1961
January
When Chas Newby returned to college the group were left without a bass player. John tried to get George to play bass but this met with a solid refusal and so Paul, who had been playing both rhythm guitar and piano, was deputed to take the job. He put together a bass out of a Solid 7 model and three piano strings. It was not very satisfactory, but it still sounded better than Stuart had done.
After the "Welcome Home" concert Bob Wooler began to promote the group regularly, and to encourage other promoters to book them. He was often the MC at their gigs, making the performance as dramatic as possible by playing the William Tell Overture for their entrance or getting them to start playing before the curtain went up. Girls would start screaming and rushing the stage, mostly for Pete Best who on one occasion was nearly pulled into the audience. Beatlemania was beginning.
January 5
Litherland Town Hall.
The first of the engagements booked by Brian Kelly (Beekay). Ringo Starr, who had just returned from a stint in Hamburg with Rory Storm & The Hurricanes, was in the audience.
January 6
St John's Hall, Bootle in Lancashire.
January 7
Aintree Institute, Liverpool and Lathom Hall, Seaforth, Liverpool (both events were Brian Kelly promotions).
January 13
Aintree Institute, Liverpool.
January 14
Aintree Institute, Liverpool.
January 15
Casbah Coffee Club, West Derby, Liverpool.
January 18
Aintree Institute, Liverpool.
January 19
Alexandra Hall, Crosby, Liverpool.
January 20
Lathom Hall, Seaforth.
January 21
Lathom Hall, Seaforth and Aintree Institute, Liverpool.
January 25
Hambleton Hall, Huyton, Liverpool, with Derry & The Seniors and Faron & The Tempest Tornadoes.
January 26
Litherland Town Hall.
January 27
Aintree Institute, Liverpool.
January 28
Lathom Hall, Seaforth and Aintree Institute, Liverpool.
January 29
Casbah Coffee Club, West Derby, Liverpool.
January 30
Lathom Hall, Seaforth.
February 1
Hambleton Hall, Huyton, Liverpool.
February 2
Litherland Town Hall.
February 3
St. John's Hall, Bootle in Lancashire.
February 4
Lathom Hall, Seaford.
February 5
Blair Hall, Walton, Liverpool.
February 6
Lathom Hall, Seaforth.
February 7
Merseyside Civil Services Club, Liverpool.
February 8
Aintree Institute, Liverpool and Hambleton Hall, Huyton, Liverpool.
February 9
The Cavern (lunchtime).
THE CAVERN
This was the first time the group played The Cavern under the name of The Beatles. The club would become forever associated with the group. This was a humble beginning to the saga - an unadvertised lunchtime session. George arrived in blue jeans, which were banned from the club, but fortunately he was able to convince the bouncer, Paddy Delaney, that he was part of the act. The club was small - each of the three vaulted arches was only five chairs wide -and airless, but it was free of violence despite the tightly packed audiences.
John had first played The Cavern in August 1957 when The Quarry Men were a skiffle band, and skiffle was seen as an adjunct of jazz, but under the new management of Ray McFall, the venue had now adopted a broader booking policy.
February 10
Aintree Institute, Liverpool and Lathom Hall, Seaforth.
February 11
Lathom Hall, Seaforth and Cassanova Club, Sampson & Barlow's New Ballroom, Liverpool, the first booking for the group from promoter Sam Leach.
February 12
Casbah Coffee Club, West Derby, Liverpool.
February 14
Cassanova Club, Sampson & Barlow's New Ballroom, Liverpool and Litherland Town Hall, with Ray & The Del Rena's with Joan.
The second booking of the night was a St Valentine's Day Special. Paul sang Elvis' 'Wooden Heart' wearing a red satin heart bearing the names of the group pinned to his jacket. The heart was raffled but when the winner climbed up on stage to receive her prize and a kiss from Paul, the stage was inundated with squealing girls and the group had to be rescued by bouncers.
February 15
Aintree Institute, Liverpool and Hambleton Hall, Huyton, Liverpool.
February 16
Cassanova Club, Sampson & Barlow's New Ballroom, Liverpool and Litherland Town Hall.
February 17
St John's Hall, Tuebrook, Liverpool.
This gig was promoted by Pete Best's mother, Mona, who negotiated a number of The Beatles' bookings at this stage in their career. It was probable that she also had ideas of managing them. The group were billed as The Fabulous Beatles Rock Combo.
February 18
Aintree Institute, Liverpool.
February 19
Casbah Coffee Club, West Derby, Liverpool.
February 21
The Cavern (lunchtime), Cassanova Club, Sampson & Barlow's New Ballroom, Liverpool and Litherland Town Hall.
Three bookings in one day was not uncommon for The Beatles during 1961.
February 22
Aintree Institute, Liverpool and Hambleton Hall, Huyton, Liverpool.
February 24
Grosvenor Ballroom, Liscard.
February 25
Aintree Institute, Liverpool and Latham Hall, Seaforth.
February 26
Casbah Coffee Club, West Derby, Liverpool.
February 28
The Cavern (lunchtime), Cassanova Club, Sampson & Barlow's New Ballroom, Liverpool and Litherland Town Hall.
In late February, Stuart Sutcliffe returned to Liverpool to see his parents but stayed only for a couple of weeks - though that proved long enough to cause dissension within the Beatles' ranks, when John insisted that despite his musical shortcomings, Stu should resume his former role as the group's bass player.
March 1
Aintree Institute, Liverpool.
March 2
Litherland Town Hall.
This was the date of the contract signed between Allan Williams' Jacaranda Enterprises and Peter Eckhorn of the Top Ten Club, Hamburg. The Beatles were contracted to play seven nights a week at DM40 per person per night. Williams was to receive £10 a week that The Top Ten management was supposed to deduct from the band's wages and pay into Williams' account at the Commerz Bank in Hamburg. From Monday to Friday The Beatles were to play from 7pm until 2am, on Saturday they were to play from 7pm until 3am and on Sunday from 6pm until lam. "After each hour of playing, there shall be a break of not less than 15 minutes."
March 3
St John's Hall, Bootle in Lancashire.
March 4
Aintree Institute, Liverpool.
March 5
Casbah Coffee Club, West Derby, Liverpool.
March 6
The Cavern (lunchtime) and The Liverpool Jazz Society (the previously named and later to be renamed Old Iron Door Club), with Gerry & The Pacemakers, Rory Storm & The Hurricanes, The Big Three, Derry & The Seniors and Kingsize Taylor & The Dominoes.
March 7
Cassanova Club, Sampson & Barlow's New Ballroom, Liverpool, with Derry & The Seniors.
March 8
The Cavern (lunchtime), Aintree Institute, Liverpool and Hambleton Hall, Huyton, Liverpool, with Rory Storm & The Hurricanes and Derry & The Seniors.
March 10
The Cavern (lunchtime), Grosvenor Ballroom, Liscard and St. John's Hall, Tuebrook, Liverpool.
March 11
Aintree Institute, Liverpool and Liverpool Jazz Society (Old Iron Door Club).
The latter was a 12-hour concert billed by adventurous promoter Sam Leach as "An All Night Rock Ball". Also on the bill were Rory Storm & The Hurricanes, Gerry & The Pacemakers, The Remo Four, Kingsize Taylor & The Dominoes, The Big Three, Dale Roberts & The Jaywalkers, Derry & The Seniors, Ray & The Del Renas, The Pressmen, Johnny Rocco & The Jets and Faron & The Tempest Tornadoes.
March 12
Casbah Coffee Club, West Derby, Liverpool and Cassanova Club, Sampson & Barlow's New Ballroom, Liverpool, with Kingsize Taylor & The Dominoes.
March 13
The Cavern (lunchtime) and Liverpool Jazz Society (Old Iron Door Club), with Kingsize Taylor & The Dominoes.
March 14
The Cavern (lunchtime).
March 15
The Cavern (lunchtime), Liverpool Jazz Society (afternoon), with Gerry & The Pacemakers and Rory Storm & The Wild Ones. This was a "Swinging Lunchtime Rock Session" running from 12 midday until 5pm which they went to straight after their lunchtime date at the Cavern.
Stuart Sutcliffe returned to Hamburg to his girlfriend, Astrid Kirchherr, and the State College of Art where he was studying painting.
March 16
The Cavern (lunchtime).
March 17
Mossway Hall, Croxteth and Liverpool Jazz Society (Old Iron Door Club).
March 19
Casbah Coffee Club, West Derby, Liverpool.
March 20
The Cavern (lunchtime) and Hambleton Hall, Huyton, Liverpool, with The Rockin' Ravens.
March 21
The Cavern (evening) with The Remo Four, Dale Roberts & The Jaywalkers and The Swinging Blue Genes, on a Blue Genes guest night. This was The Beatles' first evening gig at the Cavern.
March 22
The Cavern (lunchtime).
March 24
The Cavern (lunchtime).
March 26
Casbah Coffee Club, West Derby, Liverpool.
March 27
The Beatles returned to Hamburg by train to play at the Top Ten. They received DM35 per man per day and accommodation: the fourth-floor attic above the club.
April 1-30
Top Ten Club, Reeperbahn, Hamburg.
April 1
The Beatles began a three-month, 13-week season at The Top Ten Club, at Reeperbahn 136; a venue of about the same size as the Kaiserkeller, with a couple of dozen small tables surrounding a square dance floor by the stage. Their residency at the Top Ten Club lasted from April 1 until July 1, playing seven-hour sessions on week nights and eight hours at weekends with a 15-minute break every hour. They alternated first with The Jaybirds and later with Rory Storm & The Hurricanes. Beatles historian Mark Lewisohn has calculated that they spent 503 hours on stage over 92 nights.
In Hamburg they were reunited with Stuart Sutcliffe, who had returned there two weeks before and sometimes sat in with them. Stuart's decision not to remain in the band was now final. It was during this Hamburg visit that Astrid dressed Stuart in black leather, an outfit which the rest of the group then had copied by a tailor on the Reeperbahn. She also brushed Stu's hair forward, to look like her "exi" friends. The other Beatles did not go for this - yet.
April 20
Allan Williams in Liverpool had discovered that The Beatles did not intend to pay him his managerial commission on their earnings at The Top Ten Club, and that they considered he was no longer their manager. He wrote them a stormy letter, accusing them of forgetting who had helped them in the past, and describing them as "swollen-headed".
Allan Williams: "I am very distressed to hear you are contemplating not paying my commission out of your pay, as we agreed in our contract for your engagement at the Top Ten Club.
"May I remind you, seeing you are all appearing to get more than a little swollen-headed, that you would not ever have smelled Hamburg if I had not made the contracts.
"So you see, lads, I'm very annoyed you should welsh out of your agreed contract. If you decide not to pay I promise that I shall have you out of Germany inside two weeks through several legal ways and don't you think I'm bluffing.
"I don't want to fall out with you but I can't abide anybody who does not honour their word or bond, and I could have sworn you were all decent lads, that is why I pushed you when nobody wanted to hear you."
Williams no longer acted as The Beatles' manager after this point, and was unsuccessful in pursuing his financial claim against the group.
PAUL'S VIOLIN BASS
Paul: "I'd gone out there with a red Rosetti Solid 7, which was a real crappy guitar, but looked quite good. Stuart Sutcliffe was leaving the band and he wanted to stay in Hamburg, so we had to have a bass player. So I got elected bass player, or lumbered as the case may be. Stuart lent me his bass, so I got off the piano then and came up on the front line again to play it, but I actually played it upside down. I kind of wangled my way round that.
"I got my Hofher violin bass at the Steinway shop in the town centre. I remember going along and there was this bass which was quite cheap, it cost the German mark equivalent of £30 or so - my dad had always hammered into us never to get into debt because we weren't that rich. John and George went easily into debt and got beautiful guitars: John got a Club 40 and George had a Futurama - which is like a Fender copy - and then later Gretches. Then John got Rickenbackers. They were prepared to use hire purchase credit, but it had been so battered into me I wouldn't risk it. So I bought a cheap guitar. And once I bought it I fell in love with it."
Late May/early June
Having watched the group perform at The Top Ten Club in early May, German orchestra leader, composer and record label executive Bert Kaempfert signed The Beatles (John, Paul, George and Pete) to a recording contract with his production company, Der Bert Kaempfert Produktion. The deal officially ran from July 1st 1961 to June 30th 1962. Kaempfert had been alerted to their potential by one of his artists, German rock'n'roll singer Tommy Kent. Although he agreed to let them tape some of their own material, his primary interest in The Beatles was as a backing group for the London rock'n'roll singer, Tony Sheridan, whom he had also recently signed.
June 1-30
Top Ten Club, Reeperbahn, Hamburg.
John's girlfriend, Cynthia Powell, and Paul's Liverpool girlfriend, Dot Rohne, came to Hamburg on a visit. John and Cynthia stayed with Astrid while Paul and Dot stayed with Rosa down in the docks. John and Paul bought them both black leather skirts to make them look like Brigitte Bardot.
CYNTHIA
John met Cynthia at Art College and they began going steady in 1958. Brought up on the relatively affluent Wirrall, Cynthia appeared rather strait-laced for the now openly rebellious Lennon but their relationship flourished and they married in the summer of 1962. By this time Cynthia was pregnant and Mimi, John's aunt, refused to attend the wedding, stating that they were far too young. The marriage was kept secret at the outset but by 1964 it was fairly common knowledge and initial fears that it would affect The Beatles' popularity proved to be unfounded.
June 22/23
Friedrich-Ebert-Halle, Hamburg-Harburg.
The Beatles, with Paul on bass and Stuart Sutcliffe watching but not playing, backed Tony Sheridan on a recording session for German producer and orchestra leader Bert Kaempfert. For some reason the sessions spread over three days. However, since the equipment consisted of nothing more than a portable tape recorder set up on the stage of an orchestral hall with the curtains drawn, it was not as expensive or time consuming as real studio time would have been.
At the orchestral hall, they recorded four tracks backing Sheridan: 'My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean', 'When The Saints Go Marching In', 'Why (Can't You Love Me Again)' and 'Nobody's Child'. They also did one of their own, 'Cry For A Shadow', an instrumental credited to John Lennon and George Harrison.
Kaempfert had arranged to collect The Beatles for the session outside The Top Ten Club, but they were not waiting for him when he arrived, so he had to climb up to their lodgings and shake them awake.
The single 'My Bonnie'/'The Saints' was released in Germany as Polydor 24673 in October. The Beatles were renamed "The Beat Brothers" for this release because their name sounded too much like "Peedles", a German slang term for male genitalia.
George: "The record of 'My Bonnie' goes like this: when Tony sings, then it's me playing lead, but the break in the middle is Tony playing. The shouting in the background is Paul."
June 24
Studio Rahlstedt, Rahlau 128, Tonndorf, Hamburg.
A further track with Tony Sheridan was recorded: Jimmy Reed's '(If You Love Me Baby) Take Out Some Insurance On Me', plus the pre-war standard 'Ain't She Sweet', recorded by The Beatles without Sheridan and with John on lead vocal.
June 28
The publishing contract with Bert Kaempfert's company Tonika Verlag for 'Cry For A Shadow' was signed by John and George.
July 2
The Beatles set off for Liverpool from Hamburg.
Liverpool impresario Brian Kelly: "When they returned, they had lost Stuart, and seemed downhearted. They had temporarily lost their lustre."
July 3
The Beatles arrived back in Liverpool.
July 6
Bill Harry published the first issue of his fortnightly beat music paper Mersey Beat which included a humorous article entitled "Being a Short Diversion on the Dubious Origins of The Beatles translated from the John Lennon":
"Once upon a time there were three little boys called John, George and Paul, by name christened. They decided to get together because they were the getting together type. When they were together they wondered what for after all, what for? So all of a sudden they all grew guitars and formed a noise. Funnily enough, no one was interested, least of all the three little men. So-o-o-o on discovering a fourth little even littler man called Stuart Sutcliffe running about them they said, quote, 'Sonny get a bass guitar and you will be alright' and he did - but he wasn't alright because he couldn't play it. So they sat on him with comfort 'til he could play. Still there was no beat, and a kindly old aged man said, quote, 'Thou hast not drums!' We had no drums! they coffed. So a series of drums came and went and came.
"Suddenly, in Scotland, touring with Johnny Gentle, the group (called The Beatles called) discovered they had not a very nice sound - because they had no amplifiers. They got some. Many people ask what are Beatles? Why Beatles? Ugh, Beatles, how did the name arrive? So we will tell you. It came in a vision - a man appeared on a flaming pie and said unto them. 'From this day on you are Beatles with an A'. Thank you, Mister Man, they said, thanking him.
"And then a man with a beard cut off said - will you go to Germany (Hamburg) and play mighty rock for the peasants for money? And we said we would play mighty anything for money.
"But before we could go we had to grow a drummer, so we grew one in West Derby in a club called Some Casbah and his trouble was Pete Best. We called, 'Hello, Pete, come off to Germany!' 'Yes!' Zooooom. After a few months, Peter and Paul (who is called McArtrey, son of Jim McArtrey, his father) lit a Kino (cinema) and the German police said, 'Bad Beatles, you must go home and light your English cinemas'. Zooooom, half a group. But even before this, the Gestapo had taken my friend little George Harrison (of Speke) away because he was only twelve and too young to vote in Germany; but after two months in England he grew eighteen, and the Gestapoes said, 'you can come'. So suddenly all back in Liverpool Village were many groups playing in grey suits and Jim said 'Why have you no grey suits?' 'We don't like them, Jim' we said speaking to Jim.
After playing in the clubs a bit, everyone said 'Go to Germany!' So we are, Zooooom. Stuart gone. Zoom zoom John (of Woolton) George (of Speke) Peter and Paul zoom zoom. All of them gone. Thank you club members, from John and George (what are friends)."
July 8
Richard Starkey celebrates his 21st birthday in Liverpool, returning for the day from his season at Butlin's holiday camp with Rory Storm & The Hurricanes.
July 13
St John's Hall, Tuebrook, Liverpool.
July 14
The Cavern (lunchtime and evening), the latter a "Welcome Home Night", with Ian & The Zodiacs and The White Eagles Jazz Band.
July 15
Holyoake Hall, Wavertree, Liverpool.
July 16
Blair Hall, Walton, Liverpool.
July 17
The Cavern (lunchtime) and Litherland Town Hall.
July 19
The Cavern (lunchtime and evening), the latter with The Remo Four and The Pressmen.
July 20
St John's Hall, Tuebrook.
The second issue of Mersey Beat featured a picture of The Beatles on the cover with a report on their recording session with Tony Sheridan, under the grammatically dubious heading: "Beatle's Sign Recording Contract!' The report added that the group had agreed to record four numbers per year in their own right for Polydor, but that they were dissatisfied with the two songs taped at their first session. "Thus, in fact, under the contract the Beatles still have four more records to make this year."
The first record release from The Beatles' German recording sessions, 'My Bonnie' (credited to Tony Sheridan & The Beat Brothers), attracted heavy sales in Hamburg, but failed to reach the German national charts.
Noting the immediate popularity of Mersey Beats first issue, Brian Epstein ordered 12 dozen copies of the new edition for his record shop, NEMS.
July 21
The Cavern (lunchtime) and Aintree Institute, Liverpool, with Cy & The Cimarrons.
July 22
Holyoake Hall, Wavertree, Liverpool.
July 23
Blair Hall, Walton, Liverpool.
July 24
Litherland Town Hall.
July 25
The Cavern (lunchtime and evening), the latter with the Remo Four and Gerry & The Pacemakers on the Blue Genes Guest Night.
July 26
The Cavern (evening), with Johnny Sandon & The Searchers and The Four Jays.
July 27
The Cavern (lunchtime) and St John's Hall, Tuebrook, with The Big Three, Cass & the Cassanovas and Cilia White, whom The Beatles backed. Brian Epstein later changed her name to the funkier sounding Cilia Black.
July 28
Aintree Institute, Liverpool.
July 29
Blair Hall, Walton, Liverpool.
July 30
Blair Hall, Walton, Liverpool.
July 31
The Cavern (lunchtime) and Litherland Town Hall.
August 2
The Cavern (lunchtime and evening), the latter with Karl Kerry & The Cruisers and Dale Roberts & The Jaywalkers.
August 3
Brian Epstein began his record review column for Mersey Beat magazine called "Stop the World - And Listen to Everything In It" by "Brian Epstein Of NEMS". His column frequently appeared opposite news stories about the latest exploits of The Beatles.
August 4
The Cavern (lunchtime) and Aintree Institute, Liverpool.
August 5
The Cavern (evening).
An all-night session with The Cimmerons, The Panama Jazz Band, The Mike Cotten Jazz Band, The Kenny Ball Jazzmen and The Remo Four.
August 6
Casbah Coffee Club, West Derby, Liverpool.
August 7
Town Hall, Litherland.
August 8
The Cavern (lunchtime).
August 9
The Cavern (evening).
August 10
The Cavern (lunchtime) and St. John's Hall, Tuebrook, Liverpool.
August 11
The Cavern (evening) with Alan Elsdon's Jazz Band.
August 12
Aintree Institute, Liverpool.
August 13
Casbah Coffee Club, West Derby, Liverpool.
August 14
The Cavern (lunchtime).
August 16
The Cavern (evening) with The Pressmen.
August 17
St John's Hall, Tuebrook, Liverpool, with The Big Three. Johnny Gustafson, bassist from The Big Three, sat in with them that night.
The first Beatles fan letters were printed in Mersey Beat, which also introduced a "Classified Ads" section full of private jokes between John Lennon and his friends: "Whistling Jock Lennon wishes to contact HOT NOSE ... HOT LIPS, missed you Friday, RED NOSE ... RED SCUNTHORPE wishes to jock HOT ACCRINGTON."
A further example of Lennon wit in this issue was the publication of an unsigned nonsense poem entitled 'I Remember Arnold'.
August 18
The Cavern (lunchtime) and Aintree Institute, Liverpool.
August 19
Aintree Institute, Liverpool.
August 20
Hambleton Hall, Huyton, Liverpool.
August 21
The Cavern (lunchtime).
August 23
The Cavern (lunchtime and evening), the latter with The Rockin' Blackcats and Kingsize Taylor & The Dominoes.
August 24
St John's Hall, Tuebrook, Liverpool.
August 25
The Cavern (lunchtime) and M.V. Royal Iris, River Mersey, with Acker Bilk and His Paramount Jazz Band.
A "Riverboat Shuffle" promoted by Ray McFall, owner of The Cavern, who closed the club for the event. The Royal Iris was a Liverpool institution, known as the "Fish & Chip Boat", which hosted dances and cruises for 40 years, until she was mothballed in January 1991. The Beatles were to play on the boat a number of times.
August 26
Aintree Institute, Liverpool.
August 27
Casbah Coffee Club, West Derby, Liverpool.
August 28
The Cavern (lunchtime).
August 29
The Cavern (lunchtime).
August 30
The Cavern (evening) with The Strangers.
August 31
St John's Hall, Tuebrook, Liverpool.
Mersey Beat reported that a "Beatles" fan club had been started with Bernard Boyd as President, Jennifer Dawes the Treasurer and Maureen O'Shea the Secretary. "The club will open officially in September..."
In the same issue, Cavern Club compere Bob Wooler claimed that "The Beatles are the biggest thing to have hit the Liverpool rock'n'roll set-up in years. They were, and still are, the hottest local property any Rock promoter is likely to encounter." Significantly, in the light of later events, the only member of the group whom Wooler singled out for special attention was Pete Best, whom he memorably described as "a sort of teenage Jeff Chandler".
September 1
The Cavern (lunchtime) with Karl Terry & The Cruisers, and (evening) with Dizzy Burtons Jazz Band.
September 2
Aintree Institute, Liverpool.
September 3
Hambleton Hall, Huyton, Liverpool.
September 6
The Cavern (evening) with Johnny Sandon & The Searchers and Ian & The Zodiacs.
September 7
The Cavern (lunchtime).
September 8
St John's Hall, Tuebrook, Liverpool.
September 9
Aintree Institute, Liverpool.
September 10
Casbah Coffee Club, West Derby, Liverpool.
September 11
The Cavern (lunchtime).
September 13
The Cavern (lunchtime and evening), the latter with The Remo Four and The Pressmen.
September 14
Litherland Town Hall.
John's satirical column "Around and About", written under the pseudonym Beatcomber, first appeared in Mersey Beat magazine, alongside another selection of his fake classified ads.
September 15
The Cavern (lunchtime), Grosvenor Ballroom, Liscard and Village Hall, Knotty Ash.
This second gig of the evening was promoted by Pete Best's mother, Mona, who was still interested in managing the group.
September 16
Aintree Institute, Liverpool.
September 17
Hambleton Hall, Huyton, Liverpool.
September 19
The Cavern (afternoon).
September 20
The Cavern (evening) with Karl Terry & Tne Cruisers and lan & The Zodiacs.
September 21
The Cavern (lunchtime) and Litherland Town Hall, with Gerry & The Pacemakers and Rory Storm & The Hurricanes.
September 22
Village Hall, Knotty Ash.
September 23
Aintree Institute, Liverpool.
September 24
Casbah Coffee Club, West Derby, Liverpool.
September 25
The Cavern (lunchtime).
September 27
The Cavern (lunchtime and evening), the latter with Gerry & The Pacemakers and Mark Peters & The Cyclones.
September 28
Litherland Town Hall.
September 29
The Cavern (lunchtime) and Village Hall, Knotty Ash.
September 30
Paul and John set off to hitchhike to Paris, financed by some cash which John had been given as an early 21st birthday present.
During their time in Paris, the two Beatles attended several rock'n'roll concerts, including 'The Johnny Hallyday Rock Show' at the Olympia, and 'Les Rock Festival' at a Montmartre club, with British rocker Vince Taylor topping the bill.
October
The single 'My Bonnie'/'The Saints' by Tony Sheridan & The Beat Brothers was released in Germany on Polydor NH 24673.
The EP My Bonnie by Tony Sheridan and The Beat Brothers was released in Germany on Polydor EPH 21485: Side A: 'My Bonnie', 'Why'; Side B: 'Cry For A Shadow', 'The Saints'.
October 5
The Beatles were named as Liverpool's top group in Bob Wooler's regular column in Mersey Beat. Gerry & The Pacemakers and Rory Storm & The Hurricanes were the most popular runners-up.
October 9
John spent his 21st birthday in Paris with Paul.
THE ORIGINS OF THE 'BEATLE CUT'
John: "Paris has always been the object of English romanticism, hasn't it? I fell for Paris first of all, even before Hamburg. I remember spending my 21st birthday there with Paul in 1961 . . ."
In Paris they visited Jurgen Vollmer, a friend from the Reeperbahn, who had moved there to study photography. He wore his hair brushed forward in a fashion which was popular among some French youths, and was a style he had been introduced to by Astrid Kirchherr, who cut Stuart Sutcliffe's hair that way when they were all in Hamburg. John and Paul decided they wanted their hair like Jurgen's and asked him to do it. Jurgen Vollmer: "I gave both of them their first Beatles haircut in my hotel room on the Left Bank."
Paul: "Jurgen was in Paris on that trip, and we said, 'Do us a favour, cut our hair like you've cut yours.' So he did it, and it turned out different, 'cos his wasn't exactly a Beatle cut, but ours fell into The Beatles thing. We didn't really start that. The impression that got over was that it was just us, that we'd started it all. We kept saying, 'But there's millions of people in art schools who look like this. We're just the spokesmen for it.'"
Astrid had initially copied the style from a Jean Cocteau movie. Cocteau's favourite actor, Jean Marais, wore his hair brushed forward to play Oedipus in Cocteau's 1959 Le Testament d'Orphee and so that is the ultimate origin of the famous Beatles haircut.
Aunt Mimi told the Liverpool Echo that she remembered the time that John slipped off to Paris to "sell his paintings" and that some unsuspecting Frenchman has a Lennon original on his wall.
October 15
Albany Cinema, Northway (lunchtime).
The Beatles' first show after John and Paul returned from Paris was this charity concert promoted by Jim Getty (who had sold John his first guitar) in aid of the local St John's Ambulance Brigade. There were 16 acts on a three-hour bill, headed by local comedian Ken Dodd and ending with a ten-minute Beatles set.
Hambleton Hall, Huyton.
October 16
The Cavern (lunchtime).
October 17
David Lewis Club, Liverpool. Promoted by The Beatles' newly formed fan club.
October 18
The Cavern (lunchtime and evening), the latter with Ian & The Zodiacs and The Four Jays.
October 19
Litherland Town Hall with Gerry & The Pacemakers and Karl Terry & The Cruisers.
Halfway through the evening, The Beatles and The Pacemakers combined to form a "supergroup", The Beatmakers, with a line-up featuring: George, lead guitar; Paul, rhythm guitar; John, piano; Pete Best and Freddy Marsden, drums; Les Maguire, saxophone; Les Chadwick, bass; Gerry Marsden, lead guitar and vocals; Karl Terry, vocals. Among the numbers they performed were 'Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On', 'What'd I Say?', 'Red Sails In The Sunset' and 'Hit The Road Jack'.
October 20
The Cavern (lunchtime) and Village Hall, Knotty Ash.
October 21
The Cavern (all night session) with The Panama Jazz Band, The Remo Four, Gerry & The Pacemakers, The Yorkshire Jazz Band and The Collegians Jazz Band.
October 22
Casbah Coffee Club, West Derby, Liverpool.
October 24
The Cavern (lunchtime).
October 25
The Cavern (evening) with Gerry & The Pacemakers and The Strangers.
October 26
The Cavern (lunchtime).
October 27
Village Hall, Knotty Ash.
October 28
Aintree Institute, Liverpool.
This was the legendary day on which Raymond Jones asked Brian Epstein for a copy of 'My Bonnie' by The Beatles at NEMS record store. The record was released only in Germany at that time and was by Tony Sheridan and The Beat Brothers, not The Beatles, so it took Epstein a little while to track it down. The Beatles had been enthusiastically 'plugging' the record during their shows around Liverpool, despite the fact that it was not available anywhere in the UK.
Epstein's assistant, Alistair Taylor, subsequently claimed that this legendary occurrence was actually a myth, and that there was no 'Raymond Jones'. Alistair Taylor:
"The truth is that we were being asked for 'My Bonnie', but no one actually ordered it. Brian would order any record once we had a firm order for it. I thought that we were losing sales, and I wrote an order in the book under the name 'Raymond Jones', and from that moment the legend grew."
October 29
Hambleton Hall, Huyton, Liverpool.
October 30
The Cavern (lunchtime).
Two girls asked for 'My Bonnie' at NEMS, causing Brian Epstein to search foreign record importers' lists for this elusive record. Since he had sold 12 dozen copies of Mersey Beat and even wrote a column for the paper, it is virtually impossible that he didn't know who The Beatles were.
Whether or not these girls or the mysterious Raymond Jones were the first customers to actually order 'My Bonnie', the result was that Brian Epstein ordered several copies of the single, which quickly sold out after he advertised the fact it was in stock with a small notice in the NEMS window. This rapid response encouraged him to re-order many times over, each time in larger quantities.
October 31
Litherland Town Hall.
November 1
The Cavern (lunchtime and evening), the latter with The Strangers and Gerry & The Pacemakers.
November 3
The Cavern (lunchtime).
November 4
The Cavern (evening) with The Collegians Jazz Band.
November 6
The British arm of Polydor Records decided to follow their German counterpart by releasing 'My Bonnie' by Tony Sheridan & The Beatles in the New Year.
November 7
The Cavern (lunchtime), Merseyside Civil Service Club and The Cavern again (evening), with Gerry & The Pacemakers and The Strangers on a Blue Genes guest night.
November 8
The Cavern (evening) with The Remo Four and Ian & The Zodiacs.
November 9
The Cavern (lunchtime) and Litherland Town Hall.
Brian Epstein, accompanied by his assistant, Alistair Taylor, and wearing a rather incongruous pinstriped suit, visited the Cavern for the first time. His presence was announced by DJ Bob Wooler over the PA: "We have someone rather famous in the audience today." It is a measure of how small-town Liverpool was in 1961 that a record shop owner could be regarded as a famous celebrity.
Brian was intrigued by all the publicity attending The Beatles, particularly by the speedy sales of their 'My Bonnie' single and the coverage that the band had been receiving in Mersey Beat, and had come to see what the fuss was about. Despite feeling very out of place amongst the lunch-time 'cave-dwellers' in the primitive, sweaty atmosphere of the Cavern, he began to visit the club regularly to see The Beatles, always taking time to have a few words with them.
George: "He started talking to us about the record that had created the demand. We didn't know much about him but he seemed very interested in us and also a little bit baffled.
"He came back several times and talked to us. It seemed there was something he wanted to say, but he wouldn't come out with it. He just kind of watched us and studied what we were doing. One day he took us to the store and introduced us. We thought he looked rather red and embarrassed about it all."
The evening show at Litherland was the group's last appearance at this venue.
BRIAN EPSTEIN
The man who became the manager of The Beatles had led an unsettled life, attending eight different schools throughout the UK, considering careers in dress design and the theatre before at the age of 16 settling into work in the family furniture store in Walton Road, Liverpool, where he proved to be an excellent salesman. Obliged to do National Service in 1952, Brian was subsequently arrested for impersonating an officer - a genuine misunderstanding that resulted from his refined manner - and subsequently discharged on 'medical grounds'. After an unsuccessful stint training to become an actor at RADA in London, he returned to Liverpool and took over a new store that the Epstein family had founded in Hoylake on the Cheshire Wirral.
Brian Epstein was homosexual and lived a double life, by day managing the furniture shop, by night visiting those areas of Liverpool where gay men gathered. Homosexuality was illegal in Britain in the Fifties and Brian was in constant fear of being exposed or beaten up. On one occasion he was arrested for soliciting, an incident which led him to consider taking his own life.
In 1958 Brian became the manager of the record department in the Epsteins' new shop. North End Music Stores, in Liverpool's Great Charlotte Street. Imaginative and artistic in his ideas for presentation and publicity, he made it immensely successful and was soon able to advertise its wares as 'the Finest Record Selection in the North'.
November 10
Tower Ballroom, New Brighton, Wallasey, with Roy Storm & The Hurricanes, Gerry & The Pacemakers, The Remo Four, Kingsize Taylor & The Dominoes, Village Hall, Knotty Ash.
The first of promoter Sam Leach's "Operation Big Beat" concerts. The Beatles played two sets, the first at 8 and the second at 11.30. In between sets they drove to Knotty Ash where they played another gig.
November 11
Aintree Institute, Liverpool.
To celebrate the success of "Operation Big Beat" the previous night, Sam Leach gave a late-night party at the Liverpool Jazz Centre which The Beatles all attended.
November 12
Hambleton Hall, Huyton, Liverpool.
November 13
The Cavern (lunchtime).
November 14
Merseyside Civil Service Club.
The Cavern, with The Remo Four and Gerry & The Pacemakers on a Blue Genes guest night.
November 15
The Cavern (lunchtime and evening), the latter with The Four Jays and Johnny Sandon & The Searchers.
November 17
The Cavern (lunchtime) and Village Hall, Knotty Ash.
November 18
The Cavern (evening) with The White Eagles Jazz Band.
November 19
Casbah Coffee Club, West Derby, Liverpool.
November 21
The Cavern (lunchtime) and Mersey side Civil Service Club.
November 22
The Cavern (evening) with Gerry & The Pacemakers and Earl Preston & The TTs.
November 23
The Cavern (lunchtime).
November 24
Casbah Coffee Club, West Derby, Liverpool and Tower Ballroom, New Brighton, Wallasey with Rory Storm & The Hurricanes, Gerry & The Pacemakers, The Remo Four, Earl Preston & The Tempest Tornadoes and Faron Young & The Flamingos.
The evening was Sam Leach's "Operation Big Beat II". The Beatles arrived for an 11pm set, and there were surprise appearances by Emile Ford, who performed with Rory Storm & The Hurricanes, and American singer Davy Jones, who did two numbers backed by The Beatles.
November 26
Hambleton Hall, Huyton, Liverpool.
November 27
The Cavern (lunchtime).
November 28
Merseyside Civil Service Club.
November 29
The Cavern (lunchtime and evening shows), the latter with Ian & The Zodiacs and The Remo Four.
December 1
The Cavern (lunchtime) and Tower Ballroom, New Brighton, Wallasey. The latter was another of Sam Leach's "Operation Big Beat" sessions, with The Beatles heading the bill of six groups.
December 2
The Cavern (evening) with The Zenith Six Jazz Band.
December 3
Casbah Coffee Club, West Derby, Liverpool.
The first meeting between the group and Brian Epstein to discuss his becoming their manager was held at Epstein's office at NEMS. Paul was late because he was having a bath, but once the full complement had gathered they retired to a milk bar for Brian to put his proposals to them.
George: "Eventually he started talking about becoming our manager. Well, we hadn't really had anybody actually volunteer in that sense. At the same time, he was very honest about it, like saying he didn't really know anything about managing a group like us. He sort of hinted that he was keen if we'd go along with him ..."
Brian: "There was something enormously attractive about them. I liked the way they worked and the obvious enthusiasm they put into their numbers ... It was the boys themselves, though, who really swung it. Each had something which I could see would be highly commercial if only someone could push it to the top. They were different characters but they were so obviously part of the whole. Quite frankly, I was excited about their prospects, provided some things could be changed."
The Beatles were not sure and went away to think about it. Meanwhile, a second meeting was arranged.
It appears that even in advance of this first meeting, Brian Epstein had already written to R. White, the General Marketing Manager of EMI Records, recommending that they should sign the group. He may have hoped that by the time he met The Beatles, he would already be able to show them definite interest in their career from one of Britain's major record companies.
December 5
The Cavern (lunchtime).
December 6
The Cavern (evening) with The Remo Four and The Strangers.
The Beatles' second meeting with Brian Epstein. John, acting as the spokesman for the group, accepted Brian's proposal but no documents were drawn up.
December 8
The Cavern (lunchtime), also backing Davy Jones whom Ray McFall had booked for the lunchtime session as well; and Tower Ballroom, New Brighton, Wallasey, with Danny Williams and Davy Jones, who headed the bill and for whom The Beatles again provided backing.
Although he had not yet signed The Beatles to a management agreement, Brian Epstein wrote again in that capacity to EMI Records, telling them that their main rival, the Decca group of labels, was interested in recording the group, but offering them first refusal. He also claimed that the group had recently been visited by a representative from Deutsche Grammophon Records - an exaggeration, but not entirely untrue, as the Polydor label in Germany was a division of Deutsche Grammophon.
Epstein concluded: "These four boys, who are superb instrumentalists, also produce some exciting and pulsating vocals. They play mostly their own compositions and one of the boys has written a song which I really believe to be the hottest thing since 'Living Doll'. This is a group of exceptional talents and appealing personalities."
December 9
Palais Ballroom, Aldershot, with Ivor Jay & The Jaywalkers.
Sam Leach's first attempt at promoting a concert in southern England ended in disaster. As he was not known to them, the local newspaper refused to accept his cheque for an advertisement, and as he neglected to leave his telephone number with them, his ad was not run. The Beatles arrived at an empty hall; no one in Aldershot knew the "Battle of the Bands" was happening. A quick run round the local coffee bars asking people to come to a free dance resulted in an audience of 18 people.
The Beatles had nowhere to stay so they drove into London to visit the Blue Gardenia, a Soho drinking club run by their old friend Brian Cassar, formerly of Cass & The Cassanovas. They jammed on stage (minus George) to an even smaller audience than in Aldershot.
The near humiliation of this venture outside Merseyside reinforced the idea that The Beatles desperately needed a full-time manager to take care of all aspects of their bookings.
December 10
Hambleton Hall, Huyton, Liverpool.
BRIAN EPSTEIN BECOMES THE BEATLES' MANAGER
The group came to an informal agreement with Brian Epstein, making him their manager providing he could get them a recording contract. He also promised to release them from their contract with Bert Kaempfert in Hamburg. Brian had very specific ideas about stage presentation. There was to be no eating, drinking or fighting on stage, nor were they to shout at the audience. Brian wanted them to be punctual and to plan their set in advance. His biggest change was to take them out of their black leathers and put them all into neat suits. The group assumed that he knew what he was doing and went along with it.
John: "We were in a daydream 'till he came along. We'd no idea what we were doing. Seeing our marching orders on paper made it all official. Brian was trying to clean our image up. He said we'd never get past the door of a good place. He'd tell us that jeans were not particularly smart and could we possibly manage to wear proper trousers. But he didn't want us suddenly looking square. He let us have our own sense of individuality. We respected his views. We stopped chomping at cheese rolls and jam butties on stage. We paid a lot more attention to what we were doing. Did our best to be on time. And we smartened up, in the sense that we wore suits instead of any sloppy old clothes."
December 11
The Cavern (lunchtime).
December 13
The Cavern (lunchtime and evening), the latter with Gerry & The Pacemakers and The Four Jays.
Brian Epstein used his influence as a major record dealer to persuade the A&R Manager of Decca Records, Mike Smith, to visit Liverpool to see them play The Cavern. After watching them play he agreed to audition them in London.
December 15
The Cavern (lunchtime) and Tower Ballroom, New Brighton, Wallasey, with a reformed Cass & The Cassanovas and The Big Three.
December 16
The Cavern (evening) with The White Eagles Jazz band.
December 17
Casbah Coffee Club, West Derby.
December 18
The Cavern (lunchtime).
EMI Records wrote to Brian Epstein, declining his offer that they should sign The Beatles, but enclosing an English translation of their German recording contract with Bert Kaempfert, which he had given them to explain their current commitments.
December 19
The Cavern (lunchtime).
December 20
The Cavern (evening) with The Strangers and Mark Peters & The Cyclones.
December 21
The Cavern (lunchtime).
December 23
The Cavern, all-night session with The Micky Ashman Ragtime Jazz Band, The Remo Four, Gerry & The Pacemakers, The Saints Jazz Band and The Searchers.
December 26
Tower Ballroom, New Brighton, Wallasey. The concert was billed as featuring "The Beetles" with Rory Storm & The Hurricanes and Tony Osborne & His Band for a "Boxing Night Big Beat Ball".
December 27
The Cavern (evening) with Gerry & The Pacemakers and Kingsize Taylor & The Dominoes. Advertised as "The Beatles' Xmas Party".
December 29
The Cavern (evening) with the Yorkshire Jazz Band.
December 30
The Cavern (evening) with The White Eagles Jazz Band.
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