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1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, September 2013 will mark the 50th anniversary of
3former Beatle George Harrison's visit to Benton and Southern
4Illinois; and
 
5    WHEREAS, The visit occurred just 5 months before the
6Beatles' first performance on "The Ed Sullivan Show" and the
7rise of Beatlemania; at the time of his visit, the Beatles were
8not known in the United States; and
 
9    WHEREAS, George Harrison's visit to Southern Illinois
10occurred as a result of his sister living in Benton with her
11husband, an engineer with the Freeman Coal Company in West
12Frankfort; the visit served as an opportunity for George
13Harrison to get away from the fame and fanfare that the Beatles
14were already experiencing in England; their song, "She Loves
15You", was the #1 song in England during the week he arrived in
16America; and
 
17    WHEREAS, What makes George Harrison's trip so significant
18for Beatle historians is that there were several firsts that
19occurred just prior to and during his visit to Southern
20Illinois; and
 
21    WHEREAS, During the early summer of 1963, George Harrison's

 

 

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1sister Louise was trying to promote the Beatles in this country
2by having local radio stations play the English group's songs;
3the first radio station in the United States to do so was WFRX
4in West Frankfort, and the first song the DJ, Marcia Schafer
5Raubach, played was "From Me To You"; when he visited the area,
6one of the first things he wanted to do was to thank Marcia and
7visit the station, where she interviewed him; this was the
8first time any Beatle was interviewed in the United States; and
 
9    WHEREAS, George Harrison also played music with a local
10group, the Four Vests, during his visit at 2 locations, the
11Eldorado VFW and the Bocce Ball Club in Benton; and
 
12    WHEREAS, Another interesting event that happened during
13George Harrison's visit was his purchase of a new guitar at a
14Southern Illinois music store; Gabe McCarty took him to the
15Fenton Music Store in Mt. Vernon, where he bought a
16Rickenbacher 425 and later used it to play with the Beatles;
17and
 
18    WHEREAS, The home where Louise Harrison lived during her
19famous brother's visit in 1963 was scheduled to be demolished
20during the mid-1990s to make way for a parking lot for the
21local Illinois Department of Mines and Minerals office;
22however, a group of interested individuals, including Louise,
23later persuaded the State to spare it; later, the home, located

 

 

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1at 113 McCann Street, became a bed and breakfast owned by Jim
2and Daryl Chady and Cornelius and Dorothy Schultz; and
 
3    WHEREAS, George Harrison passed away on November 29, 2001,
4after a long bout with cancer; a memorial service was held at
5the home; and
 
6    WHEREAS, THe Illinois State Historical Society will
7dedicate a memorial plaque at Capitol Park in downtown Benton
8at 2:00 P.M. on Saturday, September 21, 2013, honoring the 50th
9anniversary of George Harrison's historic visit; therefore, be
10it
 
11    RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
12NINETY-EIGHTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
13we recognize the 50th anniversary of former Beatle George
14Harrison's visit to Southern Illinois; and be it further
 
15    RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be
16presented to Louise Harrison, Gabe McCarty, Marcia Schafer
17Raubach, and the City of Benton as an expression of our respect
18and esteem.