DEC. 4, 1964
Mainite meets the dave dark five
The fabulous British singing group, the Dave Clark Five, was in Chicago on Nov. 5th for a concert at McCormick Place, and I was there.
Weeks before the concert I sent in a postcard for a contest which enabled me to meet them in person. Later I received a letter from the Chicago American stating that I had won a chance to meet and talk with the Dave Clark Five, and attend their concert. There were ten winners altogether.
Before the awaited day arrived, I was given letters, autograph books, questions, and pictures from the DC Five's avid fans at Maine West.
After arriving at the theater, I was taken to the stage area. I was one of 1,000 people waiting for them to arrive. In wonderment at this large number, I asked one of the ushers what so many kids were doing here. He said that everyone, except the 10 of us who had won, paid $22.50 to join the Ed Pazdur Club which attends all of these press conferences.
After about an hour, Dave Clark walked on stage followed by his companions. A few gifts were presented to them, and we were told to
All five of them were seated at the table as I approached with my camera and flashed two close-ups of Mike Smith. He put out his hand, and I did likewise. A moment later he said, "Hello there!" and then, "How about it?" Before I knew what he meant, he had kissed me! As I went on to meet the rest, they did likewise. Dave was the last one, and by this time Mike had joined him at the end of the table, and another girl and I spoke with them a few moments.
After this we went outside the lobby to wait for the concert to start. Of the 10 winners, the nine of us who attended were all seated together as we were entertained by the Savoys, the Ideals, the Thunderbirds, the Crestones, Art Roberts, who was M.C., and best of all-the Dave Clark Five.
The nine of us knew we had an advantage over all the others. We had a backstage pass and press pass to use after the show. At the finish we were granted permission to go down to their dressing room for autographs.
We did get to the dressing room, but that was it. The ushers started pushing us around. They said come back later, so we did. This time they said, "Sorry, but we're not letting anyone in, pass or no pass." I never saw the Dave Clark Five again.