Beatle George Harrison toured Mercy High School 9/14/64

I ran into the Kitty Sitter Mary at the Roland Park post office; she was the pet minder who would look after my Auntie Jo¹s cats over the course of many years while Aunt Jo would be away from her apartment visiting family.

Mary showed me several Baltimore Harbor postcards she had just bought across the street for Auntie Jo¹s children. Auntie Jo passed away on August 11, 2010. Her two children had hosted a Memorial Cruise for the extended family whereon her ashes were dispersed into the Baltimore Harbor across from Fort McHenry; in addition to a heartfelt Testimonial Dinner that was held in her honor immediately after the water service. It was an absolutely beautiful day cruising in the harbor and a moving tribute to our family Matriarch.

Mary and I were chatting about my Aunt Jo¹s Memorial Service and she commented she had attended Mercy High School located in the Idelwood community of Northeast Baltimore. I commented that George Harrison had visited her school on Monday, September 14, 1964; and Mary immediately said she had actually seen Beatle George walking through the hallway as she was seated at the back of her classroom that morning.

My Aunt Jo gave me Thirty Three & 1/3 as a gift for my 30th birthday (one of my earliest CDs), the remastered version of All Things Must Pass as an Xmas present, and exchanged another item on my behalf to get me the Concert for George on DVD. A.J. also gave me the Beatles Anthology book as an Xmas gift in 2000.

Mary proudly announced that George Harrison was her fab Beatle. Her trusted classmate, Linda Johnson, was a proclaimed Ringo Starr fan and became quite upset when Ringo¹s marriage was broadcast over the news. Drummer Ritchie Starkey had wed Maureen Cox in February 1965. The two are still close friends today.

Mary had turned 14 in June 1964, but did not enjoy the pleasure of attending either of the two Beatles concerts held on Sunday, September 13, 1964, at Baltimore City¹s Civic Center. Linda¹s mother took her, her sister and her cousin to attend one of the Beatles shows that glorious day in Charm City when Baltimore was Fab.

On the fateful morning of Monday, September 14, 1964, Mary was in her Freshman first period English class taught by Mrs. Scally. Because she was seated in the back row of the classroom, she had a direct view of the doorway that gave her an unobstructed view of the building hallway. When she glimpsed a young man sporting a long hair style and tight trousers passing by the doorway, she couldn't believe that it was possibly nobody other than Beatles lead guitarist George Harrison himself.

Being an obedient Catholic school girl, she kept her composure during first period and did not shout out that a Beatle was present in the building. Mary said that one woman stationed in the school cafeteria was able to secure George Harrison¹s autograph. There is another story that one young female student industriously asked to obtain the bathroom hallpass and employed it to verify that a genuine Beatle was indeed traipsing the hallways. The Principal discovered her and kept her out of her classes while Harrison was touring the campus.

The newspaper published an article about George Harrison¹s visit to Mercy High School in 1989. The water fountain where George paused to quench his thirst was replaced with a new one and a plaque was erected to commemorate the location of the previous water fountain and of the Beatle¹s momentary libation. An alumnus of MHS paid for a fundraising brick and had George Harrison¹s name chiseled onto the brick face.

So just how did Beatle George Harrison come to be walking through the hallways of Mercy High School and Leith Walk Elementary School on Monday morning September 14, 1964? The back story goes that George Harrison was not feeling well that Sunday with a possible bad cold even though he performed two concerts with The Beatles at the Baltimore Civic Center the previous afternoon and evening.

An undocumented decision was made to move George out of the eye of the Beatlemania whirlwind from the Inner Harbor Holiday Inn adjacent to the Civic Center where his fellow Fabs were staying and to another Holiday Inn located North of Baltimore City in Baynesville, a tiny community northeast of Towson in Baltimore County. That former Holiday Inn still stands today now as a Ramada Inn just off the intersection of Joppa Road & Loch Raven Boulevard.

Apparently, George expressed a hankering to visit an American school while in Baltimore County. Due South on Loch Raven Boulevard a scant distance from the hotel location is Mercy High School, an all female Catholic High School. Somebody must have recommended this as a possible prospect for George to visit.

Mercy High School Principal Sister Michelle greeted the Quiet Beatle and gave him and the two men in his entourage a tour of the facility during first period. George was sequestered for the classroom change that began second period to avoid Beatlemania pandemonium breaking out among the school girl classrooms. During the first and second periods, George¹s campus tour included both the cafeteria and gymnasium.

A small grouping of young girls were in the gym playing volleyball when George was chaperoned inside briefly. The girls were admonished to continue with their athletic activity. Mary recalls obtaining a corner of a piece of paper signed by George in the cafeteria that morning. Harrison left MHS before the next classroom bell rang. By third period, wild rumors had swept throughout the classrooms of MHS that Beatle George Harrison had taken a tour of their school complex.

Additionally, the Baltimore City public school Leith Walk Elementary School was only a few blocks away, but no murmurs of a Beatle visit have rippled through the community or been reported in the newspapers like George¹s infamous 1964 Mercy High School visit. Mary says George went there as well and that she also attended the Leith Walk public school growing up in Baltimore.

Frank Luber formerly with WCAO is still in broadcasting on Baltimore Radio. He hosted the Beatles press conference, which was held in between their two performances. Baltimore Beatles concert photographer Morton Tadder is still living in Baltimore. Dorothy Kmoch is still employed on staff at the Holiday Inn Inner Harbor all these years after the Threetles spent a night together in downtown Baltimore.

The Mercy High School Alumni Association should consider hosting a 1966 class 45th Anniversary Reunion fundraising function by welcoming Louise Harrison¹s Liverpool Legends to Baltimore either this Summer or Fall in conjunction with the original September 1964 date of The Beatles appearances in Baltimore.

RockonTour Issue #115
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