#Val Sumpter

[mrepstein]

The Beatles pose with Maureen Donaldson (née Payne) [pictured left] and Val Sumpter at the Beatles Fan Club headquarters, circa 1963. 

In 1989 Maureen published a memoir, An Affair to Remember, about her four-year relationship with Cary Grant. In the memoir she briefly mentions her time working in the Beatles Fan Club offices, and later for Brian Epstein’s NEMS Enterprises. You can read her account below:

Like millions of girls around the world, I had discovered the Beatles in 1963. I liked them all, but Paul McCartney was my favorite. His long lashes and sexy chestnut eyes stirred something within me that no real-life boy could hope to ignite.

The more I saw Paul on television and the more I saw his picture in the magazines, the more determined I was to meet him. I was convinced that once he met me, he would see I was unlike all the other girls who adored him. And he would marry me.

But turning that fantasy into reality was going to take some work. It took one bus and two train rides just to get me to the North End Music Stores (NEMS) offices in London. That was the company owned and operated by Brian Epstein, manager of the Beatles. Every day after school I’d embark on this long trip and arrive on the NEMS doorsteps. I asked anyone there for any kind of job. I wasn’t proud. Just so I could be close to Paul.

The girls in the front office took pity on me and let me stuff envelopes and do other assorted tasks. There was no pay, but I felt useful and somehow connected to Paul. I just knew I would meet him if I kept pushing in this direction.

My determination finally caught Brian’s eye. He gave me a job for about eighteen dollars a week at the Beatles Fan Club offices. I would answer the telephones and also help out sorting through the mail, which contained thousands of jelly beans, supposedly the boys’ favorite.

When I went home to share the good news with my parents, I didn’t quite get the reaction I had anticipated. I informed them (as well as a visiting neighbor, Elsie Grunsell) that I was leaving school at age sixteen to begin work the following Monday for the Beatles. The three of them had been sitting there enjoying their tea when I unleashed this particular bombshell. Rising slowly, my father stood ramrod straight and said firmly:

“You’re not going to work - I repeat not - for those... those yobos!”

I started crying. I had to take that job because that was my only route to Paul. When my parents saw how determined I was and what it meant to me, they relented. Years later they told me they hoped I would come to my senses and get bored with life with the Beatles. Actually, it was the beginning of an odyssey that would take me all the way to America.

I began work at the fan-club office on a Monday. Four days later I met Paul in the flesh. He had dropped by to take all us hardworking girls to a Chinese lunch. I was so awestruck being in the same room with Paul I simply couldn’t eat. I just picked at my plate. Besides, I didn’t know how to eat with chopsticks.

Instead I feasted on the sight of Paul, who actually had a bit of a shy streak. But when he kept talking about Jane this and Jane that, I poked one of my coworkers in the arm and said: “Who is this Jane?”

I was told all about Jane Asher, a pretty red-haired actress who was Paul’s steady. I was crestfallen at first. But I was too busy for disappointment. London in the early sixties seemed to be the center of the universe, and I was now part of it. Mary Quant was revolutionising fashion on Carnaby Street; the Beatles and the scruffier Rolling Stones were changing the sound of rock music; and a stick-thin fashion model named Twiggy was making thin “in.” Fortunately I had begun to lose all my baby fat and got swept up in the excitement and intensity of all the changes London was going through.

I had been at my new post in the fan-club offices for about three months when I answered the phone one day. It was Brian. “Who’s this?” he asked. “This is Maureen Payne,” I said shyly. “Well, I’d very much like to see you in my office tomorrow at ten o’clock.”

“Me?” I said, simply astounded.

“Yes, You!” he barked from the receiver. “I’ve got a job for you.”

It turned out Brian liked the sound of my voice and wanted me back at the NEMS offices, where there was an opening for a receptionist. There was not only a raise of approximately fifteen dollars a week but also the opportunity of assisting Brian in the press office with its blizzard of press releases and bulletins released almost daily to the media.

Brian was a mercurial man - one minute up, the next down. But he was always buzzing about the place like a hornet, trying to find some new way to keep the press interested in “the boys.” Then one day I helped to oil the publicity machine in my unique way.

Sometimes the girls and I in the NEMS offices would get restless, so we conducted elevator races. There was a rickety old elevator in dire need of repair; we would cram into it and push the buttons like crazy. It would take forever for the contraption to reach the next floor, but we didn’t care - we’d be laughing and screaming so hysterically we would hardly notice. Of course, this all happened when Brian was out of the office.

But one day some of Brian’s other clients - including Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas, and another group called the Fourmost - dropped by, and we were especially bored. It was raining outside, one of those dark days that needed a little juicing up. So we girls invited the boys to get into the elevator with us. We wanted to see how many of us the silly thing could hold without expiring.

The answer: not many. About eight of us had gotten in when the elevator crashed. It fell down only a few feet, but a fire truck had to be called and firemen sent in to retrieve us. Since this occurred at the Beatles offices, it showed up on the evening news.

So there we were, being pulled out of the lift by the firemen and escorted in the pouring rain into a truck waiting to take us to the hospital to be checked for any possible injuries. Only our pride had been hurt. We were horribly embarrassed later, when the boys took special delight in telling us that the firemen had huge grins on their faces as they “rescued” us, because they could see up our miniskirts!

The next day Brian called us into his office and threatened to dock our pay because of the incident. He was just bluffing, though, we heard him laughing the minute we left his office.

- An Affair To Remember: My Life With Cary Grant by Maureen Donaldson and William Royce (1989)

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Give a warm welcome to our new arrivals! Please make sure you send in your character blog within the next 24 hours, have a look over our checklist and get acquainted with Roswell by exploring our locations page. We hope you enjoy your stay.

Ruby Rogers (Josefine Frida Pettersen / Cashier @ Stalk Market Florist)

Elle Rogers (Elizabeth Lail / Manager @ Annies Antiques)

Amber Quinn (Kaylee Bryant / Usher @ Flying Saucer Theatre)

Mara Kingsley (Zendaya / Clerk @ Pluto Pet Store)

Lonette Hastings (Tika Sumpter / Owner @ a Boutique Store)

Nicholas “Nick” Barnes (Penn Badgely / Paramedic)

Love Walker (Ashley Moore / Waitress @ Crashdown Cafe)

josefine frida pettersen & she/her/they/them / nonbinary ‷ watch out , ruby rogers has crash-landed into roswell !! they look 25 years old and celebrate their birthday on october 19th . they are from new haven, ct, reside in lunar crescent and are currently working as cashier for the stalk market florist. one thing you should know about them is (death tw) is their husband died from cancer three years ago.‷  ( ivy, she/her, 21+, cst )

elizabeth lail & she/her & cis female l ‷ watch out , elle rogers has crash-landed into roswell !! they look twenty-nine years old and celebrate their birthday on may 11 . they are from new haven, connecticut, reside in aurora apartments and are currently working as manager of annie's antiques. one thing you should know about them is her daughter iris is named after her favorite flower.‷  ( deanna, she/her, 26, est )

kaylee bryant & she/they/ nonbinary ‷ watch out , amber quinn has crash-landed into roswell !! they look twenty-three years old and celebrate their birthday on august 29th. they are from roswell, reside in greystone complex and are currently working as an usher at flying saucer theatre. one thing you should know about them is she's a cinephile‷   ( love, she/they, 25, est )

zendaya & she/her / female ‷ watch out , mara kingsley has crash-landed into roswell !! they look 25 years old and celebrate their birthday on February 29 . they are from roswell, reside in Jupiter Valley and are currently working as a clerk at Pluto Pet Pound and Store. one thing you should know about them is that she secretly married her best friend to get him a green card. ‷    ( molly, she/her, 30, pst )

tika sumpter & she/her / cis woman ‷ watch out , lonette hastings has crash-landed into roswell !! they look 40 and celebrate their birthday on december 31 . they are from roswell, reside in lunar crescent and are currently working as a shop owner /*business to be named!. one thing you should know about them is she decorated her shop herself.‷   ( thia / it's me!!!! )

penn badgley & he/him / cis man ‷ watch out , nicholas "nick" barnes has crash-landed into roswell !! they look thirty three years old and celebrate their birthday on february 2nd . they are from boston, reside in lunar crescent and are currently working as paramedic. one thing you should know about them is he used to have a band in college and they still reunite from time to time. ‷   ( val, they/them, 25, gmt ) + connections: river barnes (son), benji (dog) 

ashley moore & she/her / cis woman ‷ watch out , love walker has crash-landed into roswell !! they look twenty six years old and celebrate their birthday on august 13th . they are from roswell, reside in tripp's trailer park and are currently working as waitress at crashdown cafe. one thing you should know about them is she basically raised her four younger siblings on her own. ‷    ( val, they/them, 25, gmt )