Fan memories of the two shows at the Cow Palace in '65

One of these shows was attended by the now infamous Merry Pranksters.   The guys that hooked them up with LSD was able to purchase a block of 30 tickets for them and so they got into their bus and on the trip to the Cow Palace dropped some acid while listening to the Beatles "Help!" record.   By the time they got to the concert, they were obviously not in the right state of mind and the behavior of the Beatles' fans got to be too much and so they actually left the concert early.    You can read about it in the book "The Electric Kool Aid Acid Test."

Here are some other fan memories as collected from various places online

I was 12 rows behind the stage at this concert...before they came out they were 6 feet from me looking over the entrance – Ann Marie

My friends and I were standing close to the stage but moved because we thought we were going to get crushed. It was crazy! I was also 13. – Anonymous

Wow! I was at that concert, and I remember the guy stealing John's hat - I was shocked, too, and thought it was a crap way to treat someone who had given us so much joy. – Marty

I was there at this show in San Francisco. I had just turned 13 a couple of months before. I remember when this teenage kid climbed up the cyclone fence behind the stage. He climbed all the way to the top of this fence that had to be 20-30 feet high. He rolled over the top and came sliding down, instantly jumped across the stage, ripped the hat right off of John's head, then did a dive into the front rows. It was shocking. – MG

Meeting fans at the Key Wester

I am not totally sure what all went on when the Beatles were in Key West, Florida.   Apparently there was a little meet and greet for some people?   They were sitting outside of the villas on lawn chairs and the Beatles signed autographs for them.    I am not too sure all about this, but there are two photos from this as well as a first hand account.

State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory, http://floridamemory.com/items/show/98608
photo by Robert Knowles 

photo belongs to Suzy Robeson

Here is what Suzy Robeson says about the above photo:

“We arrived and were seated in chairs to wait for them to come out of their room,” recalls the Boynton Beach resident. “In the picture you can see my friend Jeanne seated to the right and I am to the left. My father is the one on the right speaking to Ringo Starr. George Harrison was signing a picture book they had for us.”

Here are a few other fan memories that I located online (the Beatles Bible and the comments section of a blog about Key West), although it doesn't really explain these photos.

I was almost 9 years old when the Beatles stayed at the Key Wester. Some friends and I snuck as close to the hotel as we could and tried to see the Beatles. I remember one of them (from the distance we thought it was Paul) played peek-a-boo from behind a palm tree with us! The thrill of our lifetimes! Thanks for the memories!  -Linda E.

I was stationed at Boca Chica in 1964; when we got word that the Beatles were coming to Key West, my wife and I waited by the curved driveway of the KeyWester. As the Beatles were leaving; Paul gave my wife a wave. She will never forget that morning. -  Al

I was six years old at the time and I remember I was among a large crowd that gathered in front of the old Key Wester Hotel. I walked up to their hotel room and knocked on the door and asked for an autograph. The manager politely said they were out. I was and still continue to be a big fan. I have my Beatle Charm Braclet and Lunch Box to this day. Roberta M.

Three Germans at Kenwood

Photo taken by Richard Hall appeared in Bravo magazine

Photo taken by Richard Hall

I have always been amazed by this story about the fan who met John at Kenwood and when she asked him for something to remember the trip, he handed her this award.  So I posted a more cropped version of the above photo on tumblr (and later found this better at the Kenwood page)  with just one sentence saying how she got this award from John just because she asked.  I had a great response and I wanted to share some of what else I learned. 


First of all, a reader named Manuela from Germany was kind enough to translate the story from Bravo magazine: (a BIG thank you to Manuela for translating this for us! Let's hear it for Manuela!  Hip hip hooray!)

"During my visit in England, there was that idea in my head, to meet John at his house in Weybridge. An it worked for me! Finding his house wasn't not really easy. Together with my friend, another girl, we finally found after an half hour later in an extensive park-like area. And then I spotted John. He stood in a room behind a curtain and shaved himself.

But there was a problem, how to enter his house? It was a hard piece of work to persuade the housekeeper, letting us in. 

I was introduced as "Renate from Germany" to John. 

With a "How are you?" he shook my hand. With my eyes on his long uncombed hair I jokingly asked him, if he washed it sometimes.

After that John answered: "I just washed my face!" 

My friend asked for a souvenir gift, whereupon John gave her a bronze statue as gift.

In parting, he escorted us to the front door.

For me it was an unforgettable meeting with that famous "mushroom head" (so the Germans called the Beatles ... mushroom heads, because of their hairstyles)

Then Beatlesneveroutofstyle posted that she actually met Maureen (the girl receiving the award) and her husband, Richard (who took the photos) in New York City and talked to them for 45 minutes!  This is in part what she had to say about their memories:

 The first story they told me, was how on this day when they knocked on the door, Julian was holding onto John’s leg. Maureen remembers how Julian was trying to push in front of John to see who he was talking too, and John was VERY protective of Julian and kept pushing Julian back behind him so he would be in front. They both remember very vividly of how fatherly John was. They also told me the whole time John had his eye on Julian and made sure he was okay…watching him very closely.  They said they could tell he was a very loving father.

And lastly, I found the story again from our friends over at the Kenwood blog.   I am sure Sean won't mind if I share a snippet of the story that he got directly from Richard Hall.  

Maureen said to him "Would it be possible for me to have a souvenir of our visit please?". O.K. he said as he turned and went back into the house. I said to Maureen - You must be joking - The man has given us his time - what more could you want to remind you of this day? I won't forget today for as long as I live. You know, said Maureen - he might give me an ash tray, a tea cup, a saucer, an empty flower vase - something small just to remember him by. The Mind boggles was all I could say. John returned from the house holding a small bronze statuette which he gave to Maureen, saying 'Would you like this? As Maureen took the statuette from him I could clearly see the word
V E L L O inscribed around the base. Maureen let me hold the statue and I saw that the base had the inscription A N I V O R N O V E L L O A W A R D inscribed around it. There was a small metal plate with the inscription 'John Lennon' She's Leaving Home 1967' I held the statue out to him and said - Lennon - you can't give her this - you won this for your music - it's yours - you should keep it. He took the statue from me and gave it back to Maureen - 'Look, he said - it's only gathering dust inside the house and if she would like it - let her keep it" Maureen clasped the statue to her and there was no way she was going to part with it - it was hers. Thank you, Thank you John she said. I then took a photo of Maureen and John together with him handing the statue to Maureen.

What ever became of the award?   It was sold at Bonham's auctions in 2010.   The sale price is no longer available online, but it was expected to go for $25,000-$33,000 USD.

Paul Sydney birthday celebration

Last year I posted about Paul McCartney's 22nd birthday party in Sydney Australia.    I do not want to just re-peat what I wrote last year, but I can't let this 50th anniversary of the birthday party pass without mentioning it with all of the Australia information that I have been posting lately.   So I found some information from stories some of the girls who were winners of the party had to share years after the fact.

One strange thing, that I will not post because I find it just too gross, is that The Beatles in Australia Exhibit has on their facebook page a photo of piece of Paul's birthday cake that has been saved for the past 50 years!    One of the girls that was invited to the party gave the cake slice to a friend who saved it all of these years.     I am all for collecting strange Beatles memorabilia, but I would have eaten that cake in 1964.


The idea to hold a contest for Paul's birthday party came from Betty Stewart.  Ms. Stewart, who is 98 years old today, is still talking about her Beatles connection today.   She was the person who assisted the Beatles when they were in Sydney.   Here is how she told the story in 1994, "Going to the airport on their first trip (in Sydney), Paul said, 'I'll be 22 next Thursday' -- which was in 7 or 8 days.  He said, 'I'd like a party.'  And so I said 'We can have a competition so we can have a few girls there.'  So I picked on newspaper. While the Beatles were in Adelaide and Melbourne, Betty was busy putting together a party for Paul.

The contestants had to  be between the ages of 16-22 and write a 50 word essay on  "Why I would Like to be a Guest at a Beatles Birthday Party."   There were 10,000 entries and the finalists had to attend an interview at the hotel before a panel of judges who included Derek Taylor, Irish comedian Dave Allen, editor of the Sunday Mirror Hugh Bingham and Leicester Warburton and Blanch d’Alpuget, also from the Sunday Mirror.   I have a photo of Blanch posted with the first trip to Sydney press conference.  She recalls one particular father of a contestant trying to bribe her with jewelry so that his daughter would win a spot at the party.   The bribe did not work, and the girl's name was removed from the list of possible winners.

The Beatles with Betty Stewart

"I won because I was able to tell a clever white lie and I think it appealed to the judges.  I said I used to play with Paul as a child in Liverpool and I like to see if remembers me now as I am today.  In fact, I had never been to Liverpool.  I liked Paul McCartney.  He's the one I remember dancing with a great deal of the night.  I can say Paul is a very good dancer."
--Delphine Doorerill (from the video The Beatles Downunder from 1994)

Paul with Delphine (the blond girl next to him clapping) at the party

 Jenny Lamb, another one of the contestants does not recall how she got into the party.  She says this in a 2002 interview with ABC Newcastle, "They didn't want to have it go crazy, so they decided to get some sensible people who weren't going to go loco - I don't know how I got in there - so a few of us were chosen," she says.  "I was about 17 years old, so I was pretty naive, but the party was fairly relaxed," Jenny recalls. "(It was) just like a drinks party, where you could mingle and chat with the Beatles."I particularly remember talking with George - I really liked him - he was just a gentle guy and a bit more down to earth."

Paul with  Glennys Smith, Caroline Styles, Claire Hogben and Jenny Lamb

One girl who went to the party was Carmel Stratton, who later became a Playboy bunny.   In researching this article, I sadly learned that Carmel has passed away.    I am sure she had some great stories about Paul's birthday party.   

Carmel Stratton is between John and Paul in this photo

Another person that was at the party, and who did not win the contest is the Australian pop singer, "Little" Pattie.    She was only 14 years old at the time.  She remembers this about the party,

"The Beatles seemed to me to be pretty nice people. They weren't party animals, they just wanted

 to talk. I remember at one stage sitting with all four of them and unintentionally monopolising a lot of their time".

And a few more photos just for fun

Carolyn Keirs feeds John a piece of birthday cake

Paul with all of the contest winners