Monkey business in Atlantic City? [Archive]

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Apr 21, 2003, 12:21 AM

http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/news/lifestyle/041903A19BEATLESBOOK.html

Larry Kane writes of year on the road with Beatles
By KEVIN CLAPP Staff Writer, (609) 272-7255

At nine concerts in 11 nights, Larry Kane had a front row seat to the mayhem accompanying the four lads from Liverpool.

But this, this was different.

Labor Day weekend in Atlantic City. The southern New Jersey shore, teeming with visitors on holiday, presented lots of problems, not the least of which was a Boardwalk with so many places to hide. So many shrieking music fans, each eager to meet the biggest rock band on Earth.

The local authorities never had a chance.

"They weren't prepared," Kane recalls. "Nobody was ever prepared for the Beatles. But they were totally unprepared for the hysteria."

On every concert stop

The retired Philadelphia newsman should know. In 1964 and '65, there wasn't a U.S. or Canadian concert stop John, Paul, George and Ringo made that Kane wasn't a part of.

As the 39th anniversary of the Beatles' first American tour approaches, Kane has put his memories on paper. Writing as only an insider can, in "Ticket to Ride: Inside the Beatles' 1964 Tour that Changed the World" (Running Press; 2003; 256 pages) Kane chronicles life on the road with the Beatles. He was the only American journalist in the band's official press pool.

The book, accompanied by a CD with an hour of excerpts from Kane's interviews with the band, is not scheduled for release until September. But Friday, speaking from his car, Kane talked about the fishbowl known as Beatlemania as only one who was there can.

Reminiscences from fans, other journalists and members of the Beatles' entourage, as well as snippets from the band, pepper each chapter. An entire chapter, "Surf and Sex at the Jersey Shore," is devoted to the Beatles' stop in Atlantic City.

As the title implies, their stay was not all hugs and puppies. Sure enough, their first night in town provided an ethical conundrum.

"It was the first time we had seen professional ladies around the Beatles, and the shock of it was you walked into the room and they said 'Take your pick,' " Kane says. "We'd seen women around of all sorts, but I'd never seen an organized platoon delivered to their doorstep, and there was no question these were professional women."

The episode created a dilemma for the then-21-year-old newsman from Miami for it was a different time then, governed by a different code of conduct. By including this and accounts of other incidents in the book, Kane says he has tried to paint an honest portrait of the frenzy that followed the band.

"Sure, they messed around and had some fun," he says. "But they were not The Doors, know what I mean?"

From Atlantic City, the tour continued to Philadelphia and beyond, winding up three weeks later in New York. Kane rejoined the group the following year, and in the years since his path has crossed with various members of the Fab Four. And Atlantic City.

His last interview with Ringo Starr took place at Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino in 2000. This fall, he will return to the city to plug his book. Though he'd been encouraged for years to write about his time with the Beatles, he waited for a variety reasons, including his full-time duties at WKYW-TV in Philadelphia and the lack of time to sift through hours of old interviews.

With the avalanche of Beatles literature on the market, Kane has modest goals for his book. He just wanted to peel back the curtain a bit on a band that took America by storm and put it into context with the turbulent social time erupting around it.

"It brings them to life," he says. "(The book) is not out to prove they were not great. It's out there to prove they were the greatest."

To e-mail Kevin Clapp at The Press:

KClapp@pressofac.com