Slumber Party

Photo from Noelle Nichold (post with permission)

 

These girls are playing with an Ouija board.   I wonder if they are asking if they will marry one of the Beatles. 

A Women's History of The Beatles - A Book Review

 

Kit, Allison, Susan, Erika, and me (Sara) at The Fest for Beatle Fans in New Jersey 2017

In early 2019, I was contacted by a woman in Australia who was writing something about female Beatles fans.  She wanted to ask me a few questions about my experiences as a female Beatles fan who runs a popular Beatles site online, how I became a fan, and my experiences as a Beatles fan.   I wasn't quite sure what the unknown lady was doing -- was it a book?  A college project?   I didn't know --- but I am always happy to help out, and I answered her questions.   Shortly after this interview, my significant other unexpectedly passed away, and I totally forgot about this interview. 

The things I said now appear in print in the book I am reviewing tonight, A Women's History of The Beatles by Christine Feldman-Barrett.   Thankfully, Christine did show me the quotes from the interview prior to the publication of the book, and everything I said was true and sounded exactly like me.  It is just so bizarre to me that I have no memory of answering the questions.    

This book was extremely interesting, and the topic of women and The Beatles is something no one has ever really written about before.  It examines the history of women that influenced The Beatles and how The Beatles have influenced women.   I especially enjoyed reading about the girls from the early years of The Beatles -- the fans from the Cavern Club,  the female family members of John, Paul, George, and Ringo, and the girl groups that influenced The Beatles musically.  The book also goes into the wives and partners of The Beatles and how Cynthia and Maureen fit into that stereotype of a Northern England wife.   Jane and Pattie were working women, and that was an issue for both Paul and George.   Then Yoko and Linda came, and they directly influenced John and Paul's music and the way both of them lived their lives. 

Christine talked to ladies who are first-generation, second-generation, and third-generation fans. They tell their stories about how they became Beatles fans and how The Beatles have shaped who they are today.   It is interesting to see how The Beatles have shaped so many women's careers, music, and lives.  I found it really interesting that while there are obvious differences between first-generation fans and third-generation fans -  there are a lot more similarities.   The Beatles' music is universal no matter what year it is or where the women live. 

This book is a little more academic than what I usually read, and I will admit that I had to go back and re-read some things to comprehend what I had read.   This is one of those books that you need to spend time reading and not just read on the go.    

https://amzn.to/3IhXvER

The Beatles in Birkenhead

 April 10, 1963 -  It always amazes me just how close the fans were able to sit during those concerts in the earlier years.  And who is that guy peeking out of the there behind George in the last photo?  

Male fans happy to see Paul

 

Beatles tour group meet Sean in Liverpool

These two photos are from Tsuf Plotkin

 

Photo from Segev Barak

As a Beatles fan, the most fun I have had in my life was on a Beatles tour in Liverpool with other fans.  It was such a thrill just to walk down Mathew Street.

A Beatles tour group from Israel was doing just that yesterday (March 23, 2022).  Someone else just happened to be also in Liverpool.  Sean Lennon was in town because of the opening of the Yoko Ono Lennon Centre concert hall.   He just happened to be walking on Mathew Street with the Beatle fans from Israel were there and he stopped and posed with photos with them.   How awesome is that??  I love it!

Thank you Tsuf Plotkin for allowing me to share these photos on this site.   

Fun times for everyone

 

Who said nuns couldn't love the Beatles?   Supposedly these are two fans at a Beatles concert in Philadelphia in 1966.    Is the one young lady really a nun?   Was she dressed that way because of John's "Jesus" statement?   Was this even really taken at a Beatles concert?   I don't know -- but it is interesting. 

Happy fans at the Dakota

 

Photos by Tom Carswell 

March 8, 1977 

Lots of love for Paul

 

The Real Story Behind "She Came in Through the Bathroom Window"

 The Real Story Behind “She Came in Through the Bathroom Window”

By Sara Schmidt

 

                The story behind The Beatles song, “She Came in Through the Bathroom Window” is well known by fans.  Paul repeats the story often and it is even in his book Lyrics.    The story goes like this:  There were a group of girls that always hung around outside of Paul’s house on Cavendish Avenue.  They were called The Apple Scruffs.   One day, when Paul and Linda were out of town, the girls noticed that the window on the top floor of Paul’s house was left open.   They were able to open the gate and went onto his property and saw there was a ladder leaning up near the open window.   The girls climbed up the ladder,  went through the window, and landed inside of Paul’s bathroom.   While they were inside of his house, they took Paul’s trousers and other dirty clothes as well as many carousels of photo slides taken by Linda.   These slides included photos of Paul and Linda’s wedding, Paul and his family on holiday, and photos of the Beatles during the Get Back sessions.    Once Paul learned about all of this, he wrote the song and recorded it for the “Abbey Road” album.

                While that might be the story that has been told, it is not the true story behind the song.  If you have watched the “Get Back” documentary, then you will have heard The Beatles rehearsing the song in January 1969.   Therefore, the song had to have been written prior to that date.   Already the facts do not add up with the “official story.”   If the fans stole photos from the Get Back Sessions and Paul and Linda’s wedding then how can Paul write a song about something that hadn’t happened yet?

The story behind the song is a story that was told by The Moody’s Blues member, Mike Pender.   Mike said that an incident happened to fellow band member, Ray Thomas where a girl had climbed through the bathroom window of his home and got into bed with Ray and spent the night.   The day after this happened, the Moody Blue’s members were telling Paul McCartney this crazy story.  Paul had a guitar in his hand and he started to strum and sing “She came in through the bathroom window….”  

In September 1969, John Lennon was interviewed about the songs on the Abbey Road album and he had this to say about the song, “"It was when Paul and I went to America to publicize Apple about two years ago, and we were just in the flat we were staying in and he just came out with that line, 'she came in through the bathroom window.' So, he had it for years, and he eventually finished it."   John remembers Paul working on the song when he and Paul were in New York City in May 1968.    John was asked about the song again when he was interviewed by Playboy for the 1980 interview.   He said, That was written by Paul when we were in New York forming Apple, and he first met Linda. Maybe she's the one who came in the window. She must have. I don't know. Somebody came in the window." 

                This does not mean that no one ever broke into Paul’s house.   Last year I read a book that had a chapter about how a young girl and her friends broke into Paul’s house in 1970 and took photos of themselves in the various rooms of the home.    Fans going into Paul McCartney’s home without his permission seemed to be an ongoing issue in the late 1960s and early 1970s.  One group of fans must have gotten into his house while he took Linda and Heather on holiday to Portugal in December of 1968.   This would explain why he says something about how this recently happened to him before starting to practice “She Came in Through the Bathroom Window” during rehearsals in Twickenham in early January.     

                The next part of this story that is untrue is the statement that The Apple Scruffs went into Paul’s home through the bathroom window.   The group of tight-nit fans that named themselves “The Apple Scruffs” started using the name in the Autumn of 1969 AFTER the Abbey Road album had been released.   That small group of fans were not the type that would break into Paul’s home and take his personal property.  They loved the Beatles and made sure not to cause them harm.    It is an insult to those particular girls that Paul and others flippantly say that they were thieves.  

                The event that is often believed to be the inspiration for the song happened in June of 1969 while Paul and Linda were gone (I personally believe the date most likely was June 15 – Father’s Day due to the weather and day of the week that had been told during the various tellings of the story, but that is just an educated guess).    There were several groups of fans that spent their time outside of Cavendish Avenue at that time.   They were not all friends with one another and there was some of the typical “girl drama” that tends to go on along with groups of young women.   One of those groups of girls really disliked Linda and went out of their way to do cruel things toward her.   It is believed that it is this group that took the items from the home.   Most stories say that a girl named “Diane” or “Little Di” is the person that physically climbed the ladder and landed in the bathroom sink on the upper floor of the McCartney family house.   However, I have seen other names of girls that went up the ladder.    Whoever she was, she went inside and then supposedly let the other girls into the home.   While there the small group of three girls went through the house and went through Paul’s clothing.   Diane gave an interview in the 1990s for a French Beatles fans magazine and said this, “I didn’t take anything that has value, nothing but memories. I searched his basket of dirty laundry and took some shirts that had tea stains.  We took one each.  We looked in the closet and saw all the costumes:  Sgt. Pepper and shoes with the pointed tips he wore in the beginning. We did not touch.”   

                More than just dirty shirts were taken from the home.   Slides of photographs taken by Linda were also stolen and also a photo of Linda and Paul in a nice frame (Paul and Carol Bedford claim it was a photo of his father) was taken.   Paul was not too bothered by the missing clothes, but he really wanted to get Linda’s photographs back.   He spoke directly to a few of the girls that would eventually be in the Apple Scruffs and asked them to help him.  They were eventually returned to Paul, but not before copies of the photos were made.   These photos, which we still see to this day, were sold outside of EMI studios on Abbey Road while hundreds of fans stood outside to catch a glimpse of John, Paul, George, or Ringo before or after a recording session.

Photo of Paul taken by Linda McCartney.  This is an example of one of the photos that had been stolen from Paul's home that had been taken by Linda. 

                It is very possible that this big break-in, which happened just prior to the recording of “She Came in Through the Bathroom Window” as it appears on the Abbey Road Album reminded Paul of the song that he had begun working on the previous year.  It very could be why he brought it back to The Beatles and it was included on the album.   However, it is a crazy coincidence that Diane (or whoever) climbed a ladder and went through the bathroom window, just as the girl did with the Moody Blue’s member years before.   Simply put, the event in the early summer of 1969 was not the original inspiration for the song, but perhaps the inspiration to bring the song back and record. 

 

                I am sure that Paul gets his stories confused easily because that is how our minds work when it comes to memories.   As humans, we frequently combine events that happen at the same place during the same time period.  Paul is not trying to be a Beatles historian, but just remembering things that happened in his life.   I do not believe he is purposely trying to give the girls in the Apple Scruffs a bad name, but sadly that is what has happened.   I asked one of them if I could write something to attempt to right this wrong.   She said she would be happy if I did.   Today the truth is on the new Apple Scruffs webpage and hopefully, upcoming books, such as Mark Lewisohn’s biography (volume 3) will contain the correct information.   

Nighttime at the airport

 

First Day at Apple Studios

 

January 17, 1969 - Screenshot from "Get Back"  

The concert in the cage

 

December 14, 1963

George loved his fans

 

Ringo leaves the hospital

 

Katie Segal loves George

 

We all know the story about how on  August 24, 1964, the Beatles sat on stools at a garden party in the Bel Aire part of Los Angeles, California and shook hands with countless famous people and their children.  

We also know that there were just regular fans that had found out about this and went to the house where the party was held and stood outside and tried to see a glimpse of The Beatles and wished they had a famous relative so that they could get inside themselves. 

One thing you might not know is that one of those fans standing outside was a 12-year-old Katey Sagal.   I am sure you have seen Katey Sagal on television over the past 30+ years.  She played the part of Peg Bundy on "Married with Children,"  was the voice of Leela on "Futureramia"  and most recently she has played Dan's love interest on "The Conners."    

Before all of that, she was just Katey, who loved the Beatles, especially George Harrison.   She and her best friend heard about the party on the radio and decided to find the house and see if they can see the Beatles.   They stood there in a row with other Beatlemaniacs and screamed.   There is video footage of this and you can read Katey's lips yelling out "George!  George!"     

Katey got so hysterical about George that she could not calm down.  She did not get to see The Beatles on that day, but she did get a policeman to escort her back home because she was so hysterical. 

I love these stories with photo/video evidence of now-famous people at Beatles events in the 1960s.  How many have been discovered so far?

We made you a cake

 

November 3, 1963 

Someone met Ringo....

 

This is a screenshot from the Beatles Shea Stadium concert TV special.    Has anyone seen this actual photograph?   

The Screamers

 

My Ticket To Ride - A Book Review

I just finished a really great book called My Ticket to Ride by Janice Mitchell.   This is the true story of a girl named Janice and her adventures in London in the autumn of 1964.

Janice had a pretty rough childhood in Cleveland, Ohio.  Her parents left her, and she lived with a difficult aunt.   Things in Janice's life got better in December 1963 when she first heard The Beatles on the radio.   Like so many other girls, the Beatles and their music made a huge impact on her, and she automatically became a fan.   Beatles became her life -- she listened to their music, read the magazines, and, of course, watched them on the Ed Sullivan Show. 

Janice talks her best Beatle buddy, Marti, into leaving their troublesome lives in Cleveland and traveling to London to start a new life.   A life where they could meet The Beatles, go to the clubs in Soho, and work for Brian Epstein.     So the day after they went to the Beatles concert in Cleveland, the two 16-year-olds left with their new passports and Marti's college fund money and flew to London without telling their guardians. 

The story of two Beatle-crazed American teenagers in 1964 London was so interesting!   Janice Mitchell is a very good writer and by reading about her adventure, you are transferred to a much more innocent time in what was the beginning days of "Swinging London."    The girls go to all of the top clubs in Soho, including the Marquee, the 2i's, the Flamingo, and others that you have heard about.  They hitchhike to Liverpool and meet some very kind boys along the way who helped their adventures. 

I really loved this story.   Janice and Marti actually did something that every teenage girl wanted to do in the 1960s.   Sadly, they did not get to meet the Beatles, but they sure had a fun time trying!  I was stuck at what an innocent time it was.   Janice had such little life experience, and yet no one took advantage of her naiveté, and the boys were such gentlemen.   

Beatle fans of all generations will enjoy this coming-of-age story.  It is one that was an easy read and was a lot of fun.  I highly recommend it! 

 https://amzn.to/48AyteS
 

Lovely meeting

 I might have recently posted this photo.  I can't remember and am too lazy to hunt through this site to try to find it.  So if it is repeat -- oh well because I absolutely love how lovingly the fans are looking at the lads.