Beatles and Segregated Audience

[John Simkin]

It has emerged that when the Beatles made their first tour of the United States in 1965 the band stipulated that it would not play in front of a "segregated audience".

[William Kelly]

It has emerged that when the Beatles made their first tour of the United States in 1965 the band stipulated that it would not play in front of a "segregated audience".

The Beatles played Atlantic City Convention Hall (now Boardwalk Hall) in late August 1964, a week after the Democratic National Convention was held in the same building - where RFK eulogized JFK and LBJ was nominated.

They performed in the huge hall with a very small sound system and nobody could hear them but it didn't seem to matter to the screaming girls, including LBJ's daughters.

The Beatles also played Dallas early in their career, possibly in '64, and ducked down in their limo as they drove through Dealey Plaza on the way to the Dallas Cabana, where they stayed.

While segregation was not an issue in Atlantic City, it might have been in Dallas at the time.

[John Simkin]

The Beatles played Atlantic City Convention Hall (now Boardwalk Hall) in late August 1964, a week after the Democratic National Convention was held in the same building - where RFK eulogized JFK and LBJ was nominated.

They performed in the huge hall with a very small sound system and nobody could hear them but it didn't seem to matter to the screaming girls, including LBJ's daughters.

I had the good fortune to see the Beatles in 1962, before they had their first hit record. They had just released their first single "Love Me Do" but at that time it had not reached the charts. If I remember correctly it finally reached 18th place. It was their second record, "Please Please Me", that reached number 2 in Britain. I saw them playing at the bottom of the bill at the Odeon theatre in Romford (Essex). Roy Orbison and Brenda Lee were the two main singers on the show. Orbison was amazing and made the Beatles look like amateurs. Nor were the girls screaming at the Beatles at this stage and so you could hear their limitations. However, what impressed me was the quality of their song-writing. (At that time British singers did not write their own material). I went to work the next morning and told my mates that the Beatles were going to be big stars. It is a shame that you can't buy shares in bands like you can in companies. If so, I might have made my fortune from the Beatles success.

[Len Colby]

It has emerged that when the Beatles made their first tour of the United States in 1965 the band stipulated that it would not play in front of a "segregated audience".

The Beatles played Atlantic City Convention Hall (now Boardwalk Hall) in late August 1964, a week after the Democratic National Convention was held in the same building - where RFK eulogized JFK and LBJ was nominated.

They performed in the huge hall with a very small sound system and nobody could hear them but it didn't seem to matter to the screaming girls, including LBJ's daughters.

The Beatles also played Dallas early in their career, possibly in '64, and ducked down in their limo as they drove through Dealey Plaza on the way to the Dallas Cabana, where they stayed.

While segregation was not an issue in Atlantic City, it might have been in Dallas at the time.

I'm pretty sure the Dallas venue would have been segregated, it's possible that they would not have been familiar enough with America to have know this when they agreed to do the show.

[Robert Newell]

Just from memory here, but I think it was in Jacksonville Fla. that the issue came up.