Beatle Fans To Jax

Beatle Fans Flock To Jax
Planes Chartered For Concert Tonight

From The Miami News, Friday, September 11, 1964

By IAN GLASS
Reporter of The Miami News

Hundreds of Beatle-mad Miamians, mindless of the ravages of Hurricane Dora, were speeding north to Jacksonville today.

The four British mopheads give a concert at the Gator Bowl there tonight, The expected audience of 40,000 will be the largest in their U. S. tour.

Miami's two rock and roll radio stations, whipped into frenzy by the momentous event, are running specially chartered planes.

WOAM's DC-8 (with disc iockev Charlie Murdock in charge) is carrying 123 persons — winners of the station's Beatle contest, plus chaperones, two police officers, and a doctor and nurse, in case the excitement gets too much. (The plane is aptly dubbed "the National Beatle jet.")

The rival WFUN's Super-Constellation will take 109 — also mostly contest winners — plus the inevitable chaperons and a nurse. "The girls," a spokesman revealed, "will be wearing specially designed Beatles blouses.

And Burdine's record department report- ed this morning it had sold 125 tickets at $5 each to teenagers going independently.

The Beatles themselves — Paul, George, Ringo and John — were still asleep at their Key West motel this morning after another night of siege from screaming teenagers.

They were diverted there from their sched- uled stop at Jacksonville by the hurricane.

A Beatles' spokesman said they would leave for Jacksonville late this afternoon.

"We would have gone earlier," he said, "only The Exciters, a group of four appearing also at the concert, sent their uniforms out to a laundry here and the laundry said they can't have 'em back before three o'clock."