Post by Jai Guru Deva on Aug 17, 2005 0:26:06 GMT -5
A bittersweet story of a girl named Georgeanna who got to meet the Beatles. The sweet part is a rare behind the scenes glimpse at the Beatles, the bitter part has to do with Mal Evans.
www.ourbrowncounty.com/0100s1.htm
_____________________________________________
My Life: Georgeanna's Unforgettable Tale
by Bill Weaver
1965. America is in the grip of Beatlemania and the four lads from Liverpool are in New York City beginning a tour of the United States. In Indianapolis, teenage girls have gathered to celebrate.
"We were having a birthday party," begins Georgeanna Slaybaugh. A gifted storyteller, Georgeanna keeps the room enthralled for nearly an hour with her tale.
"It was an overnight party and we were giggling and screaming, listening to the radio with all our Beatles stuff. They were staying at the Warwick Hotel and one of the girls dared me to make a phone call.
"I said, `My mom's going to kill me if I make a long distance phone call,' but I went ahead. The dare and the fun of the evening prevailed. I called the hotel operator and said, `Can I speak with Paul McCartney?'" Unexpectantly, they put the call through.
The phone was answered by a British voice. "I remember saying, `Is this John?' And he said `What of it, luv?' Then another voice came on the line. It was Mal Evans.
"Mal Evans had been bouncer at the Cavern Club in Liverpool. He was now the Beatles' road manager. He and Neil Aspinall handled all their equipment."
They were soon chatting like old friends. He was sorry that she couldn't talk to Paul but suggested she call back the next afternoon.
"I remember saying, `Do you just talk to anybody that comes through?' He said, `No, obviously not,' but that I seemed like a nice girl. He enjoyed talking to me.
"We couldn't sleep the rest of the night.
"Now it's Sunday morning. My parents are up and I tell them, `Mom, I made a long distance phone call to New York last night. I got to talk to one of the Beatles!'
"She's like, `Yeah, right!'
"`No, we really did make a phone call and spoke to John Lennon! Please, please, please, can I make another call, please?' I'm just begging her. And she said, `Sure.'
"At two o'clock I'm beside myself. I call the hotel and I ask to speak to Malcolm Evans. I get Mal on the line and in the middle of the conversation he says, `Are you going to see the Boys anywhere?' I said, `Yes, we have tickets to Chicago.' He said, `Why don't you stop by and see us after the show?'
"`Do you do this everywhere you go?' Even at my age I realized that it could be a real scary thing to do.
"He said, `We seldom ever get a chance to talk with a true American. It's always celebrities.'"
After attending the concert, "Believe it or not we were just going to drive home. But we're also saying, `We'll really regret it if we don't try.' It's the biggest mob thing in the world, thousands of screaming people and police. The lobby was jam packed with people.
"I go over to the desk, it takes forever to wade through all the people, and I said `Do you have a message for Georgeanna Lewis?' He handed me a piece of paper!
"When I call that number, unmistakably it's Paul McCartney and, it was like—If I die right now, it's okay. I've talked to Paul McCartney.
"I tried to act very calm, `May I speak to Malcom Evans.' He said, `Just a minute.'
"Mal comes on and says, `You made it! I'll come down and get you.'
"Not too long after that the elevator doors open and here was this huge, blond, good looking guy. He goes, `Come on!' I'm really about as giddy and knocked out as I could possible be and I said to Mom and Lucy and Patty, `We're going upstairs!'
"Put yourself in that context. The world is full of Beatlemania and you're a 16 year old nobody from Indianapolis and you're standing on the 6th floor of the Sahara Inn, and George Harrison is coming out a room walking towards you. To this day I can remember the sound of flip-flops because he was wearing thongs and they were flip-flopping as he walked. I said `Hello, George' and he said `Ello.' It was too much.
"It was just crazy. Music, party, laughing, joking, everything going on, everything crazy, and I look down and John Lennon is half out of the doorway, he's got a microphone and he's recording.
"We're all trailing behind Mal and a couple of security people. A door is open to one room as we go by and Ringo was walking up and down with his hands clenched and he's got on polka dot pajamas. My Mom is just frozen.
"We finally get down to the end room and Mal asked if we'd like something to drink. Now I'm a Beatles fan and I know what they like to drink so I look at him, all grown up, and say, `I'll have a scotch and coke.' I'd never drank in my life. I look over at my Mom and she's got this look like . . .
"Mal said at one point, `Which one of the Boys is your favorite?'
"Paul, I just think he's the cute as can be." We talked about their fan clubs, how big they were all across the world and I said, `Do you have a fan club?' He started laughing real hard. And I said, `Well you should!'
"I didn't care if anything else happened. I was happy. Mal said, `I'll be right back.' I sat down on the bed as the door opened and just like a flash, in comes Paul McCartney. The first thing he says is `Which one of you birds is starting a fan club for Mal?' And he started laughing. I looked around and said `Me?' And he said, `That is great. Mal, this is what you need.'
"I'm thinking, `This is Paul McCartney! He is so calm and laid back.
"He looked over at my Mom and stood up like a gentleman and said `Well, hullo, Mum.' He put out his hand and she shook it. He said, `How are you?' She goes, `You're cute but I like Ringo better.' He just about fell on the floor. He kept laughing and laughing.
"So he goes around and he made drinks for everybody. I told him that they were not what I'd expected because they were so funny and casual and polite.
"We stayed on, drinking cokes and laughing and talking. We'd go out in the hallway and there'd be John still doing his slithering snake bit. By now it's 4 or 5 o'clock in the morning."
Before leaving she and Mal exchanged addresses. "I thought, `That's not going to amount to anything.' But that Christmas I got a card from him, a really cute drawing. So I tried writing him. We carried on a correspondence for quite some time."
The next year Mal arranged to meet Georgeanna and her mother before the Beatles' concert in Cincinnati. He greeted them warmly, saying, "It's really good to see friends who are really friends!"
"We get to the hotel and Mal and I went upstairs. We were discussing the Beatles music, looking around this room, a beautiful suite, but he was apologizing that it looked a mess.
"`I haven't had a chance to get the Boys' things taken care of. You can't send things to the laundry, it never comes back. And I've got a press conference.'
"I said, `I'll take care of it.' And he said, `No, I hate to ask you to do this.' I said, `Mal, it's okay. Just tell me what you need.'
"This is another level," Georgeanna remembers thinking to herself. "I see all the underwear and all the dirty socks. They're pretty much all in the bags where they're supposed to be but the rest had to be put away. I opened the closet and there was four of everything. The Shea Stadium suits. The suits they wore to the concert. All lined up with their names on the hangers, shirts, everything they needed. Down to the boots, stacked up and ready to go.
"I thought, `I'm still a fan!' so I went through the pockets. And the only thing was that John had some Juicy Fruit gum. I'm looking at it like, `He'll never miss it.' But then again I thought, `It's just chewing gum and you've been so good so far. Don't do it.' So I stuck it back in his pocket.
"We went to the concert and had a great time. After we got home Mal and I still wrote letters."
"Now I'm getting older, I've fallen in love with Jack, I take longer and longer between letters. One day I'm thinking, `Dang I need to get a hold of Mal.' It'd been several years since we talked. I wondered how I could find his address.
So I thought that I'd go to a bookstore and get a book on the Beatles. I'm looking in the back and that's how I found out that he'd been shot to death."
Apparently Evans, depressed and fighting alcohol addiction after the breakup of the Beatles and of his marriage, had foolishly pointed an unloaded shotgun at two Los Angeles Police Officers. They shot him when he refused to put the gun down.
"I cried so hard I could hardly get back to work. I called my Mom and she asked, `What's wrong?'
"All I could say was, `How could I not have known that Mal was dead?'
Georgeanna Lewis married Jack Slaybaugh in 1973. "We both worked for the State Police. I had always been a city girl. It never occurred to me to live anywhere else. After several years of marriage Jack said we needed to find a place to buy."
One snowy winter's day, "He said, `I've found a house and I want you to see it.' Well, it took us forever to get there because the roads were bad with snow but I loved the house."
He said, "Guess where we are . . . Brown County."
"I'd always thought of Brown County as a million miles away. I fell in love with the place and we've been here since 1977. We love it."
Georgeanna packs up her Beatle memorabilia and prepares to take it back to the safety of its bank vault. But none of these items—autographs, Beatlemania trinkets, and letters—is as precious as her memory of a unique time, an unusual adventure, and a good friend.
www.ourbrowncounty.com/0100s1.htm
_____________________________________________
My Life: Georgeanna's Unforgettable Tale
by Bill Weaver
1965. America is in the grip of Beatlemania and the four lads from Liverpool are in New York City beginning a tour of the United States. In Indianapolis, teenage girls have gathered to celebrate.
"We were having a birthday party," begins Georgeanna Slaybaugh. A gifted storyteller, Georgeanna keeps the room enthralled for nearly an hour with her tale.
"It was an overnight party and we were giggling and screaming, listening to the radio with all our Beatles stuff. They were staying at the Warwick Hotel and one of the girls dared me to make a phone call.
"I said, `My mom's going to kill me if I make a long distance phone call,' but I went ahead. The dare and the fun of the evening prevailed. I called the hotel operator and said, `Can I speak with Paul McCartney?'" Unexpectantly, they put the call through.
The phone was answered by a British voice. "I remember saying, `Is this John?' And he said `What of it, luv?' Then another voice came on the line. It was Mal Evans.
"Mal Evans had been bouncer at the Cavern Club in Liverpool. He was now the Beatles' road manager. He and Neil Aspinall handled all their equipment."
They were soon chatting like old friends. He was sorry that she couldn't talk to Paul but suggested she call back the next afternoon.
"I remember saying, `Do you just talk to anybody that comes through?' He said, `No, obviously not,' but that I seemed like a nice girl. He enjoyed talking to me.
"We couldn't sleep the rest of the night.
"Now it's Sunday morning. My parents are up and I tell them, `Mom, I made a long distance phone call to New York last night. I got to talk to one of the Beatles!'
"She's like, `Yeah, right!'
"`No, we really did make a phone call and spoke to John Lennon! Please, please, please, can I make another call, please?' I'm just begging her. And she said, `Sure.'
"At two o'clock I'm beside myself. I call the hotel and I ask to speak to Malcolm Evans. I get Mal on the line and in the middle of the conversation he says, `Are you going to see the Boys anywhere?' I said, `Yes, we have tickets to Chicago.' He said, `Why don't you stop by and see us after the show?'
"`Do you do this everywhere you go?' Even at my age I realized that it could be a real scary thing to do.
"He said, `We seldom ever get a chance to talk with a true American. It's always celebrities.'"
After attending the concert, "Believe it or not we were just going to drive home. But we're also saying, `We'll really regret it if we don't try.' It's the biggest mob thing in the world, thousands of screaming people and police. The lobby was jam packed with people.
"I go over to the desk, it takes forever to wade through all the people, and I said `Do you have a message for Georgeanna Lewis?' He handed me a piece of paper!
"When I call that number, unmistakably it's Paul McCartney and, it was like—If I die right now, it's okay. I've talked to Paul McCartney.
"I tried to act very calm, `May I speak to Malcom Evans.' He said, `Just a minute.'
"Mal comes on and says, `You made it! I'll come down and get you.'
"Not too long after that the elevator doors open and here was this huge, blond, good looking guy. He goes, `Come on!' I'm really about as giddy and knocked out as I could possible be and I said to Mom and Lucy and Patty, `We're going upstairs!'
"Put yourself in that context. The world is full of Beatlemania and you're a 16 year old nobody from Indianapolis and you're standing on the 6th floor of the Sahara Inn, and George Harrison is coming out a room walking towards you. To this day I can remember the sound of flip-flops because he was wearing thongs and they were flip-flopping as he walked. I said `Hello, George' and he said `Ello.' It was too much.
"It was just crazy. Music, party, laughing, joking, everything going on, everything crazy, and I look down and John Lennon is half out of the doorway, he's got a microphone and he's recording.
"We're all trailing behind Mal and a couple of security people. A door is open to one room as we go by and Ringo was walking up and down with his hands clenched and he's got on polka dot pajamas. My Mom is just frozen.
"We finally get down to the end room and Mal asked if we'd like something to drink. Now I'm a Beatles fan and I know what they like to drink so I look at him, all grown up, and say, `I'll have a scotch and coke.' I'd never drank in my life. I look over at my Mom and she's got this look like . . .
"Mal said at one point, `Which one of the Boys is your favorite?'
"Paul, I just think he's the cute as can be." We talked about their fan clubs, how big they were all across the world and I said, `Do you have a fan club?' He started laughing real hard. And I said, `Well you should!'
"I didn't care if anything else happened. I was happy. Mal said, `I'll be right back.' I sat down on the bed as the door opened and just like a flash, in comes Paul McCartney. The first thing he says is `Which one of you birds is starting a fan club for Mal?' And he started laughing. I looked around and said `Me?' And he said, `That is great. Mal, this is what you need.'
"I'm thinking, `This is Paul McCartney! He is so calm and laid back.
"He looked over at my Mom and stood up like a gentleman and said `Well, hullo, Mum.' He put out his hand and she shook it. He said, `How are you?' She goes, `You're cute but I like Ringo better.' He just about fell on the floor. He kept laughing and laughing.
"So he goes around and he made drinks for everybody. I told him that they were not what I'd expected because they were so funny and casual and polite.
"We stayed on, drinking cokes and laughing and talking. We'd go out in the hallway and there'd be John still doing his slithering snake bit. By now it's 4 or 5 o'clock in the morning."
Before leaving she and Mal exchanged addresses. "I thought, `That's not going to amount to anything.' But that Christmas I got a card from him, a really cute drawing. So I tried writing him. We carried on a correspondence for quite some time."
The next year Mal arranged to meet Georgeanna and her mother before the Beatles' concert in Cincinnati. He greeted them warmly, saying, "It's really good to see friends who are really friends!"
"We get to the hotel and Mal and I went upstairs. We were discussing the Beatles music, looking around this room, a beautiful suite, but he was apologizing that it looked a mess.
"`I haven't had a chance to get the Boys' things taken care of. You can't send things to the laundry, it never comes back. And I've got a press conference.'
"I said, `I'll take care of it.' And he said, `No, I hate to ask you to do this.' I said, `Mal, it's okay. Just tell me what you need.'
"This is another level," Georgeanna remembers thinking to herself. "I see all the underwear and all the dirty socks. They're pretty much all in the bags where they're supposed to be but the rest had to be put away. I opened the closet and there was four of everything. The Shea Stadium suits. The suits they wore to the concert. All lined up with their names on the hangers, shirts, everything they needed. Down to the boots, stacked up and ready to go.
"I thought, `I'm still a fan!' so I went through the pockets. And the only thing was that John had some Juicy Fruit gum. I'm looking at it like, `He'll never miss it.' But then again I thought, `It's just chewing gum and you've been so good so far. Don't do it.' So I stuck it back in his pocket.
"We went to the concert and had a great time. After we got home Mal and I still wrote letters."
"Now I'm getting older, I've fallen in love with Jack, I take longer and longer between letters. One day I'm thinking, `Dang I need to get a hold of Mal.' It'd been several years since we talked. I wondered how I could find his address.
So I thought that I'd go to a bookstore and get a book on the Beatles. I'm looking in the back and that's how I found out that he'd been shot to death."
Apparently Evans, depressed and fighting alcohol addiction after the breakup of the Beatles and of his marriage, had foolishly pointed an unloaded shotgun at two Los Angeles Police Officers. They shot him when he refused to put the gun down.
"I cried so hard I could hardly get back to work. I called my Mom and she asked, `What's wrong?'
"All I could say was, `How could I not have known that Mal was dead?'
Georgeanna Lewis married Jack Slaybaugh in 1973. "We both worked for the State Police. I had always been a city girl. It never occurred to me to live anywhere else. After several years of marriage Jack said we needed to find a place to buy."
One snowy winter's day, "He said, `I've found a house and I want you to see it.' Well, it took us forever to get there because the roads were bad with snow but I loved the house."
He said, "Guess where we are . . . Brown County."
"I'd always thought of Brown County as a million miles away. I fell in love with the place and we've been here since 1977. We love it."
Georgeanna packs up her Beatle memorabilia and prepares to take it back to the safety of its bank vault. But none of these items—autographs, Beatlemania trinkets, and letters—is as precious as her memory of a unique time, an unusual adventure, and a good friend.