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The Beatles

Page 117

by Bob Spitz


  Mimi “laying down the law”: Leila Harvey, 10/84, AGA.

  She implored her elder sister: Barbara Baker, 8/84, AGA; also Stanley Parkes, 1/19/85, AGA.

  “He was always very open”: Stanley Parkes, 1/19/85, AGA.

  “I’d gone around to John’s”: Author interview with Nigel Walley, 3/7/98.

  146–47 “we both went white”: Davies, Beatles, p. 48.

  “That’s really fucked everything!”: Ibid.

  “He didn’t say anything”: Barbara Baker, 8/84, AGA.

  “Now we were both in this”: Miles, Paul McCartney, p. 49.

  “For months [afterward], John”: Author interview with Nigel Walley, 3/7/98.

  “went out of him forever”: Author interview with Pete Shotton, 7/16/98.

  “a girlfriend-boyfriend relationship”: Ibid., 1/19/98.

  “I lost [my mother] twice”: Sheff, Playboy Interviews, p. 137.

  he didn’t go visit his cousin: Stanley Parkes, 1/19/85, AGA.

  Paul provided the basic structure: There are conflicting accounts. For McCartney’s, see Miles, Paul McCartney, p. 36; for Lennon’s, see Hit Parader. “ ‘Love Me Do’ is Paul’s song. He wrote it when he was a teenager.” Sheff, Playboy Interviews, p. 129.

  “P.S. I Love You”: Miles, Paul McCartney, p. 38.

  in a room at Ye Cracke: Author interview with Jonathan Hague, 5/21/98.

  John was “very entertaining”: Rod Murray, 12/84, AGA.

  “some blokes… prancing about”: Ian Sharpe, 8/84, AGA.

  “John could just as easily”: Author interview with Pete Shotton, 1/19/98.

  “crowded, informal affairs”: Author interview with Bill Harry, 8/2/97.

  “inner bunch”/“anchorman”: Author interview with Colin Hanton, 10/6/97.

  where Julia Lennon had once danced: Stanley Parkes, 1/25/85, AGA.

  As Nigel Walley had explained it: Author interview with Nigel Walley, 11/30/98.

  “Aside from George”: Author interview with Colin Hanton, 10/6/97.

  “By the time we had to go on”: George Harrison in Anthology, p. 31.

  CHAPTER 9: CHALK AND CHEESE

  “peroxide-blond hair”: Author interview with Iris Caldwell Fenton, 9/10/97.

  “stripping down to a tiny bikini”: Ibid.

  “He would do anything”: Author interview with Ray Ennis, 10/1/97.

  “because it had excellent pulling power”: Author interview with Iris Caldwell Fenton, 9/10/97.

  “When the lights came up”: Author interview with Howie Casey, 10/27/97.

  “big beat dances”: Liverpool Echo (repeated ads).

  “I told him he was too young”: Author interview with Johnny Byrne, 10/8/97.

  Mostly, they just rehearsed: Giuliano, Dark Horse, p. 23.

  “working-men’s clubs”: Ken Brown in Pritchard & Lysaght, The Beatles, p. 21.

  “By December, he was completely out of control”: Author interview with Jonathan Hague, 5/21/98.

  “Most of his antics”: Author interview with Ann Mason, 10/8/97.

  “he was embarrassingly rude”: Author interview with Helen Anderson, 11/4/97.

  “scruffy, dangerous-looking”: “Cynthia Lennon: In Her Own Words,” Hello!, 4/30/94.

  “outrageous… a rough sort”: Ibid.

  Rodney Begg: Author interview with confidential source.

  “It was a skill that required”: Hello!, 4/30/94.

  “vague friendship between them”: Author interview with Bill Harry, 8/3/97.

  “into [a] blond bombshell”: Author interview with Helen Anderson, 11/4/97.

  “madly in love”: Hello!, 4/30/94.

  “He had found someone”: Author interview with Jonathan Hague, 5/21/98.

  “Even as a child, she was easygoing”: Author interview with Helen Anderson, 11/4/97.

  “bohernia”: Author interview with Bill Harry, 8/2/97.

  “When she took a shine to him”: Author interview with Ann Mason, 10/8/97.

  she would duck into “the ladies’ loo”: Ibid.

  “It was like all the places”: Author interview with Beryl Williams, 11/2/97.

  “in a Greek joint”: Williams, “The Liverpool Scene” (unpublished manuscript).

  “submit for his certificate”: Author interview with Helen Anderson, 11/4/97.

  “everybody chipped bits of paintings”: Rod Murray, 12/84, AGA.

  CHAPTER 10: MOONDOGS AND ENGLISHMEN

  little “whacker”: “Mimi always said he had a low-Liverpool voice, a real whacker,” Davies, Beatles, p. 45.

  “Cyn and I would be going”: Wenner, Playboy Interviews, p. 126.

  “[George] would hurriedly catch up”: C. Lennon, A Twist, p. 26.

  “didn’t hold a candle to John and Paul”: Author interview with Bill Harry, 8/4/97.

  Ruth Morrison: Ibid.

  she disclosed… a new coffee bar: Guiliano, Dark Horse, p. 23; Pritchard & Lysaght, The Beatles, p. 21.

  The house at 8 Hayman’s Green: Bill Harry interview with Pete Best, 3/96.

  Ken was more than familiar: “Ken Brown, one of my friends from the Collegiate, my grammar school…” Best & Harry, Best Years, p. 21.

  “I went round to see her”: Ken Brown in Pritchard & Lysaght, The Beatles, p. 21.

  a steady buzz built: Best & Harry, Best Years, p. 18.

  lights were put in: Pete Best in Pritchard & Lysaght, The Beatles, p. 20.

  “the perfect house” Author interview with Johnny Byrne, 10/8/97.

  “shoulder to shoulder”: Mona Best in Pritchard & Lysaght, The Beatles, p. 23.

  “Among the songs we performed”: Ken Brown in ibid., p. 21.

  a princely £3: Leigh, Drummed Out!, p. 10.

  “None of us dreamed”: Author interview with Colin Manley, 10/3/97.

  “just about hear the band”: Author interview with Bill Harry, 8/4/97.

  “It was a good idea”: Author interview with Arthur Kelly, 1/10/98.

  “Girls were the main reason”: Author interview with Paul McCartney, 3/21/97.

  Bubbles: Author interview with Dot Rhone Becker, 11/19/98.

  “It must have been all over my face”: Ibid.

  “the fantastic scenes outside”: Best & Doncaster, Beatle!, p. 22.

  the club fees and five-pence admission: “Membership was fixed at half a crown a year (12½ pence) plus a shilling (5 pence) admission fee at the door.” Ibid., p. 20.

  Despite the constant crush: Author interview with Bill Harry, 8/4/97.

  “They didn’t have much”: Mona Best in Pritchard & Lysaght, The Beatles, p. 23.

  “an immensely likeable guy”: Best & Harry, Best Years, p. 25.

  “Mo decided to pay [Ken]”: Ibid.

  “went ballistic”: Author interview with Bill Harry, 8/4/97.

  “She kept Ken’s fifteen bob”: Best & Doncaster, Beatle!, p. 22.

  “Right, that’s it, then!”: Ken Brown in Pritchard & Lysaght, The Beatles, p. 23.

  “back into the business”: Best & Doncaster, Beatle!, p. 23.

  “pencils, and later drumsticks”: Ibid.

  “knock beats out”: Best & Harry, Best Years, p. 24.

  “Stuart was his last hope”: Author interview with Bill Harry, 8/2/97.

  remembered being “fascinated”: “Cynthia Lennon: In Her Own Words,” Hello!, 7/7/94.

  “Here with no one watching”: Ibid.

  “Stuart wore tinted glasses”: Author interview with Bill Harry, 8/2/97.

  “[H]e had a lot of innovative”: Rod Murray, 12/84, AGA.

  “a tiddler”: “Cynthia Lennon: In Her Own Words,” Hello!, 5/7/94.

  “Stuart was not… outwardly forceful”: Rod Murray, 12/84, AGA.

  “a tremendous energy and intensity”: Hello!, 5/7/94.

  Whatever “milk money”: Bill Harry interview with Pauline Sutcliffe (audio), undated.

  “Stuart never let on”: Author interview with Bill Harry, 8/2/97.

  “John did all the things”: M
illie Sutcliffe in Pritchard & Lysaght, The Beatles, pp. 24–25.

  The incipient taste was enshrined: Author interview with Bill Harry, 8/2/97.

  Bratby or… de Stael: Bill Harry interview with Pauline Sutcliffe (audio), undated.

  “kipping in [Stuart’s] room”: Author interview with Bill Harry, 8/7/97.

  a “monumental painting”: Rod Murray, 12/84, AGA.

  “real resonance”: Ibid.

  Stuart was ecstatic: Bill Harry interview with Pauline Sutcliffe (audio), undated.

  he’d “failed everything”: Author interview with Arthur Kelly, 1/10/98.

  “It is very difficult”: Ibid.

  “some old fellow chundering on”: Davies, Beatles, p. 40.

  “His parents were fairly easygoing”: Author interview with Arthur Kelly, 1/10/98.

  “singing brilliantly”: Ibid.

  “We got there in the morning”: Author interview with Ray Ennis, 10/1/97.

  “old tatty piece of junk”: Ibid.

  “besotted with each other”: Author interview with Bill Harry, 8/7/97.

  “Paul was furious”: Author interview with Dot Rhone Becker, 11/19/98.

  Hillary Mansions: Rod Murray, 12/84, AGA.

  “ridiculously expensive”: Ibid.

  Lucretius’s On the Nature of the Universe: Alan Sharpe, AGA (undated).

  cemetery in the Anglican cathedral: Bill Harry interview with Pauline Sutcliffe (audio), undated.

  “Now [that] you’ve got all this money”: Ibid.

  According to one version, his father: Norman, Shout!, p. 64.

  In fact, using a bit of creative financing: Bill Harry interview with Pauline Sutcliffe (audio), undated.

  “What the bloody hell”: Author interview with Bill Harry, 8/2/97.

  CHAPTER 11: HIT THE ROAD: JAC

  “just thinking about what a good name”: Davies, Beatles, p. 64.

  Stuart might have suggested beetles: Ibid., introduction to second edition.

  “to make it look like beat music”: Ibid., p. 64.

  “John and Stuart came out”: Author interview with Paul McCartney, 3/21/97.

  The only gig to speak of: Author interview with Dot Rhone Becker, 11/19/98.

  Eddie Cochran and Gene Vincent… Liverpool Empire: Author interview with Bill Harry, 8/4/97; Lewisohn, Chronicle, p. 18; author interview with Hal Carter, 8/14/97.

  “They knew that to get any attention”: Author interview with Bill Harry, 8/4/97.

  The Student Union had a discretionary fund: Rod Murray, 12/84, AGA.

  “troubled”/“distraction”: Author interview with Quentin Hughes, 10/3/97.

  “Oh, the skin has come off”: Author interview with Bill Harry, 8/4/97.

  “Art students were inclined to drop in”: Author interview with Beryl Williams, 11/2/97.

  “They’d go into a great big huddle”: Williams, “Liverpool Scene,” p. 69.

  “sort of musical revolution”: Ibid., p. 42.

  “I began to realise the implications”: Ibid., p. 44.

  “In most cases, what attracted Larry”: Author interview with Hal Carter, 8/14/97.

  Parnes had a cluster of glittery stars: Clayson, Beat Merchants, p. 40; Lewisohn, Chronicle, p. 18.

  “Larry was on tour”: Author interview with Hal Carter, 8/14/97.

  “immediately fell in love”: Ibid.

  “high cheekbones and restless eyes”: Clayson, Beat Merchants, p. 41.

  “a very elegant dresser”/“schmatte business”: Author interview with Hal Carter, 8/14/97.

  “fee of about £500”: Williams, “Liverpool Scene,” p. 45.

  The show was scheduled for May 3: Lewisohn, Chronicle, p. 18.

  “the tragic death of Eddie Cochran”: Williams, “Liverpool Scene,” p. 47.

  here Details of Cochran’s death: Ward, Rock of Ages, p. 223.

  He flushed with guilt: “Momentarily, I was stupefied, then selfish thoughts intruded. I’d been robbed of my two top stars.” Williams, “Liverpool Scene,” p. 47.

  To fill the gaping hole: Lewisohn, Chronicle, p. 19.

  “Everyone who was anyone”: Author interview with Bill Harry, 8/7/97.

  “a seminal event”: Author interview with Adrian Barber, 10/4/97.

  “It was [the type of] voice”: Ibid., 8/4/97.

  “he had convinced Lennon”: Ibid., 10/4/97.

  he was willing to do almost anything: Norman, Shout!, p. 74.

  He also had a day job: Harry, Ultimate Beatles Encyclopedia, p. 471.

  “Tommy Moore was a pro”: Author interview with Adrian Barber, 10/4/97.

  “Cathy’s Clown”: Norman, Shout!, p. 73.

  following the Stadium concert: “After the show, we all retired to the Jacaranda.” Williams, “Liverpool Scene,” p. 57.

  if Williams represented these bands: Ibid., p. 58.

  “But you must have a drummer”: Ibid., p. 61.

  Cass was “the prophet”: Ibid., p. 44.

  “For these two periods”: Pawlowski, How They Became, p. 12.

  The audition had been scheduled: Lewisohn, Chronicle, p. 19.

  Allan Williams had taken a lease: Author interview with Beryl Williams, 11/2/97.

  He’d decided to rename it: “I’d seen that smashing film, The Blue Angel, and I’d thought, ‘What a marvellous [sic] name.’ ” Williams, “Liverpool Scene,” p. 143.

  “They blew in, rough and tumble”: Author interview with Howie Casey, 10/27/97.

  “sat stone-faced”: Ibid.

  John Lennon pressed Billy Fury for an autograph: Pawlowski, How They Became, p. 15 (photo).

  “Johnny did and played”: Author interview with Adrian Barber, 10/4/97.

  Only a few pictures… exist: The entire set, taken by Cheniston Roland, appears in Pawlowski, How They Became, pp. 13–22.

  “I thought the boys in front were great”: Norman, Shout!, p. 76.

  in “a most off-putting style”: Williams, “Liverpool Scene,” p. 66.

  “Quite suddenly,” Allan Williams recalled: Ibid., p. 121.

  When Williams brought them the offer: Millie Sutcliffe recalled: “[Stuart] was quite upset, really heartbroken, and he said, ‘Mother, I think I’ve let the boys down.’ ” Pritchard & Lysaght, The Beatles, p. 31.

  “Forget it, Stu”: Ibid.

  the astounding sum of £90: Lewisohn, Chronicle, p. 19.

  George and Tommy took time off: Compiled from numerous sources, including Norman, Pawlowski, Williams, and Salewicz, McCartney.

  The problem of equipment: Author interview with Bill Harry, 8/3/97.

  Stuart de Stael: Paul McCartney in Anthology, p. 44.

  Paul Ramon: “I thought it sounded really glamorous, sort of Valentinoish.” Davies, Beatles, p. 65.

  here Details of the Beatles’ train ride: Author interview with Hal Carter, 8/14/97.

  188–89 Johnny Gentle’s background: “I made my guitar before I went out to sea.” Author interview with John Askew, 8/15/97.

  “The crowd was lovely”: Ibid.

  “They weren’t the normal bunch of kids”: Author interview with Hal Carter, 8/14/97.

  “pulled out all the stops”: Author interview with John Askew, 8/15/97.

  “Don’t worry about us”: Ibid.

  “You listen to me, mate”: Ibid.

  “flying crates and beer bottles”: Author interview with Bill Harry, 8/7/97.

  “Hully Gully”: “Every time we did ‘Hully Gully’ there would be a fight.” George Harrison in Anthology, p. 53.

  “He was injured”: Bill Harry interview with Pauline Sutcliffe (audio), undated.

  defection of Tommy Moore: “I’d had enough of them all—especially Lennon.” Norman, Shout!, p. 78.

  New Cabaret Artistes: Author interview with Bill Harry, 8/4/97.

  “a moonlight flit”: Author interview with Beryl Williams, 11/2/97.

  the “dusky troupe”: Williams, “Liverpool Scene, p. 82.

  “come to Germany and stay”: Author
interview with Beryl Williams, 11/1/97.

  “Hamburg fascinated me”: Williams, “Liverpool Scene,” p. 86.

  they had changed the spelling: Lewisohn, Chronicle, p. 28.

  “dreadfully crummy”: Williams, “Liverpool Scene,” p. 88.

  “the manager of a very famous rock ’n roll group”: Ibid.

  “the Smoke”: “We always referred to London as ‘the Smoke.’ ” Author interview with Bill Harry, 8/3/97.

  “He was always thinking on his feet”: Author interview with Howie Casey, 10/27/97.

  “What a coincidence!”: Williams, “Liverpool Scene,” p. 90.

  “He was the star”: Author interview with Adrian Barber, 10/4/97.

  “He was unpredictable”: Author interview with Gibson Kemp, 8/12/97.

  “Tony was extremely well endowed”: Author interview with Adrian Barber, 10/4/97.

  “[Koschmider] made us an offer”: Author interview with Howie Casey, 10/27/97.

  “When somebody didn’t pay”: Author interview with Adrian Barber, 10/4/97.

  “Limper was the leader”: Ibid.

  199–200 “you had to chase and work at British girls”: Author interview with Ray Ennis, 10/1/97.

  “We were going to marry those girls”: Author interview with Howie Casey, 10/27/97.

  “ruin the scene”: Ibid.

  CHAPTER 12: BAPTISM BY FIRE

  “pissing rain”: Author interview with Johnny Byrne, 10/8/97.

  “like a funeral parlor”: Ibid.

  he offered the gig to Rory Storm: Ibid.

  “Allan was having plenty”: Author interview with Bill Harry, 8/1/97.

  “sort of a crappy group”: Allan Williams in Pritchard & Lysaght, The Beatles, p. 42.

  “reporters from the Empire News”: Rod Murray, 8/84, AGA.

  Rod Jones: Ibid.

  “Come on, let’s go have a look”: Ibid.

  “They got newspapers”: Author interview with Bill Harry, 8/1/97.

  THIS IS THE BEATNIK HORROR: Sunday People, 7/3/60.

  caught the attention of the… residents association: Rod Murray, 8/84, AGA.

  “to suck up to the press”: Author interview with Bill Harry, 8/1/97.

  “I wasn’t altogether happy”: Williams, “Liverpool Scene,” p. 82.

  George… had remained in touch: Best & Doncaster, Beatle!, p. 28.

  “real pounding rock ’n roll drummer”: Harry Prytherch in Leigh, Drummed Out!, p. 43.

 

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