Columns and clippings from the Sault Star, highlighted in a local archives lookback, document how Sault Ste. Marie teens and businesses responded to the Beatles\u2019 rise<\/p>\n
From the archives of the Sault Ste. Marie Public Library:<\/p>\n
Beatlemania: first coined in October 1963, the term brings to mind screaming, crying, and fainting fans at Beatles concerts. While the Fab Four never played here, Sault Ste. Marie was not immune to the hype.<\/p>\n
In November 1963, Sault Star editor Homer Foster wrote a tongue-in-cheek column outlining the latest craze: a band from Liverpool called the Beatles. He described them as \u201ca group of four young men who create a fearful row on guitars, drums and amplifiers\u201d and who \u201chave a powerful effect on the teenagers who hear them, especially the girls\u201d (Sault Star, November 22, 1963). \u201cPowerful effect\u201d was perhaps an understatement as the overwhelming obsession took hold, impacting not just people\u2019s taste in music but how they dressed and, of course, how they got their hair cut.<\/p>\n
By February of 1964, locals were asking barbers for the signature mop-top hairdo sported by John, Paul, George, and Ringo. One barber told the paper that \u201cit was the first time he\u2019d ever combed, sprayed, and pinned a man\u2019s hair\u201d (Sault Star, February 15, 1964). Barbers and hairdressers posted ads in the paper, drawing would-be clients in with the promise of a Beatle Cut.<\/p>\n
Fred Harrison, columnist from Sault Collegiate, reported on the popularity of the Beatles hairdo amongst his own peers. While once reserved \u201cfor the \u2018way-outs,\u2019\u201d shaggy haircuts were increasingly common. One student told him, \u201cIt just grew into one, but really I think they look sharp without the long hair in the back. One may really save on the haircuts, but it takes more washing to keep the hair clean\u201d (Sault Star, February 21, 1964).<\/p>\n
Fred also polled local teenagers for their opinions on the rock group. Opinions ran the whole gamut: \u201cThey dare to be different,\u201d \u201cI can\u2019t stand the girls that watch them,\u201d \u201cThey don\u2019t gyrate too much and dress nicely. If they\u2019d only cut their hair they would be human\u201d (Sault Star, February 21, 1964).<\/p>\n
While opinions were split, some found themselves reluctantly becoming fans as their popularity raged. One columnist noted, \u201cMaybe they should change the name of their act to The Fungi because they do grow on you\u201d (Sault Star, February 21, 1964).<\/p>\n
There was even a letter to the editor from a teenage boy on the topic of the Beatles and how they impacted his own life. He noted that the Beatles reminded him of the suffragettes\u2026 although not in a positive way. He described how suffragettes had led to a \u201cterrifying\u201d number of girls wearing pants and dressing \u201cas men,\u201d adding that \u201cThis and the \u2018bomb\u2019 are both beginning to look like permanent threats to my happiness in life.\u201d He felt that thanks to the Beatles, the men were \u201ccatching up in cosmetics and now in hairdos,\u201d possibly enough to spark a backlash from women who might find them too feminine, eventually leading to more traditional gender roles. He hoped that girls would \u201ctake a long look at the Beatles and see the danger.\u201d In the closing of his letter, he spoke of his own plans for the girl of his dreams: \u201cI demand that she be proud to be a girl as I am proud to be a man. She must not wear pants to keep warm \u2013 I want to reserve this as one of the privileges of my protective capacity\u201d (Sault Star, February 21, 1964).<\/p>\n
Fans descended upon cafes after school, where staff said, \u201cYou just can\u2019t imagine\u2026 it\u2019s the same four records, over and over.\u201d They bought up Beatles guitar chord sheets at local music stores, Beatles pins, Beatles wallpaper, Beatles shoes, Beatles anklet socks, and Beatles wigs that the Star described as looking \u201clike one of the ladies\u2019 furry winter hats after the family pup has removed sections of it\u201d (Sault Star, February 29, 1964).<\/p>\n
There were even local performances \u2013 not of the Beatles but of impressionists. At the annual Figure Skating Club ice show at the Memorial Gardens, a tribute band played to a packed crowd. Consisting of Provincial Air Service employees, the foursome performed in costume and on skates, \u201c[touching] off a bit of mania\u201d of their own (Sault Star, March 23, 1964).<\/p>\n
While Beatlemania was at times all-consuming and overwhelming, some still had doubts over their staying power. At least one Sault Star writer would be surprised, and maybe even disappointed, to know how popular the Beatles remain to this day, writing, \u201cone day \u2013 and may it be soon \u2013 the Beatles will just be a memory in our tortured minds\u201d (Sault Star, February 17, 1964).<\/p>\n
This article was written using information compiled from the Sault Star collection at the Sault Ste. Marie Public Library.<\/p>\n
Each week, the Sault Ste. Marie Public Library and its Archives provide SooToday readers with a glimpse of the city\u2019s past.<\/p>\n
Find out more about what the Public Library has to offer at www.ssmpl.ca<\/a> and look for more ‘Remember This?’ columns here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Columns and clippings from the Sault Star, highlighted in a local archives lookback, document how Sault Ste. Marie…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":903295,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[49,48,75,341,312455],"class_list":["post-903294","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-entertainment","tag-music","tag-remember-thisremember-this-sault-ste-marie"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/903294","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=903294"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/903294\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/903295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=903294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=903294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=903294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}