John, John! Speaking!

 Be on the lookout for a lot of fan memory stories in the upcoming months!  I was just gifted 6 huge boxes full of Beatles fan newsletters and magazines.   They are full of amazing stories of people that met the Beatles!   I have dug into box 1 and am going to start sharing some of the discoveries.   The first one is a quick story of a brief meeting with John outside of the Plaza Hotel in 1974.   The photo above was taken just a few hours before this encounter happened. 

John, John! Speaking!

By Bonnie Belle

Working Class Hero

January-February 1975

On Saturday December 21^st, much to my surprise, I found myself standing in front of Lennon’s 5 o’clock shadow face.  Oh no!

Sue Link and I were standing outside the Plaza Hotel waiting for none other than Hari.  Of course, he never did come out, though Sue did speak to him on the phone, by accident.  Anyway, as we were standing outside the hotel (Sue on one side, Laura and 2 others on another side, and me in the corner), I saw Laura and the others crowd around a man.  Now, John was the furthest thing from my mind, and I just kept looking and squinting wondering if that was him.  As I started to walk up to them I realized it was John!!  I walked (or should I say RAN) up and just stood in complete awe in front of him.

He was signing an autograph and I looked straight at him and said, “John?”  He seemed to be in quite a hurry and now I know why.  (Quite unfortunately one of the girls was standing back there saying “I love you, John, I love you, John.”)  He looked up at me and I smiled.  I said, “Thank you, John.”  He pushed the pen back in Laura’s hand and said, “Oh, that’s all right,” turned and walked away.  It was one of the strangest feelings I’ve ever experienced.  My head was screaming “OHDEARGODTHANKYOUFORTHISEXPERIENCEOHSHITJOHNIFYOUONLYKNEWHOWMUCHILOVEYOU”

Unfortunately, I missed seeing Julian and May Pang.  They were standing there in back of John waiting for the limo.  God, I could kill myself for missing Julian.

I just wonder if John had any idea of what I mean by “Thank you.”  I wanted to say “Thank you for all the happiness you’ve given me” but it just came out “Thank you.”  Jesus, it was so good to be standing right next to him.  It made me think of all the dreams I ever had that seemed unreachable.  This dream came true and it was one of the greatest experiences of my life.

 

A London Town Experience

Whenever I hear the news that someone in the Beatles fandom has passed away, I feel really sad.  Even if I had never met the person, still have this feeling like someone in the extended family has left us.  Whenever a fan passes away, all of that fan's photos, memories, stories and experiences die with that person.   That is what happens, unless the fan has written down and saved some of their experiences.   I can't stress how important this is to do.   If you have a Beatles story, please write it down, even if you don't want to share it with anyone right now.   

One person that has left us too soon is a fan named Barbara Koelmel-Whatmough who ran the "Working Class Hero Beatles Club."   When you look through her fan club magazine, you can see that Barbara ran her club out of love for the Fab 4.   Barbara lost her battle with colon cancer last May.   I know that she is missed by her friends and those who knew her.   Fortunately for us, Barbara left some of her Beatle memories behind in her newsletter.   Here is a short encounter that she had with Paul in 1978.   It is copyright 2005 and appeared in issue #115 of "Working Class Hero" fanzine.

These photos were not included with the story, but I found them in my files and they were taken on May 3, 1978. 

Grabbing Paul McCartney's Left Arm:  My London town Experience
By Barbara Koelmel-Whatmough
copyright 2005

May 3rd 1978 -- England.  I had waited for almost 2 weeks in front of Paul's Cavendish Avenue home in London (Not only but I had I tried to steal the street sign, but I had to put up with a teenage Heather yelling at me to leave!).  Linda Mac came out to get in a cab, and she posed with me for a picture and signed my "London Town" album!  (At the time, I never realized how important THAT would become:  Read on!)

May 4th -- Decided to try waiting at Paul's MPL Studios in London's Soho Square.  It was noontime, and Macca just walked right out!!!  I ran over and said I'd been waiting years to meet him BUT HE IGNORED ME.   He kept walking, and I pleaded for him to stop for a moment BUT HE IGNORED ME.  Then it dawned on me to say, "Linda signed 'London Town' for me yesterday...will you sign it, Paul?"  (And I didn't realize I had grabbed his left arm!!)  He stopped, said, "It's gotta be fast!", signed it, posed with me for a pic, then rushed away!  (He sure was no sweetheart like John Lennon had been to me in New York in 1975....).  I'm grateful to have met Paul McCartney -- I only wish he would've been nicer!  Thank God Linda was gracious and signed "London Town" for me... Paulie would NOT have stopped, if I hadn't mentioned it.  Even my arm grab wasn't slowing him down! Ha!

Note:  He wore a gray suit, white t-shirt, white sneakers, mustache and no beard).