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
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