Stamp Out The Beatles

[yerblues1968]

NOTE~ Important[/b] to read ALL the comments following this initial post, which is chock-full of errors ~ the well-meaning source (Dave Haber at what is now BeatlesNews.com) quickly and properly deleted this "news" item from his outstanding site, but the commentary on this forum was too good for us to delete!

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Remember ~ the below article is full of mistakes, not the fault of Dave Haber

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BEATLES FANS FINALLY GET THEIR CHANCE TO JOIN IN ON THE JOKE


whatgoeson.com


Posted by Dave Haber
Thursday, 10/09/08 10:02 am


In 1967, a group of Detroit Beatle-haters started a "Stamp Out The Beatles" campaign. On their tour through America, George Harrison was presented with one of their sweatshirts and "the quietly ironic Beatle" threw it on. Asked about the campaign at a press conference, George joked back, "We've got a plan to stamp out Detroit."



George Harrison and Beatles Manager, Brian Epstein,
wearing the "Stamp Out The Beatles" shirt.


You can now have one of these sweatshirts for your very own! Verona T-Shirts are selling what appears to be an extremely authentic-looking recreation of them in just about every size and color you can think of on eBay in the UK.

search.stores.ebay.co.uk/verona-tshirts_beatles_W0QQfcdZ2QQfrtsZ30QQsaselZ121792101QQsofpZ0

www.retrotogo.com/

They cost £19.99 (about $34.00). Since George and Brian were pictured wearing them in 1967, you could say these shirts are Beatles' approved, although this almost certainly has no official licensing.

For even more fun, you can make the look complete, if you add a small Yellow Submarine button, as George is wearing it in the picture.


www.whatgoeson.com/blog/the-beatles/200810091002/beatles-fans-finally-get-their-chance-to-join-in-on-the-joke.html

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Now make sure you read the comments below!

[christine~]

Oh dear. I see that Dave Haber has deleted the above-posted article in What Goes On ~ and I assume he did this because it was totally full of errors!

I suspect the people in question wanted to sell their shirts and, being too lazy to do proper research, simply pulled a bunch of guesses and half-truths out of their butts. No wonder Dave Haber deleted the whole thing ~ somebody must have clued him in.

The shirts worn by Brian and George were NOT made by Detroit University's Stamp Out The Beatles campaign ~ which, incidentally, was in 1964, not 1967 ~ in reality, the shirts had been made to SPOOF that silly "movement."

According to the transcription of the original interview, it was PAUL (not George, as stated) who quipped the Beatles were having a "Stamp Out Detroit" thing...

The photos of Brian in the Stamp Out shirt were taken in 1964 in Miami (see handwritten text in below pic for details). As it states, the Kinns had a hard time persuading the fastidious Eppy to put the shirt on for the pictures, after which he immediately changed back into his regular clothes!

In fact, they even state the last tour as being in 1967. As every Beatle fan knows, the Boys quit touring in 1966 ~ their very last public performance on any tour was Candlestick Park, August 29, 1966. Every mention of 1967 in the article is wrong, except maybe the George picture ~ it's my guess that Brian had given the shirt to George at some point, or maybe had left it to him when he died.

I've always been under the impression that there was only one shirt, and that Brian had given it to George, who passed it down to Dhani (there are photos of Dhani floating around the 'net with the shirt on). I may very easily be mistaken on the single-shirt theory, though. LOL

If you will take a look at the below image, it will give you the whole real story on the shirts:


Brian with Maurice and Berniece Kinn, 1964 Miami



p.s. Please forgive any strange wording in this comment, as I have had more than one beer tonight and am not totally in my most capable state of mind right now. Hahaa

[syelar108]

I suspect the people in question wanted to sell their shirts and, being too lazy to do proper research, simply pulled a bunch of guesses and half-truths out of their butts.

LMAO ;D Great response, and always a round of thanks for any new Eppy tales & images. Yeah; I'd support your 1 shirt theory. We do know that George had a flower placed on top of Brian's casket.

I first noticed George wearing this shirt (on the cover image) from an LP called "Underside." According to Geoffrey Giuliano's book, The Beatles Album..., "Underside is a bootleg released in 1979." The shirt was difficult to miss, and I always wondered why (not being aware of the back-story) George would wear such a thing?

And; Brian always reminds me a little of Tom Hanks in that one shot.

[yerblues1968]

Thanks Eppylover for the full info. regarding the "Stamp Out" shirt. I was awaiting your response to the article, as I presumed you knew more about the history behind it. I noticed that the article Dave put out was not very lengthy (as to its origin) and thought just enough info. was writen to encourage the public to buy the shirt. I thought you knew much more as you already had the Brian photo of him wearing the shirt.

I am glad you did respond and put out a LOT more detail behind the shirt's origin, and a fact included that Paul had a part connected to it and more people (such as Maurice and his wife) associated with Brian. Thank you for also posting a picture with Maurice and his wife Berniece of New Musical Express (NME) magazine and for posting Berniece's letter dated September 8, 2003 explaining Brian wearing the shirt and where the picture was taken. Berniece is very attractive in the picture, and Brian was quite fond of her.

And also, Brian looking like Tom Hanks? Pardon me syelar108. But to me, Tom Hanks is an ugly looking dude compared to Brian. Brian Epstein outshines him any day. That's my feeling.

[christine~]

Robin didn't say Brian looked like Tom Hanks, but that he had a kind of Tom Hanks-like EXPRESSION on his face there.

Yeah, the pic does look like Brian trying to do a Tom Hanks impression! LOL

[aspinall]

Ooooooo.............Eppy.............drinking beer? I can beat you at that..........bring it on!!!!!!

[christine~]

;D ;D

Hahaaaa ~ that's no accomplishment. ANYBODY can beat me at that!

If I drink more than ONE I'm useless. More than two and I'm asleep!

Most of the time, though, I daren't even take one little sip, even of anyone else's drink ~ if I come near Stephy, she pushes me away and complains, 'Gawd, Mom, you stink like alcohol!"

She's 19 and has always refused to touch drugs of ANY kind, including alcohol and cigarettes. I've gotta agree that she doesn't need those; she's goofy enough on her own.

Besides, she can't talk about ME stinking. I've often let her know that her damn feet could kill a moose a mile away (perhaps she could be of use to Sarah Palin).

As "pure" as she is substance-wise, it's a struggle to shove a Midol, Tylenol or cold pill down her throat when she needs them!!!

Stephy draws the line at caffeine, though ~ she's into coffee real heavy! Hahaa

[yerblues1968]

I knew what syelar108 was saying, "reminds me a little of Tom Hanks." Any reminder of Tom Hanks turns me off or any person reminded of anything about him makes me puke. I DON"T LIKE Tom Hanks or ANY reminder about him. Brian Epstein is in a class in itself and should not be compared or reminded of that CREEP Tom Hanks. Sorry, syelar108. Nothing personal against you. It is just that I DON"T LIKE TOM HANKS. I am sure there is at least one individual a person does not like. For me, it is Tom Hanks. To me, he will always be an UGLY jerk. Excuse me if I offend anyone. Enough said. BTW, syelar108, you may want to give me a swift kick in the b*** for not liking TH. But hey, different strokes for different folks. You're still TOPS to me.

Now, I find it somewhat interesting to listen to your "women talk." I may be considered boring as I cannot relate to your humor, but that is between you ladies. I drink (alcohol) on certain occasions; and, when I do, it is not much. Neither have I ever taken drugs (except prescription) or smoked. I do like having good coffee at coffee houses, i.e., Starbucks. Reading this, I already sound boring. But I can be entertaining in other areas.

Thanks for everything ladies and especially, Eppylover.

[Beatlemaniac]

Just for the record, the "Stamp Out the Beatles" campaign was started in 1964--not 1967-- by a guy at Wayne State University in Detroit. A local deejay named Tommy Shannon then organized a couple of "Beatle Booster Balls" in order to convince the Fab Four they must include Detroit on their tour schedule, which of course they did. At the time, I was a 13-year-old female Beatle fanatic so it's all firmly entrenched in my memory! No doubt George and Brian Epstein wearing the shirts at a later date showed that they thought the whole campaign was funny (the Beatles always had great senses of humor, especially about themselves)--NOT THAT THEY HAD ANYTHING TO DO WITH IT. They didn't!

[christine~]

Hey Beatlemaniac ~

Thanks for your additions to the clarifications.

I was also 13 in 1964. And living just outside Grand Rapids,
so was able to make it to Brian's boys' 1966 Detroit concert!

Hopefully you have a Facebook account, because the latest crucial gig out there is the very important (and 15+ years overdue) Induct Brian Epstein into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Page. As of the date of this comment, we administrate this page and it is 1,727 members strong, but we need thousands more to make it happen.

Please pass the word and help us get this done.
I must confess that I am anxious to attain this goal, to straighten out the ignorant "Hall of Fame" faux pas on the Brian issue, and then get he hell OUT of this Facebook commitment ~ but, I refuse to bail out until Brian gets his due!

The thing is, lately Facebook has been the best bet for getting near-miracles accomplished ~ among other awesome tasks, FB singlehandedly put Betty White in as host of Saturday Night Live, and also launched the huge Team Conan, facilitating O'Brien's new TBS show.

However, administratively, Facebook is very user-unfriendly and frustrates us when it comes to properly managing a group page. So, yeah. Let's get Brian Epstein inducted ASAP, before Facebook's star starts to tarnish, which will happen sooner or later!

[John Rabe]

A year or more late ... but it wasn't "some guy at Wayne State University," It was my dad, WT "Bill" Rabe, who was at that time doing PR for the University of Detroit. In 1964, the Wall Street Journal erroneously reported that it was Wayne State.

[christine~]

Well, shame on the WSJ!!!

Thanks so much for setting the record straight on this, John Rabe, and for giving us a name to google.

Your dad was also the creator of that annual List of Words Banished from the Queen's English for Mis-Use, Over-Use and General Uselessness?
Awesome!

And here's what I found, at University of Minnesota Libraries ~

During the early 1950s, while serving as publicist at the University of Detroit, Rabe launched what has been described as a "quirky quiz show" called "Ask the Professor" on radio station WJR.

SOBS (another Rabe invention that stood for "Stamp Out the Beatles Society") was a gimmick organization launched in 1963 at the University. He wanted to link the university's name with raging Beatlemania.

Rabe signed up a naïve student, Peter Murphy, to be SOBS president.

One of the first questions asked when the Beatles arrived in New York on Feb. 7, 1964, concerned SOBS' supposed campaign.

"We're going to start a campaign to stamp out Detroit," a Beatle responded, and suddenly Murphy was public enemy No. 1.

Beatles fans across America demonized SOBS and Murphy, but the Fab Four played Detroit without incident.

Your dad was quite the character.
Thanks again!