Young Blood

 

To This State Fair Queen, They Were Commoners

 

To This State Fair Queen, They Were Commoners

By Marc. D. Allen

The Indianapolis Star 

November 16, 1995

    She doesn't brag about the day she met the Beatles. Doesn't carry around pictures or consider it a defining moment of her life. She even skipped their concert. "It was just a thing on my schedule that I needed to do that day", she says. "And now, as I look back on it, how stupid that sounds, but that's the way it was."

     She's recalling September 3, 1964, Cheryl Secrest-Simpson, now 48, married for a second time and living outside Denver, Colorado, was 17-year-old Cheryl Garrett, back then, Queen of the Indiana State Fair. Her duties included meeting, greeting, and appearing on the stage to introduce the acts at the fair, which included the Osmond Brothers, Andy Williams, Tennessee Ernie Ford, and the Beatles. 

    The Beatles failed to make an impact on Cheryl, who grew up in Peru, Indiana. Every other girl photographed even in rough proximity to the Fab Four looks positively hysterical. Not Cheryl.  "I guess I was a small-town sheltered girl," she said in a telephone interview. "I didn't know that I was supposed to be all excited and that this was it, the thing to do. If I would have been from a larger city, maybe their popularity would have been more on my back doorstep. But it wasn't that big of a deal to me."

     She estimates spending 15 to 20 minutes with John, Paul, George, and Ringo at their press conference. "Ringo was exceptionally nice. He was kind of joking around. I guess he thought I was nervous," said Seacrest Simpson. "As I look back on it, to think that these young men had such popularity, you would think their heads would have been way up in the clouds. But they weren't. They're people, and they were very nice, very nice to me. That was a fun, nice press conference, but the nicest person that I met was Tennessee Ernie Ford. He was just a jewel."

     Incidentally, she didn't appear on stage with The Beatles. They suggested she skip that honor. "They were afraid for my safety, leaving the stage and then going out into Indianapolis," says the mother of two sons. "They said kids would want the gloves I had on that I shook their hands with. They said they would just tear you apart."  She gave the gloves to her cousin from Chicago and kept a few photos for herself. 

    She didn't even go to the concert that night, although she had tickets to sit in the governor's box. "I had an opportunity to go out with an old flame that evening who lived in Indianapolis", Seacrest- Simpson says, laughing a can you believe it laugh. "So I went out with him instead".

Smiling Beauty Queen

 

Cuddling with the Fabs

 

Her Majesty's a pretty nice girl

 

Bandmembers, beauty queens and Beatles

 January 14, 1963

Beauty contest judges

 

July 6, 1963 

Miss Canada

 

The Whitby Ward Trio's lucky day

Another beauty contest

The look on Ringo's face is priceless!

This signature was forged...

Photo taken by Les Goode

I just love this story.     On July 6, 1963 in Northwich, photographer Les Goode took several photographs of the Beatles backstage.    After the photos were developed, he sent one of them through the mail to the Beatles fan club to be autographed by the Fab 4.    John Lennon signed his name and Neil Aspinall faked Ringo, George and Paul.    Paul came along and decided to add his real signature to the set and informed Les that Neil's was "forged."

You can buy this signed photograph on ebay right now. 

Beatles and Beauties

Here was a reason to try to be the winner of a beauty contest in your area---it would help your chances of meeting the Beatles!

Never been a beauty queen

Poor George got covered over by a group of beauty queens---but Lennon---he made sure to get in between two of them.  

Another typical press conference

This photo is property of the Indiana State Archives whom I did contact and have written permission to post this photo.

I really think it is neat that the stuffed animal the fan gave the Beatles can be seen in the background of the beauty contest winner photo.   I think the Beatles received it and posed for the photos and then shoved it off to the lady in the background when the beauty queen came up for photos.  

PC in HK

Shaking hands with royalty

The Beatles always seemed to meet the local beauty pageant winner when they came to town.  This one, Miss Indiana State Fair was Cheryl Lee Garrett and she seemed to enjoy meet the fabulous four!

photo by Curt Gunther

Beauty Pageant judges

The Miss Hong Kong 1964 beauty pageant was being held in the hotel in Hong Kong where the Beatles were staying, and they were supposed to be judges.   However, they were so tired from their flight from the Netherlands, that they skipped the contest and disappointed many people.   This seemed to have been a pattern in the Beatles touring careers.  

However, John Lennon decided to go down to the pageant at the very end and helped with the final part of the proceedings.

 

Then the rest of the group (with Jimmie) came down for the press conference and met the winners.

Beauty contest winners

When the Beatles arrived in Miami, they were greeted by some beauty contest winners in their bathing suits.  Oh the life of a Beatle! 

Happy in Hong Kong

The Beatles (well three of them plus Jimmie Nichol) seem to be enjoying this meeting with the Hong Kong beauty contestants.   We have seen other photos of John judging the contest.   This was before the Hong Kong press conference.   Looks at John's face!   We know that he has a think for women from Asian countries....wonder what he is thinking!  

A tall beauty queen