But, has Allan Williams got too much credit over the years? Has he made himself more important (by his book for instance) than he really was in the Beatles history? I understood Mona Best arranged a lot for The Beatles in the early years, but she hardly ever gets mentioned. Allan Williams has painted an image of himself as a hardworking man who is just trying to earn some money in a more or less honest way. I guess he arranged some things and booked The Beatles in his clubs and Hamburg. But what else?
yeah true mona did...but that was mostly in her basement tho.....the casbah club was her basement...so does that really count???those english were weird cramming kids in like sardines,and those things were damp and humid..i bet that was a cool assed party,all nighters i bet...mona fecking one of the student fans...just a typical basement party officer...my son and his 50 friends..no they are drinking tea......i wonder where cellar hanging out became cool?who started cellar parties???over here its garages....the beatles were atcually a cellar band so the cellar is underground so they were part of the underground music scene...it so logical...tara
Woody was a character. He was given the name because he smoked cheap cigarettes called Woodbines. Lord was a grandiose title he gave to himself, just as he called his steel band The Royal Carribbean Steel Band. I remember when we were going on the Cavern trip to Hamburg. Woody turned up at Speke Airport, although he hadn't booked a ticket for the trip. Because there was extra room on the plane he blagged his way onto it - and he'd brought his passport with him, of course! He then started to take Polaroid pictures of the kids during the flight and earned himself some money. After we landed we didn't see him again until the flight home. He'd spent his time with what money he'd got, bartering at the market. He was a fantastic hustler. He then came on the plane with several watches. Then he got a number of the girls to each put a watch on so he could get through customs.
I've mentioned that the pics were with Emile Ford. The only picture of Woody that I know is the one taken at the Arnhem Cemetary on their way to hamburg.
It gave a boost to everything. Dozens of Mersey groups were to appear in Hamburg and their attraction, together with groups from Glasgow and other cities, such as the Bobby Patrick Big Six and Cliff Bennett & the Rebel Rousers, inspired the growth of local German groups such as the Rattles and the Bats. Liverpool artists literally decided to decamp and live there - Kingsize Taylor & the Dominoes, the Liverbirds, with one of the Liverbirds marrying one of the Rattles. It was a really great relationship. When we went on the Cavern trip to Hamburg with Ray McFall, me and Virginia, Alan Williams, Lord Woodbine and scores of Cavernites, we arrived to be told on landing that John F Kennedy had just been assassinated. As a result of the groups, Manfred Weissleder began to open Star Clubs all over Germany - Keil, Berlin etc. He asked me and Virginia to come and live in Hamburg and he'd provide a house and a car if we started Germany's first rock magazine. I turned him down but agreed to write for him and Star Club News was launched. In return for my writing regularly he took a series of colour transparencies of the Beatles on stage at the club for me. I used one on the cover of Mersey Beat and lent a friend Henri Henriod the other trannies. He never gave them back to me. I learned years later that he'd auctioned them, even though they were my property. Sorry, I'm writing too much, I notice messages on forums are only a few sentences. I'll have to learn to be brief.
you can post as long a reply as you want...there is not set length to a post....most of us just don't have too much to say... you can't be as bad as one guy who use to come here trying to prove he was king of the hill...
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DM's Beatles forums › Solo forums › Fifth Beatles and Merseybeat › lets give some credit to HAROLD PHILLIPS