#can't help but admire the hustle of fans before the internet

[harrisonstories]

Above: George Harrison in a wheelchair after injuring his foot at Friar Park in March 1979. Photographer unknown. The brake wouldn't work on the small tractor he was riding, so he put his foot down on the path, only for the back wheel of the tractor to run over it. Below: Laurie Fidler's version of the story I typed up for this post. It's much shorter and the details are a little different. [click to enlarge]

From the WALH Beatles fanzine - Issue #26 - April 1979.

George in L.A. - March 1979

I came home from school at about 3:30 (step one), which is real early for me. It was hot, so I just peeled off some clothes and switched on the TV. It just happened to be on CBS (step two). Because it was so hot I just sat on the couch and relaxed, when all of a sudden I hear "These are the stories we are working on for the 4:30, 5:00 and 6:00 news..blah blah…and Pat O'Brian will have an interview with former Beatle George Harrison." That was all I had to hear to take me out of a nice state of relaxation. A hundred thoughts began to run thru my mind: call the gang, get my camera ready, get a tape recorder, where was the interview taking place, when, was it in L.A.??? -- etc., etc., etc.! I called Laurie…no answer. God! She's not home from work yet. I called Sandi...she had to work late...again I get on the phone to call Selita. Yay! -- she's home! "Selita, get on over to my house, George is going to be interviewed, bring your camera!" (I have a big color TV.) I kept trying to call Laurie but still no answer. Where the hell was she?? By then I had tried to work all the tape recorders in the house (3) and of course not one of them worked. I was so mad.

Finally, Laurie called saying she went to see Sandi at work and she told her to call me right away, something about George. I told her about it and she said: "While I come over, call the station to first find out if it's live." Needless to say at hearing the word live, I went slightly mad. I then began to make calls -- I think about 6 of them -- each time getting closer to his whereabouts. As I was talking I kept thinking to myself, "God! I work well under pressure." I was very calm and professional on the phone. My final call was to Warner Bros. where I found out that George was holding a press conf. at that moment. After telling her some far-fetched story (what's funny was that she believed me), she told me where the conf. was being held, bless her.

Called Laurie back up to tell her to forget about the show, we are going to go see George at Warner Bros. She made it up to my house in a few seconds flat. I hardly had time to grab my camera and film and a photo for George (I prayed) to sign.

We hear her honking and we run out to the car in near panic (since it's now about 5:00pm and full rush hour), we get in, and WE'RE OFF TO SEE THE WIZARD, THE WONDERFUL WIZARD OF....

Laurie, I think, if she were in competition for the world's fastest driver would have won hands down. We made it to Burbank in about 20-25 minutes. A miracle in itself, not to mention when the freeway is bumper-to-bumper. Laurie always was good at dodge-the-cars.

After parking the car and walking towards the front entrance, a quiet fear began to come over me. I'm not sure if it was fear of not being able to finally meet him face to face after so many years, or the fear of actually meeting him. From a total state of nerves I found myself totally calm and at peace with myself (isn't there something that says the calm before the storm??).

Then I began to notice a lot of people walking down the street with George's new LP and some press releases, and as we approached the gates, more and more people began to file out. "Oh god, it's already over, maybe he left" was my first thought, which saddened me considerably. I proceeded to ask some reporter if he knew if George had already left. "He left a long time ago," was his answer in a rather shitty tone. I again felt sad but there was no way I was going to budge an inch, at which time Laurie's friend comes and says that the conf. went great and that George was funny and very nice. After asking if he was still in, she replied she was pretty sure he was because he went in (after the conf.) to talk to Mo.

All that was left to do was wait. So we did. We went to the parking lot to see if we could spot one of his cars but nothing looked right, however the first car my eye caught sight of was a gorgeous bronze Bentley, brand new and very classy. We wanted (or at least I did) to go and check it out but then someone else would walk out the doors of Warners. Every time those doors opened I felt I would die. Finally, a security guard (sweetest man you'd ever want to meet) came outside because at 6:00 Warners officially closes, so he was there (I'm not sure why). We asked him if he knew George was still in there, at which point he turned to look at the cars in the lot and said, "Yeah, that's the car he came in this morning", pointing to the Bentley. Me: "Do you know if there are any other exits?" Guard: "No, he'll have to come out from there, he'll be carrying a cane, he was limping."

Limping?? What does he mean, limping, how, why, when, where, who...We thanked him for being so nice and just began to talk amongst ourselves trying to implant the assurance that yes, this was it, and yes Virginia there really is a Santa Claus.

A few seconds later, the guard says to us, "HERE HE COMES!" I turned to see him coming towards us expecting to see that wonderful lively bounce, but instead I saw him limping and quite badly at that. He was so lovely I don't think I'll quite be able to put in words what my feelings were at that point. All i could think of was how beautiful and young he really is. Pictures are really a very false representation of him.

We started to walk towards him and stopped (since he had to pass us to get to his car). When he reached us my first concern was to ask him what had happened to his foot. He replied with a gorgeous smile, "Oh, I just hurt my foot." Thank you George, but that's a bit obvious since his foot was all bandaged. He was wearing beige cords, a printed shirt (white/blue and blue flaps). He was also wearing his big Dark Horse necklace, the blue one, and no wedding ring. I'm usually not so observant but I couldn't keep my eyes off of him. Ah! That man is BEWITCHING.

The best part however was his hair, it's short and sporting and it suits him wonderfully. Lovely, just lovely.

Laurie asked him to sign a couple of autographs (ala Beatles) and again with an enormous smile he said, "Oh, sure!" What a sweetheart, you should have seen him trying to get comfortable with his cane before signing. However, he was enjoying it or so it seemed. As he signed I asked if I could snap a couple of pics, and to answer he looked right at me (I know now that I can live thru anything, his looks are the ultimate test) and said: "Sure, if you can be quick." As I was taking some shots I heard him say, "Oh, where'd you get this one?" I looked to see that he was checking out my photo of him, really interested, and I said "I got it out of a Japanese calendar." He seemed so pleased. God! I wanted to hug him (let's keep it clean). Every once in a while he would stare at me so that I could take a photo, well, needless to say I never did manage to get one whenever he did that because I couldn't do anything but look back. He was so cute. I bet he knew his affects on me because he seemed to get a kick out of doing it.

He then began to walk towards the Bentley which was a few feet away. As he was getting into the car (hopping in so as not to put weight on his hurt foot) I told him (I think, or was it Laurie) that I loved his new album. It was light-up time again, his whole face was a warm grin. "Do you really like it then?" "Of course," I said. "Do you have the album?" He again seemed interested -- ah, such a gentleman! Laurie then said, "I love 'Blow Away', come on George, knock those Bee Gees off the charts!" (as she thinks of it now, she can't believe she said that -- I can't either!) After hearing that he just about cracked up and made a gesture like, oh well, we try. He was getting ready to go (he had a driver, a nice guy who was enjoying the whole thing nicely) so I asked how Dhani was. This question brought about the biggest smile yet (after George nirvana) and the reply, "Oh, he's just fine!" "And Olivia?" "She's fine too." He then said he had to go and said bye. At the second he left, already I couldn't believe what had happened, all I could remember was how beautiful, young, happy and gentle he was. He has absolutely no airs about him at all. He makes you feel more like a friend, asking you questions. I could have not have dreamt of a more totally terrific meeting with George. I thought I'd be very nervous but instead I was calm with a kind of inner glow. Absolutely mind-blowing. My last thought was, God, it was worth the waiting, and how much I do feel for him...Stefania Catone.