A happy day for a few fans

 

Paul in Scotland

 October 20, 1964

Rockland man once crashed Beatles gathering

Albert Gardner with the Beatles 

 

Rockland Man Once Crashed Beatles Gathering

By Emmett Meara

Bangor Daily News

December 13, 1980

    You could say that Albert Gardner has nerve. That is like saying it snows in Maine in the winter.

     On a bet in 1964, Gardner actually crashed a Beatles press conference in Scotland, went backstage, had his picture taken with the famous quartet, and took home an autographed photo. Still not satisfied, he watched a Beatles show standing behind the Beatles' manager, Brian Epstein. He has the pictures to prove it. He even has an autograph from slain Beatle John Lennon, which says, "You are a fake" underneath the name. 

    Gardner had donned an overcoat and felt hat, complete with a press pass in the brim, like the George Raft movies. The outfit was completed with dark glasses as he posed as a magazine writer.

      Of the hour backstage with The Beatles, the Rockland insurance man said Lennon seemed to be the leader. "They would look to him for a lot of things. He was the kidder, but he was the gun too. He was the spokesman. I'm surprised at the reaction to his death. It is even more than Elvis. I suppose that it was the violent nature of the thing."

     The whole Scotland event started on a bet with an English woman. Gardner said.  When he told her that he met 50s rock and roll star Roy Orbison, the woman didn't believe it. "I can meet anyone I want to. So can you," Gardner told her. The conversation spread a bit, and a few dollars were bet that Gardner could not get into a scheduled Beatles press conference in Edinburgh with his press outfit. 

    Gardner went to see the manager of the theater."I told him I was going to get in there with or without his help, and after a while, for some reason, he actually agreed. On the day of the concert, the line was already blocks long. I went to the front of the line, and he actually waved me in. He told me that I was on my own and that he might call the cops himself. I said that was fine, as long as I got in the door."

     Gardner said the press conference hadn't started, so he took two of the free drinks offered and left one under a front-row seat. Then he went and socialized, telling a tall story about working for a magazine from the States. "They all looked at me kind of funny, but no one threw me out," he said.

     When the conference started, he went up front to claim his seat and drink. In the seat was a newsman with a movie camera, sound outfit, notepad, the works. Gardner politely asked a man to move and pointed to his drink under the seat. "He actually took his equipment and left. I couldn't believe it", he said.

     While he was pretending to write something in his notebook, Gardner walked behind the Beatles to get in the picture for the local paper to get proof for the bet. But that was not enough. Ringo, noted for his love of diamonds, left a jeweled cigarette lighter on the table. When the band went backstage, Gardner quietly took the item and headed backstage. When he encountered resistance, he told the man at the door, "You tell Ringo you met the man with his lighter, but didn't let him in."

     That's what did it.  He went to the dressing room and introduced himself to the Beatles. As you must have noticed, there is little shyness in Mrs. Gardner's boy, Albert.  He refused to hand over the expensive lighter despite Ringo's displeasure until they agreed to pose for him.  Mixed in with the motor-driven Nikons and Leicas at the press conference was this pocket-sized Instamatic. Honest. Garner had stood up in the middle of that press conference with a pocket camera and flash cubes. He should work for the CIA .

    Anyway, Gardner today has a picture of himself with the Beatles in the process. The picture developed a slight mist, but Gardner is not complaining. He also has a signed publicity photo and a small scrap of paper with all the signatures. He figures they might be worth some money today. 

    Even after getting those goodies, Gardner was not satisfied. After all, the show was starting, "I had never seen them. I didn't want to miss it", he said. So he simply walked backstage and stood behind Beatles manager Brian Epstein. When officials came by to check credentials, Garner said, he just nodded toward Epstein and said, "I'm with him". 

    "I could not believe the concert. There were girls throwing things and throwing up. They would run from the back of the theater to the front to the top of the chair. They would never touch the ground. They were fainting all over the place. There was a constant scream, a roar in the theater. I had never seen anything like it. 

    In the scrapbook, carefully preserved, Gardner has the pictures of himself and the Beatles.

The Playboy interview

 

I have never seen many of these photos taken while the Beatles were being interviewed for Playboy. 

Beatles at the Empire

 

Beatles at the Empire

Written by an Echo Reporter

Liverpool Echo

November 9, 1964

    Chief Superintendent Harold Whalley, head of a division of Liverpool City Police, talked last night with two young men he once advised to give up their ideas of show business fame. He told John Lennon and Paul McCartney, "I was wrong, and you were right."

     It was the first time Mr. Whalley had met the two Beatles since their meteoric rise. He first saw them in 1957 when they were part of a skiffle group managed by his son, Nigel. "I used to worry about some of the clubs and places at which they performed," he told me. "I told them that there was no future in that kind of thing and advised them to drop it. I told them a few times to get a haircut as well. I maintained that nobody could have visualized what has happened in the last few years," he added.

     Mr. Whalley's son is now a golf professional at Wrotham Heath (Kent) and goes to see the Beatles when they are in London. John and Paul talked over old times with Superintendent Whalley before they went on stage last night and he left the Empire Theater with an autographed picture in his pocket. 

    The Beatles were ordered off the balcony outside the theater after scores of teenagers had held up traffic as they dashed to the far side of Lime Street to get a better view. The group stood on the balcony for only a few minutes, waving to about 1000 people on the St George Hall side. Then, the boys and girls started to run from the theater.

     A police inspector ordered the Beatles off the balcony. Otherwise, he said, "Someone could get killed." The Beatles appearance also led to desertions from the female ranks of the Loyal Orange Lodge, who were forming up outside St George's Hall to march away after a remembrance day service. 70 police, reinforced by Mounted Police and specials, were outside the Empire to control the hundreds of teenagers waiting for the Beatles to arrive for their two performances, and most of the teenagers were disappointed. Instead of arriving at the stage door, the Beatles car pulled up outside a sside entrance, and the group ran in before most of the crowd realized they were there. 

    The St John Ambulance brigade had 40 men and 25 nurses on duty to deal with any fainting cases during the show. During the first performance, they had to deal with only two cases. Both were girls who had gone a little hysterical when their idols appeared. In the second performance, however, there were 22 casualties, one after another, of teenage girls fainting or suffering from hysteria.

     One teenage girl among the casualties told ambulances she had given up her job in the south of England and hitchhiked to Liverpool to see the Beatles. "And it was worth it.," she added.

     The Beatles 25-minute act in which they sang 10 of their best-known songs was practically inaudible from the back of the theater because of the screams from hundreds of girls who spent most of their time jumping up and down in their seats and waving. The group arrived in Liverpool early yesterday after being delayed by fog on the way from Cardiff. They stayed with their families last night before setting off this morning for their next show in Sheffield. The Beatles timed their exit with split-second precision and were away in atrice into the side street and a getaway car

Flowers Everywhere

 October 22, 1964 

How We Bombed The Beatles

 The Beatles thought the flour incident at the last concert of the UK Autumn tour at Bristol on November 10, 1964, was an inside job done by someone involved with the tour as a prank during the last performance.   Really, it was four young people who were trying to prove a point about lax security. 

How We Bombed The Beatles

By Roger Bennett

Evening Post

November 12, 1964

    Three young men and a policeman's daughter admitted today, "We flour bombed The Beatles"-- and produce a photograph to prove it. 

    And Mr. Ken Cowley, manager of the Colston Hall, Bristol, where the flour incident had Beatles and audience rocking with laughter on Tuesday night, said, today: "I believe them.

    "Until I saw the picture, I was prepared to swear it must have been an inside job, by somebody in the show. But the photo is genuine. 

    "They risked their necks in the operation, which must have been minutely planned to breach our security network. And they must have had a key to get through a roof trap door.

     "If we trace them, they would risk prosecution for entering the hall illegally. But I think we'll let the matter lie. 

    "My main worry now is to prevent them or anyone else, doing it again. We are carrying out a detailed survey of the entrances to the roof area of the hall today before deciding what action to take.

     The four flour bombers who smothered the Beatles in a cloud of white dropped from a spy hole 50 feet up in the ceiling revealed today how they did it. 

    "We found the Colston Hall crawling with policemen, but we just went round the back, up a drain pipe, across two roofs, through a trap door, and into the lighting department.

     "We watched both performances through a circular hole. At the end of a number we dropped the flour and then ran for it. We were back on the ground in 45 seconds, and nobody challenged us.

     Seconds before they dropped the flour, they took the picture, which they later handed in to the Evening Post. It shows Ringo, John and Paul.

     "We just did it said the four to prove security at the Hall is a farce. We were in the same spot for the Beatles show last year, but we had to leave our flour and run after mistiming it.

     "But we did drop a pillow full of feathers on the Swinging Blue Jeans another time. It was good fun."

     Said Mr. Cowley. "So far, we haven't worked out which drainpipe they used, but the most likely one is 40 feet high. They certainly had guts. I just hope they realize what danger they were in above that frail ceiling. One false step, and they could have been through."

The Beatles Fire Brigade

 

November 8, 1964 - Liverpool 

Guest Book

November 4, 1964

Beatles kick back

 November 2, 1964

Bournemouth Interview

 

October 30, 1964

Plymouth Rock

 October 29, 1964

Playboys

 

October 28, 1964

The Beatles are interviewed for Playboy magazine.   Recently Omega Auction had listed the original tapes of the infamous 1964 interview for Playboy.  I would really love to hear this interview and hope whoever has it is willing to share with fans. 

George's solo

 

October 24, 1964

Guarding the Beatles

 October 23, 1964

Sharing the popcorn

 October 22, 1964

Little drummer Paul

 October 21, 1964

Boating in Dundee

October 20, 1964 
 

George makes fans happy

 

October 19, 1964