This is a great story about Christ and Moses and the Beatles in L.A. in 1966. I love John's humor throughout this story, and I find myself wondering what was up with Ringo that day. Unfortunately, the last page of the story is missing, so I couldn't type it up. If anyone has the last page---could you please email it to me?
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| Jim guards George |
Beatles off Guard
By Ann Moses
From NME 1967 Annual
Christ watched over John Lennon and the Beatles when they
were in Hollywood during their American tour earlier this year. Moses was there, too! No, I’m not kidding—Jim Christ and Jack Moses
were employed by the U.S. Guard Company of Los Angeles to look after the boys
during their stay. They have some
fascinating memories.
Jim and Jack (my brother) were Beatle fans long before they
took their part-time summer guard duties.
Both were summer employees at Disneyland and served as guards for the excitement
involved.
But neither could have imagined the commotions, the
excitement, the terror that resulted from their assignment to guard the
Beatles!
A plan had been worked out for the Beatles to speedily enter
and exit from Dodger Stadium. Jack told
me, “About an hour before the concert Jim and our two supervisors and I drove
up to the house where the Beatles were staying.
Within two miles of the house, the road was solid on both sides with
kids standing on their cars, standing all around.
“We entered by way of a one-lane winding road up a hill—all of
which was blocked off by the city police.
There were security men surrounding the house and we entered after the
giant electronic gate had been opened.
There were trails through the shrubbery all around the house and part of
the back fence had been broken down.
“When we first saw them they were eating dinner. There were very few people there – Tony Barrow,
David Crosby and the Beatles’ road managers.
After about a half an hour I left in the armored car without the Beatles.
We were followed by a limousine full of
security men and people from the house.
As we drove out almost all the kids followed us.
They were screaming, honking their horns, making wild turns
and almost getting in accidents at every corner!
“When we turned onto the freeway the limousine stopped so none of the cars
could enter. About seven cars found us,
and when we reached our designated spot, which was about two miles from the
stadium, I opened the door to the armored car and showed the kids that the Beatles
weren’t inside. They got really angry!
“A lot of girls started crying. Then they left. Within eight minutes the Beatles pulled up in
a beat-up Chevy van and jumped into the armored truck.”
Jim, meanwhile was at the house, waiting for J,P, G and R to
leave in the van. He said, “While I was
waiting, John Lennon came out and he had a little rubber ball and was bouncing
it against the wall while he talked to David Crosby. Then they got into the van with their road
managers and I rode ahead of them in the limousine. “
The van met with the armored truck in the parking lot and
Jack and Jim helped the four into the truck.
Jack continued the story: “There
were no chairs, so they just sat on the floor.
As we approached the stadium, they got really bugged because as we
passed through the barriers, girls were getting through.
“George said, ‘That’s right, let ‘em through. Don’t hold that one back, let ‘em get us and
rip us apart!’ Finally we made it to the
back of the stadium where it was secluded and they went in to their dressing
room. The first thing Paul, John and
George did was pick up regular guitars.
Each went to different corners of the room and played them.
“Then they picked up the instruments they use on stage,
plugged them into small amps and began to play through the songs they were
going to do.”
Jim interrupted, “It sounded fantastic! They were just working out, it was
groovy! The whole time Ringo just sat in
one corner not saying a word.”
“After they were dressed,”
Jack continued, “we led them to the tunnel where they would enter. On stage they were introducing the radio
station disc jockeys and John would say, ‘Here’s the guy who made it all
possible, Rodney J. Feathersmith’ or ‘And in the six to nine slot, Henry B.
Swindlehoff!’
“Finally he got disgusted because it was talking so long and
he said, ‘Well, I’m going on!’ and he started to walk out onto the field. Paul and George pulled him back.
“Then the DJ’s shouted ‘And here they are—the Beatles!’ and
John began to sit down. Ringo and George
picked him up and we ran out on the field behind them.”
The stadium scene was typical – absolute pandemonium. The Beatles dressed in green sharkskin
bell-bottomed suits with velvet lapels. The
coats were six button, double breasted jackets over shirts of white with green
printed flowers. John and Paul wore
boots, Ringo and George wore loafers.
The lines of security were stiff and no fans got near them.
During the show, they would wave to different sections and
one would see a wave of human bodies rise and scream until temporarily
exhausted. But when John continued to
wave to a section behind him, there was no reaction.
John couldn’t understand it until Jim explained that the
entire section was for blind children. “That’s
all right,” said Paul, “Someone out there probably told ‘em ‘he’s waving at you
now’” “John thought that was groovy,”
said Jim.
Planned procedure noted that the Beatles were to exit the centerfield
gate. Inevitably, there was a mix up and
as the Beatles rushed to the limousines and proceeded out of the stadium, as
the gates opened hundreds of girls surged toward the car!
Jack said, “We were told to run alongside the cars, which we
did. When they opened the gates, the
cars couldn’t get out because a bus and two cars were blocking the way. Then about 1,000 kids swarmed in and all
around the car!”
“Girls were laying down in the front of the car!” Jim
exclaimed. “They were tearing the car
apart and we had to grab them and pull them off. The car couldn’t back up because a second
limousine was right behind it!
“Finally the other limousine moved and they closed the
gates. The driver sped back to the
third-base dugout. We were running beside
the car all this time! When they pulled
back into the stadium Paul and George waved white towels out the windows. The crowd was going completely crazy!”
The Beatles rushed down to the dressing rooms and prepared
for a wait. Jack explained, “The Beatles
just sat down and began opening Pepsi’s.
They handed each of us one before they had one. Every time they’d offer us a cigarette, light
out and then theirs. They were really
friendly!
“I walked over to John and said, ‘I thought we’d be able to
get out of here.’ And he said, ‘Why is that?’
“I asked: ‘did you
notice my name?’ His eyes almost popped!
“I said ‘If you think that’s good, you ought to see Jim’s!’”
“John got up and looked at Jim’s name tag and he shouted, ‘It’s
Christ and Moses! I’ve been waiting to
meet you both for a long time!’ Then he
turned to Jim and said, ‘I didn’t mean it.
I really didn’t! I didn’t mean a
word of it!’
“John, Paul and George were sitting next to each other and
we sat in front of them on a bench.
Ringo was sitting on the other side of the room, all alone. For almost 45 minutes he didn’t say a word.”
Before long, the conversation centered on devious plots to
help the Beatles escape. Everyone kept
repeating the idea that a helicopter would have been the smart thing, but
George wanted to leave in the armored car and just slowly force its way through
the crowd. This however, was impossible
since the crowd outside was bigger now and because someone had let all the air
out of the truck’s four tires!
Paul turned to Jack and joked, “You should be able to get us
out of Dodger Stadium since your great, great, great grandfather could part the
Red Sea.”
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| John is wearing the "Moses" name-tag Jim gave to him in L.A. |
John looked at Jim, “and how about you? Shouldn’t you be getting some dishes so you
can start breaking the bread and bringing on the wine?”
Both boys said the Beatles were talkative and
inquisitive. Someone had told them that
Los Angeles Police Chief Parker had died recently and they questioned their
guards on how a new police chief was chosen and how the local government
worked.
Jack recalls, “John and Paul were asking us what it was like
to work at Disneyland. ‘How are the
birds out there?’ John asked, ‘Chicks, ya know.’ I told him they were very good looking.
“I asked Paul if he’d been to Disneyland since there was a rumor that he’d
visited there. He said not, but wished
he had.
“They all seemed disappointed that they didn’t get out more. They were extremely disgusted with the radio
station that broadcast the address where they were staying. Their neighbors were watching the house with
telescopes. “John went to one corner of
the room and I asked him he was working on his third book. He said he did every now and then, but mostly
when he was alone.”
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