Police and Fans Play Beatle Football (New York City 1966)

 

Police and Fans Play Beatle Football

By Kathy Parker

Hartford Courant

September 3, 1966

    The excitement of our trip to the Beatles concert at Shea did not begin with the appearance of the Beatles themselves. It started on the highways outside the city, where cars passed us displaying signs, "To the Beatles", "Beatles forever," "We love the Beatles."

     Inside the halls of the stadium, I could feel the tension. We took our field-level positions just four rows behind the police barriers. Busloads of police patrolled the field and parking lot. Behind us rose a towering wall of fans. Huge signs suspended from the railings flapped in the breeze. Many took note of John and Cyn's anniversary. 

    Every few minutes, a helicopter chopped overhead, and tremendous screams went up from the crowd. Last year, the Beatles arrived by helicopter.

     Just before showtime, the throng swayed toward one end of the stadium, where a red truck was backing into the lower level; the Beatles were inside. The 7:30 p.m. show began at 8:15 p.m. with the Remains. Other acts included the Cyrkle and the Ronettes. The crowd was impatient. People were standing on their chairs. 

    All the announcer said was, "And now...." and the crowd went wild. The announcer asked for a few bars of "We Love You, Beatles. Oh, yes, we do." The crowd sang in remarkable unison, 45,000 strong.

 One Beatle... two Beatles, three, four. Could I really be seeing them? Everyone climbed to the armrests on their seats. Faces were washed with tears. Girls clutched each other for balance. Some fell backward into the crowd. Lines of police moved in and stood like toy soldiers along the barriers. Field glasses were selling better than hot dogs. 

    About halfway through the concert, someone got through the ropes. Several policemen ran after the girl. Gradually, more and more people tried the same thing as groups of police rushed first to one place, then another, playing Beatle football, tackling fans.

     Suddenly, it was over. The Beatles waved a hurried good night, and ran off the stage into a station wagon. As the car sped across the field, hundreds in the lower level rushed outside. A huge trailer truck was concealing a hole in the fence where the Beatles' car would exit; the truck moved. The Beatles drove through. They changed into the Wells Fargo truck and roared out across the parking lot. Throngs ran down the stadium ramps and out into the night, chasing along the zigzagging trails of the Beatles. Later, the Fab Four switched to a limousine and drove to the airport, where they boarded a plane to the West Coast to enter the lives of 1000s of other American teenagers.

Written by Gail Andrews:

     I  too went to see the spectacular show at Shea. There was some excitement during the show when fans spotted two of the Lovin' Spoonful in the audience. The Beatles wore beige suits with light blue striped shirts and sang 11 songs. Paul introduced the first song and said the initial "hello," which brought screams from the stadium.

     I don't know what it meant, but Paul and John kept referring to the year 1948 as they introduced the songs. Paul seemed to be in an exceptionally happy mood, but John, George, and Ringo were quiet. The security measures were more than needed, as only eight fans tried to reach the Beatles. The performance ended abruptly, and the Beatles were whisked away in a gray station wagon with New York license plate number 97368.

The Agony and the Ecstasy (New York City 1966)

 

The Agony and the Ecstasy

By Anthony Burton

The Daily Mail

August 24, 1966

    The Beatles stepped onto the turf of Shea Stadium last night, and the world went mad. Kids in tight hip huggers, kids in miniskirts, kids in poor boy sweaters, 45,000 of them took a deep breath and started screaming and squealing and screeching and sobbing till the whole stadium seemed to rock. 

    It couldn't get any worse, you thought, trying to shield your eardrums, but it did. When the Beatles climbed on the platform and started to play to the packed stands, Ringo, John, Paul, and George attacked their instruments with the dedication of men earning hundreds of dollars for every note they played. But the kids screamed even louder. It seemed a pity. The kids were making too much noise to hear their idols.

     Some of the kids started jumping onto the turf in an attempt to get closer to the kings of kiddydom. Cops headed them off and carried them away. More than 100 police reinforcements, together with policewomen, streamed onto the field and confronted the stands. After 30 minutes, it was all over. The Beatles raced to a station wagon and drove off into the night. From Flat Bush Avenue and Columbus Avenue, from East End Avenue and Park Avenue, the hordes of kids had poured into the stadium, paying an average of $4 for the privilege of adoring the Beatles in person. Waving above their heads were such bannered battle cries as "Ringo is sexy" and "America loves you."

     It was just like their earlier visits, except that they seemed smaller, as if they had been tamed. Their eyes, sad spaniel eyes under the long fringes, were haunted now by the ghost of a hick disc jockey. The kids screamed, and the money poured in, but it could never be the same. The Beatles would never be able to forget that they had bent the knee and apologized to the hick disc jockey from a state notorious even in the South for its bigotry and racism, and then they had suffered the humiliation of having their apology patronizingly accepted. 

    The sad irony was that when John Lennon said the Beatles were more popular than Jesus, he was touching on a serious issue. That, of course, is fatal in the world of Good Guys and Murray the K and transistors. You can be imprudent about the Queen, but you can't get away with trying to discuss a serious subject. That's not cool, baby. 

    And so Lennon presented his glass jaw to people who would rather attack the innocent who raise a problem than the problem itself. It's easier. They denounced the satanic foursome and burned their records. Even then, the Beatles could have saved themselves by one of those flip remarks with the Liverpool twang around the edges. But they were older now, and corruption inevitably comes with age, and there were all those records to be sold and all that money to be collected. 

    Lennon became the penitent. He announced he was sorry he had ever made the remark. Few popular idols can pin down the exact moment when they reached the pinnacle and then began the long slide, the downfall. The Beatles call it into obscurity, but Lennon and the others will be able to do just that. It will take years to complete the slide, and lots more money will roll in. But when it's done, they'll look back up the slope and see that it began August 11, 1966, the day Lennon tucked the flip remark into his cheek and instead pleaded to an Alabama disc jockey that he had been misinterpreted. 

    Well, it was fun while it lasted. And there's always Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones. Can you imagine him apologizing? Give him time, baby. Give him time.

Armor-Plated Beatles Brave Shea (1966 New York City)

 

Armor Plated Beatles Brave Shea

By Edward Benes & Richard Henry

The Daily News

August 24, 1966

    Beatlemania hit New York again yesterday. It was like war games, especially the evening's climax. The Beatles invaded Shea Stadium in an armored car, and then all hullabaloo broke loose. As in almost all war games, there was lousy weather, hot and humid when it wasn't raining. Nevertheless, armies of young people surged bravely to and fro all over town, sinking their quarry, the mop-top quartet of rock and rollers. 

    Innocent citizens lost their dignity in shoving throngs, or had their eardrums dented by volleys of shrieks. Battalions of cops and teams of medics were on alert at Shea for bulging bedlam. There was flag waving by youngsters in the stadium who flaunted banners proclaiming their adoration of Ringo, or Paul, or John, or George (the beloved Mets were forgotten last night.)

     There was resort to a decoy unit and a sneak sortie to get the Beatles safely out of their midtown hotel when it came time to go to Shea. The ruse worked like this: At H hour, 5:40 p.m. two limousines pulled in front of the Hotel Warwick's main entrance on 54th Street near Sixth Avenue, and the hundreds of fans behind barricades riveted their eyes hungrily on the hotel door, but around the corner on Sixth, a motorcade of four limousines, one police prow car, and one unmarked cop car pulled up to another hotel entrance. The Beatles dashed out with their entourage and grinned to sharp-eyed fans across the street before ducking into the cars. Only two young girls managed to break free from the barricades and get close enough to snap pictures.

     A group of construction men, seated on the back of a truck, were more interested in the girls than the Beatles. Some customers inside a drugstore looked curiously out the window, and then the Beatles took off. But at the Queen's Safety District Police Station and the Old World's Fairgrounds, they shifted from their limousines to Wells Fargo red armored cars. A squad of sweating cops clung to the armor-plated vehicles like blue-clad leeches. The time was 7:30 p.m.

    Before the Beatles went on stage, four recording acts- the Ronettes, the Cyrkles [sic], the Remains, and Bobby Hebb thumped and chanted to amuse approximately 45,000 music lovers, who filled all but Shea's upper tiers. As 200 city cops and 250 private police patrolled, as three first aid stations were manned on each balcony as a doctor stood nervously at an Elmhurst City Hospital ambulance. The noise and the tension swelled, but there was no reports of injury. 

    And then.....and then ......at 9 p.m. Liverpool's contribution to modern culture emerged on stage. The Beatles themselves! GAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH! The concert shrieked from 45,000 throats was deafening. 1000s of girls and boys and little kids and young mothers and fathers stood to get a look and stayed standing for an hour while the Beatles performed before taking off for Los Angeles. 

    Neither the standing nor the presence of young parents was surprising. Hundreds, including housewives escorting their children, had been standing for hours yesterday afternoon outside the Warwick. 500 stood hoping to see the Beatles. Outside Shea, 2000 hopefuls waited. 

    Two housewives from Astoria, Queens, Mrs. Betty Kristen Noble and Mrs. Elsie Robbins, showed up each with a young daughter at 10 a.m. They explained that they did not want the girls to go alone. Two other housewives from Saddle River, New Jersey, showed up with five girls. The housewives, Mrs. Ralph Berry and Mrs. Timothy Tamblin, arrived at 4 p.m. to beat the traffic. Mrs. Berry and Mrs. Tamblin both said they were not dragged there by the girls. "We love the Beatles ourselves", they said.

     The youngsters who waited outside the hotel got no glimpse of the mop tops during the day. The quartet remained in its 28th-floor suite, resting up for the big doings last night. 

Fan's Dad as the Luck

Patricia Donovan, 16, a Beatle-loving Brooklynite, probably got all upset with her dad, Howard, for not taking her to work with him last night instead of letting her go with her mother to the Beatles' concert. Donovan had bought concert tickets for his daughter and wife and himself, and gave his own ticket to his father-in-law when he suddenly was called into work. But it turned out that on the job he drove the Beatles to Shea Stadium in an armored car.

My Experience Meeting the Beatles (1965)

 

When I went to get my notes about the "Bigger Than Jesus" article I wrote after digging through the Art Unger Files, I found a copy of a letter sent to Datebook for publication consideration.  The magazine did not publish the story of Lee Donoff meeting the Beatles at Shea Stadium in 1965, probably because it wasn't true.  She was alone?  Didn't get their autographs?  Didn't take a picture?  I personally think this is fan fiction, but I also think how lovely it would be to be a 16-year-old Beatles fan in 1965 and have this beautiful daydream of meeting the Beatles.  But then again -- who knows?  Maybe it happened exactly like Lee said it did.  You can decide. 

Dear Datebook: This is the true story of my meeting the Beatles. I send it to you for you to print and share it with other Datebook readers. I found some of their experiences wonderful. The meeting was about five minutes long, and I kept my story as short as possible. Thank you for your time and your wonderful magazine, Lee Donoff. P.S. This is a picture of my cousin and I taken outside of Shea Stadium. I'm the one on the left. If you can print this article, you can cut the picture in half and use just me, or use both of us since she was at the concert.

 Meeting the Beatles 

by Lee Donoff

 West Islip, Long Island, New York

West Islip High School

age 16

    Meeting the Beatles is an experience a person never forgets. The Beatles may forget when they met me, but I'll never forget when I met them. My cousin Adrienne and I had been waiting for what seemed like ages until their New York concert. We waited for nine and a half hours to get in, and it was a luxury to sit down. I came all prepared with a camera, film, binoculars, gum, and tissues. Little did I know what was in store for me. 

    Just before the concert had started, my cousin and I tried to find better seats. Ducking cops and stadium officials, we found ourselves on the field next to two empty seats. It was dark, and the Beatles hadn't arrived yet. I asked Adrienne to come with me to get a Coke, but since neither of us had the correct ticket stubs, we thought it was safer for me if I went alone.

     I had already ordered my drink when I heard everyone screaming. I grabbed my Coke off the counter and ran to the railing. I watched the Beatles leave their truck, and I started to cry. I stood there, and after several seconds, I walked back to the counter. The police let me pass because they had seen me buy the drink. As for the girls behind me, they were stopped.

     I stood by the counter, and as soon as the man turned his head, I opened a door and ran down a flight of stairs. I was standing at the bottom when I heard an English accent; I just knew it, and I started to cry. I didn't want to, but I couldn't control the tears. They must have heard me because the next thing I knew, they were gathering around me. They were dressed casually. Ringo was shorter than I pictured him, and his blue eyes went on and on and on. George was slender, and his hair was clean and frizzy. John had a bit of a tan. Paul, well, he just looked great. 

    I was still crying, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't stop. For the next five minutes, they kept saying, "Please stop crying." Finally, Ringo asked me, and I stopped. Ringo shoved a tissue in my hand, and I still have it. I tried to take a picture, but someone yelled at me. Paul said, "You better not luv. I don't want you to get in trouble." I completely forgot to ask for autographs, although I did take a couple strands of their hair. 

    Paul turned around and looked at me. "Why does everybody cry when they see us?" I had no answer, and I mumbled something about never expecting to meet them. A voice told me to go because the Beatles had to change. I kissed John, Ringo, Paul, and George, and walked away in tears. 

    Some cop yelled at me, "Why are you crying? What are you crying about? The concert hasn't even started." Little did he know.

    It was all my cousin could do to shake me out of hysterics and find out what happened. Within a few minutes, we were running down the row of steps again. Only they weren't there. A few reporters were milling around, and one approached us and asked if we had seen the girl who had met the Beatles. My cousin said that was me.  Next thing I knew, I had a couple of microphones in my face and questions coming from all sides. Questions like "Who's my favorite Beatle?" and "How did I feel?" and so on. They asked us to stand in front of the stadium, and they took our pictures. 

    The concert was fantastic. I tried to make it to the stage, but a cop grabbed me. I got an encouraging wink from Paul. It was a wonderful experience, and for several minutes every day, I lay down and relived everything that had happened.

Teens Paint the Town Red and Beatles Grab the Green (Shea Stadium 1965)

 Teen Paint the Town Red and Beatles Grab the Green

No writer listed

Newsday

August 16, 1965

 

Flushing-- Four frenzied, extraordinarily loud young men and 1000s of their frenzied, extraordinary, loud young fans converged on Shea Stadium last night. The young men in an armored car, the fans in another world, brought to a climax a weekend the lengths to which New York has seen before and could see again. The Beatles were back in town.

 The Beatles —Ringo and the others —stayed long enough to sing a dozen songs against a background of screams and squeals from 55,000 of their young fans. The selection included such classics as “Can't Buy Me Love” and “A Hard Day's Night”; the ordeal brought the singers roughly $304,000 and brought the squealers near hysteria.

 The mop-headed singers arrived in an armored car from the heliport at the World's Fair and left the stadium following the concert in the same closely guarded van. The Mets were in Texas, and there were the Beatles at second base, the biggest hit the stadium has seen in months. Even Casey Stengel would have to admit they had a certain something.

Whatever it is that they have, it glows, and their shrieking, swaying, adulating fans, mostly girls, told them so. In screaming counterpoint, they shouted, “I love you, George” or “I love Ringo”, as the Beatles did a 35-minute rock and roll stint.

 The atmosphere, both inside and outside the stadium, was good-natured. Banners hung from the stands read “Paul, throw us a kiss, Ringo, throw us a ring”. Another group of fans had a British flag with “John” written across it in black.

On stage, the Beatles beat out their rhythmic chant. But if and how the shrieking teenagers heard the music is still a mystery. One young girl ran down the aisle, and before police could stop her, she made a flying leap over the dugout opposite third base, landing in the arms of a policeman. She was promptly escorted from the field. Two or three boys, later tried to scale the outfield fences, turning precariously on top, saw the cops and retreated back into the stands.

 The Beatles staged their third invasion of the US. Friday, between then and yesterday, their hotel, the Warwick in Manhattan, was besieged by hordes of screaming teenagers who strained police barricades and attempted to get at their heroes. Awaiting their arrival at the hotel on Friday, the fans swarmed over nearby cars to gain a better view, but the Beatles, by going the wrong way on a one-way street, managed to get to and inside the hotel, more or less unmolested.

 On Saturday, police outwitted the waiting admirers and got the Beatles out a side door and to rehearsal for last night's carryings on. Again and again last night, police at the edge of the bandstand gently slapped the faces of long-haired little girls who were collapsing in ecstasy at the sight of their heroes. More than 100 special officers lined the stadium and field and were backed up by a New York City Police contingent and 20 policewomen.

 Five hours before the Beatles arrived, more than 400 fans were in their seats warming up their lungs for the singer's eight o'clock appearance. In their midst walked two young men with anti-Beatles signs saying, “The Beatles are bush” and “Get off our infield, You hairy howlers”.  Their signs were ripped away in minutes.

When the Beatles arrived at 5:15 pm, the fans sent up a deafening roar. They surged forward against the police barricade, only to be pushed back by police. Police said that 115 youngsters suffered minor injuries such as fainting, bruised knees, elbows, and twisted ankles. During the frantic concert, about two dozen girls were taken to nearby hospitals.

At the end of the concert, some 25 teenagers attempted to get on stage, but were restrained. The Liverpool quartet jumped into a white ambulance waiting by the stage, which took them to their armored car outside the stadium.

 

The Beatles at Shea

 The Beatles:  It was 34 years ago today 

By Douglas Kalajian

The Palm Beach Post

August 15, 1999

    On Sunday, August 15, 1965, a fresh contingent of Marines poured into Da Nang, South Vietnam, and the National Guard poured into riot-ravaged Los Angeles. Both scenes became familiar in years to come. 

    The same day, thousands of Beatles fans poured into New York's Shea Stadium. There has never been anything quite like it since. There have been other concerts, even other Beatles concerts, but this one became a legend.

     Four years before Woodstock, rock and roll was still mostly indoor music.  Fresh-air concerts were the stuff of state fairs and small-town band shells. 

    Then the Beatles, or their promoters, changed all that when they picked this improbable site to kick off their second American tour.  Eleven cities in one month.

     Shea Stadium was the year-old home to America's most lovable, uncoordinated baseball team, the Mets. The stadium's acoustics were attuned to cheers, cat calls, and the jet roar from Kennedy Airport. An unheard of 55,600 fans, a full house responded by paying $4.50 for top-row seats and as much as $5.65 to get closer to their idols. Unused Shea Stadium tickets today are among the most prized of Beatle memorabilia selling up to $2,500.

     Mary Dellofano Fink of Lake Worth, then 18, had just started working as a telephone operator. She also managed a local rock band that had performed as a warm-up act when groups such as the Turtles and the Dave Clark Five toured Florida. That's how she met a photographer who covered the rock scene. He called to say that he could not only get Beatles tickets, but he could get them both into the group's dressing room after the show, 

    Fink cut short a visit to relatives in Massachusetts and took a bus to New York. This is how she remembered that night:

     "The stadium was overflowing. I was sitting in a folding chair next to the stage when the four mop-top guys entered into the blinding lights. The roar was deafening. It must have traveled a mile away as they were singing. I realized I was probably one of the few who could actually hear the lyrics. I'm positive the teenagers who were stuffed in the nosebleed sections couldn't, but they didn't care. After all, it was the Beatles.

     Security, police, and paramedics dotted the field. Fans were dancing, screaming, crying, and fainting. The insanity continued for 45 minutes.  Song after song brought the sea of teens to a frenzy. Ringo sweating. George shuffling. Paul bobbing his head, and John flashing that Cheshire Cat grin. I wish I had $1 for every girl who called out their names.

     Then, as quickly as it began, it was over. The fans looked as though they were more exhausted than the Beatles. They lingered in seats they hadn't used for the past hour.

     My friend and I proceeded to the dressing room. I was never the type to scream or cry, but I was definitely excited when we entered. They were already dressed in casual clothes. Although we were there only a few minutes, I was able to witness their dry humor and boyish charm. We shook hands, and I was overwhelmed. I don't think I said one or two words except 'hello.' I realized I was in the presence of greatness. I didn't have time to think. 

    Then they left, and so did we. As we strolled outside, a sprinkle of fans were still lingering, hoping for a glimpse. I should have told them 'the Beatles are gone.'"

It was like meeting the Pope

 

Thea Hoving with John Lennon

The Beatles with Tom Hoving

All photographs taken by Walter Darren

"It was Like Meeting the Pope"

The Daily News (New York, NY)

August 13, 1995

Seven-year-old Trea having lived the dream as the daughter of the man responsible for the Shea concert parks commissioner, Thomas Huffing. She got to meet John Lennon and the other Beatles backstage. Here's her story:

     I was scared to death. I remember walking to meet them and thinking, "This is like meeting the Pope." I have no idea why. Then, when I got there, I barely lifted my eyes. I was so scared. John Lennon was extremely cool. He had this wry sense of humor. Actually, that photograph being taken where I look like I have a major attitude, that was just the camera grabbing me at the right moment. In reality, I was completely scared.

     Paul McCartney, though, was totally adorable. He was trying to be really childish to open me up. It was very cute. I remember he scribbled something on the back of an envelope and was showing it to me. And when I think back on it, the image looked like it was a Blue Meanie, but that was way before the Yellow Submarine. 

    The whole time, George and Ringo were there, but they were in the back, sort of in the periphery.

     After that, I went out front with my best friend for the concert. My dad had gotten us great tickets, and the whole thing was electrifying. Even at the age of seven, I was aware of the importance of it. It was the first real mega concert. It was amazing. It was the coolest thing.

     Then these two teenage girls convinced us to let them sit in our seats, and we could sit on their laps, and they spent the whole time screaming. We thought that that they were crazy. I was in love with the guys in the band.

     After the show, my cousin, who hadn't gotten to go backstage, kept wiping my hands, trying to wipe all the Beatle-juices that had gotten on me. I still think about it all the time. I think I've probably had dreams of trying to lift my head up and have a conversation with John Lennon.  In my teenage years, I went to other concerts, but nothing was The same sort of rampage as that Shea concert. 

As the parks commissioner of New York City in 1965 Thomas  Hoving was the man who gave permission for the Shea concert. He took his family backstage to meet the Beatles. Here's how he recalls that day:

    I remember one thing very distinctively, and that was that after taking my daughter into the locker room, these four young men surrounded by press, press agents, and all sorts of people jumped up and ran toward me to thank me effusively for having them in this thing, all four of them. That sort of thing just doesn't happen. 

    Years later, when I was asked to testify for John Lennon when he was coming into this country, I relayed that anecdote from Shea Stadium. I said to the judge, "This is a man of great charm and politeness, and he ought to be allowed into the country." And the judge said, "How would you characterize him as an artist?" and I told him that "if he were a painter, John Lennon's work would be hanging in the Metropolitan Museum of Art."

     The other thing I remember from the concert was that we had suspected there'd be some rough stuff, so we built this huge proscenium over the pitcher's mound at Shea with an armored car underneath so that they could just jump down and escape if it got unruly. And it did get unruly. People started jumping over the barricade, and cops were tackling people, and I thought you could smell riot in the air. Fortunately, there wasn't one.

     With that photo, my daughter, I think, didn't wash her hand for at least 10 days and was gaining all sorts of prestige in school, but at the time, she was overwhelmed. It was one of the rare times in her life when she was struck dumb. The Beatles were so bloody sweet; it was a moment of great history.

The Beatles will help get the laundry done

 

Fans at Shea

 

Here we have a group of girls waiting to see The Beatles at Shea Stadium in 1965.   They are all wearing white shirts, dark skirts, and  orange armbands.  They must be in the same club or group.  Does anyone have any idea who they represent?  I love how many of them have bought their programs and have cameras with them.  What a great time capsule photo. 

Last Play at Shea

I love this throw back to The 1966 Beatles Shea Stadium show.  

 July 18, 2008 -  I remember this being a huge news story 15 years ago.   At the time, I was on vacation to (where else) Disney World in Orlando, Florida and I saw clips of the concert in the hotel room before I left for the parks.   It must have been an amazing night! 

The Beatles in Action on stage at Shea Stadium

 

The Beatles in Action on Stage at Shea Stadium

By Linda Joy

5 Bites of the Apple

July/August 1972

 

I have loved The Beatles ever since ’64, especially Paul.  I always wished to see them in person, even though I came from a small town in Connecticut.  In July ’66, I was looking through the newspaper and saw “Beatles Appearing at Shea Stadium …. August 23^rd!”  I thought, “oh Christ, I Gotta go!”  I called up my cousin, Cassie, and she wanted to go too.  So, I asked my mother.  She said, “You can go, but you have to earn your money to see them.”  No one would believe what I did.  I always hated housework – I cleaned everything!  Then I got this brainy idea to sell soda bottles down at the store.  So, my cousin and I loaded up a wagon of bottles, and downtown we went.  Everybody thought we were weird, but I didn’t give a shit because I wanted to see them!   We earned $12.00.  I sent away for the tickets.  We were waiting for weeks, and my father made the wisecrack, “Oh, they’re probably all sold out.”  Well, it was at the end of July when we got the tickets.  I was jumping up and down with rapture, saying, “I’m gonna see Paul!”  Enclosed with the tickets was a letter saying, “Here are your tickets.  Hope you enjoy the show.”  I was so happy.  I was crying.  All my friends envied me.  Then my mother stated that she didn’t want me to go to New York alone, being that I was only 14 then.  (I guess she was afraid of me being mugged or something).  I explained to her that I had to go, begging that I got the tickets already.  She said, “I’ll drive you and Cassie to New York.”  I nearly fainted! 

 

Finally, August 23^rd came around, and of course, I couldn’t sleep at all.  I work my mother up at 6 am, telling her that we must get an early start.  We all left around 10 am since my mother didn’t know where Shea was (She had never driven into NYC before).  On the way in, I was listening to WMCA, and all they were playing were Beatle songs.  My cousin and I couldn’t believe we were gonna see the “Famous Four.”  When we finally got to Shea, I let out a big scream.  I thought for a moment that my mother was going to crawl underneath her seat.  My mother told us that she would wait in the car, and so she parked it near the Stadium.  Cassie and I walked around.  We talked to some girls, and they told us that they were sleeping at Shea overnight!  We went back to the car and then 3 buses pulled up…shit!  I’ve never seen so many cops in all my life.  My mother even took my binoculars and stared at them.  My cousin decided to go in – it was getting around that time.

 

We entered, and an usher showed us to our seats.  But there was an older woman and her daughter sitting in our seats.  I told her politely that they were sitting in our seats, and she said we were crazy.  So the usher told us to sit 2 rows behind them, and I was swearing and pissed.  Then two New York girls said we were sitting in their seats.  Cassie told them what happened.  So I called the usher over again.  He thought we were insane.  So he led us to section 9 and told us no matter what to stay there.  Well, these seats were better than our own!  I couldn’t believe the huge signs all over the place. Some said: We love Paul too, George wave to us, Happy anniversary John and Cyn, Paul don’t’ marry Jane Asher, and one sign said “Paul Is Sexy” but the “Y” fell off!  Then finally the show started at 8 pm, and my heart was pounding and pounding.  Bobby Hebb came on first, then the Remains and Murray the K.  He told us the Beatles couldn’t wait to see us fans, and they love us all.  Everyone screamed…including me!

Then the Ronettes came on.  Everyone said, “We want the Beatles – Get off!”  Then Murray came on, and everyone sang “Happy Anniversary John and Cyn,” “Yellow Submarine,” and “We Love You Beatles.”  Then Murray said, “HERE ARE THE BEATLES!”  Everyone stood up – screaming and jumping up and down.  George and Ringo came out first, and I screamed “George! George!” Then John and Paul came out.  Paul was skipping and waving, and I really yelled his name!  Christ, did my throat feel that scream.  I was wondering if it were all a dream.  A few seats down, this girl had a book and she was banging it over her father’s head, screaming “Paul, Paul!”  Everyone around me was in complete ecstasy.  I looked at my cousin, and she was just sitting there.  Saying nothing.  She was looking at me in a disgusted way when I was screaming, but I didn’t care.  Nothing mattered.

Then Paul said, “May I speak?”  These two asshole guys in the back of me yelled, “No!” And they were yelling, “McCartney sucks!”  My temper couldn’t take that anymore, so I yelled, “Shove I up your ass, you b-----!”  Then these two other girls told them to cram it -well, they kept quiet.  Then Paul said, “I want everyone to sing along with me and clap their hands.”  All of a sudden, these two girls went through the barricades.  Paul and George were staring at them, and everyone was yelling, “Go! Go!”  The cops caught them.  When I was staring at Paul and his body through my binoculars, I noticed that he was winking at a lady copy, and she just turned her head.  My throat was so hoarse.  I thought I wouldn’t be able to ever talk again.  It was then Paul noticed the sign that said “Paul Is Sex,” and he said into the mic, “Oh girls.  I’m a male.”  It was finally over, and John yelled, “Goodbye, fans!  We’ll be back next year, so save your money, and we love you all.”  I was in complete shock.  We had to leave, and so we found my mother in the car, shaking, and the door locked.  I asked her what was wrong, and she said, “Christ. I never saw so many crazy kids screaming over them.  They were jumping up and down on my car, and I got scared.”  I laughed.  I asked my cousin to come with me to stand near the gate once more for a minute, and I couldn’t stop thinking of Paul and what happened. I could feel the tears running down my cheeks. 

To this day, people still envy me.  Yes, I was very lucky to think that was their last New York appearance.  But lucky to see the four most beautiful people who brought happiness to me and whom I love very deeply.  

Every fan made a sign

 

That Day at Shea

 

If you have seen the Beatles at Shea TV Special of the 1965 concert, you have the beginning where they show the Beatles getting ready for the show in the dugout.   And you see John pick up a baby sweater and hold it up (see the screenshot I made above).    And if you are like me, you have thought, "why is John holding a baby sweater?  Why was there a baby sweater backstage to begin with?"   Well, Beatle friends, I discovered the answer to that question in a 1982 issue of the fanzine Good Day Sunshine.  Once again, one of the biggest Beatles mysteries has been discovered right here on MTBFR. 

That Day At Shea

By Patty Saksa

Good Day Sunshine

December 1982

 

As I was reading a past edition of Good Day Sunshine, I was reminded in “Beatle News and Other Interesting Views” that 17 years ago, on August 15^th, I was part of THE concert at Shea Stadium.

That day dawned after weeks of anticipation.  As a 14-year-old girl, I thought the day would never come.  My friends and had saved our babysitting money to purchase our prized possessions – TICKETS – months before the show through Show Bus Tours.  What more could a Beatlemaniac ask for?

My friend Mary and I had decided that we would buy a present for Ringo and Maureen for their yet unborn first child and then somehow get it to him.  Again, we saved more babysitting money, and on August 12, 1965, we purchased an infant’s sweater set.  Having wrapped the present carefully in paper decorated with babies and flowers and with a letter included inside to Ringo, we held on to our gifts to go as the bus left Norwalk, Connecticut, at about 5 pm.

Beatlemaniacs of all ages were on that bus, singing songs and screaming as the bus converged with other Beatle buses onto the roadway to the home of the New York Mets.  As we drew near, someone spotted a helicopter, and immediately we hung out of the window, hoping that they would see us!  Our bus pulled in at 7:55 pm, and since the concert started at eight, a mad rush ensued to find our seats:  LOGE BOX – SECTION 7 – BOX 341B – SEAT 7.  Having located our seats (we agreed that although they were good, the seats at Forest Hills the year before were better), we tried to be patient as the music began.  From where we sat, we could see the dugout from where THEY would come!  On stage, Murry the K introduced his dancers, and then N.Y. DJ Scott Ross brought on King Curtis.

What? Isn’t that Mick, Keith, and Brian in the dugout?  There, look, Ringo just walked through followed by – oh my God – John!  Nobody was interested in what was going on on stage.  Mick started waving to the audience, and our screams drowned what music could be heard through the small speakers.

The WMCA radio Good Guys next introduced Cannibal and the Headhunters.  During their act, Mary and I decided to somehow get the present to Ringo.  Holding onto the gift, I told Mary and her younger sister Margie to just walk down to the dugout as if we belonged in that section – but we were separated.  There I stood at the dugout, present in hand, heart beating and knees shaking as policemen stood guard on top of the dugout – sentries to keep us from our Heroes.  Nervously, I asked one policeman to please give my present to Ringo.  He tried to tell me no one was in there (but I knew better).  I asked if he could give it to someone who could give it to Ringo, but again he said there was nothing he could do.  In tears, I screamed, “What am I supposed to do?  We spent all our money on this gift!”  Angrily, I threw the gift, and it landed on the field just outside the dugout.  Those around me cheered, and I floated on air, thinking I had come this close to meeting them.

We made it back to our seats just as Brenda Holloway and Sounds Inc performed.  Finally, the roadies brought their guitars on the stage, and screams rang through the stadium. Cousin Brucie then introduced Side Berstein, who introduced Ed Sullivan, who introduced The Beatles!  Alas, the rest is history preserved for prosperity in the film “The Beatles At Shea.”

Oh yes, our seater did make it to them!  In the film, John holds up the sweater!  Also, a few weeks later, I received a letter from a girl in Canada named Gloria, who found my letter in their room in Toronto.  We corresponded for a while – a treasured clipping from a Canadian paper forever captures John holding the sweater but unfortunately, through years and moves, her letters have disappeared.  However, the fond memories I have will never disappear.  Preserved in scrapbooks of used tickets, yellowing tape, and newspaper clippings of a time 17 years ago when I experienced that day at Shea. 

The second time at Shea

 

Harrison at Shea

 

Yoko at Shea Stadium

 

Someone met Ringo....

 

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

A photo with The Beatles

 

It is Shea Day!

 

August 23, 1966