Who knew that former Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley had such a problem with the Beatles?
That’s just one of the facts you may learn at “4EVER4,” a photographic retrospective celebrating the 6oth anniversary of Ringo Starr joining the Beatles, which created the final version of the Fab Four and changed the way people would view rock ‘n’ roll — and long-haired musicians — forever.
The exhibit, created by Republic Bank, features pictures and memorabilia highlighting the lads from Liverpool, and it will be on display Sept. 8-22 at the Tony Bettenhausen Recreation Center in Tinley Park.
“People love to reminisce, and what a great way to look back on what life was like 60 years ago,” said Carol Bradtke, marketing manager for the Tinley Park-Park District, which is one of several park districts in the Chicago area to house the exhibit this year. “So many of us grew up listening to them — and still listen to them — and this is a fun way to see how it all began.”
The exhibit features nearly 100 photographs of the Beatles in concert, as well as record albums, movie posters, ticket stubs, touring schedules and other historical photos. It was created by Republic Bank to celebrate the band in a show that could be moved to various venues across the area.
“We created a similar show on the 50th anniversary of Woodstock, and it was very successful,” said Nicholas Keseric, business development manager at Republic Bank. “We started thinking of similar shows we could create, and the Beatles quickly popped into our minds.”
The exhibit, which will be open during the park district facility’s regular hours, will kick off with a free concert by the Beatelles, the area’s premier all-female Beatles cover band Sept. 8 at the park district’s band shell.
“We thought this was a good way to celebrate the opening and get everyone excited about the exhibit,” Bradtke said.
Also as part of the exhibit, the park district will feature a deep dive into the Beatles’ legacy with Dr. John F. Lyons, a professor of history at Joliet Junior College and author of the book, “Joy and Fear: The Beatles, Chicago and the 1960s. His presentation titled “Tea, Scones and the Beatles,” will be held at 6:30 p.m. Sept. 15. It’s also free, but advanced registration is required to reserve a spot.
Lyon’s book, published in 2021, examines contemporary sources to discover the Beatles influence on the Chicago area at the time — not necessarily the nostalgic way we look at the band today.
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“I wanted to view them through the lens of people who were actually there in the 1960s,” Lyons said. “I did this by looking back at what was written then, as it was happening, and it’s a probably different story than what we would think of today.
“When you look at their first appearance on (American) TV in 1964, the one thing that everybody commented on was their hair,” he said. “The following day when they were at school or work or whatever, it wasn’t the music but the hair that shocked people.”
The impact was so immediate — and overwhelming — that soon retailers were selling 20,000 “Beatles wigs” a day to those impatient fellows who wanted to look like John, Paul, George and Ringo without having to wait for their hair to grow.
“It sounds crazy, doesn’t it?” he said. “That number is almost unbelievable. But it was 20,000 a day.”
Mayor Richard J. Daley, however, was not one of those fans. He viewed the Beatles as a bad influence on the city’s young people, going as far as attempting to keep them out of the city. He in fact banned them from spending the night in Chicago after their 1964 concert.
“Can you imagine a mayor doing that today,” Lyons said. “He even got O’Hare to keep their plane from landing when it was leaked that they were coming. They had to fly to Midway instead. And then they flew out that night, after the show, rather than spending the night in Chicago.”
“John has all these amazing anecdotes about the Beatles and Chicago,” Keseric said. “We were so lucky to find him and have him a part of this exhibit.”
Even for those who aren’t hard-core Beatles fans, the exhibit is a reminder of just how much life in Chicago has changed over the last 60 years.
“The culture changed so drastically, you can literally see it as before-Beatles and after-Beatles,” Lyons said. “We now look back nostalgically, but it was an incredibly large shift in the culture.”
‘4EVER4’ at the Tinley Park Park District
When: Sept. 8 to Sept. 22
Where: Tony Bettenhausen Recreation Center, 8125 W 171st St., Tinley Park
Tickets: Free
Information: 708-342-4200; tinleyparkdistrict.org
Jeff Banowetz is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.