A Fan Stole Ringo Starr’s Hair From His Head: ‘I Just Started Screaming’
In 1964, The Beatles attended a party at the British Embassy in Washington D.C., and Ringo Starr left with less hair than when he entered. Despite the relative exclusivity of the party, fans there were still overzealous with the band. Starr explained that people began behaving badly after a couple of drinks. One fan even snipped the hair from his head.
The Beatles reluctantly attended a party at the British Embassy
In 1964, the band brought Beatlemania to America with their performances on The Ed Sullivan Show. Shortly after, they traveled to the nation’s capital. After a show at the Washington Coliseum, they reluctantly agreed to attend a party at the British Embassy.
“We always tried to get out of those crap things,” George Harrison said in the book The Beatles: The Authorized Biography by Hunter Davies. “But that time [in Washington] we got caught. They are always full of snobby people who really loathe our type, but want to see us because we’re rich and famous. It’s all hypocrisy. They were just trying to get publicity for the embassy.”
A fan snipped hair from Ringo Starr’s head
When they arrived, other partygoers quickly swarmed the band. Guests hungry for autographs swarmed George Harrison, and another group dragged off John Lennon. Per NME, a Member of Parliament even wrote to the Foreign Secretary to ask if “the young British entertainers known as The Beatles were manhandled by British officials.“
Of all of them, Starr got it the worst.
“Most of the people didn’t relate to music in any shape or form,” he said. “After they had a few drinks they got really silly and one guy decided he’d cut a lock of my hair off. I just started screaming at him and we didn’t stay there long. These diplomats just don’t know how to behave.”
Though he identified the offender as a man, a Canadian fan claimed she snuck into a party and cut Starr’s hair. Since that night, the band refused to attend similar events.
“Both the Ambassador and his wife were extremely nice,” manager Brian Epstein said. “But as is so often the way, their friends and guests were not quite as pleasant. The Beatles loathed that reception. Since then they have refused every invitation of that type.”
A different lock of Ringo Starr’s hair sold for over $1,000
Years later, someone purchased a different lock of Starr’s hair at an auction.
“This is a genuine lock of hair which was cut from Ringo Starr during off-screen hair cutting sessions during the making of the 1964 film A Hard Day’s Night,” GWS Auctions advertised. “According to the accompanying certificate of authenticity, this lock of hair was obtained from the head of the film’s makeup department, John O’Gorman. This lock of hair was removed from a pouch of hair swept up by O’Gorman after cutting Starr’s hair on March 25th, 1964, and is mounted on a ready to frame display along with a description of the piece and a photograph of Starr.”
The hair sold for $1,100 in 2019.
