Story about Paul in Arizona (1966?)
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Last year when I told my friend (whom I'll call Cindy) that I was going to see Paul in Wichita, she shared a story with me about seeing him in Arizona, when she was about 14, which would have been around 1966. (She's not sure of exact date).
It was either on a weekend or when school was out, probably summer. Her friend Lynda's father worked at a hotel in Tucson, and he always let the girls swim in the hotel pool. It was a nice hotel, but located in a secluded area just outside the city. One morning they arrived with swimsuits on, and got their swimcaps on and were about to jump in the pool, when they saw two young men were standing in the pool, relaxing and talking, leaning with elbows up on the edge of the pool. The girls got in and one of the guys said "Morning!" And Lynda gasped and giggled and said, "You're Paul McCartney!" He smiled and said "My name is James! And (pointing to his friend) this is Terry!" (I'm thinking he could have said "Tara" for Tara Browne, and they just heard "Terry") Both of the girls were Beatles fans, so knew from magazines that Paul's first name was James. They said, "We know your first name is James, Paul... we know it's you!" And he just wagged a finger at them and said, "Ah-ah, none of that! my name is James!" They said they kept trying to get him to admit he was Paul, but he just laughed, and was telling them to behave themselves (in an English accent) and they started splashing water on each other, and threw a beach ball back and forth for quite a while. Then he said, "Bye girls" and he and Terry(?) started swimming away to get out of the pool. Cindy said that on an impulse, she grabbed Paul's toe as he was swimming away, to keep him in the pool, lol, she didn't want him to go, and he just laughed and swam free to the end of the pool and got out. As they were drying off, Lynda and Cindy giggled, they couldn't believe they had been in the same swimming pool as Paul.
Lynda asked her father "Is Paul McCartney checked in to the hotel" and he'd just smile and shrug and say, "I don't think there's anyone checked in under that name." And for the next few days Lynda and Cindy giggled on the phone, alternately disbelieving it was him, and then knowing for sure it was him.. but what was he doing in Arizona? Then an article with photo appeared in the newspaper, "Paul McCartney seen dining at restaurant near xxxxx Hotel in Tucson, with friend Terry(?)_________" The girls then knew it WAS him they had seen... and Cindy couldn't believe she had touched his toe, lol. She told me, "I grabbed what was closest! I'm just glad it wasn't his swimming trunks, that would not have been good!
"Anyway, I saw her again yesterday, and told her I'd post her story here on the Maccaboard. She is curious if anyone knows why Paul would have been in Arizona at that time, and would like to know who "Terry" was... I'm thinking it could have been Tara Browne... but did he ever travel with Paul to the US? He was killed in a car crash in December 1966 in England. It's very possible other friends were with him on this trip as well, but only Paul and "Terry" had been in the pool. Unfortunately Cindy doesn't know what happened to the newspaper clipping she saved that would give more information.
Cindy's husband also told me that he remembers seeing Paul and Linda and family in the grocery store every so often, when they were in Tucson, buying ice cream or something... he said no one bothered them and "Let them be" and were very respectful.
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Great story!!
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Nancy R wrote:
Great story!!
Thanks! Too bad there isn't a way to find out more about when this happened, and why he was in Arizona, but it's possible he could have just been on a private vacation with friends, so it might not have been received a lot of media coverage.. but I'm sure it would have been impossible for him NOT to have been photographed though, no matter where he went.
My friend who told me the story said she'll try to find the one newspaper clipping (with photo) that told more.
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LadyLeslie wrote:
Nancy R wrote:
Great story!!
Thanks! Too bad there isn't a way to find out more about when this happened, and why he was in Arizona, but it's possible he could have just been on a private vacation with friends, so it might not have been received a lot of media coverage.. but I'm sure it would have been impossible for him NOT to have been photographed though, no matter where he went.
My friend who told me the story said she'll try to find the one newspaper clipping (with photo) that told more.
She needs to go to her local library and see if they can help her find it. Does she remember the name of the local newspaper back then?
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Nancy R wrote:
LadyLeslie wrote:
Nancy R wrote:
Great story!!
Thanks! Too bad there isn't a way to find out more about when this happened, and why he was in Arizona, but it's possible he could have just been on a private vacation with friends, so it might not have been received a lot of media coverage.. but I'm sure it would have been impossible for him NOT to have been photographed though, no matter where he went.
My friend who told me the story said she'll try to find the one newspaper clipping (with photo) that told more.
She needs to go to her local library and see if they can help her find it. Does she remember the name of the local newspaper back then?
Yeah, she remembers the name of the newspaper, and the name of the hotel, etc. Since she lives in the Kansas City area now, we're trying to look for it at online newspaper databases through our local library. Hopefully we can come up with something
. Just thought this was a good place to start, in case someone here who knows just about everything there is to know about Paul might have more info. 
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LadyLeslie wrote:
Nancy R wrote:
LadyLeslie wrote:
Nancy R wrote:
Great story!!
Thanks! Too bad there isn't a way to find out more about when this happened, and why he was in Arizona, but it's possible he could have just been on a private vacation with friends, so it might not have been received a lot of media coverage.. but I'm sure it would have been impossible for him NOT to have been photographed though, no matter where he went.
My friend who told me the story said she'll try to find the one newspaper clipping (with photo) that told more.
She needs to go to her local library and see if they can help her find it. Does she remember the name of the local newspaper back then?
Yeah, she remembers the name of the newspaper, and the name of the hotel, etc. Since she lives in the Kansas City area now, we're trying to look for it at online newspaper databases through our local library. Hopefully we can come up with something
. Just thought this was a good place to start, in case someone here who knows just about everything there is to know about Paul might have more info. The Terry in the story could have been Terry Doran.
http://www.meetthebeatlesforreal.com/2010/08/terry-doran.html
http://kenwoodlennon.blogspot.com/2009/06/kenwood-terry-doran.html
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I suspect this event may have happened between January & March 1966 when the Beatles were on their first real break. Although several dates can be accounted for, Paul was keeping a very low profile during this three month period.
Even though the Beatles were ont heir US tour that August, there appears to have been no time for any visit to Arizona,even for a day.
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Thanks for the info, Nancy and Kestrel! Will check on this leads.
For some reason I tend to think Paul was closer to Tara Browne as a friend than he was to Terry Doran... Doran seemed closer to John and George, but it's entirely possible he was among the friends with Paul in Arizona, who knows.
That's interesting that Paul was keeping a low profile in those early months of 1966, perhaps he was just taking some private time for vacations and being with family and friends.
This is a short clip of Paul and Tara Browne from 1966, presumably from a vacation. The video has been dubbed in French.
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LadyLeslie wrote:
Thanks for the info, Nancy and Kestrel! Will check on this leads.
Oops, meant "Check on THESE leads." Wish there was an edit option after 30 minutes.
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LadyLeslie wrote:
Thanks for the info, Nancy and Kestrel! Will check on these leads.
For some reason I tend to think Paul was closer to Tara Browne as a friend than he was to Terry Doran... Doran seemed closer to John and George, but it's entirely possible he was among the friends with Paul in Arizona, who knows.
That's interesting that Paul was keeping a low profile in those early months of 1966, perhaps he was just taking some private time for vacations and being with family and friends.
This is a short clip of Paul and Tara Browne from 1966, presumably from a vacation. The video has been dubbed in French.
Fixed your typo in my quote! Lol!
I agree, that Tara was closer to Paul than Terry and that video confirms they were together in 1966. Does your friend recognize him from the clip?
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Nancy R wrote:
LadyLeslie wrote:
Thanks for the info, Nancy and Kestrel! Will check on these leads.
For some reason I tend to think Paul was closer to Tara Browne as a friend than he was to Terry Doran... Doran seemed closer to John and George, but it's entirely possible he was among the friends with Paul in Arizona, who knows.
That's interesting that Paul was keeping a low profile in those early months of 1966, perhaps he was just taking some private time for vacations and being with family and friends.
This is a short clip of Paul and Tara Browne from 1966, presumably from a vacation. The video has been dubbed in French.
Fixed your typo in my quote! Lol!
I agree, that Tara was closer to Paul than Terry and that video confirms they were together in 1966. Does your friend recognize him from the clip?
Thanks for fixing the typo, in case I hadn't noticed, lol
I'm going to send her the link to the clip via email and see if she remembers if that's who she saw. Was interesting to me that Tara seems to resemble George Harrison quite a bit, and looks like he could pass for a Beatle, lol. It's sad that Tara died so young, and so tragically. Wikipedia has a page for him https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tara_Browne
I think the clip I posted is from a French documentary of some kind, but have no idea what its title is.
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LadyLeslie wrote:
Nancy R wrote:
LadyLeslie wrote:
Thanks for the info, Nancy and Kestrel! Will check on these leads.
For some reason I tend to think Paul was closer to Tara Browne as a friend than he was to Terry Doran... Doran seemed closer to John and George, but it's entirely possible he was among the friends with Paul in Arizona, who knows.
That's interesting that Paul was keeping a low profile in those early months of 1966, perhaps he was just taking some private time for vacations and being with family and friends.
This is a short clip of Paul and Tara Browne from 1966, presumably from a vacation. The video has been dubbed in French.
Fixed your typo in my quote! Lol!
I agree, that Tara was closer to Paul than Terry and that video confirms they were together in 1966. Does your friend recognize him from the clip?
Thanks for fixing the typo, in case I hadn't noticed, lol
I'm going to send her the link to the clip via email and see if she remembers if that's who she saw. Was interesting to me that Tara seems to resemble George Harrison quite a bit, and looks like he could pass for a Beatle, lol. It's sad that Tara died so young, and so tragically. Wikipedia has a page for him https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tara_Browne
I think the clip I posted is from a French documentary of some kind, but have no idea what its title is.
He does look like a Beatle! Send her the Wikipedia link too.
Yeah, he was way too young, but foolish to be driving 100 mph in London! Forever immortalized in “A Day In The Life.”
