BOOK: “Confessions of a Beatlemaniac” by Dee Elias
Confessions of a Beatlemaniac is a youthful love letter to the Beatles. Based on Dee Elias’s teenage diary from 1964-1966, it chronicles her fandom while growing up in a small town outside of Cleveland, Ohio, and takes the reader on a joyous journey through her attempts, along with her friends, to meet the Fab Four.
The world of the early 1960s was definitely a simpler, gentler time, and this is evident from Elias’ account of her escapades with her best friends, Paulette, Jenny, and Sandy. Pop stars were not surrounded by the legions of bodyguards as they are today, and even though it took a little planning and effort on the part of the girls, they were able to gain admission to far more places and access to many more people than any fan would ever be granted now. Elias chronicles her and her friends’ lives in the obsessive throes of the first flush of Beatlemania, and as you read the book, you are swept along on this happy wave.
Elias and her friends would do almost anything to meet the Beatles, and along the way, the reader learns about what it was like to be one of those first-generation fans. Beatle parties, Beatle rallies and disc jockey appearances, raffles, contests, film screenings — you name it, they did it. Her parents, especially her father, were not always understanding about her obsession, however. Certainly they had no idea of the lengths to which their daughter would go in order to get close to her quarries; Elias details all the times she and her friends outright lied to their parents so that they could attend some of these events, and doesn’t shy away from the attempts, both legal and not so legal, where they tried to talk their way into hotels, parties, and other happenings.
Along the way, the girls did get to meet some of the greatest stars of the day. For instance, Elias writes in great detail about the time she and her friends actually snuck into Billy J. Kramer’s Cleveland hotel room while he was asleep, and the “souvenirs” they took from the room — a magazine, a tie, and a dirty sock — along with some other titillating details. (A postscript to that story: at the recent Los Angeles Fest for Beatles Fans in October, Elias took the opportunity to come onstage with Kramer, tell him the story, and return the sock to him, which she still had after 50 years!) She talks about entering contests to be allowed into press conferences as a teen reporter, winning the opportunity to buy concert tickets, and actually forging journalistic credentials from the Cleveland Press, which, amazingly, worked to get her in to meet the likes of Sonny and Cher, Simon and Garfunkel, and other stars. Through her persistence, she even managed to get into a press event featuring Louise Harrison (Caldwell), George’s sister.
Thanks to her persistence, Elias did get to see the Beatles three times — in Cleveland in 1964 and 1966, and in Chicago in 1965. Her accounts of the concerts, though brief, give a fine insight into what it was like to be part of a live Beatles show, and for those fans who are too young to have been there themselves, it is definitely the next best thing. Additionally, the book is illustrated with charming drawings by Elias that bring the time and the mania to vivid life.
If you’re looking for an in-depth, scholarly chronicle of life as a Beatles fan during their touring days, you will not get that from this book. What you will get, however, is a wonderful glimpse into the teenage life of a young girl and her friends and their fun, fanciful passion for the Fab Four. It’s clear from the book that this youthful enthusiasm has had an effect on Elias to this day, even so far as to influence the things she has done in her life over the years. I won’t give away the end, but will leave it to you to read this charming, funny book to see if Dee, Paulette, Jenny and Sandy ever got to meet the Fabs. You’re guaranteed to enjoy the rollicking ride along the way!
