I Saw Them Standing There: A Book Review

 

Last month, at the Fest for Beatle Fans in New York City, I had the pleasure of meeting Debbie Gendler. Debbie was someone that I was familiar with, and I had been anxiously anticipating her book for several years. This past week, I read I Saw Them Standing There.  It was such a great memoir of a first-generation Beatles fan who was there and experienced so much!

Debbie was one of the first Beatle fans in the United States. She got involved with the Beatles fan club before the Beatles' first trip to New York, and it was through this that Debbie was given a ticket to see the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show (see photo of her above). If that was the only story Debbie had about the Beatles, that would have been enough—but that is just the tip of the iceberg in her Beatles adventures. 

Debbie had her own Beatles fan club chapter in New Jersey and was able to do a lot of really fun Beatle-focused activities.   Those fans who lived near major cities in the 1960s (especially Los Angeles and New York City) just had more opportunities to be close to the guys than the fans in the mid-west.  Luckily for Debbie -- she was able to travel independently to New York City and volunteer at the fan club office.  She was present during the Beatles press conference in 1965 at the Warwick Hotel. After the press conference, she was allowed to go into the Beatles suite to meet them, and something happened that caused John Lennon to tease her and embarrass her.   You will have to read it for yourself. 

Debbie befriended Mike McCartney, and because of that friendship, she spent time with Paul and Linda on many occasions. One such occasion was Mike's 50th birthday party, where Debbie told a great story about Mike and Paul performing together. She snapped some photos, but they do not appear in the book.   

I really enjoyed the book because the wonderful stories from Debbie just kept coming.  I don't want to ruin too much of the book because you need to read it for yourself.    

The chapters in this book are very short, which I always enjoy because I am always reading on the road. If you enjoy reading memoirs of first-generation fans or stories of people who met the Beatles in person, then you need to add this book to your Beatles library. 

 Posted below is a link to purchase this book on Amazon.   It is an affiliate link for this site.  I get a small percentage of money for anything ordered through the link.  The money earned from the affiliate Amazon link goes toward the annual fee to keep this site running.  Thank you for your support.  Sara

https://amzn.to/3wDmjV8

Rehearsal at CBS Studio

 February 8, 1964 

First generation American Beatle fans wanted

 

Hi everyone!

Ten years ago I made a call for 1st generation American fans to answer a few questions about the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1964.   I received great answers to the questions and I was able to write a really fun article as a result.    We are heading toward the 60th anniversary of this event and I would like to try again.   I am asking the exact same questions that I asked in 2014 and would love to have as many American first-generation fans to answer them as possible.   By answering these questions, you are giving me, Sara Schmidt permission to use your quotes in an article that I will be publishing on this site in February 2024 as well as any other article or book I may write in the future.  

Here are the questions.  You don't have to answer each question.  I know that you might not remember all of the answers.  Just answer the ones that you'd like.

1.  When did you first hear the Beatles music?  Did you like them right away?

2.  Did you watch the Ed Sullivan Show specifically to see the Beatles?

3.  What was your reaction (for example did you scream, dance, take pictures of the TV screen, cry, state in awe, etc).

4.  What was the reaction of the adults in your house?

5.  What was the reaction of everyone at school on Monday?

6.  Who was your favorite Beatle then?  Has it changed since 1964?

7.  Anything else memorable about that day or that time that you'd like to share?

Please send your answers to meetthebeatlesforreal@gmail.com 

Famous Father Girl

The following is an excerpt from “Famous Father Girl,” by Jamie Bernstein. Copyright © 2018 by Jamie Bernstein.

Eventually, word got back to John Lennon — or to his manager or press agent or somebody — that Leonard Bernstein was thinking about possibly setting some of the “In His Own Write” poems to music. This led to Daddy being invited to meet Lennon backstage during a dress rehearsal for “The Ed Sullivan Show.” It was by now the summer of 1965, and the Beatles were returning to the U.S. to make their highly anticipated second Ed Sullivan appearance. Naturally, our father asked if he could bring his two older children with him to the rehearsal.

We were going to meet the Beatles!!!

Daddy drove us into town from Fairfield. I was painfully conscious of the fact that I had braces and still didn’t shave my legs. What hope did I have of getting any Beatle to fall in love with me? Our father was summoned backstage first, while Alexander and I remained, perplexed and frustrated, in the theater seats watching a tedious rehearsal of a comedy duo who thought it was funny for one of them to wear a Beatles wig. Finally an usher came to escort us through the grimy backstage corridors of the theater until we were in front of a door with a star on it. The usher knocked.

No actual event in my life would ever be more exciting than the seconds containing that anticipatory knock, on that particular door, on that particular day.

The door opened and there they were: John, Paul, and George. But no Ringo. Why? Because the other three had been eating hamburgers with onions, and any Beatlemaniac worth her salt knew that the two things Ringo hated most were onions and Donald Duck, so of course he’d gone off to a less smelly room.

Alexander and I were introduced, and shown to chairs. I was seated next to Paul, who went to the trouble to be friendly and ask me some polite questions. (I have since heard many similar reports from people who met the Beatles; Paul was a gent.)

Daddy was sharing cigarettes with everyone and chatting away with them as if they were old friends. Maybe we sang them a round of “Moldy Man”? I don’t remember. I was in a coma of awe.

The three Beatles had an interesting argument about whether to put on their signature suits for the rehearsal. John and George didn’t want to. Paul said, “Come on, lads, it’s a dress rehearsal! We ought to be dressed, then!” (Once again, Paul was the one behaving like an adult.)

On our way out, the usher knocked on the adjoining dressing room door. We heard a muffled “Come in,” and when the door opened, we saw two feet in red socks on a cot; the head of the bed was obscured by a locker. But when the body wearing the socks sat up, it was a sleepy Ringo; we’d woken him up from a nap. Sorry, Ringo!

The next day, back at my day camp in Connecticut, there was all-out pandemonium when the girls found out where I’d been the day before. Sometimes it was purely great to have Leonard Bernstein for a father.

Rehearsing for the big show

 

Ringo looks so strange sitting sideways like that -- don't you think?

Seriously?

 

Ringo just wants to drum

 

Beatles in make-up

 

Life changing night for many people

 

February 9, 1964 

The Day Neil joined The Beatles

 

Hey -- we're trying to rehearse here

 

Sullivan and Lennon

 

Thanks Ed

 

Ringo needs a cigarette break

The other Sullivan Show

 

The night that changed it all

 

Thousands of Girls Swoon

 

Thousands of Girls Swoon as Beatles Rock Miami Beach 

UPI

Britain's bushy Beatles, red-faced from days in the sun and nights in the local twist emporiums, ripped through five songs on the Ed Sullivan Show last night with thousands of girls swooning at their booted feet. 

The mop-topped minstrels from Liverpool rested after two earlier rehearsals packed with screaming "Beatlemaniacs", brought a dozen rows of teenagers to their feet with "All My Love." [sic]

The audience for the live show at the posh, 5000 seat Deauville Hotel Napoleon room was packed.  Half were teenagers, there to see the Beatles and half were adults, waiting for Mitzi Gaynor.  

Mitzi was sweet, honey-voiced and charming. 

The Beatles were hot. 

After their five songs, the teen idols were prespring, freely -- except for Ringo Starr who played it cool, patted his drums, grinned broadly and shook his shaggy head. 

At 10:30am and again at 2:30pm the teen idols slipped from their elegant Deauville Hotel Suit down to the 5000 seat Napoleon Room to practice for their appearance on Sullivan's Show. 

The 5000 seats were filled, mostly with teenaged girls for the rehearsals.   As the Beatles left one rehearsal a group of screaming girls surged against police lines.  About 50 guards from a private agency and some 25 police from Miami Beach held the girls back. 

Mitzi Gaynor also practiced her numbers and got a big hand from several hundred grownups who somehow found the temerity to fight the teenagers for seats.  Most of the grownups got up and left when she finished her numbers. 

When the four singers hopped onto the stage from a private passageway and stepped into the lights, it was bedlam.  Girls shrieked, moaned, cried, gasped, clapped, stood on seats, fell into them, squirmed and jumped as the Beatles went through their numbers including the two-million seller, "I Want To Hold Your Hand."

The teen's shrieking was so loud nobody could hear The Beatles but nobody seemed to care that much.  It was the feeling, man!

The quartet -- George Harrison, 20; John Lennon - 23; Paul McCartney 21; and Ringo Starr 23 -- refused to talk tot he press all day. 

Teenagers started arriving at the Deauville hours before the rehearsals.   At one point they were lined four and five abreast for three long city blocks, chatting excitedly about the Beatles.  When the group of girls surged against police lines, a plucky young brunette grabbed Ringo's arm.  She yelled something that nobody could understand and was on the verge of hysteria when a guard pulled her back. 

All in all it was a typical Beatle outing.  

56 Years ago -- everything changed.