Beatles Fan Wrangles Press Conference Bid (1964)

 

Beatles Fan Wrangles Press Conference Bid

By Mary Ann Maybry

East Oregonian

September 9, 1964

    "I saw the Beatles!"  Mary Ann Mabry, a Pendleton high school senior, wiggled her way to the front row of the Beatles' press conference in Vancouver, BC, recently. Her passport to what would be a teenager's heaven was an alleged letter from a newspaper editor, which cited her as an aspiring young journalist from a high school newspaper in Cincinnati, Ohio, who had been sent to cover the press conference. The letter, plus perseverance and a lot of luck, got her past secretaries, guards, and press officials and into the smoke-filled room where the English mop heads gathered. After the conference, Mary Ann wrangled a seat in the front row for the concert. The following is her impression of the events that occurred.

     Uncontrollable mob hysteria. These are the words that really describe the Beatles concerts in Seattle and Vancouver. The girls seem emotionally unstable. Most of them were over 15 years old.

     While waiting for the Beatles in the tiny press conference room at the Pacific National Exhibition stadium, one could sense an electric excitement in the air as they entered. Ringo was directly before me, then John, George, and Paul.

     Ringo was quite small and slender with medium brown hair, blue eyes, and white teeth. He wore a small blue and white checked sports coat. John wore a multicolored striped jacket with a sweater underneath. He is well built, tallish with a full face, light brown hair, and brown eyes that squint when he speaks. George is tall and slender with dark brown hair and eyes, and was dressed in dark colors. Paul was by far the most handsome, with black hair that waves and curls, hazel eyes, and a darling smile. 

    It is generally believed that Paul is conceited. On the contrary, he is perhaps the friendliest. All are witty in speech and manner. For example:

     Reporter: Why was your plane from Seattle late?

    George:  Because the pilot didn't have a little green stamp on his passport. 

    John: Also, we had to be deloused.

     Paul told me a lengthy story about the reception in Liverpool, and Ringo and I bantered back and forth concerning his rings and fans. The whole conference lasted about 45 minutes. 

    As they got up to leave, I got Ringo's autograph and followed him to their dressing room, where I waited outside for about 10 minutes, watching for the door to open and close. Then they came out in a rush, but Paul stopped, winked, and said hi. 

    As I stood next to the stage, I spoke with the Beatles' manager and joked with the Righteous Brothers about the surging crowd, which was no joke.

     As they played, Ringo smiled down at me several times. As I watched them bounce the drum, laugh, and sing, I wondered if it was really happening to me.

Beatlemania in Vancouver

 

Up to the stage

 August 22, 1964 - Vancouver 

Protected in Vancouver

 

John the funny guy

 

This photo from Vancouver during the 1964 tour made me laugh.   Did that guy have any idea what John Lennon was doing behind him?   Doubt it!

Vancouver arrival

August 22, 1964

1964 in color

Next stop--Vancouver!

Beatles and Vancouver police

Vancouver memories

I was there… by an improbable connection between a father who bought 3 tickets for himself, his wife and daughter. The wife backed out, the dad knew my father and asked if I would like to go. I was 11 and already locked in as a lifetime fan. We traveled from Vernon BC to Vancouver to watch.

I remember good chunks of the concerts. – Fred

I was 14 and in the first row centre section on the field. Of course no one sat down and it was a near riot, lasting only 27 minutes. Yes, Red annoyed John, but his intervention was probably needed. To date then, the police had not encountered mass Beatlemania, espec. in young, LOUD, Canadian teenagers! Magical time. Noisy or what? No wonder we terrified George (his words). Imagine.   –suzki

I was at this concert. It was in Empire Stadium. They had clusters of horns on either side of the stage. This had to be a direct mike recording because there was a 30 minute riot going on while they played and the sound was barely audible through the deafening shrill of the mass scream.  –Willy

I was an18 year old kid just starting out in the music business. My first gig was playing in Dal Richards band as an opening act to this show. Aug22 1964. I got paid 22.15 for the show. At the time it was a big nothing but now my kids won't believe me. Ha Ha. Anyway just a bit of old trivia. I retired June 14th 2010 after 45 years.  –anonymous

Riots in Vancouver

Red Robinson interrupting the concert

The Beatles concert in Vancouver was the  beginning of wild Beatles concerts in North America.  While prior to Vancouver, the fans screamed, cried and tried to rush the stage----it was a whole new game in Vancouver.

At the very start of the concert, fans that were in the field seats of the Empire theater  rushed toward the stage.  All that stopped them was a flimsy 4 foot barricade, some police, an ambulance and newspaper men and photographers. 

So as fans tried in vane to jump the fence and get onto the stage, they were crushing those who were standing against the fence.  Girls were doing things that were very unsafe in order to see the Beatles amongst the insanity.  One 13 year old fan named Della stacked two benches on top of each other and she and her friend stood on top of them to see the Beatles.   When fans started to run forward, they bumped into the stacked benches and she and her friend came tumbling down onto the ground.  She said in the book Our Hearts went Boom by Brian Kendall, "When I was lying there on the ground, all I could think about was climbing back to my feet so that I wouldn't miss another second of the concert."  That was a common feeling.  Fans didn't care if they were hurt, they just wanted to see the Beatles.  One injured fan was carried away and put into an ambulance while she was screaming, "Ringo, Ringo!  Don't take me away from Ringo!"


At the same time, fans who weren't able to get tickets managed to push the twelve-foot high northwest gate and 12 fans managed to sneak into the concert for free before police propped the gate back up and held it in place.

Also on the south-end, fans were sneaking into the concert and a fist fight broke out!

All of this craziness made Brian Epstein nervous.   Eppy told the D.J. that introduced the Beatles to "get on stage and stop the show.  Tell those kids we won't continue if they don't calm down."    So Red went out on the stage to the surprise of the Beatles.  Paul tried to wave him away, but our dear John was extremely blunt and mixed no words.  He told Red Robinson, "Get the fuck off our stage!  Nobody interrupts a Beatles performance!"

Red explained that Brian had put him up to it, and the Beatles stopped singing and let him try to calm the crowd.   However, it didn't work.  The fans didn't sit down or calm themselves.   Everyone thought that things would get even crazier if the Beatles didn't continue the show, and so back they went to quickly finish up. 

Between Youngsters and Disaster

Only 100 Police Between Youngsters and Disaster
Writer Unknown
The Province (newspaper)

One hundred Vancouver policemen stood between 20,000 hysterical youngsters and disaster at Empire's Stadium Saturday night.

The moment the mop-haired Beatles appeared on stage, one-third of the audience on the field left their chairs and benches to jam up against the first of four crush barriers.

About 35 police and some extra hands strained every muscle to keep the wildly shrieking mob from breaking this all-important lifeline.

Time and again officers fought their way into the crowd to rescue youngsters from almost certain death under the feet of their co-howlers.

Police Inspector F.C. (Bud) Errington looked out over the mass of twisted, tear-stained faces and said, "there's no comparison with any other crowd I've seen.  At least the others still could think to some degree.  These people have lost all ability to think."

Later, he said, "Every policeman there was happy they didn't have to pack away seriously injured children.  One hundred policemen were there.  That's all that stood between the way it would up and a national tragedy."

Police and stadium employees barely managed to hold that first four-foot-high fencing from toppling under the weight of the screaming mob.

what was giving police the most concern was thousands of teenagers outside the stadium gates.  Three attempts were made to smash down the northwest gate before it finally buckled under the strain second after the Beatles began their performance.

About a dozen or so manged to make it inside before police and ushers braced the gate back up against the opening and held it upright with their bodies.

Then began the steady stream of wailing youngsters, mostly girls no older than nine or 10, to the first air centres and the emergency post set up behind the stage by the firemen.

One girl, he leg covered with dirt and bleeding from a cut, screamed, "don't take me out, I love them, I want to say!" as a St. John Ambulance attendant took her away for treatment.

Because of the explosive situation near the stage, Errington was forced to call for the assistance of a police dog and handler to guard the south gate for the rest of the evening.

The Beatles began and the shrieking youngsters pressed forward against the barrier.  The din never diminished throughout the rest of the act.    But, throughout it all, the velvet collared, mop-top Beatles kept signing and playing.  Then, the Beatles completed something called Long Tall Sally, bend forward in a low bow while shedding their instruments and made a mad dash to three waiting limousines.

The motorcycles roared, the gate swung open and out they beatled.  The exit had taken less than 30 seconds.

Deputy Chief Constable John Fisk, on hand during the performance, said the timing of the exit was the key to preventing any further trouble.

"Leaving would be the major problem, based on what occurred in other cities."  said Fisk.   It had to be timed down to the split second.  Everything went off perfectly.

Later, Errington said one youngster threw a bicycle in front of the lead motorcycle in the procession in hopes of stopping the exit.

However, the motorcycles and limousines managed to drive around it without altering speed.  The Beatles were taken directly to the airport, where they caught a plane to Los Angeles.

Vancouver Drive

Why so serious, George

Macca the man

Getting Carried away

I am pretty sure this is Vancouver in 1964.   That poor girl has passed out after most likely running towards the stage and now she is missing John singing ummm...what song do you think he is singing there?    I guess it depends on what part of the show this photo was taken.   I believe Twist and Shout was the first song.    This girl got so close to the Beatles and then had to faint.   I sure hope she came to before the concert was over.

Vancouver 1964

Crowds swarm the Beatles' car in Vancouver during the 1964 North American tour. I adore the old lady in the top photo waving to Paul. What a flirt!

Paul's checked jacket

Paul was wearing this jacket frequently during the 1964 North American tour. And so the beginning of Paul's jacket obsession begins here....

Police meeting Beatles

This is one of my all time favorite photos that is on flickr. The person who posted this photo is the child of the middle officer who is meeting the Beatles in Vancouver in 1964. His father drove Paul and another Beatle (who he can't recall) to the airport. Often police officers wanted to meet the Beatles for their kids, but I bet some of those officers were fans themselves!