Shrieking Beatles fans besiege Bowl

Aug. 23, 1964: The Beatles gave their long-heralded performance at the Hollywood Bowl and “escaped with their lives,” The Times reported

“With 18,700 teenage fans shrieking hysterically, not much of the mop-haired quartet’s singing could be heard,” the newspaper said. After a half-hour performance -- pop history made -- the Beatles left the stage with the Bowl’s first aid station reporting “only three fainters for the entire evening.”

But the real show may have been the mob scene outside the Hollywood venue hours before the concert.

“The sight of ticket-takers wearing Army helmets presaged a possible blitz of World War II proportions,” The Times said. “When nearly 3,000 girls in all manner of odd attire surged the gates at 5:20 p.m., officials decided to let them in 40 minutes early. Many broke into happy tears. ‘Oh, my God, we’re in, we’re going to see the Beatles,’ they screamed.”

“A random sampling of opinion on the question of why they love the Beatles turned up these answers: ‘They’re foreign and Americans are so gooney.’ ‘They’re cute -- instead of talking about cars and surfing, they talk about love.’ ‘I like ‘em ‘cause my parent’s hate ‘em.’ ”