Sept. 11, 1964 - The Beatles, upstaged by President Johnson and Hurricane Dora, reluctantly appeared tonight before 20,000 screaming teenagers at the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, Fla.
The British musicians, who went almost unnoticed when they arrived at the airport, refused to appear until television cameramen were removed from the huge football stadium.
Beatle press agent Derek Taylor explained their reluctance this way:
“The Beatles are valuable. The cinny [cinema] cameramen will sell their film to be shown in theaters.”
Then Taylor climbed atop the 10-foot stage on the 15-yard line and appealed to the screaming audience.
He said the movie cameramen were preventing the Beatles from appearing and asked: “Do you want them [cameramen] to leave?”
“Yes,” came the thundering reply from the audience.
“Do you want them to interfere with the show?” Taylor asked.
“No,” roared the audience.
Police moved the cameramen out of the stadium, and the familiar hairy heads came on staged and steamrolled through their top-selling songs.
The Beatles came to Jacksonville from Key West, where they had waited out Hurricane Dora after being diverted their Wednesday on a flight from Toronto.
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