North vs. South views on the controversy (1966)

 

I have always found it interesting to read real people's reactions to John's Jesus Statement during the controversy in the United States.  I chose two different areas of the United States to share what people were saying.  The first article is from Wisconsin (in the north) and the second is from North Carolina (more in the south).  

They're Still Loyal To Beatles

By Clifford C. Behnke

Wisconsin State Journal

August 8, 1966

    If some teenagers in the United States are about to burn their Beatles records, it doesn't look like their counterparts in Madison are going to pitch the first disc.

     The Beatles' banning and burning began two weeks ago in Birmingham, Alabama, where two disc jockeys retaliated against Beatle John Lennon's remarks in Datebook magazine by instigating a ban on Beatles records on their stations and urging listeners to send in Beatles records, wigs, and other souvenirs for a big bonfire.

     Lennon was quoted as saying the Liverpool quartet now was "more popular than Jesus Christ, and that Christianity will vanish and shrink."

     "I think it's stupid to ban their music for something he said," freckled Jenny Sheahan, 15, said in Lennon's defense as she finished a Coke at King's Restaurant on the square Saturday afternoon. "I don't think he was right, but he's entitled to what he thinks," said Jenny, who saw the Beatles in person in Chicago last summer. "I think the radio stations know that the teenagers don't want the stations to ban the Beatles," she added. 

    Madison's two rock and roll stations, WISM and WMAD, which play the Beatles records, will continue to play the group's recordings. The stations are allowing their listeners to voice their views on the controversy over the air. Both report that callers are not in favor of a ban on Beatles music. 

    Janet Robey, 17, a clerk at Victor's Music Store on Capitol Square, said, "It was ridiculous to say what he did," but she also thinks a ban on the Beatles would be equally ridiculous. Janet added that she thinks some parents and teenagers who never liked the quartet are behind the ban movement. 

    Tom Forsythe, 17, who leaves for the Air Force today, agreed and said, "I don't think the ban is right." He was one of the few teenagers interviewed who liked the new Beatles single, "The Yellow Submarine", which was released last week. "It's an unusual sound for the Beatles," he said. The majority of teens said they disliked the new record, but not because of the recent controversy. It was too unusual to be readily accepted, according to most.

     Freckled and pert, Janice Nash, 16, said, "I still like 'em. I think John was joking around when he said it."

     Sue Fass, 17, said she doesn't think religious beliefs should interfere with their music. "I think that's two different things. Christ stands for religion, and the Beatles stand for something else."

     Peter Robinson, 14, a drummer in the four-piece Intrigues, a Madison rock-and-roll group, was not a big fan of the Beatles and was also against the ban. But he was critical of the quartet's drummer Ringo. "He doesn't change his beat from record to record."

     "I don't think people should take it seriously," said Camilla Carraher, 14, another customer at Kings. "It's just that they're in the public eye so much they have to be careful what they say," she said. "But I don't think John should have said it in public."

     A giggling Linda Young, 14, said they didn't mean that when they said that. "It's not their fault. If people listen to the records, it means people aren't paying as much attention to religion these days." Linda said she was ready to picket herself if Madison radio stations banned the music. 

    Blonde, blue-eyed Candy Lofton, 14, of Minneapolis, said, "The Beatles are not more popular than Christ, and they never will be." She attributed the group's popularity to their hair. Candy was lucky enough to see the Beatles perform in Minneapolis, but she didn't hear one note they sang because everybody was screaming. 

And the Beatles still are a scream.  Most teens are still loyal fans, and even the less enthusiastic throw cold water on possible Beatles bonfires in Madison. 

Beatles Battle:  Take It Or Leave It

No Writer Listed

The Salisbury Post (N. Carolina)

August 6, 1966

    You can just about believe what you want to about the Beatles controversy with so many different versions out. If you've been looking for a good excuse to dislike the Beatles, you have one now if you want it.  Or if you still want to remain a Beatles fan, you can do that too by saying that John Lennon of the Beatles was quoted out of context or whatnot.

     What is certain is that the whole incident has caused many local youths to reassess their sentiments about the singing group, as the short interviews indicate. What is perhaps most ironic is that some youths who could never have been swayed into disliking the Beatles by anything their parents or other adults could say have done so now on the basis of what a Beatles himself is said to have said. 

    The following paragraphs are some of the things carried in several newspapers about the controversy: "The furor was set off after a magazine article quoted John Lennon of the Beatles as saying the mop-haired group is more popular than Jesus. More than a dozen radio stations in North and South Carolina have dropped recordings of the Beatles from their programs because of what they consider a sacrilegious remark attributed to a member of the long-haired group.

     "Beatles manager Brian Epstein said John Lennon had been misinterpreted. When a newsman asked Epstein if he actually believed the Beatles were more popular than Jesus, he snapped, 'Of course not!'

    "'I do not think for one minute that John Lennon intended to be flippant or irreverent,' said Miss Maureen Cleave, whose interview with Lennon set off the wave of Beatles bannings in the United States. She continued, 'He was simply observing that so weak was the state of Christianity that the Beatles were to many people better known.'

     George Chun -- Zimmerman's employee -- Route 4, Moxville:  "Personally, I don't think they're more popular than Jesus Christ. I don't think they will outlive Jesus Christ because religion has been here since His time. Man has to have something to believe in and strive toward. This group, I think, is just a passing fancy. The long hair attracts the young ladies. I do like them as a group, although my favorite kind of music is progressive jazz. If anything, I think John Lennon was saying those things in that interview to cause more talk about the group."

     John Bulcher --radio announcer, salesman -- Route One: "I never really thought they would come out with a statement similar to the one they are credited with. It seems to me that they are condemning themselves. Lennon has used a comparison which I think is out of bounds. Our station doesn't play Beatles music by the Beatles, but by other groups doing their songs. Our musical format doesn't allow Beatle music by the Beatles anyhow, so we don't have to make a decision about whether or not to play them after this. 

    Danny Fisher -- Assistant Kenny's Manager -- Morepark:  "As I understand it, there's been a mistake in what he said. It's unexcusable if he did say it. What I think must have happened is that John Lennon said, referring to a few teenagers, that even the Beatles are more popular right now with some teenagers than Jesus Christ is. With just a few young people, I think he is correct. I don't believe the majority feel that way, though. I don't really believe Lennon said it, meaning what he did."

     Mrs. Eddie Nester -- store decorator-- North Main Street:  "I just think it's disgusting. They've got a lot of influence with young people, and he should have known it would cause a big controversy. Somebody like that ought to watch what he says. I used to like to listen to the Beatles, but not anymore. Nowadays, Johnny Mathis is about my limit. I don't have to worry about buying their records because, you know, you don't buy records after you're married. "

    Herman Hyman --smoke shop owner--Rutherford Street:  "I think John Lennon's statement reflects a kid carried away by his own popularity. I believe the kid is not one who doesn't believe in religion. I think he does. I also think he's sorry now. I don't think it's so much about possible financial consequences as about the fact that he has disillusioned so many youngsters and knows he cannot undo what he has done."

 Paula Hyling -- high school senior-- Birmingham, Alabama: "I like their music, but I don't like the things they have been saying. I have bought their records. I just don't believe the things they said are true. They must think they are so big now that they can say anything they want to and get away with it. I used to be a real fan of theirs; they have just kind of made me mad."

     Earl Smith -- fiber industry employee -- Route Four-- Moxville:  "I'm a Beatle fan, although I'm not crazy about their style, their hair, or their clothes. I think they are kind of overjudging themselves. I just don't think they're that popular. Younger people than myself are really the ones who have kept them in business to date. It's a fad; it will die out."

     Charlene Carscaddan - West Rowan, Southmore- Route Six:  "Right now, I don't like them. I don't think there's anybody better than God. I was a fan of theirs. I just like their music. Now, I'm not going to buy any more of their records. Period."

It's George and Ringo and 'Yesterday" Again...Almost (1971)

 It's George and Ringo and 'Yesterday' Again...Almost

By Bob Micklin

Newsday

August 2, 1971

    The right answer to why 20,000 of us jammed Madison Square Garden last night, and another 20,000 crowded the Garden yesterday afternoon, would be that we all really cared about what's happening to 7,000,000 refugees of a cruel civil war between East and West Pakistan. 

    The real answer is that most of us came to see half of what used to be the supergroup of all rock supergroups, the Beatles.  George Harrison and Ringo Starr performing together on a concert stage for the first time in six years. A backup band of super players such as high-priced talent as Eric Clapton on guitar, Leon Russell on piano and electric bass, Billy Presson on organ, Klaus Voormann and Jesse Davis on guitars, Jim Keltner on drums, and oh, those extra added attractions: Ravi Shankar and his classical Indian raga music as the opening act, and Dylan, Bob Dylan, the guest star of all guest stars, walked on stage about two thirds of the way through the evening, clutching his acoustic guitar, his harmonica strapped to his chest, joining with Harrison, Starr, and Russell, what had to be one of the great impromptu quartets in the history of rock concerts.

     Yes, that's why we were there. We knew that both concerts were charity events, fundraising sessions for those war victims. None of the musicians got a penny for his work. And after Shankar and his quartet of Indian virtuosos finished their opening set, grim movies of the plight of the refugees were flashed on two large screens over the stage. Yet few of us seemed to notice. We were too eager, too restless. We wanted to see those Beatles. Besides, we had done our part. The tickets were bought, and 40,000 people at two concerts meant at least $300,000 worth of aid for those tragic people whose images flickered on the movie screens.

     We were ready to be pleased. We expected one of the heaviest musical events we'd ever seen. We were not disappointed. It took us a while to relate to Shankar's hypnotic music, but Ravi told us at the onset that he expected that. "We are making no political statements," he told us. "We are artists." Shankar is a Bengali, and the Bengalis are getting the worst of it in the war. His fierce, terribly intricate playing revealed some of his feelings about that situation, and before he was through, his artistry had moved us, but Ravi knew what we really wanted. He finished his set in little more than a half hour and told us that he realized we were waiting to meet the Beatles. 

    They came out quickly: George in a white suit and orange shirt, carrying a white guitar; Ringo heavily bearded and dressed in all black; Clapton in faded denim, the rest of the band in casual attire. In addition to the featured side men, a band of seven horns and saxophones were on one side of the stage, a seven-voiced chorus on the other, a few guitar noodlings, and they were all into "Wah-Wah", one of Harrison's tough bluesy numbers from his hit solo album of last year, then into "My Sweet Lord", with Harrison on vocals and Clapton's whining guitar doing the obligato. We were enraptured. "Look at them", we said, and look at us listening to them. It's too much. We loved it, and when Billy Preston took the spotlight, we loved him too.

     But then there was Ringo. We knew from just a few bars of intro that he was going to do his hit song, "It Don't Come Easy." We cheered for Ringo sitting up there behind the band and pounding away on the drums in his simple Beatles style. We cheered his flat, unpretentious voice. It suddenly occurred to one spectator that we had really come to cheer, not to listen.

     Leon Russell. We were ready for him too. His sinister mustache, his impassive face, his long, long blondish hair. Leon Russell jumped into the Rolling Stones' " Jumping Jack Flash", blasting off with raw screams and taking us all with him on the excitement trip we had expected all the time. George returned us to the center. However, one of the nicest things about last night's concert was watching George Harrison. No matter who was playing, who was singing, George was the leader. 

    He followed Russell with a fine version of "Here Comes the Sun", played and sung quietly but with a gentle lyricism that was lovely. Scarcely missing a beat, he brought on Bob Dylan, and while the other musicians and singers left the stage, Harrison and Russell picked up guitars, and Ringo joined them with a tambourine, a magic moment. Dylan at the microphone, running down his classic songs. "A Hard Day's Rain Gonna Fall", "Blowin' in the Wind," "Mister Tambourine Man", "Just Like a Woman." While Harrison, Starr, and Russell provided the accompaniment. Dylan raised a clenched fist to all of us as we cheered him while he left the stage.

    The finale George back in the smoky blue-white spotlight to sing "Something", surely one of the greatest of Harrison songs. Oh how we cheered him as he and the others left the stage, to which they soon returned to give us a stomping version of "Bangladesh", a new Harrison song honoring the ambition of East Pakistan to establish a new nation, but that's not why we cheered. We cheered for the Beatles, or at least half of them, and for a beautiful concert. And then we filed out of Madison Square Garden into a sticky, humid New York City night, and we were happy.

Harrison and Friends Pack 'Em In (1971)

 Harrison and Friends Pack 'Em In

By Harry Davidson

Daily World

August 5, 1971

When it was originally announced that George Harrison would appear at Madison Square Garden on August 1, I knew I would have to find some way to be there. When the Beatles first burst upon the musical horizon in the mid 1960s, I was too young to be more than vaguely aware of their existence. Later, I became a part of the generation of youth which followed them. The Beatles led us into new, hitherto unexplored mediums of expression. That process found its natural extension in the George Harrison and Friends benefit for the refugees and victims of strife in Bangladesh, better known as East Pakistan. 

    10 hours before the tickets were to go, over 5000 young men and women were massed around the walls of the monolithic Garden. Under the circumstances, Garden officials wisely released the tickets for sale at midnight rather than at 10 a.m. the next morning. Almost 40,000 seats were grabbed up in the following several hours. 

    When Harrison walked on stage, the audience rose as if in honor of the era for which Harrison himself was in part responsible, which had catalyzed a new culture and lifestyle, and which had passed in many senses with the passing of the Beatles as a group. Perhaps the ovation would have been even greater if not for the act which preceded it. Ravi Shankar, the sitar player and motive force behind the benefit for his own countrymen, entranced the unusually respectful crowd with his music to open the concert. His recital, as he called it, was intended to make the audience aware of the pain, aspirations, hope, and joy of his people. If he was not entirely successful, my unaccustomed ear was often unable to appreciate the various subtleties of his craft, then the film clips portraying the suffering in East Pakistan more than compensated.

     Following the films, Harrison opened the show with "Wah Wah", in my opinion, the best cut on his million-seller three-record album. To my surprise, the live performance outdid the recording. On the other hand, it may have been because Harrison had brought together one of the most impressive combinations of artists since Woodstock, and even at Woodstock, the groups played separately, not at the benefit. Harrison's friends included Ringo Starr, former Beatles drummer; Billy Preston, the redoubtable keyboard man; Eric Clapton of Cream, lead guitar fame; Leon Russell, superstar pianist and mentor of Joe Cocker; Klaus Voormann, master European bass player; Badfinger, one of Apple Records' early group discoveries, as well as a host of others. 

    The ensemble then played Stars' hit "It Don't Come Easy", which was greeted with enthusiasm equal to, if not surpassing, the greeting to Harrison's music. Preston also did a piece, as did Clapton, and Russell overwhelmed the audience with his rendition of the Rolling Stones' "Jumping Jack Flash." Finally, Bob Dylan played the old ballads and songs. It was his first live performance in two years. 

    The concert ended with Harrison's recent smash hit single entitled "Bangladesh." One has to have known and loved the Beatles and everything that went with them, all the rumors, all the fads, and all the mania, to realize what 20,000 cheering fans felt at that show. One can analyze Harrison to death, his involvement with Eastern culture, his religiosity and spiritualism, or his music. But what one will conclude then just won't come close to what comes from living the music of the man, the surrounding myths and idealizations notwithstanding. 

    15 minutes after the benefit ended, we still stood clapping and cheering. The first-hand close-ups and official histories have yet to be written. The magazine and newspaper treatises have yet to see print. The commercial recording and the next album have about a week before they are to be released, and the premiere performance of the screen version has yet even to be scheduled. I only hope that the mountains of discussion, which the George Harrison and Friends benefit richly deserves, will better describe the occasion than I have. I think I got too involved.

Hard Night's Wait (1971)

 Hard Night's Wait

Newsday

July 23, 1971

Hundreds of young people, like Linda Gavaeff, waited and waited through the night at Roosevelt Field for tickets to Madison Square Garden for the return concert on August 1 by former Beatles George Harrison and Ringo Starr. And when the night was over, and all the tickets had been sold, there were still hundreds waiting. Only 70 tickets were allocated for sale at the shopping center. Sharon Durkin and Richie Walka were lucky. They waited 12 hours and walked away early yesterday with four tickets.

People Flood Ticket Office

Wire Reports

July 23, 1971

Madison Square Garden had to open its windows 10 hours early to accommodate 5,000 persons waiting to get tickets to the George Harrison benefit concert; many of them had been waiting in line since last Thursday. The box office opened at midnight Thursday, and by 8:44 a.m. 17,000 tickets were sold. The management decided to add a matinee performance for the August 1st benefit for 6 million East Pakistani refugees. A commercial ticket agency zipped through its 10,000-seat allotment in 83 minutes, starting at noon.

Night Vigil Net Youth Rock Tickets

The Herald-News

July 23, 1971

    With the determination echoed in a George Harrison hit, a group of youths camped out at Willowbrook Wednesday night so they might get tickets to see  The Sweet Lord of the Rock World.

     Tickets for former Beatle George Harrison's one-day concert at Madison Square Garden were to go on sale at 10 a.m. at Bambergers and Sears, and the kids had heard they were in short supply. Equipped with sleeping bags, blankets, and lanterns, they started arriving at the mall about 1 a.m. 

    "They were all very nice and polite to us," reported Willowbrook's security chief Justin Calatarci. "We felt sorry for them and decided that as long as they were orderly, we'd let them stay." 

     Calatarci said a total of 60 youths were scattered around the center's lot by sunrise. Some huddled on the grass, others curled up in cars. "Their only concern," he said, "was getting their tickets and going home."

     By the time the stores opened, the number of Harrison fans had swelled, and long lines at both stores' Ticketron counters kept the operators constantly moving. Within two hours, tickets priced from $4.50 to $7.50 were sold out. Bambergers reported 116 sales, and Sears, which experienced computer problems, sold 29.

     Was it worth the all-night vigil? One weary but happy young ticket holder was asked. "Hallelujah!" was her only reply.

A Starr is Shorn (1976)

 

A Starr is Shorn

By Record Reporter

Daily Record

July 20, 1976

    To put it baldly, Ringo Starr is a skinhead. Even actress Vivien Ventura can't help staring, and she's seen it all in her time.

     For Ringo has been shorn from head to chin, gone are his floppy locks, his mustache and beard, even his eyebrows. The new image is the result of bare-faced indulgence and a sudden whim. 

    The 36-year-old former Beatle explained in Monte Carlo, "I got sick of looking at all the fuzz on my face in the mirror, and decided to try something different." Now there's a smooth answer. 

    Ringo went on. "I went down to the local barber and told him to take everything off. You should have seen his face." You should see yours, Ringo. 

    He added,  "At first he didn't believe me, and he tried desperately to persuade me not to do it. Finally, he gave in. It was a long, long operation, but it's a great feeling to be hairless."

     Ever since the Beatles first hit the headlines, Ringo has been a top member of the Hair Suite set. Now he's not even on the fringe

Pop Star in Drugs Evil Warning (1986)

 Pop Star in Drugs Evil Warning

By Chris Logan

Coventry Evening Telegraph

July 17, 1986

    Pop star Paul McCartney warned young people today to stay away from the evils of drugs. McCartney, 44, who has been fined three times for drug offenses and spent nine days in a Tokyo jail, said youngsters would feel better if they avoided drugs, alcohol, and cigarettes.

     Interviewed on BBC's Breakfast Time, the former Beatles said, "I would warn people, particularly anyone who's getting into anything like heroin, which is a known killer, heavy alcohol, which is a known killer, heavy cocaine. Really, stay away from all of them quite categorically.

     McCartney, who once campaigned for the legalization of cannabis, then added, "I think cigarettes, alcohol, soft drugs, and so on, all up the line. Really, all of them are dangerous. The smarter kids are the ones who stay away from them."

     McCartney spent nine days in a Tokyo jail in 1980 after allegedly being found with cannabis on arrival at the city's airport. He has been fined for possessing the drug in Scotland and Sweden, and was fined in Barbados in January 1984 for possession. 

    McCartney told interviewer Selina Scott, however, that he has no regrets about taking drugs. "I am not going to stand up for or against it. I don't regret anything I've done in my life." But he agrees that pop stars should discourage young people from using drugs. He spoke as the government launched a £2 million  anti-drug campaign

Lennon and Ono Chased by Fans (1971)

Lennon and Ono Chased by Fans

Wire Reports

July 16, 1971

    John Lennon and his wife, Yoko Ono, were chased through Selfridge, London's largest department store, by a gang of screaming fans on Thursday. The couple had come to the store for Yoko to autograph copies of the paperback edition of her book Grapefruit.

     One thousand fans, most of whom seemed to be holding copies of the book, Beatles records, and photographs, set upon them as they sat in the book department. Fans followed them, screaming when they walked to the elevators for a luncheon party in the store. 

    At lunch, Mrs. Lennon said, "This is the first time I have been mobbed in Britain. Now I know what Beatlemania was like."

     The couple has a new record released this week, "God Save Us", and are working on a joint book.

     Lennon said, "I'm not at all personally sad that the Beatles broke up. I precipitated it before the public got tired of us. As individuals, we are now earning more than we did as Beatles. I have $24,000.00 in the bank. So has Paul McCartney. I hope Paul and I make friends again. It could happen when we are about 50, like Gilbert and Sullivan."

Macca's Searching for Gateshead Guys (1996)

Only photograph I can find of Paul when he was 11 years old.

 This story bring so many questions:  First of all -- did the Five Guys ever come forward?  Did Derek talk to any of them before he passed away in 1997?   Has Paul ever mentioned these story since this original telling?  And what project was Derek working on?

Macca's Searching for Gateshead Guys

No writer listed

Gateshead Post

July 18, 1996

    Five influential Gateshead guys believed to have had an unconscious effect in molding the success of the Beatles need to be traced for a new project. Derek Taylor, the Beatles' press officer since 1963, is currently trying to track down Five Guys from Gateshead who Paul McCartney recalls seeing in a talent contest at Butlin's holiday camp in Pwllheli, North Wales, when he was 11 years old.

     Paul remembers it was the way the Five Guys were dressed that impressed him so much, not their act. He said. "They all had on these little tartan flat caps with a grey crew neck sweater, tartan shorts, pumps, and white towels under their arms. They walked in a line across the pool and then had a good old swim. I noticed everyone's heads go,  'Who's that?' And in that second, a little penny dropped for me, and I realized the power of just looking something. They won the talent contest at Butlins that week, and you knew they'd win," he added. 

    Derek believes the visual impact the Five Guys had on Paul may have influenced the way that later the Beatles saw the strength in dressing the same way on stage. 

    Derek said he'd never heard Paul mention it before, and it only came up when they were all sat chatting about the good old days while putting together the Anthology. Derek said, "We need to trace them as soon as possible to fit them in our next project, which will be coming out later in the year." So if you are one of the Five Guys from Gateshead or know where to find them, get in touch with the Post.

The New Ringo (1971)

 

The New Ringo

By:  Adrania Grassi

Express & News

July 18, 1971

    If you want an interview with Ringo Starr, you have to play it his way. The former Beatles drummer won't talk about his past. He wants to build up a new image. 

    Now Ringo's in Rome shooting The Blind Man directed by Tony Anthony. Before the meeting on the set, the PR girl prepares you for Ringo. "He's extremely natural and unpretentious." That's what the PR girl says.

     The set is a Western town. At 1o'clock sharp, everyone breaks for lunch. There's a noisy little restaurant on the set for movie and production crew.  Ringo finally sits down at a table after washing his hands. He's taken off his heavy wool vest and the many little rings he wears for the part. First, he sends off his manager Mae to the bakery for his daily bread. He likes whole wheat, but the bakery's all out and sends a substitute. He lavishly butters it, then tops it with a great slab of Grier's cheese, and washes the whole thing down with white wine.

     But even with an empty mouth, Ringo doesn't have much to say. "I've been a vegetarian for 18 months, and my wife's been one for four years. I haven't noticed any change in my health," he says about the diet. 

    Then he answers a few questions about his career. "It's a challenge. I really have not acted before because I was never allowed to. I think playing a cowboy is every man's dream because it's a personality he thinks about in his childhood. At this point, I don't have to worry about being a hero in my hometown, but starting out as an actor, like trying anything for the first time, is difficult."

     For the role, Ringo has to learn to ride a horse and twirl a pistol. In fact, he still practices with the pistol, but he found the riding most difficult, especially with a big western saddle. He compares it to being on a rough sea. 

    "The whole role is a challenge for me," says Ringo. "I know how to make a funny face, but in this role, humor is out. I really feel hate and madness throughout my body. I'm deeply, deeply involved in the part."

     Ringo says he always wears a black opal ring, which is known to carry bad luck with it. He does it, he claims just to show how independent he is. 

    Definite future plans are unknown, but after The Blind Man is finished, he'll head back to London to cut a new album. About it, he says, "Obviously, you understand. They are all my compositions."

     There is no future movie plans either. "I am flooded with film scripts, but I haven't decided anything. First, I want to see if Blind Man is a success." The short lunch break is over, and Ringo is off to the set.

On the Trail of Duff Lowe (1981)

 Paul tells the story about the recording of "In Spite of All the Danger" in concert these days and mentions Duff Lowe and how he bought the record from him many years later.  Well here is when it all started, in 1981.  Back when fans only heard that there was a song with this title and the fact that the record was still around was a shock to everyone.   It is wild how the record was saved and was eventually released on Anthology 1, and now if you see Paul in concert, you are invited to sing along with them to this well-known song. 

On the Trail of Duff Lowe

No Writer Listed

Sunday Mercury

July 12, 1981

    Since the existence of the first Beatles record was revealed, the hunt has been on for the mysterious Midland stockbroker said to own the only copy. The record has been put up for sale at Sotheby's in November by a Mr. Duff Lowe, who seems to be lying very low at the moment.

     Mr. Lowe is reported to have turned down an offer of £5000 from Paul McCartney for the disc, which includes McCartney's first recorded composition, "In Spite of All the Danger." Sotheby's have predicted a sale price in five figures.

     But now Mr. Lowe is not taking calls from anybody, and I'm told he has had legal consultation over the problem of the copyright to the record. Tracking Mr. Lowe down proved difficult. Sotheby's wouldn't say where he was, nor would Paul McCartney's publicist and the stock exchange in Birmingham said they had never heard of a stockbroker called Duff Lowe. The only stockbroker Mr. Lowe in the Midlands, has been diled by calls from everyone, including ATV and BBC. He's Mr. William Lowe of Stock on Trent, and he would like me to tell you he is not the right one. 

    So where is the mysterious Mr. Lowe? I managed to find an actor called Arthur Kelly, who has the best possible qualifications for verifying the story. He was there when the record was made. 

    Arthur is best known to TV fans as Detective Sargent Chegwin, the sidekick of the hero in the Chinese Detective, and he has just finished making three episodes of Angels in Birmingham. But back in his youth, he was one of the Liverpool lads in the Beatles' early days. He went to the same school and was a great friend of George Harrison. In fact, Arthur had a chance to play with the Beatles when they were the Quarrymen, but he turned it down because he couldn't afford to buy his own bass guitar. 

    "It was hardly a recording studio where they made the record; more like a back room in an old house, like a corner sweet shop," Arthur told me. "They ran off this one single on the same sort of machine they'd have in a fairground for do-it-yourself records. It cost a couple of pounds. It got passed around, everyone in the group and their friends, and I remember having it for a week or so."

     Arthur remembered Mr. Lowe, who was there to play piano on the record. "He was in the same class as Paul. Duff was just a school nickname, and I can't even remember his first name. 

    "He was in the cathedral choir, and he seemed to be a bit posh. He could play classical music, so we used to think 'he's not really a rocker.'"

     Anyway, the record certainly does exist, and so does Mr. Lowe somewhere in the Midlands.

McCartney Tells His Fans Linda Stays in Wings (1976)

 

McCartney Tells His Fans Linda Stays in Wings

By Colin Dangaard

The San Francisco Examiner

July 11, 1976

    Paul McCartney wound up a block-busting tour of the US recently. A new $6 million minstrel.

     "I love it, I love it!" Paul said at the end of the Golden Road. "Before I came here, people were saying I was just another ex-Beatle, but now they've accepted that the new group these days is Wings. At last, the Beatles are history."

     McCartney also winds up a lot richer emotionally. He's sure he loves his wife, Linda, even if some of the fans showed they do not. "She got a terrific hate later letter this evening," He admitted. "Oh God! It was awful!"

     Said Linda, her arm in his, "I don't mind. I really don't. I just think it's silly for somebody to be involved with something they're not even living."

    Despite criticism from fans over Linda, Paul insists there was no question that she would be part of the group when he formed it 18 months ago. "Linda and I teamed when the Beatles split, and we've been making music together ever since. She was a natural for Wings, although she got a lot of flack, but now the criticism seems to be a thing of the past. Generally, people in the beginning did not want her. They would say, 'We don't like Wings, and we particularly don't like Linda.' Now, after a show, people don't say that. 

    "I think it works with Linda, and anyhow, I love her! And I put that down in writing. I commit my bloody self! I do." Then he said, "I don't know what it is about Linda and I. We never intended to hook up with a person and stay with that person forever. It's just the way it happened with us. 

    "Now we're always with our kids. We enjoy each other. We're not show business types at all, really. We may seem to be show business, but we're not. I see Liz Taylor and Richard Burton leaping around Africa and all, but we're not like that. We're not the party crowd. We like to sit at home, put our feet up, turn the telly on."

     He laughs the way a man does when he has just trucked 6 million new dollars to the bank, the gross from the Wings tour. 

    Then he adds, "But you never know, blimey, I don't know whether we're going to stay together. Neither of us knows if it's going to keep together."

     McCartney has no doubts about his marriage to Wings. "When you think about it," he says,  "the Beatles were together eight years before they made a record. Wings has only just started. We're still getting to know each other. 

    "I don't particularly want Wings to achieve the same stature as the Beatles. It's not what we're aiming for. We just want to produce good music, the type people like. If people like us as much as they like the Beatles, I'd be happy, but that's not our objective."

     Not since the last Rolling Stones tour has the US seen such sellouts. In Fort Worth, Texas, $8.50 tickets were selling outside for $50, and everywhere lines stretched and stretched, but, strangely, the crowds were not riotous. When Wings was due in Seattle, the police chief there immediately phoned his counterpart in Chicago, the city Wings had just left. He asked if 60 men would be enough to keep Law and Order at the concert. As a result of that conversation, he assigned 30. 

    The crowds were evenly divided between young married couples who remembered the Beatles tour and teenagers who came to look at a legend.

     Asked one more time if he thought the Beatles would get back together, McCartney mimicked the voice of Muhammad Ali and said: "The Beatles split in '69 and since then they've been doing fine, and if that question doesn't cease, there ain't nobody going to get no peace."

     This week McCartney begins a vacation, after which he will write more songs and plan another Wings tour.

Beatles Disappear on New Delhi Streets (1966)

 

Photo taken by Ringo Starr

Beatles Disappear on New Delhi Street

Associated Press

July 7, 1966

    The Beatles fit cozily in this land, where yogis try to walk on water, Astrologers control the lives of important officials, and where unusual attire is the usual. The usual Beatles' pandemonium was at the airport when they arrived, but this barely scratched the surface in India's sea of humanity. 

    The Beatles found during their two-day stay that once they eluded their relatively small band of fans, they could stroll about the capital's downtown streets with hardly a turned head. The Beatles slept until noon today and breakfasted in their hotel suite. A young Indian girl, Chitra Ramaswamy, who knew a hotel security officer, reached the Beatles' door and said later she was invited in while the foursome ate breakfast and shaved. 

    "Ringo had porridge, but said it was stone cold," The excited girl proclaimed to an envious crowd in the lobby. "Two of them were shaving, but I got all four autographs," she sighed as she held up a pad with the signatures. 

    The Beatles' stay in India seemed to make up for the rough time they had earlier this week in Manila, which apparently resulted from a misunderstanding of a performance for Imelda Marcos, wife of the Philippine president. 

    The Beatles' manager said today he and the mop-headed musicians were treated like animals in Manila's airport earlier this week. A statement issued by Brian Epstein, now in New Delhi, through the Beatles' London office said, "Some of the reports from Manila are utterly incorrect and false. The truth is, the Beatles, our road manager, and myself were treated like animals, kicked, punched, shoved, and humiliated by strong-armed men who were there specifically for our departure.

     "No invitation was received from the President's wife. The whole trouble was started by the promoters, and I shall consult my lawyer when I return to London."

The Rejection is Mutual (1971)

 

The Rejection is Mutual (Edited)

By Nick Kazan

The San Francisco Chronicle

July 11, 1971

This is part of a larger article about independent filmmakers in San Francisco in the early 1970s.  The part  about the letter filmmaker Bruce Conner received from John Lennon is of interest to this site, so that is the part I am reproducing.  

 

    Bruce Connor, who has a gentle face, stringy hair, and beard, describes himself as 73 years old and is hoping to move on from his home movies. "I want to make movies in Hollywood. I want to make technicolor epics in stereophonic sound."  He realizes he will lose some freedom, but seems to welcome the challenge. "You don't try to play canasta in a hard poker game."

     An example of how meticulous Connor is, and of the artistic freedom he will lose if he goes big, is a film called Looking for Mushrooms, which Connor shot in 1961 in Mexico. He cut the film from 15 to three minutes. Three years later, he added sound. In 1967, he heard The Beatles' "Tomorrow Never Knows", and re-edited his movie to fit that song. The film, which now lasts a little over two minutes, was six years in production.

     On its completion, Connor mailed copies to all the Beatles and asked John Lennon for a fan letter. Lennon replied, in part:

 Dear Bruce Conner, you don't know me, but I know you, and you are my fave rave, and I'd like a Fab Gear photo of you, and your family, and all your hogs, and cats. You must keep being such a world famous, and I'm not just saying that becaz you are so, as I said, known, and don't just think of me as some little, well, you know, CONNER MANIAC.  I'm a truly introverted admimmeror, and it's my sister what likes the monkees, even though you are old and hairy. I love you, even though you are married tell your wife not to worry, it's not a deep down mother-- greasy knicker kind of love, it's a warmhighkneeholdDaveClarkkindoftruebluesort of thing, John Lennon.

     "It was so weird", Connor said, "writing him and getting the letter, you know, trying to relate to these people who are in your life all the time.

     "After I got the letter, I suffered from an acute attack of Beatlemania; I got very drunk and sent John a gushy letter, and never heard from him again."

Beatles in Palace Lunch Muddle (1966)

John and Paul look tired and concerned, but the gentleman looking at the camera sure is happy.

 

Beatles in Palace Lunch Muddle

New Agency

The London Evening Standard

July 4, 1966

    The Beatles failed to keep an appointment with the wife of President Marcos of the Philippines at the Presidential Palace in Manila today because of a misunderstanding. Messages from the Palace and the British Embassy failed to produce the pop group. 

    Mrs. Marcos waited with her three children and 200 other youngsters for more than an hour before she told reporters, "We have no more time to receive them. We are also busy people." She added just before leaving the Palace music room that her children "Really like the Rolling Stones better than the Beatles."

     Paul McCartney today apologized in a radio interview on behalf of the Beatles for not turning up. "If she's listening now, you know, we're very sorry it happened," he said, "but it wasn't our fault."

     The Beatles press spokesman, Tony Barrow, said later that the group "Knew nothing about the appointment with Mrs. Marcos." He said that just after noon (local time), a call came from the Palace saying they were supposed to be there for lunch. "This was just impossible, because three of the Beatles were in bed at the time," said Barrow. President Marcos was to have lunched with the Beatles at the Palace.

     About 40,000 screaming and cheering fans watched the first of two performances by the Beatles in Manila today. Fire engines and ambulances stood by, but there were no incidents.

10,000 Beatles Fans Foiled in Manila (1966)

 

10,000 Beatles Fans Foiled in Manila

Associated Press

July 4, 1966

    The Marines, a helicopter, 25 motorcycle police, an armored car, and an airline pilot combined to avoid 10,000 Beatles fans at Manila Airport yesterday. The fans, many carrying pictures of their heroes, waited for several hours in the broiling sun for the group to arrive from Hong Kong, but when the Cathay Pacific Jet landed, it stopped at the end of the 1000-foot runway, almost a mile from the terminal.

     Then cars took the Beatles along the runway, escorted by motorcycle police, with sirens screaming and red lights flashing, and followed by two ambulances and an armored car. The armored car stood by in case the Beatles were mobbed and needed rescuing. The ambulances were there in case fans were injured. A helicopter directed the convoy to the gate which had the fewest fans. Tearful girls hurled themselves at the cars in the hope of stopping the convoy, but no one was hurt. 

    The convoy sped to the Philippine Navy headquarters on Manila Bay foreshore, where Marines stood guard. A seven foot launch took the Beatles out into the Bay. "It's safer for the Beatles out there than on shore," said Mr. Vic Lewis, a Beatles representative.

     The Beatles are to give two performances at the 100,000 seat open-air Rizal Football Stadium tonight. President Ferdinand Marcos, his wife, and their three young children were reported to be flying from the island of Leyte to see the show .

    Tomorrow, the Beatles are to take a KLM flight back to London. Before leaving Hong Kong, the Beatles said they considered their Japan tour a success, despite some anti-Beatles movement. "There was always some opposition," said Paul McCartney. 

    In Tokyo, the Beatles had been taken by car from their hotel to the aircraft steps. About 80 car loads of fans followed until police stopped them at the airport entrance. From midnight until the group left yesterday morning, the 1,000 police on duty turned away more than 2,000 teenagers under elaborate police guard.

     The group saw little of Japan. They said they enjoyed working before Japanese audiences, although they were "less responsive and more polite" than those in most other countries.

Imagine They turned down the Beatles! (1966)

Little Richard with the Beatles and the Chants

 

In 2024, I had the good fortune to hear Joe Ankrah of the Chants speak at a symposium in Liverpool 

Imagine, They Turned Down the Beatles!

No writer listed

Manchester Daily News'

July 2, 1966

    Said Alan Harding, age 21 one of the Liverpool Coloured Vocal Group, The Chants, "It seems fantastic now, but we brushed their offer politely aside. We thought the material we had was all right."

     The offer Alan referred to was a tape of new songs, and the offer was being made by the Beatles. That, as time in the pop world is measured, was relatively long ago, of course, back in 1962. The Beatles were big on Merseyside, being nationally beat was only just beginning to get into its stride, so the Chants' Alan, Edmond and Joseph Ankrah, Nat Smeda and Eddie Amoo could not really be blamed for their lack of interest.

     It happened at Liverpool's Cavern Club, where Paul McCartney had invited them after a chance meeting without hearing them sing. "When they gave a demonstration," Alan recalls, "The Beatles threw the chips they were eating into the air and came rushing over."

     The Chants got their first professional booking that night, and because they had no backing group, the Beatles offered to fill in. It was after that performance that the offer of the taped songs came.

     Since then, the Chants, who are appearing this week at Manchester's Piccadilly Club, have become a successful cabaret act. They have sung all over the country and have appeared in Germany, Belgium, and Spain. 

    There's only one dark cloud on the otherwise happy career of the group, who are five of Bessie Braddock's favorite people. ("They're terrific!" she says.) The Chants have never made the charts. Said Alan, "We still have the ambition, but material is always a difficult thing for vocal groups to come by."

     And that tape the Beatles offered? "We never even listened to it, for all we know, the songs may have been some of the biggest hits they ever had." 

George Harrison is Felled By Mystery Illness (1976)

 George Harrison is Felled By Mystery Illness

No Writer Listed

San Antonio Express News

June 27, 1976

    Former Beatle George Harrison may have to be hospitalized following a mystery illness in which his weight plunged dramatically.

     At first, doctors thought 33-year-old Harrison was suffering from food poisoning, but treatment failed to clear up the complaint. Now they've warned him that if he doesn't recover soon, he will have to check into the hospital for further tests. 

    At present, Harrison is resting at his luxurious Riverside home in Henley-on-Thames, England. Friends and business acquaintances are claiming there is nothing seriously wrong with him. They admitted his illness was bad enough to stop him working in Los Angeles and fly back to Britain, but they said Harrison has returned to England to begin work on a new record album. But sources at the studio said so far, no recording has been done. 

    The head of Harrison's record company, Jonathan Clyde, dismissed the rumors by saying, "It was a very small stomach bug. As a result, he has lost weight."

     Part of Harrison's trouble is suspected of being caused by his diet. He is a vegetarian and refuses to eat meat. 

    In Los Angeles, doctors were apparently concerned with Harrison's weight loss and put him on various vitamins. The spokesman for Dark Horse Rutgers, which Harrison owns in Los Angeles, said, "At first it was thought the trouble had been caused by food poisoning. The doctors thought it necessary to drain poisonous fluid from his body." The spokesman said George was put on various vitamin pills, but they did not appear to be helping. "He has been working very hard, and the doctor has warned him he will have to go into hospital if this continues."

The Girl Who Pesters Me (1971)

Paul and Heather on the farm in June 1971 

 I am posting another story about the incident between Paul and Carolyn Mitchell.  And again, I am going to remind you all to be kind about what you say because Carolyn has been known to visit this site.   Reminder: This occurred 55 years ago—this didn't just happen.  Carolyn was a 24-year-old girl and was finding her way in the world.   She did a reckless and stupid thing by going to Paul's farm in Scotland.  She deserved to be treated poorly by Paul.  Whatever Paul said to her was justified.  

However, many fans at that time came to the UK from America and other countries to see the Beatles and ended up staying for an extended period.  No one would ever have told Lizzie Bravo she was a crazed stalker, and she did the same thing -- she came to the UK from Brazil and lived there for many years to see John Lennon.  As an adult, Carolyn has admitted that she was in the wrong.  She regretted all her actions.  And yet I know that many of you will say in the comments how she was a crazy stalker.  You will insult her and lump her in with John's murderer because she made a very bad decision 55 years ago.  

At the end of the day, Paul and his family were not hurt, Carolyn came to regret the entire ordeal, and it is part of the history of the time.   

I recommend anyone who wants to read about Carolyn's time in the UK as a Beatles fan to locate her book, All My Lovin' 

The Girl Who Pesters Me

By Alisdar Buchan

Daily Record

July 2, 1971

    Former Beatle Paul McCartney spoke bitterly yesterday of the girl fans who still make his life misery.

     In particular, he spoke of a 24-year-old American girl called Carolyn Mitchell. Carolyn is a tall blonde Mormon from Salt Lake City, Utah. She is also a Beatles fanatic who has shadowed the group's ex-members for two years, and she also happens to be accusing Paul McCartney of breaking her finger and making her nose bleed. 

    Carolyn claims that her former idol assaulted her as she sat on a hill overlooking his farm at Campbellton, Argyle.  But Paul, 29 denies the attack. He says that Carolyn left unharmed after he had told her bluntly to go at the farm yesterday. 

    He said, "For years now, I've been asking her politely, pleading with her to leave me and my family alone. She refuses to recognize that I am married with a family, and when I saw her sitting looking down on us, that was the end. This time, I told her to go away, and not politely.

     "I admit it, I was rude. You've got to understand, when you tell girls like her to push off, it's as though you had jilted them. Maybe she would have liked me to assault her. Obviously, when I told her to push off, something snapped.

     "The words I used were very rough, but there was no rough stuff. Whatever happened must have happened after she left here."

     When he spoke to me outside his farm high in the hills above Campbelltown, Paul denied that he did not want to speak to any of his fans.  He said, "I don't mind fans, but I object when they become fanatics, you know, the movie scene where you look out the window and see the spy in a trench coat under the lamppost? Then the next night, then the next night after, until you start to go psycho? Well, that's what it's been like for the past two years.

     "There are one or two girls like this. I have one who writes all the time from America, like she's my wife. She calls herself 'Paula McCartney'. She writes and says, 'I got the money', and 'Thanks for the new record', and 'I will be over when I can'.

     "Look, I don't mind talking to genuine fans. There were a couple of American girls here recently, and they were okay. We had a very nice, friendly talk together."

     The millionaire idol of millions explained how he had changed the direction of his pop career and his attitude toward young girl fans. "It's all right for Tom Jones doing that bit at the end of his act, where he goes and shakes hands and kisses the girls in the front row, but I have made it clear that that's not what I want to do.

     "I haven't been part of that for over three years. Even if I wanted to go around making love to other girls, which I don't, I couldn't. I am married with a family, and I'm very happy."

     Yesterday, Carolyn, who says she came to Scotland for a holiday, described her two years as the Beatles' number one fan. She said, "I know and have spoken to all the Beatles. At first, Paul was very friendly, but now he just won't speak to me.

     "I came over to England two years ago to be near the Beatles. I've seen them at Apple HQ and at their homes. I was never invited in, but spoke to them at the door," she said.

     She added, "Since Paul got married, he has changed completely. She (Paul's wife, Linda) has changed him. She's very possessive."

     Then Carolyn, who was writing a book on the Beatles from a fan's point of view, told of the walk which ended her liking for the Liverpool pop star. She said she had not gone to Campbelltown with the intention of speaking to Paul. She added, "I had gone up to the farm next to Paul's and sat on the hillside watching him farm from a distance. Paul came out of the house and drove up in his Land Rover. He jumped out and began shouting and swearing. I don't remember much about what happened, but my nose was bleeding, and my hand began to swell."

     A Campbelltown police spokesman confirmed that a complaint had been made and that a report would be sent to the prosecutor's office in due course,

Riot Set Off by Beatle Fans in W. Germany (1966)

 

Riot Set Off By Beatle Fans in W. Germany

Reuters

June 27, 1966

    Thousands of rioting West German fans of the Beatles turned the heart of Hamburg into a battlefield Sunday night as they broke windows, threw tear gas bombs, and caused traffic chaos. Police reinforcements with dogs and loudspeakers barricaded streets around the hall where the British pop group was performing, while ticketless fans roamed the center of West German's largest city. 

    Appeals for the teenagers to clear the streets were met with a chorus of yells, and police began drenching them with fire hoses. Fans replied with tear gas bombs, and police eventually moved in with dogs and nightsticks to disperse the crowds during the riot.

     Teenagers smashed store windows in an elegant shopping center, broke streetcar windows, and tore down trolley wire contacts. An official said 40 youths were arrested by late evening. 

   By late evening, the city was quiet again as police vans patrolled the streets. The Beatles are at the end of a four-day tour of West Germany

Japan Threatens to Trim Beatles (1966)

 

Japan Threatens to Trim Beatles

UPI

June 24, 1966

    There may be a plot afoot to shear the Beatles when they come to Japan next week. Japanese ultrarightist groups upset about the Beatles' six day visit starting June 28 have sworn they will shave the singers' heads "at the risk of our lives."

     The right-wingers are angered at the scheduled use of the Tokyo Budokan Hall by the Beatles for their five concerts. The hall was built especially for the Judo competition of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, and there has been a great deal of public opposition to the appearance there of the Liverpool Quartet, but the hall, with a seating capacity of 10,000, is the only building the Beatles would agree to perform in, and the public, rather than face the wrath of 50,000 teenagers, gave in. 

    The right-wingers, however, have not given in, and although the police department is not saying so publicly, the extremists are one of the main reasons 3,000 policemen have been assigned to protect the Beatles and keep order during their tour. The anti-Beatle right wing says the group is a sign of the decadence of Western society, and a reason the communists are doing so well in Vietnam. 

    Bin Akao, the leader of the Greater Japan Patriotic Society, which has distributed 300,000 leaflets and over 10,000 Beatles Get Out posters, told UPI, "There is a strong mood among the right-wing parties to shave the Beatles' heads and send them home looking different." He said he personally did not think that any rightist would succeed in getting to the Beatles or in sabotaging their performances, because "The Tokyo police are too well prepared. The right wing has been marked by the police, "he lamented, "and I don't think there is any possibility of approaching the Beatles, even if someone wanted to". However, he would not deny rumors published by Japanese magazines that there is some sort of plot in the works.