When the Beatles were beaten with jelly beans

Beatles fans rush to buy jelly beans at the Washington Coliseum in 1964, photo?_billeppridge, courtesy of Monroe Photography Gallery

It’s the weirdest thing in Beatles history One of the chapters. In most Beatles controversies, the most outspoken and controversial Beatle, John Lennon, was usually at the bottom, but not this time. George Harrison's "Quiet Beatle" brought about the Jelly Bean controversy of 1963-64, which was to promote Beatle Buddy.

In a 1963 television interview, George told the television host that jelly babies were his favorite treat and that John "stole his jelly babies." Well, no big deal, right?

The Beatles were quickly inundated with boxes of Jelly Babies sent to them by their adoring fans, but that was to be expected. But within a few days, when the boys began taking the stage to perform in concert, their adoring admirers began throwing jelly babies onto the stage, almost sacrificing themselves to please their idols. These sweets are both "given" to the boy and "for" the boy. The Beatles hated it from the beginning.

In a rare letter written in 1963 to a 15-year-old female fan, Lynne Smith, George bluntly stated his and his bandmates' thoughts and opinions on the issue. :

We don't like jelly babies, and we don't like fruit gels, so think of us standing on stage trying to dodge those before you throw more at us. …and it’s dangerous. One time I was hit in the eye by a cooked sweet that wasn't funny.

It's easy to sense George's unabashed anger at the sweet treats on offer. But that was England, and the worst was yet to come.

For those of you who don't know, jelly babies are soft little sweet treats that are the British counterpart to the American jelly bean, but much milder. The Beatles came to America in February 1964, probably relieved that now they were back home in the States, and the jelly baby tossing and turning was over. But it's about to get worse.

At The Beatles' first U.S. concert, in Washington, D.C., on February 11, 1964, the boys were thrown again - but this time, more bullet-like jelly beans were thrown at them Driven by their loyal fans. George was about to throw jelly beans from Washington to a later reporter in New York:

…We were absolutely f*****g stuff thrown at us that night. There are no jelly beans there, there are hard jelly beans. To make matters worse, we were on a circular stage, so they were attacking us from all sides. Imagine a shower of hard little bullets falling from the sky...if a jelly bean flies through the air at 50 miles an hour and hits you in the eye, you're screwed. You're blind, aren't you? We never like people throwing things like this. We don't mind them throwing streamers, but jelly beans are a little dangerous, you see! …Every now and then, someone will hit my strings while I’m playing the guitar and make a bad note.

Ringo, the band's drummer, had it a little easier and a little safer than the others because he could crouch down and hide behind his drum kit. Poor George, John and Paul had to stand in front of the fire with no protection except their guitars.

The Jelly Bean Bombs will continue on the Beatles' first U.S. tour. In fact, at the Cow Palace in San Francisco in August 1964, the concert had to be stopped twice due to hail of jelly beans.

Some Jelly Bean Throwing Fans Were Throwed After a Sept. 6 concert at Detroit's Olympia Stadium, Paul said of the jelly beans: "It's become a signature of our show, but we're more Hope they don't throw anything away.

Fortunately for fab4, the trend finally took off and the candy attacks slowly dwindled down. Who knows? Maybe it was his off-the-cuff comment about loving jelly babies that caused George to become "Quiet" "The Beatles".

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