When They Were Boys

by Larry Kane

  “He had so many goals, and by that year, including a personal challenge. Were the boys growing away from him? I didn’t see that, although some say it was going on. His death was such a shock to me, and like others, I don’t believe for a minute that he took his own life. He loved his family and he would never do that to them.”

  One of the most fascinating observations from Kelly is the contrast between the Beatles’ fame and the way they were treated on the home front.

  “In these parts, they were still just the boys from the neighborhoods, the same guys who played at the Cavern. The nice thing is that, in those days, they were humble in their own community. On the streets, they were still Uncle Jim’s kid, or Elsie’s boy, or Julia’s brother John, or Harry and Louise’s George. That’s what makes their success even more charming and gratifying.”

  Kelly was the main liaison between the business and the families, and even after the Beatles, as a group, disintegrated and went their own ways, she kept in close contact with the families.

  Her early take on the boys remains an invaluable part of their history, because Kelly more than anyone brings you to the inside of what they were really like in the years before I met them, in the days before the world embraced them and changed their lives forever.

  “I tell you, they were so innocent. They didn’t even know they were naturally funny. They were surprised when people laughed at what they said. And that was part of their appeal as people . . . that young innocence and almost bashful look. To the people they knew, they didn’t really change in those days.”

  Who was the most cheerful?

  “Richie. He would bounce into the office, dancing. He always made every day bright, at least for me. Not a day would pass when he didn’t ask me how my family was, how I was doing.”

  Who was in charge?

  “Well, you know, there were always two people who wanted that position, but it wasn’t a battle or anything like that—just two boys who wanted to be running things. Actually, Paul and John played off of each other really well, and Ringo and George would take a backseat, but not when they were alone. George was quite animated when you talked to him one-on-one, and he didn’t have the pressure of being the youngest one, a title he left behind as the years moved on and his individual talents started emerging. It was a wonderful experience watching them grow from boyhood to manhood. And then, after Apple came to be, my job was done.”

  Kelly does not talk about what she did for them. The most important task was keeping them united with their families at a time when the fame was growing, the success was certified, and the parents were thrilled by the success, but concerned about the fame.

  “The parents did not sit idle. Mimi was always lecturing John about the future. Elsie still saved, even after Richie became rich. Uncle Jim McCartney and Louise and Harry Harrison answered letters, and devoted their daily lives to their children. One of the untold stories is how much they worked to help their boys. It was impressive.”

  What Kelly will not tell you is what Tony Barrow will.

  “She was the glue that kept so many things together,” Barrow says. “She was dedicated to the boys and their families, really committed. Because they loved her, and she returned it tenfold. You know, we wanted to bring her to London. But her parents wouldn’t let her go.”

  So Kelly stayed behind and did the work to develop an amazing fan club, to act as a bridge between John, Paul, George, Pete, Richie, and their families. And here we are in the next century, where she remains in Merseyside, serving as the unofficial but respected truth teller of the past, and leader of all the people who played a role in the Beatles rise, who also stayed behind.

  Every successful entity has its own dedicated people who built the blocks to glory. The first secret-agent girl played an unheralded but crucial role in the life of the boys in the early days, the formative years of their remarkable journey.

  After all, Brian Epstein, the dreamer, needed a guidepost, a pathfinder to steadfastly pursue the dream. In came Freda Kelly, a Liverpool original and the unsung leader who kept the Fabs fabulous at a time when the disbelievers were crawling out of the woodwork.

  Kelly was a believer, and so was the loving big sister to the youngest Beatle.

  Louise Harrison—Sister Act

  Harry and Louise Harrison had four children. Their daughter Louise was the oldest, and still refers to George as “my kid brother.”

  To watch the ascension of her kid brother to fast-and-furious fame was uncanny and prideful for a woman in her mid-twenties who had made the trek to the North American continent, first stopping in Canada, then eventually winding up in southern Illinois. These days she lives a modest life in northern Florida and Missouri, where she runs a foundation with a Beatles cover group known as Liverpool Legends.

  It was the spring of 1963 when the word came in.

  MARCH OF 1963 I MOVED INTO THE UNITED STATES. IT WAS AROUND THAT TIME, RIGHT BEFORE I MOVED TO THE UNITED STATES, THAT MY MOM SENT ME THE FIRST “LOVE ME DO.” I WAS STILL LIVING IN CANADA WHEN I FIRST HEARD THAT ONE, AND THEN ONCE I GOT TO THE UNITED STATES I MOVED TO A LITTLE PLACE CALLED BENTON IN ILLINOIS, IN SOUTHERN ILLINOIS, AND SO MOM STARTED SENDING ME THEIR RECORDS. ALL MY LIFE, WHEN I WAS A LITTLE BITTY KID, PEOPLE WERE ALWAYS SAYING TO MY PARENTS, “OH, YOU KNOW, SHE’S JUST LIKE SHIRLEY TEMPLE. . . . SHE SHOULD BE IN THE MOVIES.” SO I ALWAYS GREW UP WITH THIS IDEA THAT SHOWBIZ IS MY FORTE. SO WHEN SUDDENLY I HAD THIS BROTHER IN A BAND . . . SO I STARTED GOING TO ALL OF THE RADIO STATIONS AND TRIED TO GET HIS RECORDS PLAYED. I WOULD GO IN AND SAY, “THIS IS MY KID BROTHER’S BAND, AND THEY’RE NUMBER ONE IN ENGLAND, AND YOU SHOULD BE PLAYING THEM.”

  Louise Harrison was an “advance woman,” checking out the territory of North America as a possible new market for the Beatles’ music. Brian Epstein was thrilled to have an “agent” on the ground. Louise was aggressive, but along with her hard sell to radio stations, she played an invaluable role: writing to Epstein and the other key players about the real story of America.

  I STARTED WRITING TO BRIAN AND TO DICK JAMES, GEORGE MARTIN; I WAS DOING SOME RESEARCH. I GOT A SUBSCRIPTION TO CASHBOX, BILLBOARD, AND VARIETY MAGAZINES . . . BECAUSE I HAD ONLY MOVED INTO THE UNITED STATES IN MARCH OF ’63, SO OBVIOUSLY I DIDN’T KNOW MUCH ABOUT THE AMERICAN MUSIC BUSINESS. I KNEW THAT BRIAN DIDN’T, EVEN BY HIS OWN ADMISSION HE DIDN’T REALLY . . . HE WASN’T A SUCCESS AT ANYTHING UNTIL HIS FATHER PUT HIM IN CHARGE OF THE RECORD DEPARTMENT AND HE HAPPENED ON THE BEATLES. . . .

  I WOULD HANDWRITE FOURTEEN-PAGE LETTERS TO HIM EVERY WEEK TELLING HIM ALL OF THE STUFF THAT I LEARNED. TELLING HIM ABOUT HOW, GOING TO THE RADIO STATIONS, THEY WOULD TELL ME THAT “THIS STUFF IS NOT COMMERCIAL AND WOULDN’T GO ANYWHERE.” ALSO [TELLING HIM] WHAT I WAS LEARNING BEHIND THE SCENES . . . JUST FROM OBSERVATION AND FROM ALL OF THESE MAGAZINES. I WAS LEARNING THAT THERE WAS A WHOLE DIFFERENT ATTITUDE TOWARDS BUSINESS IN THIS COUNTRY THAN WHAT WE WERE ACCUSTOMED TO IN BRITAIN. THERE WAS NO GENTLEMANLY STUFF; IT WAS ALL PUSH HARD, AGGRESSIVE, SALESMEN AND MARKETING. I TOLD HIM THAT WITHOUT A REALLY GOOD, STRONG SOMEBODY BEHIND YOU WITH A LOT OF CLOUT, YOU AREN’T GOING TO GET ANYWHERE. IN BRITAIN, AS YOU KNOW, THERE IS THE BBC; ONCE YOU’RE ON THE BBC YOU’RE OKAY. BUT AT THIS TIME IN THE COUNTRY THERE WERE 6,000 INDEPENDENT RADIO STATIONS. I WAS TRYING TO GET AIRPLAY ON SOME OF THE MAJOR ONES IN CITIES I WOULD GO TO . . . EVANSVILLE, ST. LOUIS, PADUCAH, SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS . . . ALL OF THE ONES WITHIN TWO HUNDRED MILES OF MY HOME. I WAS CONSTANTLY BEING PUT DOWN BECAUSE I WAS A WOMAN. WHAT’S A WOMAN DOING POKING HER HEAD AROUND IN MEN’S BUSINESS? THERE WAS ALSO THIS ATTITUDE OF “ARE YOU GOING TO GIVE US A ROLLS ROYCE IF WE PLAY IT?”

  Louise was actually engaging radio stations during the height of the payola scandal (pay for play), and she had nothing to give away but her own enthusiasm.

  GRADUALLY, OVER SIX MONTHS, I WAS PASSING ALL OF THIS INFORMATION ON TO BRIAN AND I GOT LETTERS BACK FROM HIM SAYING, “I WROTE VERY CAREFULLY EVERYTHING YOU WERE SAYING.” I TRIED VERY, VERY HARD TO TRY AND GET T
HINGS GOING. I WAS WATCHING THE ED SULLIVAN SHOW AND STARTED PUTTING A P.S. AT THE BOTTOM OF MY LETTERS—P.S. GET THEM ON THE ED SULLIVAN SHOW. IT WAS KIND OF INTERESTING, BECAUSE TOWARDS THE END OF THE YEAR ED SULLIVAN HAPPENED TO BE IN [THE] LONDON AIRPORT AT THE SAME TIME THAT THEY WERE COMING BACK FROM THEIR LITTLE SWEDISH TOUR, AND HE SAW THIS BIG HULLABALOO WITH ALL THESE PEOPLE HERE. SO HE TRACKED DOWN, YOU KNOW, [ASKED] WHAT’S THE BEATLES? HE GOT IN TOUCH WITH BRIAN, AND IT WAS FUNNY BECAUSE BY THAT TIME BRIAN WAS STARTING TO GET A LITTLE BIT BIG-HEADED. HE KIND OF FANCIED HIMSELF THE PROMOTER AND EVERYTHING. HIS EGO WAS TREMENDOUS. EVERY WEEK I SENT HIM ED SULLIVAN, ED SULLIVAN, ED SULLIVAN, SO FORTUNATELY HE TOOK THE PHONE CALL AND OF COURSE WE ALL KNOW WHAT HAPPENED AFTER THAT.

  It’s hard to say what might have happened without Louise’s constant flow of information. Brian Epstein was a smart and intuitive man, but he had limited information on America. If he really knew the American scene, why would he have hired a shaky turboprop for the tours rather than a jet? The distances surprised him. Britain is small compared to the United States. Why didn’t he hire scores of security guards, instead leaving the Beatles in the hands of Neil Aspinall and Mal Evans, a devoted army of two? And why would he have invited me, a twenty-one-year-old news journalist from Miami, to travel in their official party on the greatest musical tour of all time, rather than a seasoned music journalist? No complaints here.

  On the business side, Louise would prove to be a gem. But yet, after all these years, and all of her support, she credits George’s success to her father’s uncompromising view of love, laughter, and steadiness.

  “He was like a lighthouse . . . calm, steady, on the rocks . . . shining the light to show you . . . to keep you away from the hazards of life.” She adds, with tears welling up in her eyes,

  MY PARENTS, THEY REALLY STARTED WHAT I CALL MY GLOBAL FAMILY. THERE WAS, OF COURSE, THE HARRISON HUG. ONE OF THE LAST TIMES THAT I SAW GEORGE . . . HE HUGGED ME, HE SAID, “PASS IT ON.” AFTER HE DIED AND PEOPLE WOULD BE TALKING TO ME, PEOPLE WERE GIVING ME THEIR CONDOLENCES AND I WOULD SAY, “WELL, HERE’S A HUG FROM GEORGE.” THEY WERE ALSO FEELING SAD ABOUT HIM AND I KNEW THEY NEEDED SOMETHING IN RETURN FOR THEIR CONDOLENCES. I SAID, “THIS IS A HARRISON HUG, IT’S FROM GEORGE,” AND “PASS IT ON.” SO, I STARTED ENCOURAGING PEOPLE, WHEN THEY GET THE HARRISON HUG, YOU’VE GOT TO PASS IT ON. I’VE BEEN GETTING THINGS . . . I HAD AN E-MAIL ONCE FROM A LADY IN ARGENTINA, AND SHE SAID, “I GOT A HARRISON HUG FOR MY BIRTHDAY THIS YEAR; YOU HAD GIVEN IT TO SOMEBODY IN CLEVELAND IN 2002.” AND THEN OTHER PEOPLE E-MAILED AND TEXTED ME AND SAID, “I’VE NOW GIVEN MY HARRISON HUG TO PEOPLE IN SEVENTEEN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES.” SO PART OF THIS WHOLE IDEA OF THE HARRISON HUG IS TO KEEP GEORGE’S LOVE CIRCULATING. THE HARRISON HUG DID NOT START JUST WITH GEORGE, WE HAD IT ALL OUR LIVES. NOT ONLY DID WE HAVE IT, BUT MOM AND DAD GAVE THAT HUG TO EVERY BEATLE FAN THAT CAME INTO CONTACT WITH THEM. THEY FIGURATIVELY HUGGED THEM BY ANSWERING THEIR LETTERS.

  Louise, startled by the Beatles’ ascent, made sure that she would be a factor by serving as an unpaid, totally dedicated volunteer. For her work, she was invited to various stages of the Beatles’ trips to America, including the two-concert trip in February 1964.

  THEY WERE FLYING SO HIGH, I THOUGHT . . . YOU KNOW HOW THEY TALK ABOUT A NATURAL HIGH? THAT’S THE WAY IT WAS IN THE HOTEL ROOM IN NEW YORK, WHEN THEY WERE THERE TO DO THE ED SULLIVAN SHOW. THEY WERE IN THE PRESIDENTIAL SUITE AND I HAD JUST ARRIVED A LITTLE WHILE EARLIER AND THEY WERE RUNNING ROOM TO ROOM BECAUSE THERE WAS A TV SET IN EACH ROOM AND THEIR ARRIVAL IN NEW YORK WAS ON EVERY TV SET. THEY WOULD GO, SEE WHAT THEY ARE SAYING HERE, SEE WHAT THEY ARE SAYING THERE. THEY WERE ALL FLOATING ABOUT SIX FEET FROM THE GROUND. THERE WAS ALWAYS BRIAN IN THE CORNER, MAKING SURE THINGS WERE BALANCED.

  Keeping George’s feet firmly planted to the ground was a priority for the Harrisons and American-based sister Louise.

  “My dad had a similar dynamic . . . because with George being the youngest, Dad had to sign to give permission for him to be in the Beatles. So Brian knew and respected my dad. He knew that he had my dad to deal with, and that George, who I think was more grounded than the others, would be influenced by his solid family ties.”

  But in time, before their breakout in 1964, young Louise Harrison discovered that even with the sincere, warm optimism of her sweet brother, a certain element of mistrust settled in.

  “He started realizing how much they were being manipulated and predatory. Just being ripped off all of the time.”

  But the group, unlike the split in the later sixties, managed to maintain a level of unity.

  “Later on there was all of that legal stuff, but that was the lawyers creating the [tension]. They themselves—and I know from talking to George—they never really had any animosity towards each other. There was animosity brought in from outside and thrust upon them.”

  Louise Harrison is a spiritual woman. From the beginning, she never imagined their long-range influence, their lasting impression. But as time and age have settled in, she sees a level of divine purpose, as she expressed to me in a 2012 interview.

  LK: I have to ask you a very difficult question. 1963. Did you ever have any idea that they would become iconic in the way that they are now?

  LH: No. I don’t think anybody did. And yet when you do look back, and there’s a book on that bookcase there about The Beatles and Philosophy, and I’ve been invited to many, many sermons that have been given by many ministers across the country, and I’ve talked to many philosophers and theologians, and the general consensus seems to be that in the past, throughout the known history of our species, there have been people who have come along and have been very, very prominent that have had a teaching role in life. They’ve come along as teachers. People like Buddha, Muhammad, Christ, and whoever else. All of these various teachers have come along to try to give the species some kind of road map as to how we really ought to be behaving toward each other.

  LK: Do you think that the Beatles came around for that reason?

  LH: The consensus of opinions of the people that have talked to me have said that it was almost as though the Beatles were the twentieth-century formation of that message, and it had to be done on a different scale to how it had been done in earlier centuries in order for the message to reach all of humanity.

  I want to make one thing clear. Louise is not suggesting that the Beatles were bigger and more important than any of the world’s religions. She is not echoing John’s 1966 comments, taken out of context, that the Beatles were bigger than Christ. But she does offer us the realistic principle that agents of culture can have enormous impact on people’s lives.

  In that respect, in some ways, the woman with a direct bloodline to George Harrison, the woman who quietly helped so much in the beginning, seems to reflect the philosophies of her eclectic brother, that a belief system can pass the boundaries of established theology.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  THE BOYS OF THE ROAD

  “All three, in different ways, were invaluable on the road to success for the people I named the ‘Fab Four.’”

  —Tony Barrow

  IN THE BEGINNING, THE TRANSPORTATION COULD BE AS WICKED AS THE WEATHER. Aboard the Lockheed Electra in 1965, in a rare interview, master roadie Neil Aspinall made a comparison.

  “This [plane travel] is much finer than our previous modes of transportation.”

  That was an understatement. For Aspinall and the boys of the road, those early, bumpy rides would never escape their memory.

  For Tony Bramwell—the youngest traveler, hand-holder, equipment guardian, and just plain gofer—one episode will always stand out:

  WE WERE AT A CONCERT A LONG WAY FROM LIVERPOOL. [IT WAS] WINTER . . . I THINK DECEMBER 1963 . . . THE POLICE GAVE US AN ESCORT TO OUR VAN AND WHEN WE GOT TO IT, IT WAS COMPLETELY WRECKED—MIRRORS OUT, WINDOWS GONE, HEATER BROKEN. AND WE HAD TO BE IN LIVERPOOL, WHICH WAS FOUR HOURS AWAY, FIRST THING IN THE MORNING. WE DIDN’T KNOW WHAT WE WERE GOING TO DO. THE POLICE ESCORTS SAID THEY WOU
LD LEAD THE WAY FOR US, AS WE DROVE THE BROKEN VAN. WE GOT IN THE VAN AND WE MOVED THE EQUIPMENT BEHIND THE FRONT SEAT AND THE BEATLES SAT ON THE FLOOR BEHIND THE EQUIPMENT, WRAPPED UP IN THE COATS TO KEEP WARM. THE ONLY THING THAT WORKED WAS THE STEERING AND THE ENGINE AND BRAKES, ENOUGH TO GET US THERE IN TIME. WE DROVE THROUGH THE NIGHT. EVEN NEIL WAS A BIT FRIGHTENED.

  YEAH, AND WE DROVE ALL THE WAY TO LIVERPOOL WITH NO WINDOWS—FOUR HOURS THROUGH THE NIGHT, SITTING ON THE FLOOR BEHIND ALL THIS EQUIPMENT. . . . THEY WERE STARS, AND THEY DIDN’T ACT LIKE STARS. THIS IS MORE OF A TESTAMENT TO WHO THEY WERE.

  It was also a testament to the people they chose to have with them, led by the quiet and determined Aspinall.

  Neil Aspinall—Fixer, Father, Kingmaker

  The accounting student used his sharp pencil and sharp tongue—the pencil in his salad days as he played the role of helpful boarder to the Bests, unknowing that he and Mona would present a new life to the world. The sharp wordsmith, a bit shy at times, traveled the path from bookkeeper, to protector of the flesh, and finally, guardian of the entire franchise.

  And in the beginning, bereft of contacts, he had an important sponsor. His name was Best.

  Like so much about his unusual career, history has never adequately credited Pete Best with the lasting gift he bestowed upon the Beatles: an introduction to Neil Aspinall. Of course, Pete never knew they would actually be related one day. Pete also couldn’t possibly predict that turning-point moment when he was sacked, and unselfishly urged his good friend to stay on with the band.

  Aspinall’s connection to the Best family, explained earlier, brought him unknowingly face-to-face with an event that altered the culture of the world, but like so many who were there in the beginning, he had no idea. He was a worker with a zest for excellence, punctuality, and the one most important characteristic in relationships: loyalty.