This column first appeared in the Sept. 4 2009 issue.
“It was twenty years ago today, Sgt. Pepper taught the band to play. They’ve been going in and out of style. But they’re guaranteed to raise a smile. So may I introduce to you, the act you’ve known for all these years, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.”
Actually, it was 45 years ago this week that the Beatles performed at the State Fair Coliseum at the Indiana State Fairgrounds. The “Fab Four” performed two shows on September 3, 1964, which were watched by nearly 30,000 people. The lads from Liverpool were arriving from a show in Philadelphia and were scheduled to stay at the swankiest hotel in town, the Essex House, but word got out ahead of time and fans descended on the place, stealing doorknobs and ripping up wallpaper mistakenly believing that the band was inside. However, the plane arrived late and the lads changed plans choosing to spend the nights before and after the shows at the Speedway Motel on West 16th Street instead. Sadly, the Speedway Motel was torn down this past spring.
Prior to the first concert, drummer Ringo Starr went missing, arriving just minutes before they were due to go on stage, explaining that he had lost track of time while driving a police car around the dirt race track in front of the Coliseum.
The first show inside the Fairgrounds Coliseum began at 6:21 p.m., and was watched by 12,413 fans. Tickets were such a hot commodity that a second show was hastily arranged with Beatles representatives immediately after the first show. The group negotiating the second show was unaware that another event had been booked and scheduled for the Fairgrounds Coliseum for that same night. The staff scrambled to get the Grandstand stage in front of the dirt track quickly assembled to use for the second show later that evening.
Between shows, the Beatles met with a few lucky locals, including WIBC disc jockey Bouncing Bill Baker and Miss Indiana State Fair Cheryl Lee Garrett of Peru. John, Paul, George, and Ringo held a press conference that afternoon, before returning to the stage for the second show around dusk. Here’s an excerpt from that exchange with reporters:
Question: “Where do you gentlemen stand as far as the draft is concerned in England?” JOHN: “About five eleven.” BEATLES: (laugh)
Question: “Ringo?” RINGO: “Yes?” Question: “It’s rumored that you have written some things for symphony orchestras.” BEATLES: (laugh) RINGO: “I don’t even write letters.” (Laughter fills room)
Question: “As you’re confined to your room all day, what do you do?” GEORGE: “Oh! Tennis and waterpolo.” (laughter) PAUL: “Football. Cricket.” RINGO: “We just sit ‘round.” PAUL: “Sit ‘round, read, tell jokes, play Monopoly.” RINGO: “Watch television.” PAUL: “Smoke.” JOHN: “Hide from the security. Things like that.”
Question: “Political question!” PAUL: “Alright.” JOHN: “Great.” RINGO: “Get out!” Question: “What’s your favorite… Goldwater or Dowdy? (Lyndon B. Johnson)” JOHN: “MacMillan.” (laughter) JOHN: “God save the queens.”
For the second show, 16,924 ticket holding fans were in attendance at the outdoor concert. The Beatles later said the fans’ reception was “quite quiet” in comparison to the other dates on the tour. For the two concerts The Beatles earned $85,231.93, after $1,719.02 was deducted as state income tax.
That night after the show, the band returned to the Speedway Motel to relax before heading to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the next stop on their frantically-paced 1964 North American Tour. Ringo could not sleep and asked his police escort if they could drive him around the city and grab a late night bite to eat. The policeman in charge took Ringo to a restaurant known as Charlie’s Steakhouse on the north edge of Carmel, located at the point where Meridian Street (U.S. Highway 31) and Range Line Road (Indiana Highway 431) come together. Old timers will remember it as Ben’s Island, a bar located right across from the old Carmel Motel. Ringo had eggs and coffee before returning to the Speedway Motel in the wee hours of the morning.
The next day, a photographer arrived to snap a few pictures of the Beatles at their Indy Motel. The most famous image from that shoot was that of all 4 lads playing golf on one of the Speedway golf course greens. The State Police security detail took them for a lap around the track before finally heading for the airport. In the book, “The Beatles Anthology,” George Harrison remembered it this way: “Indianapolis was good. As we were leaving, on the way to the airport, they took us round the Indy circuit….It was fantastic.”
I met Bouncing Bill Baker several times as a kid and then again later in life at antique shows around the Indianapolis area. He was the D.J. from 1070-WIBC whose job it was to announce the show and introduce The Beatles before each concert. Bouncing Bill, an Indianapolis radio institution, passed away awhile back. I remember a joke he told me once and must’ve re-told 1000 times over the years. It went like this: “A girl I went to school with had a birth defect. Her breasts were on her back. She wasn’t much to look at but she was sure fun to dance with.”
We Beatles fans miss John Lennon and George Harrison dearly, but in these days of automated music and laugh track morning comedy shows, homegrown Hoosiers like me also miss the good old fashioned corny, wacky Disc Jockeys like Bouncing Bill Baker. Not only were guys like him on the front lines spinning discs and taking our personal requests on the phone, they were a part of the Indianapolis landscape that seems to have vanished in recent years. Rest in Peace fellas.
Al Hunter is the author of the “Haunted Indianapolis” and co-author of the “Haunted Irvington” and “Indiana National Road” book series. His newest books are “Bumps in the Night. Stories from the Weekly View,” “Irvington Haunts. The Tour Guide,” and “The Mystery of the H.H. Holmes Collection.” Contact Al directly at Huntvault@aol.com or become a friend on Facebook.
