click an image to view larger
|
|
Tracklisting & More Information
The autographs were obtained backstage by a teen fan who made a habit of seeing the popular bands that came to Doncaster around that time & collected autographs from them all. The Beatles were just another one of those bands.
They spent the time that they weren't playing actually wandering about the venue as then they were still able to do this. A very different tale less than a year later.
The recollections of the person who obtained the autographs actually mention Cynthia Lennon [or Powell, as she still was at the time] as being present backstage also. She was to marry John just fifteen days later!
On an 'On This Day In History' scale, this is also very special as it was a mere eight days before Pete Best was sacked from the band and just ten days before Ringo was installed as a permanent member.
With the autographs, we have enclosed a copy of the group's gig itinerary from August 1962 to put the events and autographs into context, along with a printout of the full flyer from the gig. There is also a copy of the fan's handwritten recollections of the night.
The autographs themselves appear to be on part of a similar flyer which may even have formed a ticket stub as it has advance ticket details underneath the segment for the Mal Parker Four that are not present on the general flyer.
The additional signature of Neil Aspinall is in a way, the icing on the cake, as it also places this set in time. Then he was still Friend, Roadie & also Van Driver to the band. He quit his Accountancy job in July 1962 as he found that, even then, he was earning more money ferrying the band around than he was getting in his 'day' job. He was actually asked to be the band's Road Manager by the soon to be ousted Pete Best. In 1963, he was promoted & joined by Mal Evans, having been persuaded by the sacked Pete Best to stay with the band when he almost quit after Pete was sacked. The rest is History.
By an amazing stroke of good fortune, this little 5" x 4" piece of handbill has actually captured everybody that travelled down in their famous Commer van from Liverpool to the gig, with the exception of Cynthia [Powell] Lennon who was still being actively hidden at this point in time.
The young fan's name was Pauline, and each signature on this historic document is also annotated 'Love To Pauline' by each person who signed, rather than, as later, a quick 'Love to' at the top & just the signatures underneath.
Amusingly, George originally wrote 'Love FROM Pauline' and has corrected this & written the 'to' over his mistake.
The autographs are amazingly beautiful and clear, even now, and really do document the last days of Pete Best's tenure with the band before the blue touchpaper was lit & the phenomenon that they were about to become became a reality.
John, Paul, George & Ringo they became, but they started 1962 very much as John, Paul, George & Pete with Neil driving the van for them. A mere eight days after these signatures were written, everything changed.
This is one of the last sets of autographs that could have been obtained with Pete Best still occupying the Drummer's stool. For him, there were just eight gigs and eight days left before his part in the history of the most important & influential band in the history of popular music was over.
MEMORABILIA
|