“I’ve always been proud of The Beatles and proud and happy to have been just a small cog in the wheel of the most famous group in the world. A lot of people have told me ‘I would have loved to have been there’ and it WAS a lot of fun – but we didn’t know we were making history. It was such a good time, though, and I’ve got no regrets – they were exciting days.
[...] “I wasn’t jealous of Brian [Epstein] and always thought he was a thorough gentleman. I couldn’t have done what Brian did because I had a mind like a grasshopper and could never have gone through all that big business.”
[Allan Williams, Liverpool Echo]
"We probably met with the van outside Allan Williams' club, the Jacaranda. There were the five of us and then Allan, his wife Beryl and Lord Woodbine. It was cramped. The van didn't even have seats; we had to sit on our amplifiers. We drove down to Harwich and got the boat to the Hook of Holland. It was cramped. The van didn't even have seats; we had to sit on our amplifiers. Driving through Holland, I remember we stopped at Arnhem where all the people had parachuted out to their deaths (another little Winston Churchill trick). There were thousands of white crosses in the cemetery."
[George, on the journey to Hamburg, Anthology].
The club, [The Blue Angel] affectionately known as 'the Blue', was the after-hours watering hole of us all during the heyday of the Mersey scene. Situated next to an antiquarian bookshop at the top of Seel Street, near the city centre, it had previously been operating as the Wyvern Social Club. Allan Williams, who ran the nearby Jacaranda club in Slater Street, took over the premises in 1960. I'd been spending a lot of time at the Jacaranda, along with John Lennon, Stuart Sutcliffe, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Pete Best, who were playing some gigs in the coffee bar basement. it was during one of these gigs that I met my girlfriend Virginia - we started our newspaper Mersey Beat the following year. Allan, a gregarious Liverpool-Welshman, who had a full beard and sported a top hat at the time, had co-presented a rock 'n' roll concert at the Liverpool Stadium with Larry Parnes. Gene Vincent topped the bill and several local acts had supported. Parnes was impressed with the groups and mentioned to Allan that he was looking for a backing band for Billy Fury. Auditions, organized by Allan, were set up for the Wyvern on May 10 1960. The groups were Cass & the Cassanovas, Derry & the Seniors, Gerry & the Pacemakers, Cliff Roberts & the Rockers and the Silver Beetles (whose drummer at the time was Tommy Moore). When it was time for the Silver Beetles to play, their drummer hadn't turned up, so Johnny Hutchinson sat in with them for the first few numbers. Moore than arrived and took over. The Silver Beetles appealed to Fury, but Parnes told him the drummer wasn't suitable. Not only had he turned up late but he was dressed differently from the other group members and was at least ten years older than them. However, Parnes booked them on a short tour of Scotland backing Johnny Gentle. [...] Williams' dream was to operate a sophisticated night club. He'd visited the Blue Angel club in London and decided to adopt the title, decorating the main stairway with a huge blow-up of Marlene Dietrich from 'The Blue Angel' film. The Blue opened on March 22 1961 with cabaret artist Alma Warren, backed by the Terry Francis Quartet. The club achieved a degree of media attention because Allan granted membership to his friends at the Press Club, in particular to Bill Marshall the local rep for the Daily Mirror newspaper. Press stories included the tale of the female snake charmer who lost her snake at the club - and the real bullfighting sessions which took place with a baby bull. The Beatles and ourselves weren't initially granted membership as Allan didn't want elements of the local music scene around - he was trying to build an affluent and sophisticated clientele.
[Bill Harry, Down At The Blue [x] ]
Some quotes about the late Allan Williams, Beatles first manager who passed away on the 30th December, 2016. The Cavern Club has announced there will be a memorial or celebration for Allan Williams on his birthday later this year (which the Liverpool Echo reports as 21st Feb, but Wikipedia has as 17th March). More details to be confirmed later.
Pics:
1. The Beatles and company on their way to Hamburg, 16th August, 1960. Left to right are Allan Williams, Allan’s wife Beryl, Lord Woodbine of Lord Woodbine and His All-Steel Caribbean Band who played at The Jacaranda Club, Stuart Sutcliffe, Paul, George and Pete Best. John was off nicking a harmonica at the time!
2. Allan Williams outside the Jacaranda in Slater Street, Liverpool.
3. The Blue Angel Club, on Seel Street, Liverpool. c. 1980s.
4. A poor quality but rare photo of Bob Wooler (Cavern Club DJ), Sam Leach and Allan Williams at a Beatles convention in 1983.
5. The old sign that used to be over the outside of the Jacaranda, c. 1980s.
6. Allan Williams outside the Jacarada in 2010, the day after his 80th birthday.
7. Allan Williams inside the basement floor of the Jacaranda, c. 1980s
8. Mike McCartney, furthest left, with friends John Seddon, Mike Weinblatt - a fellow hairdresser at Andre Bernards, John Gorman , Philomena and an unknown man walking past the Jacaranda in the early sixties. Pic © Mike McCartney.