It Was 60 Years Ago Today … That the Beatles Nearly Lost Their Careers in Vegas
Posted on: August 20, 2024, 08:04h.
Last updated on: August 20, 2024, 02:19h.
Ahead of the Beatles’ only two concert performances in Las Vegas, on Aug. 20, 1964, the Las Vegas Review-Journal newspaper warned of “thousands of adolescent females ready to tear down brick walls with their bare hands to get a look at the furry foursome.” They weren’t wrong.
![](https://www.casino.org/news/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/beatles-take-stage-las-vegas-news-bureau-858x624.jpg)
With a population of fewer than 200K, Las Vegas was by far the smallest of the 23 US cities in which John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr performed that year. Still, the local sheriff’s department was worried enough about the impending frenzy to mandate riot training for all its officers two days earlier.
After playing the Cow Palace on August 19, the Fab Four flew directly to McCarran Airport. A planned parade for them in San Francisco had to be called off over security concerns, but the schedule change from a noon landing on August 20 to 1:35 a.m. proved serendipitous. That’s because tens of thousands of teenage girls were bound to be awaiting their chartered Lockheed Electra by sunrise. (In those days, anyone could just walk up to the gate.)
However, even at 1:35 a.m., hundreds of them had already gathered outside McCarran’s brand new main terminal (today’s Terminal 1), in defiance of a countywide 10 p.m. curfew. So police directed the Beatles’ plane to pull into the old terminal, which was at least a mile away, after touching down.
A small group of dignitaries and photographers were assembled to meet the Beatles there. While coming and going, they were instructed to keep their headlights off for secrecy.
This was only the second stop on the band’s first North American tour, and nobody — least of all the Beatles and their manager, Brian Epstein — realized that Beatlemania would grip America the same exact way it had Europe the year before.
In fact, six months earlier, the Beatles were booked for a single appearance at the Sahara’s 700-seat Congo Room.
In the interim, Sahara entertainment director Stan Irwin realized the inadequacy of his space. So he rebooked the group for two shows at the Las Vegas Convention Center, adding a 4 p.m. show so that Strip performers such as Liberace and Pat Boone could see and meet the Beatles while still performing their own shows that night.
So how exactly did the Beatles nearly lose their careers in Las Vegas? We’re getting to that, promise!
Help!
![](https://www.casino.org/news/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/beatles-las-vegas-news-bureau2-airport.jpg)
The motorcade arrived at the Sahara — where the band would stay, as per the original deal. Hotel officials traveling with the band were congratulating themselves for pulling off a discreet landing — until they eyed the Beatles-starved mob surrounding the casino hotel.
The lads’ car pulled into a shipping dock in the back to slip them onto a freight elevator. To do that, Irwin recalled, hotel employees had to form “an arm-in-arm link,” a fence of humans to hold back the girls, who were grabbing as much British hair and flesh as their hands could hold.
“If any of us had fallen, we would have been stomped to death,” Irwin said.
![](https://www.casino.org/news/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/beatles_slots_Montreal_Star_Oct_31_1964.jpg)
The Beatles had initially wanted to see Las Vegas and try their hand at gambling — all but Lennon, who said he had no interest. However, since so many of the band’s fans were under 21, management was concerned about keeping them off the casino floor.
It had also become depressingly clear by this point that the Beatles would not be safe venturing anywhere outside a heavily guarded hotel room for the duration of their tour.
So, on the morning of the show, the Sahara brought gambling to the Beatles. In Suite 2344 of the Sahara’s Alexandria Tower, the Fabs tried out two slot machines as they clowned around for invited photographers and reporters.
Come What Mayhem
![](https://www.casino.org/news/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/beatles-lv-news-bureau0-long-shot1-858x642.jpg)
Doors to the convention center’s then UFO-shaped rotunda opened at 3 p.m. for the 4 p.m. show.
First up were The Exciters, whose name created false expectations. The Righteous Brothers followed, but were then largely unknown, since it would be three more months before their big hit, “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling.” Finally, Jackie DeShannon was nearly drowned out by chants of “We want the Beatles!”
![](https://www.casino.org/news/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/beatles-lv-news-bureau4-liberace.jpg)
The Beatles, introduced by Irwin — also part of the deal — played to an incessant jet-engine blast of high-pitched screams from 5:30-5:59 p.m.
Those 29 minutes contained “Twist and Shout,” “Can’t Buy Me Love,” “All My Loving,” “She Loves You,” “‘Till There Was You,” “Roll Over Beethoven,” “You Can’t Do That,” “If I Fell,” “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” “Boys,” “A Hard Day’s Night” and “Long Tall Sally” — though few in attendance could make out more than a stray note or two of any song.
Following the concert, the band retired to the Sahara, whose elevators, stairwells, janitorial closets, and balconies were infested with young female fans hiding from hotel security.
Two fans reportedly attempted to climb the hotel’s outer wall from the floor below the Beatles’ balcony. They didn’t succeed but, by a miracle, didn’t kill themselves, either.
Two others managed to get their wishes granted, and that’s where things almost went terribly wrong for the lads ….
Do You Want to Know a Secret?
Between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m. on Aug. 21, 1964, two underage girls were found in John Lennon’s room at the Sahara.
![](https://www.casino.org/news/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/beatles-Las-Vegas-News-Bureau-fans-freak-858x847.jpg)
The discovery was made after the front desk phoned up to inform the group’s handlers that a woman was in the lobby, claiming that the Beatles had kidnapped her twin daughters.
Longtime Beatles roadie Mal Evans found the girls and woke up Miami radio reporter Larry Kane at around 5 a.m.
Kane, who was covering the tour and sleeping in an adjacent room, was asked to meet with the woman because he was the only one in the entourage who traveled with a business suit.
Before taking the elevator, Kane opened Lennon’s door to investigate for himself. He found him asleep with the girls watching TV at the edge of his bed.
No one can say for sure what happened before that — and Kane has repeatedly stated his emphatic belief that nothing did — but it was the perception that was the problem. Had news got out at this juncture that the lads from Liverpool may not be as squeaky clean as their press image suggested, their winding road might not have ended up so long.
Not a word was leaked about the untoward discovery for three more decades, however. And that was only because Beatles manager Brian Epstein secretly squashed a lawsuit either threatened or filed (it’s never been clear) by the girls’ mother when she got back home to LA, according to Kane. (British journalist Ivor Davis has claimed that a $10,000 payment was made.)
And so it was that the Beatles departed Las Vegas at 11:24 a.m. on Aug. 21, 1964, for that night’s concert in Seattle and the rest of their famous futures.
Related News Articles
ESSAY: Remembering ‘The Beatles LOVE’ in My Daughter’s Eyes
The Las Vegas Visit that Nearly Ended John Lennon’s Career
VIDEO: Vegas Airport Passenger Joneses for Slot Spin
Most Popular
SPHERE OF FAILURE: U2 Concert Film is Vegas Orb’s First Flop
VEGAS MYTHS RE-BUSTED: The Strip’s Naked City Was Named for Sunbathing Showgirls
Star Gold Coast Can Recoup $38.7M Debt from Billionaire Ex-Betting Exec
Wynn Las Vegas Strikes $130M DOJ Settlement, Largest Fine Ever for a US Casino
Most Commented
-
VEGAS MYTHS RE-BUSTED: You Don’t Have to Pay Resort Fees
August 2, 2024 — 17 Comments— -
VEGAS MYTHS RE-BUSTED: Elvis Was a Straight-Up Racist
August 9, 2024 — 11 Comments— -
ANTI-SOCIAL BEHAVIOR: Vegas Casino Buffet Stunt in Poor Taste Goes Viral
August 16, 2024 — 7 Comments—
Last Comments ( 2 )
I was living in England when Beatles became famous. They hated their music & long hair. We never got an my of their records. We came back tAmerica & Beatles music was popular in highschool dances. So I enjoyed them in 1962. When I was 20 I started buying their records to play in my apt. I finally got to enjoy all of their recorded music & I kept buying the albums that kept coming out. They were making happy & romantic music, so of course young ladies loved their music. I never went to any of their concerts but wished I had. I have extremely great memories & saw them on TV. I was too reserved to try to touch any stars or scream. Those girls didn't care how they made stars really wished they quietly attend concerts so everyone could actually hear them. They had to hide out in their rooms to not be grabbed at. They really didn't get to enjoy seeing our cities at all. What a shame they couldn't enjoy walking around any town or meeting any respectful young ladies & enjoy America. Having to hide out in hotel rooms must of been boring & upsetting for them, I was happy just to play their music at home. I was 15 when became famous in England & Europe. My stepdad was contracted out to jobs in Europe We lived in France for a yr too. Thanks for photos & stories. They brought back great memories of the 1960's to 2000. I enjoyed Lynard Skynard music & other bands from 1960's to 2000. Loved going out to dance in clubs. Thanks for keeping rock n Roll music alive in these years.
Great story!