Beatlemania 1964

During their Australasian Tour of 1964, The Beatles performed in Melbourne and made a brief appearance on the balcony of the Southern Cross Hotel in front of an expected crowd of 20,000 which actually swelled to a reported 250,000 people.  Bourke Street was a mass of swaying bodies, people were even hanging out of trees in the centre of the road.

Fast forward to 2012 and our family's tradition of Friday TV-Dinner Nights.  This tradition has been going on for a few years now, and is one we all look forward to for the fun food we have, the trays that come out to balance our meals, for the importance of being the one to choose the movie, and for us all being together at the end of another full week.

We have our favourite movies, and if the girls were given full control over what we watch then 99 times out of 100 we would find ourselves watching Harry Potter, but last Friday it was suggested that we make a start on the un-watched 6-disc DVD set "The Beatles : The Complete Story".  A good education for the girls, why not?

The first disc features the early days of The Beatles, the start of their phenomenal rise to fame, the early tours, the screaming fans from Australia etc. etc.  It's in black and white, it's grainy, the sound is inferior to what we are used to, BUT -

I THINK I SEE MY MUM IN THE CROWD!  We go back, jump too far back, can't find it, I think I'm being ridiculous, how could I have picked her out of that staggering crowd in a brief two seconds, so I let it go.  But later when the dishes have been done and the girls are in bed I go back to find that particular scene again, miss it, go back again, and I look really hard, and I stop the DVD, and I put it into my computer, and I do a screen dump, and I enhance the picture, and I'm not sure.  I recognise the transistor radio she is holding, the gloves she is wearing, her coat, her smile.  I didn't even see her eyes, but something deep within me told me it was her.  My Mum.  In Melbourne.  Seeing The Beatles.  In 1964.

I wish I could ask her, but I think I know anyway.

Trudy