Fake Koalas and a real kangaroo

 

June 29, 1964 

McCartney Downunder

 

March 27, 1993

Having a great time in Sydney

 March 1, 1993 

Koala Kid

Ringo and the Koala Bear

 The stuffed koala bear was a gift from one of the many fan club presidents in San Francisco.  June 13, 1964 - San Francisco, California  

Attack of the Koala Bear

Koala Klub

The Koala Klub

Koalas down under

Who are the two extra kids?

A chance meeting with the Beatles

Photo by John Howard

This story is from the March 20, 2014 issue of The Morning Bulletin"  and was written by Pam McKay.   I truly believe that these fans found their picture on "The Gilly's" blog because that is the only place I have ever seen this particular photo.    Way to go to her!   



FOR nearly 50 years, Amy Lester and her two younger sisters have been sharing stories about the day they met The Beatles in Brisbane.

The Rockhampton women have vivid memories of the monumental event but have never had photographic evidence - until now.

A chance discovery on the internet has unearthed a black and white image showing Amy with band members Ringo Starr and George Harrison. It is credited to photographer John Howard.
Also in the photo is a female ranger from Lone Pine Sanctuary, who was there to introduce the English band members to some of Australia's native wildlife.

Amy cannot believe the photo has finally come to light, bearing witness to the historic occasion when three indigenous sisters from the small Central Queensland town of Bluff got to mingle with rock royalty.

"It's just amazing. It's incredible seeing it after all this time," the 73-year-old said from her Rockhampton home.

"For 49 years and nine months we've talked about it but we've had no proof. Now here it is.

"The funny thing is that I wasn't really a Beatles' fan at the time. It was Joan and Mona who loved them."
Amy went to Br
isbane to act as chaperone for her younger sisters - Mona, then 18, and Joan, 14 - who had tickets for The Beatles' final Australian concert at Festival Hall on June 30, 1964.

Their parents did not want the teens to be in Brisbane by themselves and asked Amy, who was then 23 and living in Warwick, to join them for their three-night stay.

Amy said it was a chance encounter in Brisbane's CBD that led to the Smith sisters meeting three members of the band.

The trio was doing some sightseeing on the day before the concert.

They were window shopping in the Queen St mall when the two younger girls were approached by a man, who started talking to them about The Beatles.

Amy was slightly ahead of her sisters when she heard them shrieking with excitement.

She turned to see them engaged in an earnest conversation. When she hurried back to confront the man, he quickly reassured her that his intentions were genuine.

"He said he was travelling with The Beatles," Amy said. "He relayed to us that The Beatles were very disappointed because it was their last show in Australia and they hadn't yet met an Aboriginal person.
"I am sure they thought they would see kangaroos hopping up and down the street, koalas up every tree and Aborigines walking around with their spears."

The man also said that Joan bore a striking resemblance to the Aboriginal star of the influential indigenous movie, Jedda.

He said he would arrange for the sisters to meet the band at the penthouse of The Beatles' hotel (ironically, Lennon's Hotel) the following day.

They agreed.

Amy said she could not believe it when he called to confirm.

The girls could not be chauffeured because Brisbane's inner-city streets were blocked so they made the walk from their accommodation at the People's Palace to The Beatles' hotel.

Mona said that did not faze her at all: "Didn't matter me, I was going to see Ringo."

The sisters said it felt incredible to be ushered through the crowds into the hotel foyer.

"The number of screaming girls outside was unbelievable," Amy said, remembering the crush of the fans. "The noise outside Lennon's - I can still hear it today."

They were led upstairs to the penthouse where they were introduced to Ringo Starr, George Harrison and Paul McCartney. John Lennon was not there - he was having a shower in preparation for that night's concert.


Amy said the girls spoke with the band members for close to 20 minutes.

"They were friendly, very friendly. They just chatted away and told us they were really glad to meet us," Amy said.

I love Mondays!

I have a "new" story to share with you all.  This one is from September 1981  and takes place outside of Air Studios in London.  It was found in the October 1981 (Issue # 35) issue of "With a little Help from my friends."

There are two stories here, written by two friends who met Paul in September of 1981.  The first one was written by Terry Seemann who was meeting Paul for the first time.   And the second part was written by Laurie Ross. 

I think the one thing that bothered me is that this was written in 1981 and it is obvious that the fans still do not like Linda.  I understand fans in 1969 disliking her and even into the Wings years, but I would have thought by 1981, fans would have mellowed out a bit on the dislike of Linda.   It stands out to me that these girls were not very kind to Linda.  She walked by and they didn't say hello or ask for her autograph or photo.   But yet they expect her to be nice to them.   And to go on about her clothing and funky socks, is just silly.   I think Linda eccentric style of clothing is one of the major things that I love about her.    But then I am looking back in 2013 on the whole thing, so it is a very different perspective. 

I am not trying in any way to be mean to Terry or Laurie or the other girls in this article.    I love their Paul story.  I think the Koala Bear party is adorable.   First of all, everyone can have their opinion and not everyone is going to like the Beatles' wives.   That is fine.   Also many years have past and feelings and thoughts change.   So if Terry or Laurie read this, please do not feel like I am being unkind in any way.   That is not my intention.  I personally have a lot of admiration for Linda McCartney, and when I read of those who do not speak kindly of her, I have to question why.   But it is nothing personal.   And as I said, everyone can have his/her own opinion. 

Terry and Paul Photo by Gloria Rossi

Photo by Laurie Ross

Story by Terry Seemann

I love Mondays!  I never thought I’d be saying that, but after two wonderful Mondays in September (1981), “I love Mondays” has become my slogan.  My girlfriend, Gloria Rossi and I arrived in London on Saturday, September 19.  We met up with another friend of ours, Laurie Ross, Saturday night.  About a week before leaving for London, I’d received a letter from Pat Simmons saying that she heard that Paul was recording with Stevie Wonder at Air Studio.  Needless to say, as soon as I told Gloria and Laurie this news it was a unanimous decision to try our luck the following Monday since Paul usually doesn’t record on weekends.

Monday finally came.  About 11:30 Laurie called Air Studios and asked if John Hammel was there.  He is one of Paul’s roadies.  Laurie was told that he wasn’t there yet but he was expected later that day.  Upon hearing that news, we started to get just a wee bit excited because, after all, why would one of Paul’s roadies be going to Air Studios unless our man himself was going to be there!?

We took the underground to Oxford Circus.  At 12:45 we began waiting on the corner.  I really wasn’t very hopeful at this point and thought we would have to wait an hour or two if we were to see him at all. After about five or ten minutes we saw a man pass us and go into Air.  I didn’t pay too much attention to him until Laurie asked if that was George Martin.  We were all pretty sure it was and now our hopes were a little higher for seeing Paul.  Then around 1:00, Laurie suddenly yelled out, “There he is!” and sure enough, there he was, getting out of a blue Mini car that had just pulled up.  He had James Louis and Linda with him.  Paul looked very surprised to see anyone there.  He was very friendly but said he could not stop because he was very late.

Laurie asked him when the new album was coming out and he said not until next spring.  She also asked if he was recording with Stevie Wonder and he said not now (he was mixing the album).  I had said hello to Paul and James when they got out of the car, but after that, I couldn’t seem to say anything.  I did finally manage to ask him if I could get a picture with him but that’s when he said they were running late.  Paul did say to us, “See you later” which, of course, we took literally. None of us really paid too much attention to Linda but as they walked into Air she gave us kind of a strange look.

After walking around the block trying to calm down, we tried to figure out what to do next.  People were looking at us kind of strangely and one woman asked, “Who did you see that I didn’t?”

Needless to say, we all decided to go back to Air later to catch Paul coming out.  At 3:15, we headed back to Oxford Circus.  On the way there, we had the thought that since James’ birthday was just a few weeks back, if we got him a belated birthday present, Paul might stop for a couple of minutes.  We saw an Australian gift shop and stopped to buy a stuff Koala bear (Remember the Saturday Night Live interview with Father Sarducci – “what animal would you like be to?”). 

We got back to air Studios around 4:45 and began our wait on the corner again.  At about 5:15 or 5:30 I saw a blue car pull up again and sure enough it was his car.  Linda got out with James and went into Air.  Apparently they had gone to eat.  I hardly looked at Linda but I think she gave us another strange look.  At least we now knew for sure that Paul was still inside.

We continued to wait thinking that they might not come out until 8:00 or 9:00.  But about 6:45 I looked across the street and there was that blue car again.  A minute later, Paul, Linda and James came out.  Laurie asked if she could take his picture and he said yes, but make it quick as he was late (seems to be his standard line).  Gloria had already started taking pictures.  I then remembered that IW as holding the koala bear so I hurried and gave it to Paul, trying to tell him it was for James, but never quite getting it out.  Gloria then yelled, “the card!.” And I noticed that I had dropped the birthday card we got for James, so I picked it up and handed it to Paul, making sure I touched his hand.  We all took pictures as they were getting in the car, but unfortunately al I got was his back.

Gloria and I went to Liverpool for the rest of the week, but the next Monday we decided to try our luck again. We met Laurie on our corner around 12:30 and waited once again.  We were also joined by two friends of hers, Madeline and Cathy.

We waited until about 2:30.  Gloria and I were about to give up hope as we had sore feet, but everyone else said they were going to wait until 3:00, so we said we would too.  That has got to be one of the best decisions we ever made, because about 2:45, what should appear but that little blue car again.  And, if that wasn’t enough, Linda was not with him!  It was just Paul and John Hammel.

When Paul got out of the car, Gloria and I rushed up to him and asked for his autograph.  And he actually stopped to give it to us.  Then I once again asked him if I could have my picture taken with him.  Looking up, he said, “I think you are!”  I looked up and there was Gloria with camera ready.  I then took a picture of Paul with Gloria and Laurie.  Before we knew it, Paul was gone again. But we couldn’t have been happier.  We not only got autographs, but pictures too.  Also, I think Paul must be some kind of miracle healer as my feet didn’t hurt a bit anymore.

Since this was Gloria’s and my last day in London, we knew that we had to wait for Paul again that night.  Around 6:00, Gloria, Laurie, Madeline and I took up our vigil again.  We didn’t know how long we would have to wait since he arrived so late.  At about 7:40, someone (I think it was Paul’s manager, Allan) came running out to the car.  A few minutes later, Paul came running out.  He said he was really late (once again) and couldn’t’ stop.

We had decided earlier just to try to thank him now for being so nice before since it was going to be too dark to take pictures without a flash.  We tried to thank him as he was running to the car, but I don’t know if he heard us.  He did wave to us as he drove away though. 

So ended another day of seeing a Beatle.  I’ll never forget those two Mondays.  I’m still waiting to wake up and find that it’s all a dream.  What a way to end a trip to Merry Ole England!

By Laurie Ross

It was great!  I saw him 18 times in all, the most I’ve ever seen him by far.  He was always nice to us and he looked so good.  The hair may be turning gray in places, the crow’s-feet are getting deeper, but he’s still utterly gorgeous  He’s got more charm in his baby finger than most men have in their entire body!  I sure got spoiled – got my photo taken with him twice, he sign my copy of the photo I took him with the Koala bear, he shook my hand the last time Is aw him, and invited me back next year!  He said, “I hope you’ve enjoyed your stay on this corner.  We’re taking reservations for next year, so book early!”  It’s lucky I taped everything because all I can remember is his nice warm hand clutching mine and me staring at his eyes.  I was probably drooling.

In the photo he’s winking at me though I didn’t notice it at the time.  As he was walking out, I asked him if we could take photos.  He said something like “make it a quick one,” so I literally threw my purse and shopping bag on the sidewalk.  Luckily I had my camera preset so took it fast as he barely stopped since he was in a hurry.  So it’s nice to know that he winked at me and that I got it on film.

Linda came with Paul most of the time. I don’t think she cared for me too much.  She ignored me except to comment, “What a terrible photograph” as Paul was signing my photo.  James was there a couple times; he’s a doll.  Saw Heather, too who actually smiled and said “hi” to us before we even recognized her.  She looks quite decent now, better than he mother, anyway.  The only time I noticed Linda was when she’d take James out for his supper.  She always looked a sight.  She sure likes wild socks.  So do I --- under my jeans.  She wears them with skirts – pink ones, pink and white ones, and green ones (bright – two days in a row!), more or less ankle length, complete with straggly hair, strange tops.  She wore the same blue canvas shoes as last year only with her green socks instead of purple ones – a real prize!

Koala Bear (stuffed)

Here is another photo that is currently available on ebay.   I love how the fan had to write on the bag how Ringo was presented with a STUFFED Koala Bear.   Didn't want anyone to think that Ringo was presented with a live one.   And dear fan....The Beatles toured Australia in 1964....not 1965.  Good try.