Playing in Sydney

November 9, 1975

Paul and his family relax by playing drums at Palm Beach in Sydney during a day off from the Wings tour. 
 

Welcome to Sydney

 November 6, 1975 - Sydney, Australia 

It's Trying Talking to the Beatles in a Crowded Room

 

It's Trying Talking to the Beatles in a Crowded Room 

By Marie Knuckey

Sydney Morning Herald

June 14, 1964

    Meeting the Beatles at their Sydney press conference was almost like being caught in the thick of a football match, but it wasn't the Beatles' fault.

     While surging groups carried one backward to be holed in the spine by a camera, a rush forward meant being jabbed in the face by four or five microphones, and every so often, one came face to face with a pair of photographers, feet perched on a table previously in among the glass of beer.

     The Beatles seemed almost the only amiable and reasonable beings present, and they retained their unruffled amiability to the end. They are attractive, quietly spoken, sensible, and intelligent young men. Too quietly spoken for a press conference like Thursdays, where as soon as you got near a Beatle, the microphones did a war dance between you and your Beatle and a camera looked over your shoulder.

     Not that the radio men ever misjudged their distance, but it took time to acquire faith in their judgment as the sneaky black mics shot from mouth to mouth so swiftly. 

     To start, the Beatles were enthroned on a semicircle of purple seats on a dais, with all frontal access to them cut off by a table bristling with mics. The first 10 minutes were given over exclusively to the photographers. After that, the journalists were supposed to have their turn, and finally, the radio men. But when the 10 minutes ended, the football match began in earnest, and everybody charged their nearest Beatle.  Faces and notebooks pushed through the four semis bodies leaned at excruciating angles over the backs of the purple padded seats, and I discovered everyone in the room was taller, broader or heavier than I.

     Only a very small percentage could speak to the Beatles, and not many more could hear the words of Beatle wisdom being uttered in reply. I had just gotten within speaking distance of Beatle George when someone demanded a replacement, and John and George had changed places. John had no sooner reached us than it would be decided it would be better if the Beatles moved out into the crowd. So we all started from scratch again, surging toward the nearest Beatle.

     I never did get to talk to George. I was within inches of it several times, but each time, someone whirled him around to face a camera or a microphone shot between us, and like the waves of the sea, the crowd surged into the gap. However, I was imprisoned beside Beatle John for some time, and once in grave danger of knocking him over when there was a violent push from behind.

     I also got to talk face-to-face with Beatle Paul.  In the intervals, I caught snatches of conversation disembodied answers that floated through the smoke haze from different corners of the room.

     I gathered that John doesn't like being away from his wife. A fortnight's all right, but he couldn't stand more than a month away at a time. That Jimmie Nicol couldn't live on 36 pounds a week, that John sometimes worried if there would be anything left over after he paid his income tax, that Paul used to read plays, and that Juliet Greco is one of his favorite film stars.  That John had no intention of deserting England for America. He liked America, but he likes England better. America was exciting, probably too exciting to live in. 

    But George, well, all I know about George is what I've read in the newspapers. However, someone luckier than I, who did talk to him, said George is a poetical Beatle. 

    "What is your financial position at the moment?" They asked John. "I asked my accountant just before I left London, and he said to me, 'Doan't Vorry,' replied John. Paul was asked if he would like to be a promoter when the Beatle craze died down. He said "no," but he would do something connected with show business. "Wouldn't you like to be an Epstein?" called someone. "No," said Paul, "I'm no good at sculpting"  Nobody laughed. "I made a joke.," said Paul sadly. When he thought about an answer, he usually put his finger to his mouth. He wears two watches, one showing Greenwich Mean Time and one showing the time of the place he is in. Sometimes, he took time off to make funny faces at the thrusting microphones.

     Occasionally, a broadcaster thrusts his own face toward the mic to reel off his network, usually a string of stations as resounding as a Beatle fan yell and stretching from here to Perth. "Give us a message for your  fans in Perth." "Paul, a message for Australia."  Paul smilingly obliged. Paul said he intended to buy a car. "What kind?" asked a reporter? But didn't wait for the answer. Patiently, Paul tried to tell what kind of car he wanted to buy. Then he gave up, announcing, determinedly, "I've got a joke. What's red and comes out of the ground at 100 miles an hour? An E-type carrot!" This time, he got his laugh, but mostly, it was a grim business.

Dad Got These Two Beatles Taped

Dad Got These Two Beatles Taped

By Bill Rogers

Liverpool Echo

June 30, 1964

     Because his children dared him, a Liverpool man out in Sydney, Australia, got past the Beatles security guards and to prove to them that he had done it, he brought back taped messages from both Paul McCartney and John Lennon. 

    The man who carried out this exploit is Kenneth F Williams, who used to live at 6 Agar Road, West Derby. His father, Mr. William F Williams, is retired from the Liverpool City police force after 24 years in the A and G divisions.  Kenneth was in the Navy as a sick berth attendant. On demobilization, he opted to remain in Australia. He married there and settled down. Before the Navy, he had worked in Liverpool's Adelphi Hotel. 

    But about that break through the security wall.  The details, I'll omit, in case any of our daring Liverpool youngsters decide to try it too. Kenneth's three children, Robert, 14, Barbara, 12, and Trisha, 10, had dared him to. "Go on, Dad, why don't you get the Beatles on tape?"  So he turned up at the hotel carrying his tape recorder, but it looked as if it might be easier to try getting into a bank vault with all those burly cops on duty.

     He tried going up in the hotel lift to The Beatles' penthouse, but that failed. His next ruse was to try to get into a press conference, but again, no dice. Eventually, by a bit of fluke, plus perseverance and bluff, he got himself a seat beside Paul McCartney during a TV interview. Once he had his knee under the table, so to speak, it wasn't difficult to get his taped message. 

    He told Paul and John that he had come out to Australia from West Derby and that his three kids were dying for an interview. He got it. Paul said into the microphone, "Hello, Bob, Barbara, and Trisha. This is Paul speaking." John was more talkative. He said, "This is John of the Beatles, Bottles, and Boodles saying 'hello' into your dad's gold-plated tape recorder. Hope you're okay and hope to see you soon."

     And the kids just had to believe the interviews were authentic because they had actually seen their father getting them on television.

Having a great time in Sydney

 March 1, 1993 

Ringo and his Koala (part 2)

 June 14, 1964 --  Ringo arrives in Sydney will his new koala bear friend still with him.  He is showing off his passport because Ringo was able to leave England without it.   He had forgotten to get it and someone went back to his passport from his house.   Because he was a Beatle, he was allowed to fly to San Francisco without having a passport!  That would never happen today.  

Waiting in the Rain

 

Ringo Down Under

This article is from the March/April 1983 issue of The Write Thing

Ringo and Barbara flew into Sydney (Australia) on September 28 (1982).  They had come specifically to record a TV interview with Michael Parkinson for the "Parkinson in Australia" talk show.

All three commercial TV networks featured the arrival on their 6 pm news and I saw Ringo signing quite a few autographs and posing for photos for fans. 

The Parkinson Show aired on October 9th.  There were three guests on the one hour show -- Ringo, Barbara and Glen Sharrock (former lead singer with Little River Band).  Ringo and Barbara were on the set for the entire show.  Sharrock came on about 2/3 way through.

Parkinson introduced the show with a montage of Beatles film clips set to "Love Me Do" in celebration of that song's 20th anniversary of UK release.

Ringo was n fine form coming out with great one-liners and not taking a minute of the interview seriously.  Parkinson asked, "When did you (Beatles) first realize that you were something special?  Ringo: At birth!

When Barbara answered that she hadn't seen any of the Beatles films.  Ringo chipped in, "No matter how many times I put them on."

A little known fact emerged when Barbara was asked about her children.  Her son Johnny is normal mentally but has deformed legs.  Barbara explained that he is soon to have an operation which they hope will straighten his leg bones.

Parkinson mentioned that both he and Ringo had been asked by the Variety Club to donate items to be auctioned for charity.  Parkinson said he was donating one of his books and asked Ringo what his contribution would be.  On the spur of the moment, Ringo whipped off one of his socks, paused to sniff it -- "Ah, roses...!" --and offered it to Parkinson.  When asked about the other sock, Ringo replied, "only if you donate another book."   The deal was made and off came the other sock.  Parkinson suggested the money gained from the auction should go to spastic children welfare groups, much to Barbara's approval.

The show ended with Ringo being coaxed into performing with Sharrock and his band.  They launched into "Honey Don't"  but Ringo's nervousness got the better of him.  He refused to sing and dropped a drumstick twice.  As the song finished, Parkinson led Barbara over to the band to do the thank-yous and close.  The band then went into an encore of "Honey Don't."  This time forming a medley with "Blue Suede Shoes."  Ringo had relaxed by now and settled down to his drumming, enjoying himself, even singing along here and there, as Barbara danced around his drum kit.

It was originally reported that Ringo and Barbara were to stay in Sydney only for four days before leaving for the U.S.  But I recently heard they had a brief holiday on Heron Island in the Great Barrier Reef the following week.  They must have been talking with George!

In an article in an Australia newspaper, Ringo's current home life and future plans were discussed:

"Last October Ringo and Barbara moved back to Britain where they live in a 26-room Berkshire country house.  His return to England marked the end of a six-year tax exile for Ringo.  And he admits that the move from California is costing him a fortune in taxes.  But he says, it is worth it.

"I feel safe and comfortable in England, and Barbara loves Europe.  I've spent six years traveling around the world, and never stopping for more than five weeks in any one place.  After a while, it's no fun.  I bought the house in 1970, while I was in exile.  I didn't own it, but I have it back now.  Barbara and I have changed it and it's a warm, loving place to live. 

Now there are rumors that Ringo may play the lead role in a film turned down by Adam Ant.  The movie is "Yellow Beard" and scripted by the former Monty Python writer Graham Chapman and is a comedy about a pirate.

June 20, 1964 -  Sydney

What are they doing to Betty?

June 19, 1964 -  Sydney

John in Sydney

The Beatles and the girls

The one part of the story of the Beatles in Australia that I haven't written about is what allegedly occurred between the Fab 4 and the female fans in the hotel room after the concerts.    It has been said that the Beatles had their fair share of relationship with young ladies, especially during the first world tour.    There is a sketchy tale of four beautiful "older" women (as in early 20's) dressed in elegant gowns seen going up the stairs to the Beatles suit late one night in Melbourne.    There are other stories of a woman who used to brag at parties that she had sex with all four Beatles in one night.   John Lennon spoke about this during the "Lennon Remembers" interview in 1970.   He said, "The Beatles tours were like the Fellini film “Satyricon.” We had that image. Man, our tours were like something else, if you could get on our tours, you were in. They were “Satyricon,” all right."

Fellini's Satyricon was a film that was released in 1969 and was full of orgies and wild sex.   I guess John had seen that film not too long before the interview and thought, "that was what our tours were like in 1964!"    Only those who were there know for sure just how wild they were.   John goes on to say,  "Wherever we went, there was always a whole scene going, we had our four separate bedrooms. We tried to keep them out of our room. Derek’s and Neil’s rooms were always full of junk and whores and who-the-fuck-knows-what, and policemen with it. “Satyricon!” We had to do something."    Was John exaggerating a bit?   I am not sure---I know that the Beatles did not always have four separate bedrooms on the tours.  And lastly, John said "There’s photographs of me crawling about in Amsterdam on my knees coming out of whore houses and things like that. The police escorted me to the places, because they never wanted a big scandal, you see."      Well---this has been a mystery to me since I first read this interview.   Photographs of John crawling on his knees in Amsterdam?    Where?   Has ANYONE out there ever seen such a photo?       Again---not that I am doubting that John and the others didn't have flings with a lot of girls on these tours, but I just think that John is making things sound a bit different than they really were.


While there were many, many girls on the tours, a few things surprise me about this.   The first is that there aren't ANY paternity suits from babies that were born in March of 1965.    The Beatles had sex with all of these girls during this tour and not one single girl ever claimed that she was pregnant by one of the Beatles or Beatles associate from a wild night during the tour.     The only Beatle to ever have a paternity suit thrown at him was Paul---one from a girl in Germany and another from a girl in Liverpool.    The second thing is that with one exception (which I am getting to), none of these ladies have came forward in the past 50 years to sell their "wild night with the Fab 4" story to a tell-all book or tabloid magazine.    Things have been usually quiet on this topic.   In one of the interviews I watched, one of the girls from Paul's birthday party was asked about getting together with the Beatles and she short of chuckled and said something about how that was a long time ago and not worth talking about now.    I understand that these girls now have families of their own but if you slept with one of the Beatles, surely it can't be THAT embarrassing 50 years later to admit it. 

There is one exception.  One woman has been brave enough to step forward and admitted to having sex with John Lennon and having a wonderful night in Sydney, Australia in 1964.   That woman is Jenny Kee.    I first heard of Jenny Kee when I read Albert Goldman's book, The Lives of John Lennon.  (No--I do not recommend that book).   Since then she has told her stories on a few interviews over the years and she story has never changed.     So here is Jenny Kee's story:

Jenny sits next to John Lennon on July 1 in the press room in Sydney

Jenny saw the Beatles perform during one of the concerts in Sydney.   She was determined after the concert that she and her friends were going to go back to the Sheraton hotel and try to meet them.   It wasn't an easy task because there were guards and police lined up everywhere.  Jenny had met a fan club member who told her an idea on how to meet the Beatles.   The plan was to get into the lift and start pressing all of the buttons and eventually the lift will jam and the Beatles will have to use the stairs.    So that is what they did.   The saw when the Beatles' car was arriving from the concert and started to push all of the buttons in the elevator until it jammed.   Then they ran up the stairwell and saw the Beatles making a run to the 8th floor.  The girls were very pretty and all were in fashion school.  Jenny was wearing tartan suit with leather trim and leather boots as well as big round sunglasses.   John looked at Jenny and said to her, "Come up for a party."

Jenny was just 17 years old and she knew that her mother would be worried about her staying up late.  So before she went to the party, she called her mum and told her that she was going to a Beatles' party.  Her mom was also a big fan of the band and thought it was fantastic that her daughter was invited go to a party with the Beatles!   As Jenny says, "She was very naive.  I mean did she think I'd go and sleep with john Lennon?  I don't know about that.  But she was so happy for me."

By then the lift was in working order again and Jenny and the girls got inside where they continued up to the 8th floor.    They were stopped by a wall of police officers.  In the crowd was Derek Taylor who motioned to them to follow him and took them to John and Paul's hotel room, where the party was held.   There were several young adult girls and everyone was just hanging out and chatting.

According to Jenny, there was an obvious chemistry between her and John.   As the night wore on, John said to her, "You should stay here."   She said "yes."   Jenny says that John was only the 2nd man she had ever slept with, and he treated her very kindly.   John was funny and the two of them laughed all night.  Jenny made him sing to her.  She was wearing contacts and he showed John how to put them in and take them out.  John made her feel comfortable and it was a fabulous night.   According to Jenny, "I don't think he had been with an Asian girl before.  He was very aware of it.  He was quite excited by it."

Vicki, one of Jenny's friends got to kiss Ringo Starr and then her parents came and picked her up from the Sheraton.   All of the girls they knew hated them  because Vicki got to kiss Ringo and Jenny got to "really be with" John.

Vicki decided that the two of them would try to see the Beatles one more time as they were leaving Australia on July 1, 1964.   The girls went to the airport and saw that the Beatles were riding around in a Rolls Royce or a Bentley with an open top and waving to everyone.   Vicki and Jenny found a little path along the side and somehow they got on the tarmac.  John say Jenny and yelled out for her to go into the press room.  The two girls went running and once again were faced with a wall of police officers and once again Derek Taylor came to the rescue.  He came out to find Jenny  because John had told him to go find "The Chinese Dragon Lady."   They got into the press room and they were able to spend five hours with them before they left for England.

Jenny moved to England after meeting the Beatles and her time with John and say John out with his wife, Cynthia at the Speakeasy club.  John recognized her and said, "Ah, I remember!  Australia, contact lenses, great night!"

50 years later, Jenny recalls John by saying, "Looking back on that really cool, sexy young guy, John Lennon--I just feel so privileged that I could spend that one night with him because the rapport was genuine.  That is what will live with me forever because I think he was one of the greatest men in the world."


  Resources
Lennon Remembers:  The Rolling Stone Interview with Jann S. Wenner  (1971)
The Lives of John Lennon by Albert Goldman (1988)
The Beatles in Australia:  An interview with Jenny Kee (2013) Youtube video
When the Beatles Drove us Wild (video documentary) (2014)

Leaving for New Zealand

When the Beatles boarded the airplane in Sydney heading to Wellington, New Zealand on June 20, 1964, they posed for photos with a giant stuff Kiwi Bird made by New Zealand disabled servicemen.

On the flight to Wellington, George and Ringo met a 5 year old girl named, Kaye Peebles.  Kaye and her family were flying to Wellington from Adelaide to visit family.   The stewardess was having little Kaye help her out by handing out sugar candies to the passengers.   When she got to Ringo and George, George asked he if she was going to give him a kiss.   The little girl gave a loud, "No!"   Of course this was pretty funny to everyone on board.   I wonder what Kaye thought of this encounter when she got older.  

Here is a story written by Kaye's father:(with much thanks to The Gilly)
"It’s 1964 and our family of four is returning to Australia after visiting grandparents in New Zealand. We climb on the 28 passenger Fokker Friendship and take our seats. Many eyes are turning to the back of the plane. There is an excited murmur through the passengers. "That’s the Beatles" someone whispers.

The aircraft vibrates and rattles into the air for the trip to Auckland. With much craning of necks for a view the plane crosses close to the volcanic peaks of the central North Island. 

As the plane starts its descent into the airport the airhostess asks our five year old daughter Kaye if she would help give out the wrapped boiled lollies to all the people on board. This helps to unblock the ears caused by altitude changes.

At the rear of the plane Kaye shyly offers lollies to John, Paul , Ringo and George. As George takes his sweet John says to Kaye “Go on give George a kiss”!! Kaye steps back, coyly shaking her head. George says “She loves me NO!NO!NO!” paraphrasing the Beatles’ hit ‘She loves you Yeah!Yeah!Yeah!’

The true 5th Beatle

On their last day in Sydney, the Beatles posed for some photos for the press of them with a large stuffed kangaroo, which was a gift from a fan.     It made a some really cute photos of the guys in Australia.  Can you imagine if you were that fan who gave them the kangaroo?    Step over Brian, George M., Pete and Jimmie....the stuffed kangaroo is the true 5th Beatle.  The cuteness factor alone makes him the winner.  (although that little koala bear George has is cute too). 

Sydney concerts

Photos and memories of the Beatles' concert in Sydney, Australia.   The set up in Sydney was different than any other venue because the stage rotated!   So while the guys were performing, the stage was slowly going around.   That is sort of a neat idea and at least everyone got a chance to see the boys. 

"I was there at Sydney Stadium on the night after Paul’s birthday to see them perform. I won tickets to see them through a newspaper contest. I had to take my cousin with me as none of my friends were allowed to go … It was the greatest night of my life." – Denise, aged 14 (at the time)

"I too was there at the Beatles concert at the Sydney Stadium. I was 13 at the time & was with 2 older teenage girlfriends & the younger sister of one of the girls (my friend) so 4 of us girls all screaming like crazy (& standing on the backs of our seats for a better view of them on the revolving stage). We backed up & went to the Sheraton Hotel the next day to scream underneath their balcony. When the Beatles drove out we managed to throw a pack of Chocolate Peppermint Patties into John's lap in the back seat. I will never forget these moments".--Joollz Bodhikeeper 

"I was recording for EMI records at the time. I was just a kid of 14.  I might have been a professional singer who had a little career, but I was still a teenager.  So I just got truly sucked up in the atmosphere and the ambiance.  Before I knew it, I was standing on my seat screaming and loving every minute of it.  I couldn't hear much, but I really like it.  Afterwards the EMI representatives took me backstage to meet the Beatles, which was really lovely.  I remember them being very polite.  I thought they really were working class young gentlemen."  --"Little" Pattie

"I was at the later concert.  My mother was there with my little sister.  Look, honestly we didn't hear them.  'Please Please me,' 'She Loves you'-- we never heard those songs.  We were just so busy screaming.  I just thought that John was looking at me every time the stage went around."  --Jenny Kee

''My brother kept telling me I couldn't scream,'' ''And after three songs, he said, 'You can scream'. And I screamed myself hoarse.'' --Roslyn Forrest

"I won two tickets to the Beatles' show at Sydney Stadium  in a Lifebuoy soap limerick competition, even though I had forgotten to include the two empty soap packets required for entry.But lo and behold, two tickets arrived in my letterbox addressed to me.  I couldn't believe it! The seats at the June 18 concert  were close to the Beatles but hundreds of hysterical girls rushed to the front, blocking my  view.  And I remember thinking, "I can't hear a thing, I can't see a thing, but we are here.   After the concert and when the crowds had died down, we went down and picked up a jelly baby from the stage, thinking this is amazing, it might have hit one of the Beatles."  --Pauline Baylis

For sale in Sydney

Mad Mel's Beatle scarf

"Mad Mel" (Mel Potts)  was an 18-year old from Canada  who was a disc jockey.   He was known for wearing over-sized glasses and honking a loud horn on the air.   In 1963, he moved down to Australia and was one of the "Good Guys."    He was a typical radio jock from that era, with zany on-air antics and playing a lot of great music.   He was a hit with the teenagers. 

That is Mel up in the corner with the huge glasses.

One night on his radio program, Mad Mel suggested to his listeners to do "something Australian" for the Beatles like knitting them a giant woolen scarf.

Fans from all over Australia sent in rectangle pieces of a scarf in all different shapes and color.  Some of the pieces had faces, names, guitars and maps of Australia on them.   50 school girls got together after school each day and sewed the scarf together into one long scarf.   It was said to be 8128 feet long and had 11,765 pieces.  Mel made a 14 x 32 foot card that had the names of all the fans who contributed a piece of scarf.

Sydney school girls Linda Flax, Leone Lucas, Tracy Gillings, and Kate Hopkins work on sewing the scarf together for the Beatles.

Mel wanted to present the scarf and the card to the Beatles in person.  This would have been a ratings booster for his radio station as well as would have made him look like a Beatles hero to the fans.   However, Mad Mel was rejected by both his own radio station and the tour organizers in his repeated requests to present the scarf to the Beatles in person. 

This did not stop Mel.  He was determined to get that scarf to the Fab 4.   So Mel took over the elevator control booth on the roof of the Sydney Sheraton Hotel and waited for one of the Beatles.   He spotted Paul McCartney in the hallway and stopped him.  He told him about the fans sending in the scarf pieces and the 50  fans who worked so hard to sew it together.  Paul invited Mel to go to the Beatles hotel room.  

Mel was able to present the scarf to all four of the Beatles and reported that the guys were "knocked out" by the scarf.   Because of this, the Beatles personally chose Mel to be their #1 DJ in Australia and he was able to get exclusive interviews with the Fab 4 before other disc jockeys.    The Beatles really took a genuine liking to Mel (maybe because he was young) and when they saw him in a year later in Canada, they wished him a happy 19th birthday and spoke about the famous scarf.

The scarf was used for some photos taken by various magazines and newspapers on Paul's birthday.

The Beatles thought the scarf was neat, but they weren't sure what to do with it.   John even says in an interview, "We're not sure what to do with that scarf."    I do know that they Beatles had it in their hotel room.   I found an awesome photos of two girls who are related Bob Rogers, in the hotel room with Paul, Ringo and George with the scarf.    I emailed the person who posted the photo to ask if I could have permission to share it with all of you.  I never heard back from her, so sadly I can't share it.  But it is really a great photo.  One of the best I have seen in a long time. 


Mad Mel ended up keeping the scarf when the Beatles went back to London.   If you read Wikipedia about this, you will read that the scarf was sold in a Christie's auction in 2009.   Well, I looked into that and I found out that it was organically listed in the 2009 Christie's auction, but was pulled from that auction and was never sold.    So I am unsure what happened to the scarf right now.  It sure would have been a great addition to the "Beatles in Australia" exhibit that has been showing the past year in Australia. 

Photo from the originally Christie's 2009 auction listing.