeat pie had been eaten.

“They’re real nice fellows,” he said.  “They called me by my first name.  It was a pleasure to serve them.”  The card game wore on, but Ringo, he noticed, had gone to bed.

Later a physician was called to the suite to treat one of the musicians, he believed it was Ringo, not for indigestion but for a sore throat.

Hey Hey Hey ---Sara's review of the Paul McCartney concert in Kansas City

I wasn't supposed to see Paul in Kansas City, Missouri on July 16, 2014.    I was supposed to see Paul in Louisville, Kentucky on June 26th.  However, when Paul got sick and had to re-schedule the Louisville show, I was no longer able to travel down to see it.   I really can't travel 6 hours south on a Tuesday in October.    So I started to look for another date that worked for me in this tour and Kansas City seemed to be the best fit.

I was not sitting on the floor for this show.   I was in section 101, which is the first section past the floor seating.   I had seats that were in the center and had a wonderful view of Paul the entire time.   These were basically the same seats I had when I saw Paul in St. Louis in 2012.    You really get a different concert from the floor and the stadium seating.    When you see Paul on the floor, you are obviously part of the action.   You are an active participant in the concert.   He appears to make eye contact with you and those around you.    Everyone stands for the entire concert and you can tell from the dancing and singing that the people with you are Paul fans and love him with the same passion that you do.     When you sit up in the stadium seating, most of the people remain seated for a big part of the concert.    They do stand a bit for some of the songs, but you are sitting for most of the show.   There were times that I wanted to stand, but I felt like it would have been rude to those behind me.   You feel so far away from Paul.    While I could see him so well, there was a disconnect for sure.   And you are sitting near a majority (not all) of people who like Paul because he was in the Beatles and Wings and are not familiar with any of his solo work.    The plus side of having seats farther away is that you get to enjoy the show aspect.    When I was sitting in the 4th row last year, I did not know that when Paul sang, "Here Today" it looked like he was standing on a waterfall.   I was too close to notice it.  However,  by having seats farther back,  it was neat to see.    You can make out all of the photos farther back and enjoy the laser lights much better.  


Paul sang most of the songs that he has been singing in concert the past few years.  However, he has cut some of the Wings numbers to add in some songs from "New."   He sang "Save Us,"  "New" "Queenie Eye" and "Everybody Out There."   I was sorry to see "Junior's Farm" and "Mrs. Vanderbilt" leave the set list.    However, the songs from "New" sounded really great!    I love the "New" background and Paul and the band really, really seemed to enjoy playing the songs.

Some things that I noticed specifically to the Kansas City Show.    Paul did not read any of the signs out loud.   I saw all sorts of people down front holding signs, and I saw Paul pointing to them, but he did not ever look out and read any of the signs.     Someone had thrown a pair of panties up on the stage and Paul picked them up and said something about how it wasn't a Tom Jones show and this had never happened before.   I seriously doubt that in 2014 Paul McCartney had his first pair of women's panties thrown on the stage!!   But it was a really funny part of the show.    Paul seemed to be a bit more talkative between songs.   He mostly stuck to his script, but there were a few little things that I think he added and he in general seemed to be a tad bit more chatty.

When he sang "My Valentine,"  he dedicated it to Nancy who he said was in the audience and he pointed towards her.    I thought the KC crowd was extremely rude during this song.  It looked like a mass exodus of people.   Everyone must have thought "My Valentine" is a code song for "bathroom and drink" break.    Actually, I was surprised how much people were leaving their seats throughout the concert.    If it wasn't a Beatles song, it seems like people were leaving.    There were some people in my row that were constantly coming and going.  They were coming back with popcorn and hot dogs and who knows what else.   Whenever I go to a Paul show, I stay in my seat the entire time.  I do not want to miss a thing!    Those tickets are extremely expensive!  I can eat popcorn or go use the bathroom later---you only have so many chances to see Paul McCartney in person.

Paul messed up the words on "We can work it out."  He sang, "Only time will tell if I am wrong or I am wrong...."    He always seems to have a hard time with lyrics to that one.      Overall Paul sounded good, but by the time he sang "Day Tripper," you could tell that his voice was getting tired.   Personally I did not think "Helter Skelter" sounded very good because Paul's voice just sounded like it was ready to give out.   

Of course the real treat of the night was Paul performing "Kansas City (Hey Hey Hey )" which he did instead of "Hi Hi Hi."    He sang the "Beatles" version of the song with the crowd all doing the echo part.   This might be one of my favorite personal Beatle memories of my life.   Just something about singing the song Kansas City along with Paul in Kansas City----you just can't beat that!

If you haven't seen Paul during this tour, you have to go!   I know it is extremely expensive.   I know it is often in the middle of the week.   But you will regret it for the rest of your life if you miss out on this tour.     If you go and happen to have sensitive eyes, you will want to bring along some sunglasses.    There are a lot of bright lights and strobe lights that go out into the audience.   My mom has eye problems and the lights were really hurting her eyes until she got her sunglasses out of her purse and then she could see Paul and not be blinded.    So if any of you have eye problems....I thought I would pass along that advice.

Have fun out there!

*All photos were taken by Sara Schmidt.  Please ask before you use these photos elsewhere (and I always say yes!)

Hey Hey Hey Hey

The Beatles with Charles O. Finley with the Beatles at the Kansas City press conference.

Full photo

I have posted this adorable photo before, but it just showed George and the little girl in braids.   Now that I see all of the Beatles, and the patten of the wall paper in the background I know that this photo was taken in Kansas City in 1964 during the press conference.  And then I sort of realize what a big Beatles geek I truly have become because in a matter of seconds, I was able to correctly identify a photo just by looking at wall paper in the background....wow.

Kansas City Here we come!

This story is by Carol Mitchell, who I have written about before on this blog and who has responded in the comments section.   You may recall that Carol wrote a great book called All Our Loving which is mostly about her time in London waiting for the Beatles in the late 1960's and early 1970's.  Her book also has other stories in it, including this one, which has been on this site in part before.  Here is the full article as published in the November/December issue of the "The Write Thing."

Going to Kansas City … Kansas City Here I come

By Carol Mitchell

9/1/82

It was twenty years ago today…  Well, really only eighteen years ago that I first came face to face with four young men that we’ve all come to know so well.   I was eighteen then and just out of school when I heard the Beatles might add a concert date to their already announced ’64 tour schedule.  It seems Charlie Finley, then owner of the Kansas City A’s baseball team, couldn’t let “the boys” disappoint all the “wonderful young people” in K.C., so he offered Brian Epstein $100,000 and finally upped it to $150,000 to get the Beatles to appear.  I got in touch with some friends in Kansas City (I was living in Iowa at the time) who sent for tickets for me.  (They were older and not inflicted by this new insanity).  And I finagled press credentials from an old friend in Des Moines ‘cos sitting in a seat in a stadium just wasn’t close enough!

My father drove my friend, Nancy, and I to Kansas City.  I’m sure it was a long drive for all of us.  Nancy and I were eager to get there and my poor father was cooped up in a car with two raving nervous Beatlemaniacs.

When we got in around noon, we cleaned up and hurried to the Muehlebach Hotel (where THEY were staying) with press credentials in our hot little hands.  We had been forewarned that the press conference was closed to anyone under 18.  (Nancy was 17).  So we had both made the ultimate sacrifice and tucked our bangs behind headbands so we would appear more mature.  Well, we got in touch with someone who checked our credentials and sent us to room 111 to wait.  This turned out to be a screening room where people are just left and never get into the conference.  I was getting itchy, so we left and took off down the hall.  We found someone else, showed our credentials, swore on all that was holy that we were both 18and we were ushered into a different room.  This was the real thing!  These were other member of the press with real equipment.  Spying a couple of empty seats in the front row over on the right side, I gave Nancy’s arm a tug and we took off and settled into them.  There I met a slender blonde who introduced herself as Kathy.  She was 16 but looked older and had been brought in by a big wheel dj who wanted a fan’s reaction.  She shared her nerves with me and asked if she could use some of the questions I had prepared.  We wound up going to England together some years later, but that’s another story.

The next thing I knew, Derek Taylor and Neil Aspinall came in.  Derek introduced himself and explained the ground rules.  First, questions from the general press, then radio interviews, then TV and still photographers.  We would be free to mix and mingle during the last two.  Derek looked fantastic and I was taken with him from the start.  But very quickly in came Ringo, John, George and Paul.  Ringo sat down at the table right in front of me!  John had on a very dark grey suit with red, white and black t-shirt and no tie.  He had brown eyes and his brown hair had a definite reddish cast.  Paul looked sleepy.  He was wearing a grey suit with a lavender and white pin-striped shirt and a black tie.  He had brown eyes and very dark brown hair.  George wore a grey suit too.  His had velvet trim on the collar.  His brown hair had only a hint of red.  Ringo wore a matching light blue and white pin-striped jacket and shirt.  His hair was similar to John’s except for a thatch of grey.  They all wore boots and smelled like “English leather.”

I made a tape of the press conference on a little battery-run recorder (back in those days we only had reel to reels, no cassettes)  Unfortunately this poor thing ran at an uneven speed and the tape is mostly unintelligible now, but I did make a written transcript of the conference then and here it is:

J=John, P=Paul, G=George, R=Ringo, DT = Derek, N=Nancy, K=Kathy, C=Carol,  O=general press, U=all the Beatles in union

O:  John, what does your wife think about all the girls chasing after you?

J:  She’s not worried.  She knows they’ll never catch me.

O:  Paul is it true you are secretly married to Jane Asher?

P:  No, it is not.  We are not even engaged. (pause)  That’s all I can say about that.

K:  George, why did you throw your drink in a reporters face in Los Angeles?

G:  Well, he was a very nasty man.  And besides, we had asked him to leave because he was taking too many pictures and we couldn’t see anything.  And so I just decided that he ought to be baptized.

K:  What kind of cigarettes do you smoke?

G:  filter tips

J:  But we’re not going to do any free commercials.

O:  I’m from Variety..

J:  Well good for you!  (general laughter)

O:  Who is the most exciting woman you’ve ever met?

J:  Ringo’s mother is pretty hot.  (Ringo looked hurt).  It’s just a joke Ringo.  Just a joke.

C:  John, what do you think of Paul?  (Paul shot me a look.  John and George seemed to enjoy this question)

J:  He’s okay.  We have to put him down sometimes.

O:  Who is your favorite actress?

P:  Sophie Tucker (then all the Beatles laughed)

K:  What do you think of Jayne Mansfield, Ringo?

R:  She’s  a drag.

DT:  Drag; D-R-A-G.  That’s an English expression.  It means, “She’s a bore.”

J:  I believe that’s an American word, Derek.

O:  What about Mamie  Van Doren?

U:  Ugh!!

O:  What do you think of the Rolling Stones?  (John lets out a terrible groan)

K:  Ringo, do you date fans?

R:  Yes, when I have the time.

K:  Ringo, show us your grey hair.

R:  No.

K:  Why not?

R:  Because it will mess it up.

K:  Well it already looks messed up to me.

O:  John, are you writing a follow-up to the books you’ve written already?

J:  No, I wrote book, not books.  No, I’m not writing anything.

O:  What will happen when the group breaks up?

P:  Well, john and I will continue writing music, and George will play basketball.

G:  or I’ll roller skate.

O:  of all the questions you have been asked what is the one question you wish you had been asked at a press conference? (they thought for a few seconds)

P:  I guess we’ve been asked them all.

O:  What place did you enjoy the most in the U.S. and did you want to stay there longer?

J:  New Orleans because we liked and music.  And we’d like to go back there sometime.

C:  Paul, do you believe the rumors that you’re conceited?

(Paul just looked up at e and smiled and nodded his head “yes”)

O:  Do you ever go to any children’s homes or orphanages?

J:  No, we never do.  (Then we all said we’d seen pictures of them at one painting Easter eggs).

P:  Oh well, that was at Easter.

O:  Do you like baseball?

R:  No.  (Then everyone laughed at the Beatles.  Finally, someone explained that their promoter that night owned a baseball team and that they would be playing in his stadium that night).

R:  Oh well, we like the A’s (then Paul made a thumb-up sign)

K:  Will Mr. Finley have you boys wear green and gold at the show tonight?

J:  No, we’ll wear what we usually do.

O:  What do you think of people copying your hairstyles?

P:  We don’t mind.  When people start copying our styles, we change them.

R:  We change our clothes too!

O:  What special care do you give your hair while on tour?

J:  We wash it and comb it

O:  What do you do about barbers?

J:  Oh, we never go to them anyway.

K:  Paul, did you enjoy your vacation in the Virgin Islands?

P:  (smiling sweetly) Yes, I did.  Thank you.
O:  Do you all speak German fluently?

U:  No!!

J:  Just well enough to get along on the Reeperbahn.

K:  John, due to the recent anti-smoking reports, are you planning to stop smoking?

J:  no, we all have to sometime, you know.

O:  Ringo, do you like the girls tearing up your sheets and going crazy?

R:  I don’t mind as long as I’m not in them.

O:  Does the U.S. government get any money from you? If so, how much?

J:  Ha ha ha!  Not a cent!

R (aside to us) When the British government is done with us, we’ll only have ten dollars to our name.

O:  You boys are getting $150,000 for tonight’s show.  So do you plan on performing extra-long?

J:  No longer than usual.

P:  Just extra well.

O:  When this is all over, what will you boys miss most, the fans or the money?

J:  We don’t see our money.  We have accountants that handle it for us.  We haven’t seen them for a long time either.  We’ll always have the money, so I guess we’ll miss our fans.

O:  Do you believe in religion and politics?

J:  Yes both, but we don’t discuss them.

K:  If you don’t discuss them, then why did you say you’d support LBJ in Chicago?

R:  We didn’t!  We said Eisenhower!

O:  Ringo, is it true that you have to have your tonsils out?

R:  Yes.  We received a telegram today.

O:  Is it true that you are sending them to a girl who wrote you?

R:  No.  I’m not even keeping them myself.

J:  We are going to auction them off.

O:  do you do anything for free?

J:  Yes, charity.

O:  Is there anything you don’t’ like about the tour?  (Here Paul got rather upset and really seemed to mean what he was saying)

P:  Yes.  Too much protection.  We can’t see or shake hands with our fans.  They take us clear to the end of the runway and then load us in a limousine and then we’re off to our hotel suite.

C:  Paul, is it true that you lost your driver’s license and if so, how?

P:  Yes, but I got it back right before we came on tour.  They caught me three times for speeding … they catch you over there, you know.

K:  George, how bad was your accident?

G:  It was nothing at all.  He just tapped me.  That was all.  Nobody was hurt.  It seems the farther away from the thing you are; the worse the stories are about it.

C:  What do you boys do when you are confined to your hotel room?

R:  Well, we sleep, watch the telly, listen to the radio, play cards, and sometimes we talk to each other!

O:  What kind of cards do you play?

P,G, & J:  Poker!

R:  Crazy Eights?

K:  Who do you think is the best of all of you?

J:  We really aren’t very good at anything, but Ringo is pretty good.

R:  No, John, you’re better than I am.

J:  No, Ringo, you know you’re the best.

(Finally they gave this up and let someone ask another question)

O:  George, what about the girl who climbed nine stories and jumped in the window and grabbed you in your night clothes?

G:  She jumped on Ringo, not me.  No, actually I was in the other room in bed asleep.  The police caught her before she got in my room.

K:  Paul, pictures of your father show that he doesn’t have much hair.  What’s going to happen to you?

R:  Well, what do you expect of a 65 year old man?

During the radio session that followed, we spoke with Ringo and then scooted over to talk to Paul.  He put his arm around me for a few minutes.  I went home vowing to never clean my suit!  It smelled of English Leather!

N:  Ringo, do you know how to play guitar?

R:  Oh, I know two ro three chords; but it hurts my fingers, you know.

N:  We’re from Des Moines, Iowa.  Do you know where that is, Ringo?

R:  20,000 cities and I’m supposed to know them all?!

C:  I’ve seen a picture of your girlfriend, Maureen Cox, and she looks very nice.  Do you like her very much?

R:   No.  Well, she just a girl and I like girls.  And you’re a girl and like girls.

P:  Oh hello girls (he put his arm around me)

N:  We’re from Des Moines, Iowa.  Have you heard of it, Paul?

P:  Oh yes.  Are you ladies sisters?

N & C:  Oh no.  We’re not even related.

P:  Oh, well, you look a lot alike.

C:  Paul, how is your brother Mike?

P:  (quite flirtingly) Fine, thank you.  Good luck.

After that we stood and watched while they took pictures.  A Playboy bunny posed with them.  She had her hand underneath the back flap of Paul’s jacket, down low.  He looked a little funny, but just stood there.  At the end of the session, I asked Derek if he’d have John autograph the copy of his book that I was carrying.  He took it and said he’d be back and then they all left.  We waited around a bit and were interviewed by some reporters.

Finally, I decided we were going back to get my book, autograph or no.  So we got on the elevator with some DJ’s from Kansas and rode up to the Beatles floor.  When we stepped off, the hall was filled with detectives.  The DJ’s said they wanted some autograph pictures someone had promised them.  The detective sent them packing.  And then turned to us.  I told him Derek had my book and had promised to return it.  He looked a little disgruntled, but took my name and went down the hall and knocked on one of the doors.  I followed.  The door opened and I could see the Beatles sitting around laughing about john’s writing and passing a small dark book around.  Then the detective blocked my view and turned and came back.  He had my book (thank heaven I had scrawled my name in it) and I opened it and found four more names inside it!

The rest of the trip and the concert were great, but I was most delighted with all that happened that afternoon (And Derek Taylor thank you!)