BANGOR, Maine — When the Beatles made their U.S. television debut on Ed Sullivan’s show in 1964, Diane Soule was screaming at her television screen along with young women across the nation.
Her bedroom was plastered with their pictures, like tens of thousands of other bedrooms around the world. Like millions of other teenage girls in the 1960s, she fantasized about marrying a Beatle — she was a “Paul girl” — or at least being his girlfriend.
In many ways, Soule was and is a typical Beatles fan. But in one important way, she is different from most: She met them.
“It’s hard to believe that was 50 years ago, to me,” said Soule, a retired fifth-grade teacher who lives in Rangeley.
Soule was 15 on Aug. 18, 1966, when she skipped school with a friend with the intention of spending the day at Suffolk Downs in Boston to see the Beatles play there that evening.
A piece of inside information from the friend’s uncle, a Boston police officer, would change their lives: He said the band was staying at the Somerset Hotel, not the Exeter as everyone had been told.
Even though the hotel’s doorman told them the band wasn’t there, Soule and her friend persisted until a row of limousines arrived. Soule rushed Paul McCartney’s car, and he rolled down the window.
“Half an hour, 40 minutes later and Paul was out on the balcony, and he was waving at us, like ‘Come on up,’” said Soule. “He sent down their manager, Neil Aspinall. He said, ‘The boys said you two can come up, if you want to.’”
McCartney was watching “Captain Kangaroo” when they arrived, but he shut off the television and introduced himself. The two young women showed him a banner they made for the concert, which read, “We will love you forever.” McCartney later saw the banner at the concert and saluted Soule and her friend from the stage.
“He showed us the music they had on the backs of their guitars that they were going to play that night,” said Soule. “Of course, we had a million questions and couldn’t even come up with one at that point. All of a sudden someone came up behind me and poked my ribs. It was Ringo [Starr].”
They met George Harrison in another room but didn’t meet John Lennon because he was in the shower. Soule said not meeting Lennon is her one regret. The day after Lennon’s death in 1980, Soule said she was tempted to call in sick but instead decided to play some of his music for her fifth-grade class.
“His music will really live on forever — as it will for all of them,” she said. “When you get a little older, you realize what kind of person he was. I really admire his life and what he did and how he tried to change things and make a difference. … The students knew I was upset. We appreciated the music together, and we learned something.”
Soule says to her, the Beatles’ impact went far beyond the music industry.
“It was a transformation of history when you think about [it],” she said. “When you’re 15 and you’re living in the ‘60s and there’s all this stuff going on around you, you didn’t really realize it. When you become a little bit older, you become aware of what the political situation was at the time. I think the Beatles were just a breath of fresh air when our country really needed it.”
Soule wrote an article, which was published in Datebook Magazine after the Suffolk Downs concert. The magazine listed her address as the Hudson Catholic High School, where she was a student. Mail with envious tidings from Beatles fans around the world began arriving.
“The nuns were not exactly pleased with my girlfriend and me,” said Soule. “Catholic girls are not supposed to do that.”
Since that fateful day, Soule has seen McCartney in concert once and Starr three times. She hopes to travel to Bangor on Wednesday to see Starr play again, but this time, she doesn’t expect to meet a Beatle.
Well, maybe.
“Maybe a little old grandma now would have the same impression that a 15-year-old had back then,” she said.
