Aug. 26, 1964 - The Beatles’ triumphant entry into Denver, Col., today was swift and unhampered. Denver police led their limousines along a road on the perimeter of Stapleton Field so that an estimated 7,000 to 10,000 fans could see them.
When they finally reached their rooms in downtown Denver, they rested — not to be disturbed by hordes of teenagers who infiltrated the hotel, nor by bellhops who brought in an endless flow of letters, telegrams, and gifts.
Teenagers started to gather outside the Brown Palace Hotel last night. By this morning, they were blocking the streets outside. The hotel is comprised of two buildings on opposite sides of the street. The teens picketed both.
Hotel manager Carl Mehlman looked at the crowd this morning and told a friend, “Come down and watch me slash my wrists.” Later, after the Beatles were installed, Mehlman joined police and employees in capturing infiltrators and complained, “I’m weakening fast.”
A group of dazed-looking girls stood on the sidewalk gazing up at the tower — the wrong building — and murmured repeatedly the names of their heroes.
Police in the hotel, most of them rookies, fared the worst. One was punched in the stomach and lost his nightstick, one was bitten on the wrist, and another lost a false tooth in pushing matches with the teenage infiltrators.
Later this evening, fans showered jelly beans on the British quartet at their performance before 10,000 at Red Rocks Park. The Beatles shrugged off the candy pellets and sent many of the teenage girls present into ecstasy with their music.
Police reported a monumental traffic jam and the hysterical, swooning girls that mark all the Beatles’ appearances.
After the concert, the group returned to the Brown Palace Hotel. They are scheduled to fly to Ohio for an appearance at Cincinnati Gardens tomorrow night.
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