My husband Tom and I just returned from touring “Ladies and Gentlemen…The Beatles!” (June 13, 2015 – January 10, 2016) at the LBJ Presidential Library here in Austin, Texas. This fantastic traveling exhibit focuses on the years 1964-1966, when the British rock band landed in America and took the world by storm.
While some of the memorabilia in the museum was standard Beatles fare – clips of the Fab Four performing on the Ed Sullivan TV show, photos of George, Paul, Ringo, and John running from the ceiling to the floor,
George Harrison
Paul McCartney
Ringo Starr
John Lennon
videos of fans being interviewed,
Interviewer: Do you have Beatlemania?
Female Fan: Yes, but we don’t know why we act as we do.
“Love Me Do,” the Beatles first single, was released on Oct. 5, 1962
there were still plenty of choice nuggets to be discovered among the trove, including this “Love Me Do” 45 RPM record, signed by all 4 Beatles the day after it was recorded.
Included were John Lennon‘s first pair of granny glasses.
John Lennon 1967
The centerpiece of the show was one of John Lennon’s beloved Gibson guitars.
John Lennon’s Gibson Guitar, 1962. John Lennon bought this electric-acoustic, Gibson J-160E guitar at Rushworth’s Music House in Liverpool, England, soon after the Beatles signed their first recording contract with Parlophone Records. The guitar cost £161 (approximately $450). Lennon used it on several famous Beatles recordings from 1963 to ’64, including “Please Please Me,” “She Loves You, and “A Hard Day’s Night.” The guitar made a limited appearance in Austin (June 13-29).
While we’re talking about John, here is a lock of his hair he bestowed on a British fan, signing his autograph with ‘love from “Bald” John Lennon xxx.’
John Lennon’s autograph with lock of hair
Featured was the original Ludwig drum head Ringo played on “The Ed Sullivan Show.”
Ringo’s drums
At an oral history booth, I made an audio recording of my personal recollections of the Beatles. I was nine years old when the Beatles made their first appearance – live – on the Ed Sullivan Show. It was August, a Sunday night, and a hot one. I grew up in South Texas, in the days before air conditioned houses. Our casement windows were cranked open.
When the Beatles debuted with“All My Loving,” the teen-aged girls in the audience went wild, screaming. Then we heard screams in the neighborhood. The next door neighbor children were screaming as they watched the performance.
The Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show. Feb. 9, 1964
Instead of playing house, my sister Loise, my neighbor, Katie, and I played a variation on that theme that we called “Beatles Wives.” We pretended we were each married to a Beatle and were waiting for the men to come home. We would get dressed up and plan the (imaginary) dinner we would serve them. I thought I was Jane Asher (Paul’s girlfriend at the time), as I was “married” to Paul McCartney.
My mother loved the Beatles as much as we children did. She would put one of their records on the stereo and we – my mom, my sisters, my neighbor friends, and I – would hold hands and dance around and around in a big circle in our living room. The album, “Beatles 65,” was a favorite.
Back at the LBJ exhibit: At the entrance, there was also a huge wall map of the United States pinned with ticket stubs for Beatles concerts.
In 1966, $4.50 bought you a ticket to a Beatles concert – in this case, the Beatles’ last official concert – at Candlestick Park in San Francisco, California. Their 11-song set included hits such as “She’s a Woman,” “Day Tripper,” “I Feel Fine,” “Yesterday,” and “Paperback Writer.”
(l. to r.) Paul McCartney and George Harrison perform at Candlestick Park, San Francisco, in August of 1966. This was their final official performance. They were burned out and complained that the fans were so loud they couldn’t hear themselves playing their music.
One wall case was devoted to Beatles products sold by Woolworth’s department stores: Beatles bubble bath, bobble-headed dolls, “Build a Beatle” kits, Beatle lunchkits, record holders, and rings.
Bobble headed Beatles
I saved the best for last. Here is a song written in longhand by Paul McCartney.
This is an early draft of the song, “What You’re Doing,” written by Paul McCartney with help from John Lennon, 1964. During their first U.S. tour, the group rested in Atlantic City, where McCartney tossed this draft in the trash. It was retrieved by a maid and given to Atlantic City concert promoter George Hamid.
Our tour ended with a photo op of Tom and me walking across Abbey Road.
Tom
Me
Readers: For more on the Beatles, click here.
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