Beatles Fluff and Stuff (1991)

 Beatles Fluff and Stuff Set to Make £2000 for Comrie Fan!

No Writer Listed

The Strathearn Herald

August 16, 1991

    She loved them, yeah, yeah, yeah, and her obsession for the Beatles is likely to earn Comrie woman Sue Henderson over £2000 at the end of the month. A jelly baby destined for George Harrison's mouth, a piece of toast snatched from his jaws, some fluff from under his carpet-all these and more are due to go on sale at Christie's auction. 

    Sue, 44, of Roselle, the Ross Comrie was brought up in Liverpool, where she became a besotted Beatles fan by the age of 15. She explained. "A girl came to work in my office who knew John Lennon. She took me to the Cavern Club, which cost 9d to get in, and I met the band backstage."

     Sue was fired by an obsession that has branded her the Beatles' number one fan. "I went to the Cavern regularly, and they became more popular. I had to go down early to be sure I could get into the club. I often got a bus, which George Harrison's father drove. He used to tell me I was crackers to queue up so long just to see them."

     Driven by adoration, Sue called on George Harrison's parents while he was away playing in Hamburg. They asked her in for tea, and her subsequent visits provided ample opportunity for collecting material such as a discarded sock and a twig from his hedge. "I pleaded with his mother to let me wash George's Ford Anglia. She thought I was nuts." But her slavish service earned her a letter from George Harrison, which gives humorous instructions on how to go about the task. The letter is now valued at between £600 and £ 800. 

    Now married with two children, Sue moved to Comrie with her Scots-born husband over two years ago when they decided to opt for village life. "Obviously, I'm selling the collection because I want the money. I think that's the reason everyone sells memorabilia, if they're honest. I'm hoping it will pay for a family holiday, perhaps to Disneyland. "

    Although she hadn't been in touch with George, Sue sent him a note at the time she arranged for the sale, enclosing a photograph of his mother. "I'm not expecting him to get in touch," she said. "But I did say, 'Wouldn't your Mum laugh to think of the stuff being worth money now?'"

     A spokesman for Christie said. Sue's collection also includes valuable archive material, photographs, autographed items, and a list of Harrison's record collection showing influence on his music

Stuck in Alaska

 August 28, 1966 -- Alaska.  The Beatles sure look bored when they were stuck in a hotel in Alaska on their way to Japan.  They were grounded due to a typhoon in Japan.   

One thrilled little girl

 

Pendleton Girl Describes Reaction to Singing Group (Portland 1965)

 

Pendleton Girl Describes Reaction to Singing Group

By Donna Fisher

East Oregonian

August 26, 1965

Donna Fisher of Pendleton took a Made to Order press card with her when she went to Portland to hear the Beatles last weekend. She was crowded from the jammed  press conference the moaners held, but came up with this story anyway.

The Portland Memorial Coliseum was filled with screaming teens Sunday. The two Beatles performances held 20,000 fans.

Many fans gathered at the Coliseum hours before the Beatles arrived in their five-seat limousine. As they neared the Coliseum on Broadway, the screaming began. Police had warned the teenagers before the Beatles arrived that if they tried to break through, the car would not pass by the scheduled area. The fans were orderly, and only one girl ran past the police after the car entered. She was ushered back to the crowd.

 Running, screaming, sobbing, and yelling broke out as the frantic fans ran to get inside the Coliseum. The first performance started at 3:30 pm. King Curtis and his band, Cannibal and the Headhunters, Brenda Holloway, and Sounds Inc. appeared first.

 When the Beatles ran on stage, the crowd went crazy, but they did keep the proceedings orderly. Only a few fans tried to break through the line of police and were thrown back into the audience. Those who were caught taking flash pictures were to give up their cameras. But for minutes after the Beatles appeared, flashes were going off everywhere.

The Beatles were very much at ease during the afternoon show. They were very outgoing toward the audience, except for Ringo, who only smiled once. At one point, George stopped during a song and waved wildly to the fans at the right.

 The greatest outburst of screams came when they sang “A Hard Day's Night,” “Help” and “I Want to Be Your Man”.

Following the afternoon show, a press conference was held, and the Beatles stayed in the emergency entrance for nearly an hour until they found a hidden exit.

 Before their last performance, they were taken to a cafeteria to meet the Beach Boys for dinner. They entered through a delivery ramp underneath Lloyd Center and proceeded to a private room beneath the restaurant to eat. The manager told me he had served them a drink and talked to them for a few minutes before they left for the second appearance.

It was said their 8pm performance wasn't as long or as exuberant as the afternoon show. After their last song, they were rushed out of the Coliseum, less than a minute ahead of the fans. Near midnight that night, the Beatles flew toward Los Angeles to meet more fans who were anxiously waiting for them.

Got a new Beatles magazine

 

Beatles Strike Area Girls Again (1964)

 

Beatles Strike Area Girls Again

By Bonnie Kreinson

The Elimra Telegram

September 6, 1964

    18,000 screaming fans, traffic jams, complete hysteria. This was the scene last weekend in New York City, and it wasn't because the Yankees took three out of the four games from the Boston Red Sox. What else then?  Of course, the Beatles were in town, and three Elmira teenagers were among their following.

     Kathy James of 682 Herrick Street. Mary Keefe of 208 W. Miller Street and her cousin, Mary Ryan of Hammond, both 14, went to the big city for three days, without any intention of even getting a chance to see the mop tops. "We didn't know until late Friday that we were even going to see them," Kathy said.

     They called the Forest Lawn Tennis Stadium, where the group was appearing, and for $6.50 each, the girls had sixth row seats. "We were very lucky", said Kathy, who admitted she was not as enthusiastic about the Beatles as her cohorts, but did like them. 

    They arrived at the stadium and had little trouble in getting seated, but the rest of the evening didn't prove so calm. "I was standing on a folding chair, and some man in front of me pulled me down and told us to be quiet. We, in turn, told him to be quiet," Mary Keefe said. Noticing that he had an English accent, Mary Keefe said, they asked him who he was, and much to their embarrassment, he turned out to be the manager of the Animals. (If anyone is in doubt, the Animals are another up-and-coming singing group from England.)

     More annoying to the trio was the fact that some girl was able to get up on the stage and snatch Ringo St Christopher medal off his neck, and "she left a burn mark on his neck!"

     They said the Beatles performed for 30 minutes, sang 11 songs, and had a 20-minute ovation. "I cried when Ringo sang, and I don't know why," said Mary Ryan, "they're just so good, I guess."

     But amid all the screams and tears, the girls are able to get a clear view of their favorites. "They are better looking in person. John has auburn hair. Paul has jet black hair, is five feet 11 inches tall, and weighs 158 pounds. His collar size is 15 inches. George is six feet tall with his boots on," the girls related.

     But their contact with the Beatles did not end Friday evening. Saturday night, while waiting for a cab around Times Square, Mary Keith said she noticed a black limousine.  "I saw John Lennon. I yelled out, 'Are you John Lennon?' And he looked out the window and said, 'Yes'." she said. "I couldn't move," Mary Ryan said. "I ran up to the car to make sure," Kathy said, and Mary Keith screamed. 

    Then, as all good things must come to an end, "The light changed, and the car drove away.,"Mary Ryan said, but they had had their opportunity to get close to one of them. "This was the most thrilling thing in our lives," they said.

     Even more so than the Beatles pins, Beatles books, John Lennon books, or other Beatles paraphernalia the girls have collected. But one important factor was revealed to the girls over the weekend. The Beatles are human beings and are subject to some of the everyday crises people meet, one of which was being late for their performance because the hotel where the Beatles were staying forgot to iron their blue-gray suits with the black velvet collars.

Beatles Fluff and Stuff

I was familiar with this letter George wrote to a fan named "Susan,"  where he gives her hilarious instructions on how to wash his car.   I was pleased to have found a newspaper article from 1991 that provides the backstory of this letter when it first went up for auction. 

Beatles Fluff and Stuff set to make £2000!

No author listed

The Stratheard Herald

August 16, 1991

    A Jelly Baby destined for George Harrison's mouth, a piece of toast snatched from his jaws, some fluff from under his carpet. All these and more are due to go on sale at Christie's Auction. 

    Sue Henderson, age 44, of Rossal, The Ross Comrie, was brought up in Liverpool, where she became a besotted Beatles fan by the age of 15. She explained that "A girl came to work in my office, who knew John Lennon. She took me to the Cavern Club, which cost 9d to get in, and I met the band backstage."

     Sue was fired by an obsession that had branded her as The Beatles' "number one fan." "I went to the Cavern regularly, and as they became more popular, I had to go down early to be sure to get into the club.  I often got the bus, which George Harrison's father drove. He used to tell me I was crackers to queue up so long just to see them."

     Driven by adoration, Sue called on George Harrison's parents while he was away playing in Hamburg. They asked her in for tea, and her subsequent visits provided ample opportunity for collecting material, such as a discarded sock and a twig from his hedge. 

    "I pleaded with his mother to let me wash George's Ford Anglia. She thought I was nuts!" But her slavish service earned her a letter from George Harrison, which gives humorous instructions on how to go about the task. The letter is now valued at between £ 600 and £ 800.

     Now married with two children, Sue moved to Comrie with her Scots-born husband over two years ago, when they decided to opt for village life. "Obviously, I'm selling the collection because I want the money. I think that's the reason everyone sells memorabilia, if they're honest. I'm hoping it will pay for a family holiday, perhaps to Disneyland."

     Although she hasn't been in touch with George, Sue sent him a note at the time she arranged for the sale, enclosing a photograph of his mother. 

    While not expecting him to get in touch, she said," but I did say, 'Wouldn't your mum laugh to think of this stuff being worth money now?'"

     A spokesman for Christie's said Sue's collection also includes valuable archive material, photographs, autobiography items, and a list of Harrison's record collection showing influences on his music.

Teen Diary Rekindles a Magical Debut

 Teen Diary Rekindles a Magical Debut

By Mary Mack Conger

The Chicago Tribune

September 5, 1984

        20 years ago, a 14-year-old Iowa girl traveled to Chicago to see the Beatles perform at the International Amphitheater. For her, it was an impossible dream come true. She wrote about that day and the events proceeding and following it in a diary. 

        I found that diary in my attic recently, and suddenly it was 1964 again, I was that 14-year-old girl.

 April 11:  The Beatles are coming to the USA! It's true! Sue and I are making plans to see them at the Indiana State Fair. Maybe Sue's sister will take us, but we'll get there if we have to crawl. Mom says, When I get older, I will look back on these days and realize how silly I was, but how can I help it now?

April 12: The Beatles have the two top songs in the nation, number one, "Can't Buy Me Love" and number two, "Twist and Shout".

April 14:   This town is a real hick town. I sure wish I lived in England. But here's some good news, Sue and I learned today that we don't have to go clear to Indianapolis to see the Beatles. They're going to be just next door in Chicago!  Hey, maybe we could go to both places. Now we need to work on getting Sue's sister to take us.

April 15:   Chicago, here we come! Sue's sister said she'd take us. Now I have to start pulling in the babysitting jobs. Got to go now, as always, I've left my homework until 11.

 April 16: WLS is going to have a five-hour Beatles spectacular with a live person-to-person call to all of the Beatles on Saturday. I'm babysitting that night. Can't wait!

 April 17:  Made $3 babysitting last night. That's a start toward my Chicago fund. Sue sent our ticket money in today. I'm tired now.

 April 18: Today, Ron Riley and Art Robbins of WLS had the Beatles on the phone for two hours. They had just finished a session for their new movie called A Hard Day's Night. 

April 19:  I just finished redecorating my room. It looks more Beatle-ized now. 

April 29: No word from Triangle Productions. The tickets are all sold out. We don't know if we will get ours or not. 

May 12:   Sue stayed all night last night, She's washing her hair now. Last night, we called Triangle Productions. They said that tickets and refunds won't be sent out until June 15. That means we'll have to wait until about the 20th to know.

May 24 The Beatles were on The Ed Sullivan Show today, and the Dave Clark Five will be on next week. Forget it. 

June 3:  Ringo was stricken and collapsed at the recording studio today. The doctor said it was tonsillitis. Please, Ringo, don't be sick for your USA tour!

June 7: Today was the day Sue got the reply from Triangle Productions. Were the tickets in the envelope? Yes, they were! Our seats are in the 48th row, the first and second seats. Now, there's three whole months to wait. "Love Me Do" is number one again. 

July 7. Went to see Cleopatra today.  My bird died. It was Ringo's birthday.  

July 26: Sue made our Beatles trip reservations at a little motel in Chicago called the Lake Shore Drive Motel.  It will cost us about $15. My grand total that I have made so far from babysitting and helping grandma to clean her house is $12, so I have to buy film and stuff too.

August 4: The heat is on in Vietnam again.  There's another war threat. Oh, well. 

August 23:  The Beatles were on a repeat of Ed Sullivan today.  School starts in less than a week. But more important is that it's only 11 days until we go to Chicago. I can't believe it!  I wrote two letters to two girls in England today. I hope one of them becomes my pen pal.

September 3:  "And I Love Her" is number one, and "I'll Cry Instead" is number six. One day until blast off!  Karen and I tried to dye our hair today, but it ended up orange. That's right, Orange. I thought I was going to have to go to Chicago like that, but the lady gave us some stuff to fix it. 

September 4: The day is here at last! I worried the whole trip that I had left my ticket at home. I made several trips back to the trunk of the car to be sure that it was there. Sue and I took sack lunches along to eat on the way so that we could save some money. But I hadn't planned on spending so much money on the tollways. Our motel is really a slick place. It has elevators, air conditioning inevery room, television, and a swimming pool.

The first thing we did after unpacking was hit the newspaper stands to catch up on all the Beatle news. Then we walked to the beach.  Lake Shore Drive baffled us. It took forever to cross. Being hicks from the sticks, we didn't know that there was a bridge we could have walked on.

September 5:  The day is gone, and I want it back. I hope I never forget any details of all that happened. This morning, Sue and I were anxious to go and find the amphitheater, so we got in the car and were on our way quickly. Just as we approached the theater, WLS started playing "Twist and  Shout". I knew then that the day was really here. 

The amphitheater is huge! Already, a group of girls was standing in front of the building. When we got there, it was amusing to me. The girls were camped along the side of the building. They were eating sack lunches, and there were lots and lots of newspapers scattered all about. These girls, too, had been reading about the Beatles, I figured. Only noon, and the show didn't start until 830 that night. Sue and I did not want to be left out of anything, so we decided to join them.

 We rushed back to the motel to get dressed. I had planned to spend hours getting ready for this night, but instead, we took 15 minutes. That's a record for us both!  My hair didn't look the best it could, and my nylons had runs in them, but we hurriedly grabbed our cameras, binoculars, and purses and rushed back to the theater. By that time, there were a lot more people there. I had some nice chats with a few policemen, but we sure didn't see eye to eye on my favorite subject-- the Beatles. 

There are a lot of people there whom we met. I thought it was interesting the way various people dressed. Some girls had regular dress-up clothes like Sue and me. Others had cut-offs, Beatles buttons, and ragged gym shoes. There were girls who had on a lot of leather or suede Beatle hats, dark eyes and black socks.

 Sue and I stayed and talked to various girls in line. We noticed that they were carrying Beatles pennants, and we wanted one. Later, a man came along selling them, so we bought one to match our outfits. I got red. Sue got green.

At about four, Sue and I went across the street to eat. We ordered Beatles burgers and played Beatles records on the jukebox. When we got back, we discovered we had lost our place in line, so we had to go to the end. There was a whole crew of adults trying to maintain some order outside the theater. Blockades were set up all around. Only people with tickets were allowed on that side of the street. Every once in a while, the crowd would start screaming. Someone would think she saw a Beatle, and then everyone would start to get hysterical. 

Once, when everyone was screaming, I moved out of line to see what all the excitement was about. Unfortunately, I stepped over the line we had been warned about. Therefore, it was back to the end of the line for me again. At about five, two rescue trucks came. This amused me because there were still three and a half hours until the performance. They were already anticipating emergencies.

 Finally, about an hour later, the doors were opened.  Sue and I had our first look at the amphitheater. It was certainly nothing fancy, but it was gigantic. We bought a really cool Beatles book in the lobby and then went to our seats. We kept walking closer and closer to the front, and couldn't believe how close our seats were to the stage. The time before the show passed quickly. We talked to strangers and even got a few addresses for pen pals. We took pictures of Ringo drums. Those pictures will always be among my most prized possessions, I'm sure. 

September 7: Well, it's over, and I could just cry. This is something I will never forget for the rest of my life. Sue and I wrote the Beatles' signatures on our arms, and we're telling everyone that The Beatles wrote them. Everyone believes us. I don't know when we'll tell them the truth. 

October 19: The world is a horrible mess. On October 15,  Khrushchev resigned. I don't know whether he resigned or whether he was kicked out, but I think it was the latter. Red China has a nuclear bomb now, so that's another worry. Oh, well, why worry? I mean, if we're going to get blown up, I don't guess there's anything I could do about it. 

October 22: Go west! Beat Central!

 October 25:   I cleaned up my room today and went through my Chicago souvenirs. I just can't believe I have seen the Beatles. I just can't believe it. The Ed Sullivan Show is tonight. The Rolling Stones are on.

November 4:   Jerry and the Pacemakers were on  Shindig tonight. Jerry monkeyed at the end.

 December 30: Well, there are only 26 hours left in 1964. I will put this diary away in a secret hiding place. This has truly been the year of the Beatles. Things will change. We will all grow up and old, even the Beatles. What will our futures hold?

Backstage with Sue

 January 8, 1965 

For some reason I think the fan in these photos is named "Sue."   I own the rights to photos of the Beatles with this girl that are in color and maybe her name is written on the back of the original photograph.  Even if her name isn't Sue,  I think she is really adorable in her cat glasses and I am sure meeting the Beatles was something she never forgot even 60 years later. 

Ex Beatle George was Delayed, but the Wait was Worth It

Ex-Beatle George was Delayed, but the Wait was Worth It

By Christine Brown

Detroit Free Press

December 5, 1974

    George Harrison was often called the silent Beatle, the man who stood off to one side and simply played dazzling guitar while John Lennon and Paul McCartney belted out their stuff, and Ringo Starr was cute on the drums.

    Now Harrison, like the other ex-Beatles, is quiet, no more.

    Stopping in Detroit on Wednesday in the middle of a 27-city tour, his first since a 1966 Beatles trip, Harrison and company kept 10,000 plus people fidgeting as they waited for his 5:30pm concert to begin, not knowing that they had not even left Chicago yet.  Tour people blamed mechanical problems for his arrival one and a half hours late.

    Harrison and his top-notch musicians ambled onto the stage shortly after 7pm to play a two-hour set that included everything from Billy Preston's "Nothing From Nothing" to some of Harrison's old Beatles tunes.

     The crowd forgot about the wait and was entranced by a skinny, blue-jean-clad man who represented a little piece of their history, if only because he helped dictate their hairstyle. 

    The Harrison concerts are an international musical smorgasbord featuring a mixture of Indian and jazz influences, a bit of the old Liverpool sound, and the Jazz—pop—rock of Preston and Tom Scott, who got the people to boogie even better than Harrison did. 

    Ravi Shankar, who brought Indian music and Krishna into Harrison's life, became ill Wednesday in Chicago, the tour spokesman said, but was expected to rejoin the tour in Montreal or Boston next week.     Shankar's 16 musicians, along with Harrison and his band, performed several well-received numbers, Jazzy things that seem to please even those who don't like their sitar straight.

     Harrison did two shows at Olympia stadium, and the late start, which pushed the second show start from 10 to 11:30pm, caused chaos on the snowy streets around the stadium as the first audience left around 10 o'clock and many who had tickets for the second show tried to scramble to what they thought was a 10pm concert. 

    Harrison said before this tour that if he flopped, he'd go back to London and hide out for several years. Although Detroiters didn't award him the constant maniacal screams that greeted the Beatles way back in '66. Their clamor for an encore after encore indicated they liked him solo in the Motor City.

Beatlemania in Vancouver

 

How do your radishes grow?

 This 15-year-old girl did a science experiment in 1964.   It seems like your typical run-of-the-mill science fair experiment.   She had boxes of radishes and played different boxes with different records.  Some she played classical, some she played jazz, and one box she played Beatles records.    Which box of radishes grew the most?  You guessed it!  The box that she played Beatles music to!   There you have it, folks. The Beatles' music is better than anything else.   It is science!  

I Saw Them Standing There: A Book Review

 

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

https://amzn.to/3wDmjV8

Beatles belt buckle

 So how many of you are like me and are a little jealous of this girl who has a Beatles belt buckle?  

Nothing is better than getting new Beatles records

 

He got the soundtrack!

 

Lots of love for the Beatles

 

The Beatles and the Blonde

 June 5, 1964 

Beatles beauty rest

 

A fan is waiting overnight to buy tickets to see the Beatles concert in Las Vegas in 1964.   I have fallen asleep way too many times with a Beatles book in my hand. 

Time to grow out my hair....

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