THE TRUTH ABOUT THE BEATLES’ GIRLS
The following article was published in (USA) 16 Magazine’s February 1966 issue (on sale in December 1965). It is essentially the same as the article published in UK Fabulous magazine in June 1965, but with updating added at the beginning to include info about the Starkey family’s new home and newborn baby son Zak, plus a couple of other small changes.
AT HOME WITH RINGO, MO AND ZAK
How is married life suiting the Starrs? What kind of a wife and mother is Maureen? Here are the answers to all the things you’ve been wondering about!
HOME at this moment is probably a moving van for Mr. and Mrs. Ringo Starr and son. Alterations and interior decoration on the magnificent old house Ringo bought this past summer have turned out to be quite extensive (and expensive). The Starrs, who were living in an apartment in the middle of London hoped to get into their new digs by Thanksgiving. Now they will be lucky if they make it by Christmas.
But Ringo and Mo don’t mind waiting - not a bit. They are two people who know what it’s like to have very little - they both came from hard-working but poor families - so the delay of moving into their luxurious mansion is nothing more than a bit of a giggle to the Starrs.
Maureen Cox - born Mary Cox - is unique, being the only fan who has been singled out by a Beatle to be his wife. Now that she has been headlined in all the papers and known what it is to be famous, she is quite content to be just a shadow behind a star.
Since her marriage, and the news which followed about the baby, she has been inundated with requests to open garden fetes, church bazaars and jumble sales. Even to model maternity wear. Someone went so far as to try to start a campaign to make her Mother of the Year. But all the invitations and offers have been politely turned down. The world knows little of Maureen Cox. Even at the wedding reception and that much publicized honeymoon press conference, nearly all the talking was done by Ringo. When she did say anything it was brief and to the point.
What is this attractive, dark-haired, ex-hairdressing apprentice from The Ashley Duprez Continental Hair Styling Saloon in Liverpool’s Beck Road, really like? Why did Richie (her name for him) choose this eighteen year old home-town girl and daughter of a ship’s steward to be his wife?
It was while playing his drums at the original Cavern in 1962 that Ringo first spotted her among five hundred girls. She was then fifteen. It wasn’t love at first sight. Like any other girl, Maureen had plenty of dates. One of them, who is now a good friend of them both, was Peter Hepworth, at present a co-director of Cavern Sounds Ltd., the club’s record-making section.
The toughest years for Maureen were when The Beatles were climbing the ladder of success and any linking of their names with girls was enough to send Brian Epstein climbing up the wall. In those days, when the couple were falling truly in love, Maureen and Richie had to be content with surreptitious meeting in Liverpool’s dimly-lit Blue Angel club. But when her existence started to become known, she gave up her job and often used to visit Ringo in London. She always had to get permission at home for these trips. Her dad would say, “No,” so she’d wangle a a “Yes” from her mum.
How is married life suiting her? “I’m finding it wonderful,” she has told friends. Ringo relies on Maureen possibly more than the other Beatles on their partners. She shares his stamina for staying out all night - though they’re not the night birds they were, now the baby is here. Maureen is very brisk, efficient and competent. At present, she is learning to cook properly. “I’m in the kitchen as much as possible, fiddling about and experimenting.”
When Ringo is at home, Maureen is first up in the morning. She makes him a “cuppa” and then gets the breakfast.
A problem Maureen has beaten is loneliness because Richie has to be away so much. Her biggest ally is the telephone. She spends hours ringing and taking calls from friends like Cyn Lennon and others in the new set she has joined in London. And hardly a month passes without Maureen sneaking away North on a visit to her parents in their corporation flat in Boundary Street, by the docks.
On these visits she meets up with her old girl friends and has coffee and cakes in the corner Kardomah cafe in Whitechapel. She also cuts and sets hair for her intimate friends and also occasionally takes her comb and scissors to the home of Ringo’s parents to “do” for her mother-in-law. Ringo has said that one day he’d like to start a chain of hairdressing salons, so Maureen’s experience will be valuable then.
Maureen likes simple clothes and prefers to wear black. Her favourite is “the little black dress.” Although she looks like the average London mod, underneath she’s very much the girl from Liverpool who finds herself in London. She washes her hair every other day and is very keen on eye make-up and doing her nails - but she’s content to be a housewife, too.
The popularity of Ringo’s marriage has been an eye-opener for the Beatle management. Well wishing cards and presents are still arriving for the couple - from all round the world. Maureen, who has won the heart of a Beatle and the whole pop world as well, is dedicated to being a wife and mother.
The photo above was included with the article in 16 Magazine: Ringo and Maureen leaving Queen Charlotte's Maternity Hospital on September 22, 1965 with their nine day old son, Zak. He’s in the arms of his nanny, Marion Bramwell. Scan from the Maureen Starr Tribute group at Yahoo!
