Beatles Send Their Love to Groovy Worchester Fans (Boston 1966)

 

Beatles Send Their Love to Groovy Worchester Fans

By Thomas McCabe

The Evening Gazette

August 19, 1966

    Suffolk's Down was originally designed for horse racing, but last night fans saw race after race between police and teenagers trying to get to the Beatles. This reporter did get to them, the only one of the reporters covering their concert before nearly 20,000 to do so.

     Wandering behind the tote boards near the press section, I almost tripped over Paul McCartney and George Harrison, who were standing with the bodyguard talking. "Hi, Paul," I said. "Hey, Sport," said he. Then along came John.

     The foursome, much shorter than they appear on stage, stood before me, looking very much like four teenagers. They squinted through tinted welfare glasses and brushed dust off their assortment of brightly colored bell bottoms and mod type attire.

     "I'm damn glad our American fans aren't taken in by some unscrupulous reporter who changed my words," said John in an answer to my question about his more "popular than Jesus" remark. "Americans are wonderful," said he. "Freedom of speech and the ability to understand."

     "Yeah, yeah, yeah," echoed Ringo, who stumbled up to the group. Ringo, who looks more like a rubber doll than a human being, kept most of his comments on the comic side. Are they tired? "No, man," said George. "We love what we're doing."

     Brian Epstein, Beatles' manager, wandered along at this point, dressed in blue madras bell bottoms, a pale yellow shirt, and black knit shoes with suede soles. His floppy hair and sideburns was only a shorter version of a Beatles top knot.

     "Why no press conference?" I asked Paul, referring to the cancellations of a 20-reporter press meet scheduled for earlier that day. "Are you a reporter?" asked Ringo. "I like reporters, don't I, Paul?" "Yes, you like reporters. I don't know about the press conference", said Paul. "We had a small one a little earlier at our hotel, the Hotel Somerset, Boston, but there were only a few reporter-type men there. I don't know what happened. We didn't think reporters around here liked us." "I like reporters," said Ringo. "Don't I, Paul?"

     "Stop it, Ringo," said Paul. ""Nobody tells us anything. Tom, Tom is your name, isn't it?"

     "That's a nice name," said Ringo. "I like Tom."

     A very large man tapped me on the shoulder and asked to see me privately for a minute. He introduced himself as Tony Barrow, the Beatles' press agent. "They can't talk to reporters," he said, apparently not aware that the group had just been talking to me until he interrupted. "Just one more question," I said, and I'll go back to the press bin. He hesitated. I turned and asked, "What have you got to say for your Worcester fans?"

     "They're groovy," said Paul. "Yes," said Ringo. "I send my love, said John. "And tell them they're wonderful, the best we have." George just smiled. 

    An hour later, they jumped on stage, gave the fans 11 songs in 21 minutes, and bounded for two limousines that sped from the field to the screams of sirens and fans.

     Earlier, as they arrived here, 350 state and local police, equipped with horses, motorcycles, and nightsticks, stood ready to receive the fans, mostly girls. Surprisingly enough, older teenage boys created most of the problems. A 200-pound six-footer in his late teens vaulted the fence shortly after the mop-top foursome scampered on stage. He gave police a lengthy battle before he was subdued, handcuffed, minus his shoes and socks. The unidentified teenager was dragged behind the stage by nine patrolmen. 

    Another teenage boy caused the only other major incident. With the guile of a Green Beret, he vaulted two chain-link fences, slipped past a cordon of police, and jumped onto the eight-foot stage with the Beatles. He danced from Beatle to Beatle, tagged George Harrison, John Lennon, and Paul McCartney. The Beatles didn't miss a beat. The intruder was headed for Ringo Starr when a Beatle bodyguard caught up with a flying tackle that brought them both off the stage into the waiting arms of police.

     Shortly before the end of the show, several teenage girls made vain attempts to reach their English idols, but police were quick to corner them on motorcycles and on horseback. The scene was reminiscent of an English fox hunt as the Boston patrolman jumped a fence with his horse and cut one blonde girl from the herd of intruders headed for the Beatles' dressing room. 

    The concert over, they left for the sanctuary of their hotel, awaiting a plane this morning for Memphis, Tennessee. For almost half an hour after the show ended, seven or 8000 teenagers, seven or 8000 teeners, stood near the fence, waving, throwing confetti, flash bulbs, and gumdrops, and screaming, "I love the Beatles!" Finally, their energies dissipated. Large crowds walked slowly, almost dejectedly, toward the parking lot. The Beatles were gone.

The Music of Lennon-McCartney

 

Life is At Last Complete: They Saw The Beatles (Boston 1966)

 

Life is Now Complete: They Saw The Beatles 

By Priscilla Ilinitch

The Evening Gazette

August 24, 1966

     "They're just now beginning to come down off cloud 99," declared the mother of one of the four 12- and 13-year-olds who had a tremendous experience last Thursday. Life is now going to seem pretty quiet, according to Denise Landeau, Lynn Matthew, Carol Ann Matthew, and Liz White. They've seen the Beatles. What else is left? 

    The girls had been living in almost unbearable anticipation since getting their tickets to the Boston concert two months ago. Beatles fans from the beginning, they have every Beatles record there is, and seemingly every clipping and picture. The rooms are overflowing with pictures and scrapbooks, as their mothers will attest. 

    A definite participant in the abounding enthusiasm is Carol Ann's twin, Jo Ann, unable to attend the concert because of a recent operation.  Jo Ann is just waiting for next time.

     And what's so great about the Beatles? "Why, just everything!" the girls' chorus. Although they have different favorites, their looks, their singing, and the way they can invent songs. The girls remained loyal through all the reactions to the "more popular than Jesus" comment.  "They were misunderstood," and "The remark was taken out of context," They declare with certainty.

     Having actually seen the Beatles, the girl's enthusiasm remains undiminished. "They were wonderful," Denise said with a sigh. "I wanted to scream, and no sound would come out," she reported, "but the tears just kept rolling down my face."

     "I cried just hearing about it. I can't imagine what I would have done if I had been there," said Jo Ann. The girls are still marveling at the incomparable experience of one boy who managed to get onto the stage and touch John, Paul, and George, before the police took him away. "He actually touched them!" The girls sighed. Their voices are far away and dreamy.

     One of the mothers reminds the girls of other times and other idols, but this is different. They'll always love the Beatles, of course. And one week later, the memory of life's biggest experience lingers on.

On the set

 

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

Photographer caught in the photo

 

Morgan Studios

 

500 Scream Welcome to Beatles to Malton (Toronto 1966)

 

500 Scream Welcome to  Beatles to Malton

No writer listed

The Globe and Mail

August 17, 1966

    The mop-haired Beatles arrived at Malton Airport at 125 this morning, one hour late, in a chartered flight from Philadelphia, where they performed last night. Their departure from Philadelphia was delayed by fog. 

    About 500 screaming teenagers turned out for a 10-second glimpse of their heroes at the airport. Some arrived as early as 6p.m. and waited to get choice viewing positions, with their faces jammed against a wire fence. 

    Four customs men boarded the plane as soon as it touched down. Within five minutes, the Beatles, led by Ringo Starr, emerged. The young people screamed, cheered, and sobbed. The Beatles were taken to a deserted hangar, where they entered a car and were gone within two minutes.10 minutes later, a 14-year-old fan, Carol Mary Wood, was still sobbing and shaking from the experience. 

    Beatle fanciers began to gather at the King Edward Sheraton Hotel downtown, hours before the Liverpoolians were due to arrive. They sat on the hotel steps, mingled with guests in the hotel lobby, and wandered around the corridors. A few stood at the door to the hotel's Oak Room, listening to the music issued forth. Most were teenage girls, wearing the standard bell-bottom pants and shell rig. The young males were mostly a little older, and not a Beatle haircut was to be seen among them. 

    Three sisters from Ashtabula sat on the trunk of their gold-colored Mustang and gazed wistfully at the facade of the hotel, armed with press passes that they hoped would admit them to the Beatles' press conference today. The girls were driven up from their Ohio home by their mother. "Mom doesn't mind; she's as crazy as the rest of us," said one of the daughters. 

    The girls and their mother refused to give their names. The trio who drove to Toronto and to other Beatles Tour cities last year were part of a crowd of hundreds of mini-skirted, Carnaby-clothed teenagers who wandered in and around the hotel early this morning. Subdued groups of fans squatted on the sidewalks, listening to portable radios and chanting Beatles songs while waiting for their idols to arrive. Police were out in scores at the front and rear entrances of the hotel. All of them were instructed to be evasive about which door the Beatles would use.

The Old Beatle Magic (Toronto 1966)

 

The Old Beatle Magic

By Art Lewis

The Toronto Telegram

August 18. 1966

    Screaming fans of the Beatles literally shed blood for their idols at a Toronto airport farewell today. Several girls cut their arms while lunging against a barbed-topped fence, as 250 teenagers screamed a goodbye to the Liverpool mop tops as they boarded their plane. About 1,000 broke through police cordons behind the King Edward Sheridan Hotel as police escorted the Beatles to the airport after their two performances yesterday at Maple Leaf Gardens. None of the girls were badly hurt at the airport incident. 

    The Beatles were taken from downtown Toronto in a police paddy wagon. "I saw them! I saw them!" Screamed the ones who caught a glimpse. 

    Their performance in Toronto allowed them to take back $100,000 to bolster the sagging British economy. Although they made as much money as in 1964 and in 1965, their 35-hour Toronto stay was a placid affair compared to the mob scene then. Whether it was Beatle John Lennon's recently much publicized comment on Christianity or just the natural decline of all pop music groups, The Beatles didn't draw the crowds this year the way they have in the past. Show business insiders are predicting this will be their last North American tour. 

    Crowds outside the Gardens and the King Edward Sheridan Hotel were tiny compared with the 1000s that mobbed the mop-headed singers during earlier visits. Police said everything went smoothly with few incidents. One 19-year-old youth was arrested at the Gardens and charged with causing a disturbance. Another youth was ejected from the Gardens during the afternoon performance after he climbed down a wired screen behind the stage and fell to a ramp 15 feet below. And another youth was struggling so violently, police had to handcuff him before carrying him out.

     During both performances, girls made frantic runs up the aisles for the stage and were carried out screaming by police. More than 100 Saint John ambulance workers treated 167 people, including a 77-year-old woman. The gray-haired little old lady was from Port Hope and had slipped on her way to her seat. With tears in her eyes, she begged Saint John workers to let her go back because she didn't want to miss the Beatles. 

    Most of the others were teenage girls treated for hysteria. 15 were sent to the hospital. Seven treated during the matinee performance were back again with hysterics during the evening show. One Garden usher reported a 16-year-old girl approached him with $50 cash in her hand, which she offered in return for getting her into the dressing room backstage. 

    Unlike past shows, which were sold out, there were several thousand empty seats at the evening show. A Garden official said 16,000 of the 18,000 tickets were sold. Beatle fans caught few glimpses of their idols, except for two 30-minute stage appearances. They were spirited from their hotel to the Gardens and back in a police paddy wagon. Admission to their between performances press conference at the Garden was rigidly screened during the performance. 

    Screaming girls threw everything available on the stage, including lipstick cases, love notes, earrings, rings, pens, papers, cups, clothing, and a screwdriver. 

    Over at the hotel, about 35 police officers kept an all-night vigil, as the keener fans, many who had taken rooms in the hotel, kept up their attempts to sneak up to the Beatles' eighth-floor suite. Two enterprising girls were caught by police when a hotel employee noticed the dirty clothes in his hamper began to move. Dozens of less imaginative fans crept up the back stairs, only to run into the arms of police at the Beatles' floor.

Fewer Fans and Fainters -- But Beatles Bedlam Was as Usual (Toronto 1966)

 Fewer Fans and Fainters -- But Beatles Bedlam Was as Usual

No Writer Listed

The Toronto Star

August 18, 1966

    The Beatles flew on to Boston today with 96,000 Toronto dollars, a white-haired troll doll, and unless the staff got rid of it, a friendly hamster named Brian. Those were among the souvenirs of their third and dullest Toronto appearance. It was the dullest by any yardstick. Fewer fans paid to get into Maple Leaf Gardens. Fewer milled around the King Edward Hotel. Fewer police were needed to handle them. And horrors! Only half as many teeny boppers fainted from the sheer excitement of it all.

     They filled the Gardens last night with 18,000 fans, but only 15,000 showed up in the afternoon. Saint John ambulance workers handled 167 stricken fans, compared with more than 300 last year. The 33,000 who did show up created just about as much bedlam as usual, drowning out their idols with shrieks and trying to pelt them with paper balls.

     At a between-show press conference, the boys gave one-sentence quips on Christianity and Vietnam to reporters. John Lennon, trying to clarify his "Beatles are more popular than Jesus," told a United Church minister he wasn't really against Christianity. "I recommend it to anybody, all the people in the world, especially old people," said Lennon, wearing a pink linen suit. 

    The group said they support the basic ideas of Christianity, and George Harrison added that "People who dislike us are not offering a Christian answer to what Lennon said." Reverend Gene Young, a United Church minister, said afterward he was amazed and really impressed with the Beatles as individuals. 

    On Vietnam, Lennon said he could see no reason on earth why anybody should want to kill anybody else. Challenged to comment on the war itself, Harrison declared, "America is in there, but thou shalt not kill means thou shalt not amend Section A." He said, "People forget about thou shalt not amend Section A."

     "But we can't say things like that," piped up Paul McCartney. "We're not allowed to have opinions. You might have noticed that," said Lennon. The literary Beatle also said anyone who did not feel like fighting should have a right not to go into the army.

     McCartney sat playing with a white-haired troll doll during the conference. One of a mountain pile of gifts sent to Maple Leaf Gardens, and the Beatles Hotel during their stay.

     Is the Beatles' craze ending? "If our popularity does diminish, we'll be the last to worry," said Harrison, who wore a fishnet shirt and a brown windbreaker.  "It shows no signs of diminishing."

     Will the group ever break up? McCartney said, "It will be a bit embarrassing at 35 to be doing the same routine."  Lennon:  "We do not intend to go on holding hands forever. It might last. I don't know."

     But if anyone thought Beatlemania had ended, the fans who swarmed through the Gardens for two shows proved otherwise. Nearly 300 police officers guarded the building in the afternoon. Another 50 were added last night. The College Street subway station scene prompted one TTC worker to compare it to the Blitz. Extra subway staff were on hand to keep people from being pushed off the platform, and barricades were erected in the station.

     Waving signs proclaiming "I'm happy" and "Paul, I love you always." The fans lined up from Carlton Street around to Yong Street. 

    Two Albany, New York teenagers, Mary Ann Scott and Patricia Novak, marched past officers into the Garden Restaurant, having booked reservations a month ago. They later infiltrated the press conference held in a nearby room.

     A 77-year-old Port Hope woman arrived in time for the nighttime show, but tripped on the way to her seat. After sitting out the early acts at a first aid center, she got back in time to stand on her chair and watch the Liverpool group.

     The noise got so bad at one performance that a hefty cop, one of the barriers in front of the stage, pulled a couple of bullets out of his holster and stuck them in his ears. And twice yesterday there was a thunderclap of voices as four famous faces half-skipped into view, wearing forest green mod jackets, charcoal gray slacks, and polka dot shirts. Paper balls, glittering tin foil, and sounds-tons and tons of adoring screams-cascaded onto the stage as the Beatles bobbed about in the pool of light. It went on for just over half an hour, screams interrupted only by louder screams, as youngsters stormed the stage or were carried out.

One youth appeared from nowhere and climbed to a front seat in midair, reaching for the platform. When the crunch came, a dozen officers bore him away. Last night, a youth climbed over the elaborate backdrop barrier, came rolling down yards of bunting and drape behind him. Dozens of teenagers at both shows went into faints from heat and excitement. One girl somehow lost her skirt when she collapsed.

     As the Beatles finished their show shortly after 10 p.m. in a windowless room in the depths of the Gardens, staff members fed a hamster pieces of lettuce and mused over what to do with it. Apparently named after Brian Epstein, the Beatles' manager, the hamster was sitting in the Beatles' dressing room when they came back from the news conference. No one knows how it got through the scores of police. A note with a crayon-drawn heart says, "This is Brian. We love you, Linda and Sue."

     The 65 policemen really didn't have much trouble holding back the 200 teenagers, as the Beatles returned to the King Edward Hotel by police paddy wagon last night. A fan wants the hotel named a national shrine because it has been the Beatles' sleeping quarters three times now.