Description
Book SynopsisI SAW THEM STANDING THERE: A 60TH ANNIVERSARY OF MY STORY WITH THE BEATLES BEFORE, DURING AND AFTER THEY CONQUERED AMERICA
Trade ReviewIn this heartfelt, personal and engaging memoir, Debbie Gendler has perfectly captured the fun, the passion, the insanity and all of the raging hormones surrounding 1960s Beatlemania. Having lived through it myself, it was a thoroughly enjoyable—and accurate—trip back in time.
-- Bob Gale, co-writer, “I Wanna Hold Your Hand” and “Back to the Future”
60 years after they conquered the world, The Beatles' fandom still numbers in the millions. And not one of these fans wouldn't trade places with 13 year-old Debbie Gendler: if there's a title for first American Beatle fan, Debbie qualifies. Long before the 1964 Ed Sullivan Show debut, she was tuned in. This is her story - the closest any of us will get to trading places. Written with immediacy, passion and an observant eye, she shares her life-changing journey that took her from small-town New Jersey to the group's inner circle. Stories like this are no longer possible, but thankfully Debbie shares her's beautifully with us, the present day fans.
-- Robert Rodriguez, Author, Revolver: How The Beatles Re-Imagined Rock 'n Roll; creator/host of the Something About The Beatles podcast
Debbie, I remember you at the Ed Sullivan Show!
-- Harry Benson, CBE - Official photographer for the Beatles 1964 first visit to America
An engaging, vivid account of a first-generation Beatles fan, In My Life lets readers vicariously experience everything, from Ed Sullivan to Shea Stadium and beyond, through Deb's eyes. Her account helps reclaim the voice, savvy, and reputation of the female fan after generations of dismissive portrayals.
-- Erin Torkelson Weber, author of The Beatles and the Historians
When the Beatles arrived in the United States in early February 1964, their critics deemed the Liverpool band a passing fad—certain that the exuberant, female-led fandom that followed them would soon fade away. While history has proved otherwise, it is only more recently that this first generation of fans has come forward to share what the Beatles have meant to them. As a leading participant in the earliest days of American Beatlemania (complete with a ticket to the band's debut on The Ed Sullivan Show), Debbie Gendler gifts readers with a page-turning memoir that vividly depicts how the twentieth century’s most joyful cultural phenomenon has shaped her life in meaningful and often surprising ways.
-- Christine Feldman-Barrett, Senior Lecturer in Sociology at Griffith University, Queensland, Australia, author of A Women’s History of the Beatles
With a one-of-a-kind, front row perspective, Debbie Gendler shares what being a part of Beatle-mania truly felt like from the beginning until today.
-- Augie Max Vargas, Producer, CBS The Night That Changed America: A Grammy Salute to the Beatles, Emmy Award Winning Producer
The most interesting part for me [of Ron Howard’s film The Beatles: The Touring Years] was the bonus feature about the “3 Fans” [ with Debbie Gendler] who were there at the beginning of the US hysteria. I liked hearing their stories.
-- Alex D., San Antonio, TX on Steve Hoffman's Music Forums
As a last minute stand-in for the ailing George Harrison during the historic Sullivan Show rehearsal I felt the excitement, frenzy and screams that Debbie conveys so enthusiastically in this story she is finally ready to share. Deb tells it like it was!
-- Vince Calandra, Talent Executive, The Ed Sullivan Show 1962-1971
