About FlashAlert on Twitter:
FlashAlert utilizes the free service Twitter to distribute emergency text messages. While you are welcome to register your cell phone text message address directly into the FlashAlert system, we recommend that you simply "follow" the FlashAlert account for Oregon Historical Society by clicking on the link below and logging in to (or creating) your free Twitter account. Twitter sends messages out exceptionally fast thanks to arrangements they have made with the cell phone companies.
Click here to add Oregon Historical Society to your Twitter account or create one.
@orhist
Press photos: http://bit.ly/beatlespresskit
Portland, OR – On August 22, 1965, The Beatles landed at Portland International Airport, greeted by throngs of screaming fans in the midst of “Beatlemania.” John, Paul, George, and Ringo played two shows at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum that day, an afternoon and evening concert – their only live shows ever played in Portland.
Exactly 54 years later, we are excited to celebrate this iconic day that many local fans still remember by offering free admission to the Oregon Historical Society. On view through November 12, Ladies and Gentlemen… The Beatles! is an original show curated by the GRAMMY Museum and Fab Four Exhibits LLC that covers the period from early 1964 through mid-1966 —the years Beatlemania ran rampant in America.
Unique to the OHS version of this worldwide touring exhibit is a case of ephemera from The Beatles’ Portland performances, including the original contract and rider between NEMS and Northwest Releasing to bring The Beatles to Portland, concert tickets, and an original press pass. The rider notably features a segregation clause, where The Beatles state their refusal to play before segregated audiences in the U.S.
One of the most prominent cases in the exhibition features Paul McCartney's military jacket from The Beatles' historic 1965 Shea Stadium concert. Each band member only had one of this style of performance jacket, and McCartney wore this very jacket when The Beatles performed at the Memorial Coliseum 54 years ago.
The Oregon Historical Society is located at 1200 SW Park Avenue in downtown Portland, and the museum’s Thursday hours are 10am to 5pm.
About Ladies and Gentlemen… The Beatles!
In 1964, The Beatles came to America for the first of the group's three North American visits. Their journey in America began on Friday, February 7 of that year, when John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr arrived from the UK at the newly named John F. Kennedy International Airport. With cameras flashing and reporters jostling, they were whisked into Manhattan amid the screams, shouts, and tears of New York-area teens, braving the cold for a mere glimpse of the band. Then, that Sunday, the veritable king of the television variety show, Ed Sullivan, introduced them to a captivated American audience of more than 73 million viewers — at the time a television record. And, just like that, Beatlemania was upon us.
Curated by the GRAMMY Museum and Fab Four Exhibits, Ladies and Gentlemen…The Beatles! brings us back to the early ‘60s when rock and roll was re-energized — some say saved — by four lads from Liverpool. During this time, the band affected nearly every aspect of pop culture, including fashion, art, advertising, media, and, of course, music.
Ladies and Gentlemen…The Beatles! provides fresh new insight into how and why The Beatles impacted America in the 1960s and beyond. Over 100 objects, ephemera, and interactive elements fill the gallery, some on exhibit for the first time.
Exhibition highlights include:
Ladies and Gentlemen… The Beatles! is on exhibit through November 12, 2019. The Oregon Historical Society’s museum is open seven days a week, Monday – Saturday from 10am – 5pm and Sunday from 12pm – 5pm. Admission is $10, and discounts are available for students, seniors, teachers, and youth. Admission is free every day for OHS members and Multnomah County residents.
About the Oregon Historical Society
For more than a century, the Oregon Historical Society has served as the state’s collective memory, preserving a vast collection of artifacts, photographs, maps, manuscript materials, books, films, and oral histories. Our research library, museum, digital platforms & website (www.ohs.org), educational programming, and historical journal make Oregon’s history open and accessible to all. We exist because history is powerful, and because a history as deep and rich as Oregon’s cannot be contained within a single story or point of view.