Remember When Police Used Foam and Fire Hoses To Douse Beatlemania?

When one thinks of Beatlemania, one often conjures mental images of screaming and crying young girls in venue seats, bleachers, and stands. But as the band’s many airport pit stops during their 1964 World Tour proved, a stage was not a requisite for intense Beatlemania displays. The fervor with which fans responded to the Fab Four was beholden to no stadiums, halls, or music clubs.

And on June 7, 1964, one particularly well-attended Beatles visit saw on-site officials use unorthodox methods to keep Beatlemania at bay.

Beatles Fans Were in for a Few Surprises at the Beirut Airport

The Beatles’ first world tour lasted through the summer of 1964, starting in Europe in early June and ending in their native England in August. On their way to play Hong Kong on June 9, the band made several pit stops at airports throughout Europe and Asia to refuel. Much to the chagrin of the tired musicians, fans knew about their scheduled stops and lined the airport properties for a chance to see the band. The fact that they weren’t playing—or even speaking—wasn’t important. It was enough just to lay eyes on them.

Although security officials tried their best to prevent Beatlemania fans from entering the runway, these attempts weren’t always successful. During their stop at the Beirut airport in Lebanon, a throng of fans breached the line of security personnel and began charging the runway. Beirut police ended up using fire-fighting foam and water hoses to douse the fans and prevent them from getting any closer to the plane. Considering fire-fighting foam is dispensed at 60 to 100 psi, we’d say that was quite the effective deterrent for the crowd.

These kinds of events happened regardless of the time of day, too. During a stop in Pakistan, Paul McCartney attempted to buy souvenirs in the wee hours of the morning. Even then, fans swarmed the Beatle with such force that McCartney quickly had to get back on the plane. Interestingly, the only stop that didn’t seem to bring out hundreds of hungry fans was in Calcutta. During this stop, the band drank orange cordial served to them by a steward who was “impassive” and “indifferent,” according to Derek Taylor in Fifty Years Adrift.

It Was a Very Different Experience for the Band

While the scenes outside of the airplane were chaotic, things felt much different inside the cabin. The band was more tired than anything, and they reacted to some pit stop welcomes with disdain. For some members of The Beatles, the 30-hour plane ride to Hong Kong that saw Paul McCartney get swarmed in the souvenir shop, and fans soaked with fire-fighting foam seemed to fly by—pun intended.

“The best flight I remember was that one to Hong Kong,” George Harrison recalled to Derek Taylor. “It took several hours, and I remember them saying, ‘Return to your seats because we’re approaching Hong Kong.’ I thought, ‘We can’t be there already.’ We’d been sitting on the floor drinking and taking Preludins for about 30 hours, and it seemed like a ten-minute flight.”

With a whiskey-and-upper mix like that, we certainly bet it did.

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