The Fab Four in Big D — 1964
by Paula Bosse
The Beatles at Memorial Auditorium, Sept. 18, 1964 (click for larger image)
by Paula Bosse
The Beatles came to Dallas fifty years ago this week. There was pandemonium at Love Field when they arrived. There was pandemonium at the Cabaña Hotel when they got there. There was pandemonium at the press conference. And there was pandemonium at the concert at Memorial Auditorium on September 18, 1964, the last date of their American tour. This event has been pretty well covered over the years, but here are a couple of cool photos of the Fabs’ time in Dallas, and a couple of droll columns from DFW entertainment reporters who seem to be vaguely amused, vaguely annoyed, and vaguely impressed — all at the same time.
Above, the Dallas press conference, with Beatles press agent Derek Taylor (holding microphone), manager Brian Epstein (who, still in Dallas, would turn 30 the following day), and road manager Mal Evans (with glasses). And a Dallas cop (who, over the years, must have told a thousand people about this momentous day).
*
Below, the always-entertaining Elston Brooks of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram writes about his “Harried Talk With Hairy 4” (click article for larger image).
FWST, Sept. 20, 1964
*
The Dallas Morning News’ man-about-town, Tony Zoppi, enlisted the aid of a teenager to explain to him the nuances of Beatlemania. His opening paragraph is pretty good:
It was Mardi Gras, V-E Day, the Texas-Oklahoma excitement and The Alamo all rolled into one — only louder. It was the Beatles, winding up their American tour deep in the heart of Texas. It was Dallas playing the role of uninhibited host to the hilt. (“The Beatles Do It, Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!” by Tony Zoppi, DMN, Sept. 19, 1964)
*
And lastly, the short scattershot interview by Bert Shipp of Channel 8:
***
Sources & Notes
Top two performance photos of The Beatles at Memorial Auditorium by Ferd Kaufman (the one of Ringo is GREAT).
Photo of the press conference by John Mazziotta.
More photos of the Dallas visit can be seen here.
And a nostalgic look back at the Beatles’ visit can be read in Bonnie Lovell’s entertaining Dallas Morning News essay, “50 Years Ago the Beatles Played Their Only Dallas Concert” (DMN, Sept. 19, 2014) (no longer available online apparently) — Bonnie was there in the thick of it as a Beatle-crazed 13-year-old and was one of the lucky few who had a ticket to the show and got to see the boys shake their mop-tops in person.
Click pictures and articles for larger images.
*
Copyright © 2014 Paula Bosse. All Rights Reserved.
Flashback : Dallas 
Figures the Startlegram had the best writeup of this event. The writers and editors of the era failed us miserably in their documentation of youth culture…
LikeLike
Ha. My favorite example of this were the reviews for the movie “Bonnie & Clyde” — FWST loooooooooooved it; DMN hated it (links to the reviews are at the bottom of the page): https://flashbackdallas.com/2014/05/23/shooting-of-bonnie-and-clyde-1966/
LikeLike
I remember when the Beatles came to Dallas back in ’64. I was 8 years old and I kept thinking “The Beatles are only 60 miles away from me right now.” It was a huge event.
LikeLike
It must have been an exciting few days!
LikeLike
[…] Dallas can be found in the Flashback Dallas post “The Fab Four in Big D — 1964,” here. (It’s interesting to note that two important people in the orbit of the Beatles celebrated […]
LikeLike