George Harrison In Illinois...

In September 1963 the Beatles were unknown in America. They were gaining fame in England with their first LP "Please Please Me" and had played 200 concerts that year. They were flush with cash the first time in their lives and Paul and George took off for a vacation in Greece, John Lennon went to Paris and George Harrison visited his sister who lived in Benton, Illinois. On our recent trip to Chicago we stopped and made our photo by the mural there commemorating his visit. 

George is Cathy's favorite Beatle. The four Beatles were such public personas that if you know someone's favorite you will know more about that person than years of psychoanalysis would ever revel. I think he just got the most girls and that's why she likes him.    

This two week period that George spent in  Benton was the last carefree period of Beatle life when no one in the USA knew who they were. He stood out a bit in Benton because of his long hair. His sister Louise had shopped one of their records around to local radio stations and George himself gave away copies. George went to Fenton Music store in nearby Mount Vernon and purchased a Rickenbacker 425 guitar for $400. It was like a black one Lennon owned but it had the more desirable fireglo red finish and Harrison had the shop owner paint it black to match the dark suits and guitars of the rest of the band. That guitar was used on "I Want to Hold Your Hand" sold at auction in 2014 for $675,000. 

It was a coincidence that when we saw a road sign "Mount Vernon 1 mile" that the Harrison penned tune from the Beatles Revolver album "Taxman" came up on random play on my car's zip drive.

In addition to taking in American culture and cars Louise introduced George to local musicians and he played a VFW gig with a local band called the Four Vests. George did not play Beatle songs but instead chose rockabilly and Hank Williams tunes. It's been a while since I played a VFW gig but at the last one I did Hank was still popular with that crowd. 

By the end of September George returned to England. He told locals he would try to get his band to play Benton but in 1964 the Beatles played the Ed Sullivan Show and the rest is history. Benton fell on had times and like a lot of small town America I'm not sure how much town is left. While we did not get off Highway 57 to drive through I think Louise's home has been restored to it's 1963 look. 

In a letter George wrote to Louise about the town and his visit he said:

 “They’re great people. They were glad to see me—not because I’m a Beatle, but because I’m me.”

Maybe that's why George is Cathy's favorite.