#1964ustour

[the-cosmic-empire]

A set of autographed magazine pictures, dedicated to Barry Dresner, the son of Buddy Dresner who was the policeman assigned as the Beatles bodyguard when they came to New York to perform on the Ed Sullivan Show in February 1964. These pictures were auctioned by Tracks in 2014. Here is the story behind them from Barry Dresner:

My name is Barry Dresner and my family has several lots up for auction. My father, Sgt. Buddy Dresner of the Miami Beach Police Dept. was assigned to bodyguard the Beatles during their visit to perform on the Ed Sullivan Show on Feb. 16th 1964. 

The job proved to be much bigger than my father expected since there were only 60 officers on the entire force! This required him to move in and live with the Beatles at the Deauville Hotel for 8 days. This caused a lot of strife within the Dresner family as the day Buddy moved in happened to be Valentine's Day and he had to break a romantic date with his wife, Dotty. In addition, Buddy thought it best to lie to his three children about where he was living. 

When George Harrison found out that Buddy was in the 'doghouse' with Dotty, he ran down to the hotel florist to send my mom some emergency Valentine's roses. 

Also, when my sister, Jeri, found out that we had been lied to by our father, it was perhaps the biggest betrayal of a teenage girl in the history of teenage girls! Once the Beatles knew that they were part of the problem in the Dresner family's lives, they convinced Buddy to take them to his house for dinner so they could show the family how much they appreciated our sacrifices. 

The Beatles along with managers Brian Sommerville [Beatles press agent] and Neil Aspinall brought several promotional items to give us as gifts. Several of the lots being offered are part of one giant poster that I had the Beatles sign with a total of 20 autographs (front and back). If one visits my website www.buddyandthebeatles.com, they would see a photo of me with the 4 Beatles. If one looks on Ringo's lap, they will see this poster which he is in the process of signing. 

Also on the website, one can hear George Harrison tell an interviewer how he had sent Buddy some of the shirts that they wear on stage. One of those shirts is offered here at auction. The shirt has some damage that was caused by the overwhelming request from Jeri's friends for a piece of history and she obliged by giving away small pieces of the shirt's sleeves.  [Barry Dresner, from his letter of authenticity accompanying the items up for auction, 2014.]

George Harrison has signed the reverse side of Ringo's picture on a partial image of himself in black ballpoint pen, he has added the message 'To Barry all the best from your good old Uncle' above his name.  

John Lennon has also signed the reverse side of his magazine picture in black ballpoint pen, he has added the message 'To Barry best wishes from your bad old Uncle' above his name.  [From the auction catalogue description]

[the-cosmic-empire]

Hey, I once heard a rumor that George got groped by Jayne Mansfield and John peed in her drink as revenge. Is it true?

Did George get groped by Jayne Mansfield?

Yes! 

“It was a total set-up by Jayne Mansfield to have pictures taken with us. John and I were sitting either side of her and she had her hands on our legs, by our groins - at least she did on mine.”

[George, Anthology]

He didn’t seem to mind too much in the photos… About Jayne anyway. He did object to the photos being taken. 

Did John Lennon pee in Jayne Mansfield drink? 

No, I don’t think so. 

This is one of those urban legend kind of stories, and a Nasty John story, but I don’t think it’s true. For one thing, John fancied the arse off Jayne (and apparently the feeling was mutual, which I will get to in a moment) and the story doesn’t ring true for me. 

The only source I could find for the story is a book called  The Beatles: Messages From John, Paul, George And Ringo by Chris Hutchins. But I’m not sure if this is the original source as the book was published in 2015 and I thought I’d heard it prior to that. Could be that it was an urban legend before and Chris Hutchins put it into print. 

Anyway, Chris Hutchins was one of the journalists on tour with the Beatles in 1964. He worked for the NME. Here’s an extract from a Daily Mail article from when the book was published: 

Late one night, [Jayne Mansfield] turned up uninvited at The Beatles’ rented mansion in Los Angeles.

I was there alone with John, the others having disappeared to actor Burt Lancaster’s house to watch a movie, and the woman who had briefly been America’s best-known sex symbol was clearly intent on seducing him.

‘Is this real?’ she asked at one point, tugging John’s hair, styled in the distinctive Beatle mop.

‘Are those real?’ he replied, dropping his eyes to her enormous breasts.

John was a dedicated womaniser. The sexual traffic flowing in and out of his hotel bedrooms exceeded that of any of the others in the group.

But as much as he loved women, he hated the way The Beatles were treated as novelties, rather than real people, and he couldn’t bear to be touched uninvited by strangers.

This prompted him to take a horrible revenge upon Mansfield, secretly peeing into the cocktail which she had asked me to mix her and watching with delight as she drank it and pronounced it 'a real humdinger’.

Eventually tiring of her attentions, John hustled her out of the house, but later she turned up at the nightclub where we had joined George and Ringo for a drink.

There John whispered to Jayne what had really been in the Beatle Special, as he called it, and we were forced to make a hasty and undignified exit as she went to hit him.

It seems to be to be a bit vague. Chris Hutchins says he mixed the drink, yet didn’t apparently notice John peeing in it, as John had to tell him he had later. How did John excuse himself to go and do that? Or did Jayne put it down for a moment and then he pounced? 

The details of the story are a little off too. Paul, George and Ringo went to Burt Lancaster’s house on 25th August 1964, but this was during the daytime, not the evening. John stayed behind at the house they were renting - I’ve found 2 reasons why he didn’t go with the others, both of which could be true - that he was in the middle of writing a song and wanted to finish it and that he was waiting to meet Jayne Mansfield who was coming over. 

Here’s Larry Kane’s account of the same events - it’s notable that Larry seems to say Jayne Mansfield came to the party following the Beatles appearance at the Hollywood Bowl on 23rd August, two days before:

“[John] was introduced to Jayne Mansfield. It was lust at first sight. Lennon winked at me as he walked Mansfield through the room. He was pleased with himself, showing off a true American sex symbol. For her part, Mansfield was a charming, almost sweet person, whose cheesecake image may have belied a thoughtful human being. The two seemed to click, and as the party progressed late into the night, one thing was becoming clear: Mansfield wanted to see Lennon again.”

and then later:

“Mansfield was already at the [Beatle] house when I arrived. Lennon and Mansfield jumped into a police car, and John Wade, hardly shy, got in the car with them. […] Jayne Mansfield and John Lennon, according to deejay Wade, arrived first after an interesting ride over. ‘They were making out like kids,’ says Wade. […] 

The photographer did snap a picture of George in a moment of verbal passion aimed at the camera, his hands hurling the liquor into the air, and the picture appeared in the paper the next day. But the print press missed the real story: the budding friendship of Jayne Mansfield and John Lennon. After all, it was Jayne who had invited the band to the Whisky A Go-Go, and she sat with them most of the evening. What’s more, as the Beatles exited the club, Lennon and Mansfield were hand in hand. 

Both these stories give a very different image of John. Chris Hutchins’ John is vindictive, petty and pissed off with Jayne Mansfield bothering him. Larry Kane’s John fancies Jayne’s arse off and seems very unlikely to do anything that would put her off him. Which would you believe? I’m inclined to believe Larry Kane’s version. Not only is his more details about who, where, when, etc, but also you only have to look at who Chris Hutchins became - He’s written several books, all in the celebrity bio/exposé genre, and after leaving the NME, he went into public relations and wrote gossip columns for tabloid newspapers.

I don’t think the John Lennon peed in Jayne Mansfield drink story holds water, ‘scuse the pun! 

Thank you for your ask. Apologies for the delay in reply, I was waiting to get past the Jayne Mansfield chapter in He’s So Fine! 

[the-cosmic-empire]

The Beatles backstage at the Civic Center, Baltimore on the 13th September 1964.

[the-cosmic-empire]

The Beatles meet Fats Domino in New Orleans, on the 16th September 1964. 

[the-cosmic-empire]

Paul on stage at Municipal Stadium, Kansas City, 17th September 1964. 

Pic: Bob Bonis. 

[the-cosmic-empire]

The Beatles on stage at Municipal Stadium, Kansas City, on the 17th September 1964. John seems to be having a moment. 

Pics: Bob Bonis

[the-cosmic-empire]

Candid photos of the Beatles at The Edgewater Hotel, Seattle on 21st August 1964. Top photo is Paul arriving at the hotel and the other two photos are the Beatles having a meal in room 272 of the hotel. The photos belong to Ann Wright, wife of the former manager of the hotel, Don Wright. The plates the Beatles used during their last breakfast at the hotel were given to daughters of Don Wright. 

Pics: Ann Wright. 

[the-cosmic-empire]

The Beatles enroute to Montreal from Toronto on the 8th September 1964. 

Pics: Curt Gunther