Former resort owner looks to place historical marker in honor of The Beatles visit 40 years ago

Special to The Advance

It?s a secret that has been kept longer than the whereabouts of Jimmy Hoffa. An effort to place a historical marker at a northern Presque Isle County resort has revealed that before The Fab Four took to the stage of the Ed Sullivan Show, February 9, 1964, taking America by storm and ushering in the European invasion, they rehearsed along the shores of Lake Huron. In the recently-published book ?All My Loving,? which chronicles the many love interests of The Beatles and was exclusively made available to The Advance, never before known details of John, Paul, George, and Ringo?s preparations for their American debut have been revealed.

According to the author, Paul McCartney said he, along with the other members of the group, were nervous and wanted to shake any pre-show jitters.

?IT WAS VERY nerve-wracking,? McCartney is quoted in the book. ?But you know, by then we had so much practice, that the nerves didn’t show. ?You know, if somebody made the mistake of saying, ‘Oh, you know how many people are watching this?’ If someone had mentioned 73 million – Ohhhhhhh!? There also was a great amount of anticipation for the boys? visit. Beatlemania had already arrived. Beatles songs were on every four minutes on radio stations and jukeboxes played one song after the other from the group. In New York more than 50,000 applied for 728 available seats.

The Beatles, before landing at Kennedy Airport on a Pan Am Yankee Clipper February 8, flew to northern Michigan a couple of days before, with no fanfare, and everything went as scripted, according to the author. How could their arrival go so unnoticed? Simple.

PEOPLE OF Rogers City and the surrounding area were excited about the formal dedication of the new Rogers City High School. The public was invited to tour the new school building, with its revolutionary steel design, and participate in a program in the gym on the same day the boys made television history. The book states The Fab Four stayed at a secluded, quiet resort on Evergreen Highway in Ocqueoc Township, which had a wonderful view of Lake Huron. Their only trip into Rogers City was for a brief rehearsal at the soon-to-become former high school building on Huron Avenue.

Between bouts of a low-attended boxing match at the old high school, which were extremely popular in Rogers City 40 years ago, The Beatles performed the songs they would open with for Ed: ?All My Loving,? ?Till There Was You,? and ?She Loves You.? IT WAS the next evening the lads were greeted by 3,000 screaming fans and television history was made as an estimated 73 million people in the country watched the program. Four decades have come and gone since the historic weekend in Rogers City and only now has Alphonse Kavolgelisz, in his mid 80s, come forward to tell his story.

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They liked the area. They said it was quiet and that it reminded them of their home in Liverpool,? said Kavolgelisz. ?John said Rogers City was the cleanest town he had ever been in.? Kavolgelisz, who now makes his home in Junction Springs, Georgia, is in the process of contacting county officials to file an application for a historical marker which he would like to state: ?The Beatles slept here.? Historical markers cost about $4,000.

Kavolgelisz, who operated the resort with his wife April, said the boys told them they wanted to return someday but never did. He hopes the marker will bolster tourism to the area.

(But if tourists come looking for the marker, they won?t find one — unless they?re an April Fool)