Just a Handful of Fans
One of the Beatle’s fans talk about their Cavern Days
Pat Hodgetts, a friend of the Beatles from Liverpool,
reminisces about the old days when Ringo played for Rory Storm and Pete Best
was the Beatles drummer.
Although Pat was friendly with the boys, she also spent
afternoons at the Harrison home, having tea with George’s mother, and was a
frequent visitor at the McCartney’s, because at the time she was very friendly
with Mike –Paul’s brother.
Pat hasn’t seen the Beatles for some years now, and her one
wish is to meet them again to find out whether or not they have changed. She recalls, “I never missed a single Beatles
session at the Cavern, whether it was in the evening, or a lunchtime. In those days they used to play a lot of
Chuck Berry type numbers like “Memphis.”
One of Paul’s specialties was “Over the Rainbow,” and I remember John
singing “Keep your hands off my baby.”
Although Ringo was with Rory Storm at the time, he often
used to sit in for Pete Best when he was ill.
One thing I do remember about Ringo, was this horrible old car he
had. Just as he was about to drive off
after a session, the others used to jump on top of it and dance about on the
bonnet!
After the Beatles had finished their session at the Cavern
in the evenings, they used to go over to the Blue Angel with several friends or
their date for the evening. John’s
steady was Cynthia, though she was not a frequent visitor to the Cavern. George usually dated girls from the Cavern
and Paul used to take out Rory Storm’s sister Irish, as well as having several
other girlfriends.
It’s funny, but a lot of people say to me, “Don’t you think
they used to look terribly scruffy in those days, and even quite unattractive.”
I admit now that they look smarter, because they can afford better clothes, but
I thought they used to look marvelous.
They only difference now, is that John’s got fatter and George has got
thinner. I like George best. He was always my favourite, and judging by
the songs he’s been writing, he’s changed.
He was always rather quiet, but shrewd – his songs sound like the work
of a genius.
Paul and John always bossed him around on stage. Whenever George sang they danced around him
and pulled faces and made jokes the whole time. John hasn’t changed at
all. People were always frightened of
him, he was, and I suppose still is, very sarcastic and fantastically
funny. At lunchtime sessions he used to
come on in a T-shirt with a tie around his neck, and a huge cap with big
stripes. And whilst he was singing, he
used to twitch –on purpose. One day Paul
overheard two girl say, “What a shame—and he’s so young too!”
They used to talk about what they’d do if they made it. George said he wanted an enormous bed with a
motor to drive around the house, so that he’d never have to get out of
bed! Paul wanted a smoking jacket and
John wanted a harem!
Their parents and family were very confident in them, and
knew that they’d make it one day.
In fact, when “Please Please me” entered the charts, George
bet his mother ten shillings that it wouldn’t get to number one. And when it happened George grabbed hold of
his mother and swung her around the room in excitement.
Even before they had a hit record, they were idolized by
everyone in Liverpool. The girls used to
faint at their feet in the Cavern because of the heat, and the boys just looked
at them whilst they played the death march – they were ever so funny.
I remember two very sad occasions. One was before they went to Germany for the
third time, and there was a big farewell at lunchtime. Usually everyone used to scream and shout,
but on that occasion John sang “To Know Her is to Love her” and there was dead
silence –and tears.
The other occasion was when they reached number one with “Please
Please Me” Bob Wooler made the announcement, and again there was silence
instead of excitement. It was only
because everyone knew we were going to lose them for good.
Although it probably sounds selfish, we would have preferred
it if the boys hadn’t got to number one –although deep down in the hearts we
were very pleased for them, because it was what they always wanted and we now
knew that George could have his big bed, Paul his smoking jacket and john his
harem. But since that memorable number
one, the Cavern has never been the same – the enthusiasm is just not there
anymore. The whole reason for rushing
down to the Cavern at lunchtime or after school and being the first there ended
when they left.
Admittedly other groups played there and many made names for
themselves later on. But they were just
not good enough – nothing could replace the Beatles.
About a week after Pete Best was thrown out and Ringo came
in, there was a slight nasty incident at one of the lunchtime sessions. For some reason or other, there was a firm
rule at the Cavern which stated that none of the fellows were allowed to wear
jeans. Anyway these toughs (who were
often down there in jeans) called George over and started hitting him. One punched him in the eye. George turned round and shouted, “Go and get
John,” thinking that John would come down and punch them back. Anyway when John did arrive on the scene he
just stood there laughing. George had
such a terrible black eye that he had to wear a patch for ages. John and Paul kept joking about it and saying
we’ll have to find somebody else if he can’t get rid of that black eye.
As far as their popularity went, John and Paul were always
the front men and George was the guitarist.
John and Paul were very intelligent, and john was just fantastic at
everything. I suppose if I really sat
down and thought about the old days, I’d be able to remember many more things,
but what I have just told you, are the thing which I most remember about the
Beatles.
lovely story and " nothing could replace the Beatles"
ReplyDeletefor the 1st time am reading all your cavern blogs and am loving each one - the snaps are beautiful as well
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