Brett 

Beatlemania Changes Adelaide Forever

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Here’s one for the Beatles Fans….

I was doing a night of house sitting in a very expensive townhouse on the outskirts of Adelaide many years ago. This framed piece of red cardboard was on the wall, so I took it off and snapped a quick pic. It was signed after the Beatles had partied with the occupant on 13/6/64.

I was in awe at the time actually holding this unique piece of musical history. I have never been tempted to steal anything before…until now! (but of course I didn’t). Man, I would have loved to be in the room at that party. It was after the Centennial Hall gig in Adelaide (which Ringo did not play at due to tonsilitis- but was still at the party).

I imagine this memorabilia would fetch a pretty price on EBay now:) – with all four Beatles signing the poster. I believe I have worked out who the actual owner is after wondering about it for 15+ years, and I recently was in contact with the person in question……what a buzz!

After researching this event, I found this extract from a London based blog

“It was incredible — the only trouble was the Beatles never bothered to rock up.”
They had far better distractions to keep them occupied. Except for the concerts, the lads — including Ringo’s stand-in Jimmy Nicol — never left the beds of their hotel rooms at the South Australian Hotel, which stood opposite Parliament House, where, by all accounts, over a couple of hard day’s nights, the sexual revolution was in full swing.
Francis had the room along from the Beatles and gained a full insight of the goings-on. “They were all lovely polite boys, but I’m not claiming there was one angel among them.
“The girls were literally climbing up the drainpipes to get at them.”
One girl in particular pushed her luck further than most for an audience.
Francis was the only person allowed back stage at Centennial Hall in the Beatles’ dressing room before the four shows.“When you think of the demands of rock-bands and celebrities these days the place was an embarrassment — not that anyone complained,” he says.
“The room had just five chairs in it with a few bare light bulbs around the sides and hadn’t changed since they built the joint in 1936.”
There was one unexpected luxury, though, when a girl dressed in a South Australian Hotel maid’s uniform knocked on the door holding a tray with four mugs and a silver coffee jug on it.
Francis immediately recognised the maid as a girl who had been asking him for weeks to get her an introduction to the Beatles. “I ended up telling her she had no chance of meeting them. It just wasn’t going to happen. And here she was — I told her, ‘You little bugger.’
“Well she came in handing out coffee and after I told the lads about her they chatted away and she left with all their signatures.“I’d love to know who she is and if she’s still around. How brilliant would it be if she’s still got the autographs?”

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