June 13, 1964 | Ringo Starr Mobbed at San Francisco Airport

June 13, 1964 - A Beatle was met in San Francisco tonight by 500 schoolgirls who screamed, wept, shoved, squealed, and shrieked.
Mass hyseria, pandemonium, riot, chaos — the words are too meager to describe what happened when Ringo Starr touched down briefly at San Francisco International Airport. The 23-year-old drummer was on his way to rejoin his fellow Beatles in Australia — where similar mob scenes on a bigger scale were reported in the sedate city of Adelaide yesterday.
“I enjoy it,” Ringo said of his San Francisco reception.
Then he emerged from “protective custody” to say a few words to the crowd of girls who had gathered at the airport starting at 9 a.m. He never got a chance to say a word.But for the strong backs of 20 sheriff’s deputies and airport police, this particular Beatle might have been squashed on the spot.
“Please! Please! Please!” yelled one girl, tears streaming down her freckled face.
Five shaken girls were escorted into a nearby Qantas lounge after apparent attacks of hysteria. They included 18-year-old Helena Rand, president of the California Chapter of Beatle fans, who had been permitted to present Ringo with a surfer’s shirt.
On the Pan-American flight to San Francisco from Los Angeles, according to stewardess Gwen Persson, Ringo kept to himself and sipped a glass of bourbon and Coca Cola. He seemed cured of the tonsilitis which kept him from going along on the Australian tour.

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