ATLANTIC CITY'S SUMMER OF '64

Outside the LaFayette Motor Inn in Atlantic City, the crowd grew in size and volume as word got out in the early morning hours of Aug. 30, 1964:

“Do you want to know a secret? The Beatles are here.”

It had already been a busy week, with about 20,000 visitors converging on the Shore resort for the four-day Democratic National Convention. Now, the Fab Four were on their way for a show at Convention Hall.

Since the band’s February arrival in the United States and subsequent appearance on “The Ed Sullivan Show,” Americans’ appetite for The Beatles had grown to a fever pitch. Yet the group, which now was in the middle of its second U.S. visit, managed to arrive quietly in Atlantic City. The band members had been flown by helicopter from New York, landing at Bader Field, and — thanks to a little subterfuge by promoter George A. Hamid Jr., who suggested to a DJ that the group would be coming by bus and staying at the Shelburne Hotel — made it into the LaFayette on North Carolina Avenue without incident.

John, Paul, George and Ringo took up residence on the seventh floor, which had been reserved for them — and them alone. Outside, fans waited for more than 12 hours before the concert, hoping to get a glimpse of the band members.

Carol Moore, then 16, came from North Plainfield for the show. She recalls the scene at the hotel: “I remember standing outside the LaFayette and screaming any time a curtain moved on their floor, or really, any time any curtain at all moved in the hotel,” says Moore, who now lives in Washington, D.C.

Hamid, who owned Steel Pier with his father, had scored a coup in landing a Beatles show for Atlantic City, the smallest town in which the band would perform on the tour. It was a job both prestigious and pressure-loaded — because he had to ensure the Beatles’ safety during their stay.

The promoter originally planned to book the band into the pier’s Marine Ballroom, but soon realized the Beatles would need a bigger venue as their popularity soared and their songs served as the sound track for summer Down the Shore. By that April, The Beatles had the Top 5 songs on Billboard magazine’s Hot 100 chart, with “Can’t Buy Me Love” at No. 1. 

A crowd of 18,000 filled Atlantic City's Convention Hall on Aug. 30, 1964, for a Beatles concert, during which the Fab Four performed a 30-minute set that concluded with "Long Tall Sally."

Hamid’s instincts were confirmed when Beatles tickets went on sale. Meg Cramer, 12, and her sister Cass, 11, were two young Atlantic City residents who took no chances that they would miss the concert.

“Our father brought us up to Steel Pier at 3 a.m. to stand in line to purchase the tickets for the show,” recalls Meg Cramer, who now lives in Absecon. “The line at that time of the morning was already a long one. There was definitely excitement in the air.”

Ticket prices ranged from $2.75 to $5.50. The Beatles’ fee for playing Convention Hall was $25,000.

By the weekend of the concert, the region was in full Beatlemania mode. Everyone was trying to capitalize on the phenomenon, including the local Garwood Discount Shopping Center, which advertised back-to-school specials in the Press of Atlantic City, featuring Beatles-themed items. School binders and pens cost 69 cents each. Beatles drinking glasses were 77 cents, and Beatles socks for boys were $1 a pair; girls’ socks were two pairs for $1.

 

During their stay in Atlantic City, the Fab Four attend a news conference.

For those without concert tickets, Tony Mart’s nightclub in Somers Point offered an alternative — the Female Beatles.

Fans began lining up early for the 8:30 p.m. show, during which about 18,000 people packed Convention Hall.

“I was on the Boardwalk that afternoon with my family and saw the girls queued up behind the police barricade,” says Ben Vaughn, then a 9-year-old from Mount Ephraim. “All I remember is the palpable energy of the girls — they were vibrating — and my dad complaining about the taxpayers having to pay for the extra cops.”

Vaughn, who now lives in Southern California, would become a singer/songwriter and composer for such TV shows as “3rd Rock From the Sun” and “That ’70s Show.”

Before the concert, Meg Cramer found herself in the midst of some unexpected drama.

“My sister and I were waiting in line to get into the hall. My neighbor, (Atlantic City Police) Sgt. Leo Rando, was doing special duty, saw us and came over to talk,” she says.

“He was joking around and grabbed the ticket out of my hand and tossed it in the air. The ticket made a perfect shot through (a) crack in the Boardwalk,” Cramer says.

 

During their stay at the city's LaFayette Motor Inn, they received an oversized hoagie from White House Subs, which remains a city landmark on Arctic Avenue

“I just looked at him, stunned. He told me not to worry and went to his captain to explain what happened,” she says. “They escorted me in, but would not let my sister, who still had her ticket, come with me, and, of course, they put me in the wrong seat. My sister saw me walking down the aisle and I was finally safe in my seat.”

Inside, anticipation grew as fans watched a series of opening acts before The Beatles hit the stage and opened with “Twist and Shout.”

For Dave Kreitzer, a then-17-year-old from Upper Darby, Pa., who was working a summer job in Atlantic City, the fans lived up to the second half of the song. “The screaming was unending, even during the opening acts,” he says. “You could not hear one note. The Beatles could have unplugged their instruments and you wouldn’t have known. We were more than halfway back on the main floor. We could barely see the stage and could barely hear the music for all the screaming.”

At 6, Julie Senack, then living in Longport, was among the youngest fans in attendance and one memory stands out for her: “We were close enough to have seen the head shake by Paul.”

“Everyone was standing on their seats and jumping up and down. The screaming was deafening,” Meg Cramer says.

During the concert, fans added to the spectacle by taking photographs — flashes from countless cameras illuminating the building over and over again. “It was quite the light show, like an invasion of fireflies,” Kreitzer recalls.

The Beatles concluded their 30-minute set with “Long Tall Sally,” but it wasn’t the final song played that night. “After the show, the Convention Hall (organist) opened all the stops and played ‘God Save the Queen,’ the only sound of the evening that exceeded the shrieking of the fans,” Hamid told the Princeton Alumni Weekly in 1964. (He graduated from the university in 1940.)

Hamid, who died last year, recalled to the Princeton publication that the song momentarily stilled the crowd, giving The Beatles time to leave the stage and return to their hotel in a police wagon.

Senack, who attended the show with her sister, Lisa, and her father, Martin, recalls a scary moment on the Boardwalk as the crowd left the hall. “Somebody screamed, ‘There’s Paul’,” she explains, and a group of fans began running toward them. “My father lifted us up, one under each arm, to protect us.”

Back at the LaFayette, The Beatles would unwind and enjoy some quiet time. Fittingly, the band members played Monopoly, with its Atlantic City street references. Harrison and singer Jackie DeShannon, one of the opening acts, were photographed as they faced off over the game board.

The band invited the tour entourage to a private screening of “A Hard Day’s Night,” their first film. Future Philadelphia TV newsman Larry Kane, who accompanied the band on tour, said the moment provided an interesting perspective — watching The Beatles watch themselves.

“There they were, just mere mortals, enduring a private screening of their own cinematic performances,” Kane wrote in “Ticket to Ride,” his 2003 book.

The band also enjoyed some lighter moments, including being photographed with an oversized hoagie from White House Subs. Five pictures of the band — with the sandwich — still occupy a prime spot behind the cash register at the shop on Arctic Avenue.

Shop co-owner Gen Basile, who was 3 years old in 1964, says the photos continue to draw comments from customers. Her older sister, Connie, got a one-of-a-kind souvenir, autographs from each of the Beatles on a paper plate.

Lennon and McCartney also took time to work on new songs at the hotel: “Every Little Thing” and “What You’re Doing.” Hamid received a piece of Beatles history — lyrics of the latter song written on LaFayette stationery.

But the greatest impact of the Beatles’ 1964 visit to Atlantic City may have been in establishing Convention Hall as a concert venue, and demonstrating that the city could once again attract big-name stars. James Brown, Ray Charles and the Beach Boys would perform at the hall in 1965, according to its website. In the 1970s and 1980s, Marvin Gaye, Johnny Mathis, Frank Sinatra and the Rolling Stones graced the stage.

It would take another 12 years, however, before the passage of casino gambling established Atlantic City once again as New Jersey’s go-to location for high-powered entertainment. Following The Beatles day off in Atlantic City, the Fab Four departed for Philadelphia — in a fish truck — another act of misdirection by Hamid, who now could finally relax. He told the Princeton Alumni Weekly:

“After they left, I took two tranquilizers, shifted to martinis and said a prayer of thanks that the frenzy had moved to another town.”