⇾ 𝐈𝐓'𝐒 𝐎𝐍𝐋𝐘 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄 | 𝐉𝐨𝐡𝐧 𝐋𝐞𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐧 𝐈𝐈

Chapter Three: A Peek in the Beatles' Dressing Room

February 9, 1964

"Here, John," I said quickly, rushing over to tape a little set list to the top of his guitar as Ed Sullivan began to speak.

"Thank ye, love," he said, admiring my work and placing a gentle kiss on my forehead. I gave him a smile before turning around to make sure everyone else had one.

"Now yesterday and today our theater's been jammed with newspapermen and hundreds of photographers from all over the nation, and these veterans agreed with me that the city never has the excitement stirred by these youngsters from Liverpool, who call themselves The Beatles...."

"Now," said Brian. "Go, go, go. You've got this!"

I gave the four terrified faces a thumbs up and they rushed out towards the people onstage that were waiting to help them plug up their instruments.

"Now tonight, you're gonna twice be entertained by them. Right now, and again in the second half of our show. Ladies and gentlemen, The Beatles! Let's bring them on!"

Ed Sullivan's words were met with a collective roar of cheering. The four men shot one more worried glance at us before the curtains rose.

Brian and I were hidden backstage, watching them from the side. We couldn't hear anything. It'd become normal by this point. It was often said by the boys that they couldn't hear themselves out there, even with monitors screaming back at them. They didn't mind, really. Not yet, at least.

I saw Paul counting off eagerly as he stepped up to the mic. I could almost see all of their bodies trembling from head to toe in either nerves or adrenaline.

They erupted into a rendition of a song off of their latest album, With the Beatles, called "All My Loving."

"Close your eyes and I'll kiss you / Tomorrow I'll miss you / Remember I'll always be true. / And then while I'm away, / I'll write home everyday / And I'll send all my loving to you."

I turned to face Brian. His face had changed from worried to ecstatic. The whole crowd seemed to be enjoying the show, which was a relief. They'd even calmed down long enough to hear the boys sing.

We were told there were about 700 fans packed into this theatre, which was gobsmacking to think about. The room didn't look very big, after all.

After the conclusion of "All My Loving," the boys slowed it down a bit, segueing into a slower ballad off the same album.

"There were bells / On a hill...."

This would usually be the time of the show Brian would send me out on a little mission to be sure that everything sounded alright in the crowd and to see what the crowd thought of everything, but he didn't ask me to this time. He just seemed to be captivated by everyone's reaction. The Beatles only had a handful of albums and singles released over here in the past month and they'd already somehow gained an army of followers, it seemed.

"Till There Was You" was over before long and they were on to the last song of the first part of the show, "She Loves You." The crowd let out another tremendous uproar as Ringo gave his starting taps on his drum.

"She loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah!"

As soon as had started, it was over, the first part of their show was over and they were bowing as the crowd screamed wildly and endlessly back.

They ran back off towards Brian and I with wide smiles on their faces. They put their guitars on the stands left backstage for them and listened intently as someone came to talk to them. The man told them it would be about 30 minutes before they needed to be back and ready for the second part of their performance. That being said, they moved off towards their dressing rooms while Brian stayed back to talk to the man some more.

"Donna, how was it?" Paul asked eagerly.

"It was brilliant," I responded with a laugh.

"Would you like a grand tour of the dressing room?" asked John in a teasing voice as we can upon it.

"Isn't that a bit...tabooed?" I asked challengingly.

John put a hand over his mouth mockingly. "Are you implying—?"

"I'm not implying anything," I said innocently.

"Come on in, Donna," said Paul, gesturing wildly and falling back on a couch with a long exhale. Ringo and George followed him and John pulled me in by the wrist.

"You two look like you want to rip each other's clothes off," Paul commented crudely as he stood back up, pointing to John and I, who were standing side-by-side evenly, our hands crossed in front of us neatly.

John rushed over to tackle him playfully him and he fell back onto the couch again. I was laughing at the scene when Brian joined us and I could hear him slap himself in the head.

"Boys—?" he began helplessly. John collapsed onto the couch next to Paul in a fit of laughter. "C'mon, you've only got fifteen more minutes. Get up," snapped Brian.

"Sir, yes, sir!" John barked jokingly as he stood up straight.

"Okay, tame your hair," said Brian and I snorted at John and Paul's ruffled hair.

John smirked at me. "You think that's funny, do you?"

I went wordlessly over to the counter on the far left wall and picked up a comb, walk-in got back over to him and running it through his hair.

"Hey!" he said, turning around with a teasing grin.

"You four better be back out here in ten minutes," said Brian with a sigh before stepping out of the room.

"Turn around," I said to John, going behind him and combining out another section of his hair. Ringo whistled.

"Why should I?" he asked, turning to face me again.

"Because I said so," I answered. I managed to get the last part flattened back down.

"My turn!" yelled Paul, hopping up and standing in front of me with a cheeky grin.

"Well, turn around," I said.

"With pleasure," he answered with a wink.

"McCartney," growled John warningly.

Paul put his hands up in surrender as I combed through his hair. "Sorry, John. Please spare me."

"C'mon, lads," said George suddenly, tossing a magazine aside and standing out of a chair he'd settled in. "Time to go!"