On Tuesday I was invited to a special ticket
only unveiling at the Liverpool Beatles Museum on Mathew Street
The museum was created by Roag Best, son of the Beatles’ Road manager / head of Apple Neil Aspinall and Mona Best, and the half-brother of Pete Best.
As reported in my blog last September, with Covid
restrictions hopefully easing for good,
Roag is planning on holding a number of ‘reveals’ during the year as
important new pieces of memorabilia are added to the collection.
There was a running gag throughout the
morning which started when Roag mentioned
his son’s had recently started referring to him as ‘Pete Best’s brother’ after
they decided to test their Amazon Alexa:
Q: Alexa, who is Roag Best?
Alexa: I’m sorry I don’t know that one.
Q: Alexa, who is Pete Best?
Alexa: Pete Best is the former drummer in the
Beatles. He joined the group in August 1960...
Alexa: Mona Best is the mother of Pete Best.
She founded the Casbah Club and was the first female booking agent...
Q: Alexa, who is Leanne Best?
Alexa: Leanne Best is a famous British
Actress who has starred in such shows as Line of Duty, Four Lives.... She is
the niece of Beatle Pete Best...
Q: Alexa, who is Pete Best’s brother?
Alexa: Roag Best is Pete Best’s brother!
After much hilarity it was time to introduce
the special guest for the morning.
Ladies and gentlemen, the man who put the beat in the Beatles: Pete Best!!!
After receiving a warm welcome from the crowd Pete said his hellos, thanked everyone for coming and commented on how nice it was to see everyone’s faces after an absence of about 2 1/2 years.
Before ‘revealing the reveal’ Pete said, ‘I’ll tell you a little story’:
As you all know, I joined the band in August
1960, and we went out to Germany. We were playing at the Indra Club. We closed
that one down after a month because we were playing too loud, and then we got
moved to the Kaiserkeller.
We should have been there a month but Bruno
Koschmider, who was the manager of the Kaiserkeller, kept extending the
contract....and extending the contract. And we didn’t mind because we were
getting booze, and birds, and women. We were loving it! We were 17-18 year
olds and it was another education for us.
But what we did talk about between ourselves was that regardless of what was going on in Germany, we wanted to be home for Christmas. We’d been there since August, and this was now getting to be the middle of November. So, I was like ok, regardless of whether we get extended again we’re going home for Christmas and then we’ll see what happens. So, I said I’m going to start promoting the Beatles in Liverpool, and I wrote to Neil (Aspinall) and said keep it under your hat, but we’re going to be coming home for Christmas, and I want you to do some posters. I said just basically tease the public. Don’t let them know who the Beatles are, just say they are coming, watch out for them. So, he did.
It’s important to remember at this point that before the Beatles went to Hamburg they were, to use their agent Allan Williams’ immortal words, a ‘bum group’. Nobody knew who they were in Liverpool, before going to Germany most of the bookings Williams got for them were on the Wirral. When they’d last played at the Casbah Club, ran by Pete’s mother Mo, they were still using the Quarry Men name.
Pete: We had gone away a mediocre band and now we were coming back a powerhouse.
It was a lot of fun. We didn’t know what
possible reception we were going to get back in Liverpool. We knew we’d
basically become kings of Hamburg but coming back to Liverpool no one had
really heard of us.
We got back a lot quicker than we anticipated because when we told Bruno Koschmider that
we were going to the Top Ten Club he said, ‘you
will never work in Germany again’, to which we went [mimes sticking up two
fingers] ‘We will sir’.... that was the last thing we ever did.
All of a sudden George was sent home for
being underage. Pete and Paul got sent home for allegedly trying to burn the
Bambi Kino down. We didn’t succeed, thank God, and a couple of days after that
John said to hell with this I’m going home. The only one who was happy to stay
was Stu cost he’d fallen in love with Astrid, the beautiful Astrid Kirchherr. The mysterious and lovely woman.
Anyway, we landed back home. Neil had started
making posters like I’d said. He’d made two of each. He hadn’t started to put
them up in the Casbah yet because we took them all by surprise (by returning
early). I came back home and saw them, and the complete set (of three) was there
in duplicate, so I took one complete set, and I kept them for my scrapbook. That
was 1960, and I’ve had them ever since. So, what happened was, I kept them, and
I kept looking at them up to today, and I said to Roag, it’s no good letting me
look at them in my little vault, where I’ve got my other little bits and
pieces. It’s about time we broke this out into the world.
So, I’m very proud to say that this is the only complete set of posters promoting the Beatles for the very first time, for their very first gig in Liverpool after the return from Hamburg. And it is, I’m very proud to say again, the only complete set in the whole wide world, Ok? Now I’ve kept them for 60 odd years, I’m not going to keep them anymore I’m going to reveal them to you, and I think as I reveal them, you’ll see the importance of them. And then afterwards you can get up closer and see what I was talking about.
Pete invited his brother to tell a story to tell about that.
Roag - The
funny thing about that The Beatles are coming, as those of you who know, you
Beatle historians and Beatles fans, when they first went to America in 1964 this
was used as their tagline, The Beatles Are Coming. The first time that had been
used was in Liverpool to promote their first show at the Casbah, so somewhere
in their heads they’d remembered that and decided to use it again for the USA.
Anyway, just adding that in!
Roag’s world famous re-enactment of the Beatles remembering something in their heads. Uncanny. It's obvious who Leanne got her talent from.
Pete: That's
something I didn’t know. He’s the font of knowledge is Pete Best’s brother!
Pete: Right. Another tease OK. The curiosity among the Casbah membership was building.
It was working.
The the final one you'll find it a bit difficult
to read from far off. The Fabulous Beatles direct from Hamburg, Germany. Wait for it! Admission price: one shilling.
In today’s money 5p. Now who wouldn’t want to see the Beatles for 5p? I’d even spend 10p!
But a couple of things about this and then I’ll let you have a look, The Fabulous Beatles. We were the first to use it and this got diluted own. It went in many different formats and used during the whole advent of the Beatle era It’s even still getting used today. It went from the Fabulous Beatles to the Fab Four to the Fab Beatles, the Fabulous Four, you name it. But it originated at a humble coffee club called the Casbah on 19 December 1960.
The
other thing about it was this. I’ll tell you a little story about this
particular poster. A lot of people don’t realise that with (The Beatles) being
advertised as direct from Germany, when Mo gave us that first gig (the audience
were expecting a German group).
John, George and Paul were going into the
cellar to start the set and they went down and the kids in the Casbah turned
round and went hang on a minute, they’re
supposed to be The Beatles. That’s John, George and Paul, who used to be in the
Quarrymen. 'Ey? What’s going on?
Next minute Pete and Chas Newby, who was
standing in for Stu Sutcliffe who’d stayed behind a while (in Hamburg) because
of Astrid Kirchherr.... and who wouldn’t stay behind? Again, it was the same thing, ‘hang on a minute, that’s Pete and Chas from
the Blackjacks. Mona! Who are these Beatles?’
And Mona said ‘be patient, be patient, I’ve heard great things about them. Listen to
them play’. So, we did, and we kicked
off and played the first number and at the end there was quiet, and we looked
at them (the audience) and went My God,
what’s happened?’ The next minute
the place erupted they all rushed to the back to see Mona; they were saying Mo! They’re absolutely fabulous, you’ve got
to book them again. She said I will
do be patient.
So, Beatlemania
didn’t start at Litherland Town Hall, it started at the Casbah, and it went on to sweep the world and that
really is the history of these three posters. The complete set, the only set
that still remains in the whole wide world today.
There was no rush to get off afterwards, the
guests were permitted to have a look around the museum or just stand around and
chat. I did both and took the
opportunity to photograph some of the ‘Best’ items on display. [ba-dum tish!]
Receipts from Hessy's and Cranes for Pete's drumsticks
