The Beatles began the week of May 20, 1963, on tour with Roy Orbison, with a Monday night concert at the Gaumont Cinema in Southampton, Hampshire. On their day off from the tour on Tuesday, the group was at the Playhouse Theatre in London to record two shows for BBC radio. Between 5:30 and 6:30 pm, they took part in the taping for the May 25,1963 edition of Saturday Club. The group talked with host Brian Matthew and played six songs: I Saw Her Standing There, Do You Want To Know A Secret, Boys, Long Tall Sally, From Me To You and Money. The first three songs were from the group’s debut album. Two of the last three songs had yet to be recorded by the Beatles at Abbey Road, but would be at a later time. Money would be the closing track on the group’s second album and Long Tall Sally would be title track to a 1964 EP. After a 45 minute dinner break, the Beatles rehearsed and later recorded six songs for Steppin’ Out, which was taped before a live audience and broadcast on June 3, 1963. The songs were: Please Please Me, I Saw Her Standing There, Roll Over Beethoven, Twist And Shout, Thank You Girl and From Me To You. (Twist And Shout was not broadcast.)

On Wednesday, it was back on the road again with the Orbison Tour for an evening show at the Gaumont Cinema in Ipswich, Suffolk. The next evening the tour played the Odeon Cinema in Nottingham, Notts.

The weekend began with the Beatles back to work for the BEEB, this time recording at Aeolian Hall’s Studio Two in London for their own BBC radio show titled Pop Goes The Beatles. The group recorded the instrumental theme for the show plus a half-dozen songs: From Me To You, Everybody’s Trying To Be My Baby, Do You Want To Know A Secret, You Really Got A Hold On Me, Misery and The Hippy Hippy Shake. Two of the three yet-to-be-recorded songs ended up on future albums (Everybody’s Trying To Be My Baby on Beatles For Sale and You Really Got A Hold On Me on With The Beatles). The Hippy Hippy Shake was not recorded for EMI. The Pop Goes The Beatles radio show made its debut on June 4. And as if that wasn’t enough work for the day, the Beatles played two concerts that evening at the Granada Cinema in Walthamstow, London.

On Saturday, the Beatles and the tour played the City Hall in Sheffield. On Sunday, the Beatles played Liverpool for the first time in over six weeks, with a tour appearance at the Empire Theatre.

Today’s trivia questions are about the Beatles, Roy Orbison and BBC radio.

1. What Roy Orbison song did the Beatles perform on their first appearance on a BBC radio show?
2. Which Beatles sang lead on the Roy Orbison song performed by the group for the BBC?
3. What was the name of the first BBC radio program on which the Beatles performed?
4. In addition to a Roy Orbison song, what two other songs did the Beatles perform on their first appearance on a BBC radio show?

REVEAL THE ANSWERS

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WITH TOP SINGLE & LP, BEATLES DO CONCERTS, CHILDREN’S TV AND START TOUR

The Beatles began the week of May 13, 1963, with the knowledge that they now had the top single, From Me To You, and the top album, Please Please Me, in the U.K. After an all-too-rare day off, the group played the Rink Ballroom in Sunderland, Durham on Tuesday and the Royalty Theatre in Chester, Cheshire on Wednesday.

On Thursday the Beatles made an appearance on the BBC children’s show, Pops And Lenny, which featured pop music and the glove puppet Lenny the Lion. The group played From Me To You and a minute of Please Please Me on the half-hour show, which was broadcast live at 5:00 p.m. They also joined Lenny the Lion and the rest of the cast for the closing number, the standard After You’re Gone.

The Beatles started the weekend with a Friday night concert at the Grosvenor Rooms in Norwich, Norfolk. Saturday, May 18, was the start of the Beatles third national package tour of the year, this time headlined by Roy Orbison. Although Orbison began the tour with top billing, this quickly changed with the Beatles moving into the headline spot based on demand generated by having the top single and album. The group’s seven-song set was all killer, no filler, with Some Other Guy, Do You Want To Know A Secret, Love Me Do, From Me To You, Please Please Me, I Saw Her Standing There and Twist And Shout. The opening show was at the Adelphi Cinema in Slough, Buckinghamshire, followed by a Sunday concert at the Gaumont Cinema in Hanley.

Today’s trivia questions are in honor of the Lenny the Lion and pertain to further involvement with children’s shows by former Beatles.

1. Which Beatle wrote and produced an animated film released in 1984?
2. What was the name of the 1984 animated film written and produced by a Beatle?
3. What film was the 1984 animated film paired with for its theatrical release?
4. What song from the 1984 animated film reached number three on the U.K. singles chart?
5. Which Beatle served as the narrator for a British children’s TV show from 1984 – 1986?
6. What was the name of the British children’s TV show narrated by a Beatle from 1984 – 1986?

REVEAL THE ANSWERS

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The Beatles were still on vacation during the week of May 6, 1963. By the time they returned, their Please Please Me LP had moved up to number one on the Record Retailer Britain’s Top 20 LP’s chart, joining From Me To You, which had topped the magazine’s singles chart the week before.

The group’s first post-vacation concert was on Saturday, May 11, at the Imperial Ballroom in Lancashire, where over 2,000 fans showed up to see England’s latest chart-toppers. On Sunday, the group was in Alpha Television Studios in Birmingham to tape mined performances of From Me To You, their number one single, and I Saw Her Standing There, the exciting lead track on their number one album, for broadcast on the May 18 ABC TV show Thank Your Lucky Stars.

Today’s trivia questions pertain to the U.K. chart performance of the Beatles Please Please Me LP.

1. In addition to Record Retailer, what other U.K. music magazines charted the Beatles Please Please Me LP at number one?
2. What album did Please Please Me replace at the top of the Record Retailer LP chart?
3. How many weeks did the Beatles Please Please Me LP hold down the number one spot on the Record Retailer LP chart?
4. What album finally knocked the Please Please Me LP from the top of the Record Retailer LP chart?
5. How many weeks was the Please Please Me LP on the Record Retailer LP charts during 1963 and 1964?

REVEAL THE ANSWERS

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WHILE BEATLES ON VACATION, SINGLES CHART IN U.K. AND SOME AMERICAN MARKETS

As April 1963 drew to a close, the Beatles were enjoying a well-deserved vacation. Paul, George and Ringo were in Santa Cruz, Tenerife, while John was in Spain with manager Brian Epstein.

In the U.K., the group was gaining momentum with the brisk sales of its third single, From Me To You, which was already being reported at number one by New Musical Express. By week’s end, the song would begin its first of seven straight weeks at number one in Record Retailer and also top the charts published by Melody Maker and Disc Weekly, which in its May 4 issue awarded the single a silver disc, signifying sales of over 250,000 units.

Meanwhile, in the U.S., the Beatles first American single, Please Please Me, was getting air play beyond the Chicago hometown of its American record label, Vee-Jay Records. Although the single was on the charts of four local stations this week 50 years ago, it did not break out nationally and failed to make the Top 100 charts published by Billboard, Cash Box and Music Vendor. Less than a year later, Please Please Me would be number three on all three national charts, blocked from the top by two other Beatles songs, I Want To Hold Your Hand and She Loves You.

Today’s trivia questions pertain to the America cities that got a preview of the Beatles during the first few months of 1963.

1. Name five cities that had radio stations charting Please Please Me during the first half of 1963.
2. What was the highest position reached by Please Please Me on any local American chart?BONUS: What were the call letters of the stations that Please Please Me played on during the first half of 1963?

REVEAL THE ANSWERS

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For the Beatles, the fourth week of April 1963 was a continuation of their concert schedule. After a rare day off, the group played the Floral Hall in Southport on Tuesday, April 23. On Wednesday, over 2,000 people attended the Mersey Beat Showcase at the Majestic Ballroom in Finsbury Park, London. In addition to the Beatles, the concert featured other Liverpool acts such as Gerry & the Pacemakers and Billy J. Kramer with the Dakotas. The next evening was another Mersey Beat Showcase, this time at the Ballroom in Croydon, Surrey.

The weekend began with a Friday night show at the Music Hall in Shrewsbury. The next evening, April 27, the group played the Memorial Hall in Northwich.

The following day marked the beginning of a well-deserved two-week break from the hectic schedule that Brian Epstein had assembled.

Today’s trivia questions pertain to what the Beatles did on their Spring of 1963 holiday.

1. Which three Beatles vacationed together in the Spring of 1963 and where did they go?
2. Which Beatle did not join the others?
3. Where did he go on vacation and who did he go with?

REVEAL THE ANSWERS

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The third week of April 1963 for the Beatles was a mix of club dates, television appearances and prestigious concert appearances. On Monday, April 15, the group played the Riverside Dancing Club in Tenbury Wells, Worcestershire. The next day the group was in Manchester at Granada TV Centre for a live appearance on the show Scene At 6:30, during which they mined From Me To You. For those switching channels, the Beatles could also be seen in a taped performance on the BBC program The 6:25 Show, during which they performed From Me To You, Thank You Girl and Please Please Me. The following evening the group played the Majestic Ballroom in Luton, Bedfordshire.

On Thursday, April 18, the Beatles made their first appearance at the Royal Albert Hall in London, taking part in the BBC show Swinging Sound ’63, which featured other acts including Rolf Harris, Del Shannon and Kenny Lynch. During the first half of the concert, which was neither broadcast nor recorded, the Beatles played Please Please Me and Misery. During the second half, which was broadcast live on BBC radio, the group played Twist And Shout and From Me To You. It was this performance that inspired Del Shannon to record his own version of From Me To You.

The weekend began with a Mersey Beat Showcase at King’s Hall in Stoke-on-Trent. The program featured the Beatles and other Brian Epstein-managed acts such as Gerry & the Pacemakers and Billy J. Kramer with the Dakotas. On Saturday, the Beatles were at the Ballroom in Frodsham, Cheshire.

On Sunday, April 21, the Beatles took part in the New Musical Express 1962-1963 Annual Poll-Winners’ All-Star Concert at Empire Pool in Wembley, Middlesex. Because voting for the awards took place in late 1962 before the Beatles became well known, the group had not won any poll. They were invited to participate in the 14-act show based upon their two recent number one hits, Please Please Me and From Me To You. The Beatles played those songs plus two high energy rockers, Twist And Shout and Long Tall Sally. The image at the top of the page is from this concert, which was the largest crowd the Beatles had played in front of, with over 10,000 people in attendance. That evening, the group played for a much smaller audience at the Pigalle Club in Piccadilly, London.

Today’s trivia questions deal with the Beatles appearance at the Royal Albert Hall.

1. What future Beatles song would contain a reference to the Royal Albert Hall?
2. What actress did Paul meet for the first time after the concert?
3. What song was performed as the closing number by all the acts taking part in the concert?

REVEAL THE ANSWERS

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The Beatles spent the second week of April, 1963, promoting their soon-to-be-released third single, From Me To You. After a rare day off on Monday, the group did a live mid-day radio interview on April 9, 1963, on the BBC show Pop Inn, broadcast from Paris Studio in London, during which the From Me To You single was played. Then it was off to an afternoon rehearsal for a television appearance on Tuesday Rendezvous, which was broadcast live at 5:00 pm. The group lip-synced From Me To You. A portion of their previous single, Please Please Me, was played over the closing credits. That evening the band played a concert at the Gaumont State Cinema in London. The next three nights the Beatles played at the Majestic Ballroom in Brickenhead, the Co-operative Hall in Lancashire and the Cavern Club in Liverpool. The Friday night show at the Cavern was an eight-hour R&B marathon headlined by the Beatles.

The remainder of the weekend consisted of taping a pair of television appearances. On Saturday, April 13, the Beatles were at Lime Grove Studios in London for the BBC program The 625 Show, which was set for broadcast on April 16 at 6:25 pm. The group performed both sides of their new single, From Me To You and Thank You Girl, as well as closing the show with Please Please Me. On Sunday, they mimed a performance of From Me To You for their third appearance on Thank You Lucky Stars, which was broadcast the following Saturday at 5:50 pm. That evening the Beatles drove to Richmond-upon-Thames to see a band perform at the Crawdaddy Club.

Meanwhile, in the States, the Beatles second single was no longer charting on Chicago’s WLS Silver Dollar Survey; however, Please Please Me was getting some spins on KFXM, a California station that boasted it was number one in Riverside and San Bernardino. Please Please Me charted at number 41 on the station’s Fabulous 59 survey dated April 6, 1963. The song disappeared from the charts for two weeks before returning later in the month.

Today’s trivia questions deal with the label copy on the Beatles third single and the band the Beatles went to see on Sunday night.

1. On the Beatles From Me To You single, what publishing information appears for the first time on a first issue of a Beatles record?
2. On the Beatles From Me To You single, what information appears for the last time on the first issue of a U.K. Beatles record?
3. What R&B band did the Beatles see for the first time at the Crawdaddy Club on April 14, 1963?

REVEAL THE ANSWERS

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On Friday, April 5, at 7:00 pm, Bruce will take part in the “Meet the Guest Authors” panel in the Imperial Ballroom. Later that evening, at 11:00 pm in the Crystal Ballroom, Bruce will participate in a panel discussion with Al Sussman and Tom Frangione titled “1963: A Year in the Life.”

On Saturday at 12:10 pm in the Imperial Ballroom, Bruce will give an audio/visual presentation on “The Rise of the Beatles in the U.K. in 1963.”

On Sunday, also at 12:10 pm in the Imperial Ballroom, Bruce will give an audio/visual presentation covering what went on in the USA in 1963 titled “The Beatles Are Coming Soon!” Later that day, at 4:15 pm, Bruce will head a panel discussion titled “Beatles Country,” which shall focus on how country music influenced the Beatles.

When Bruce is not taking part in panel discussions and presentations, he will be at his table in the Market Place signing copies of his books.

He will also be selling advance orders for the revised digital edition of the Vee-Jay book.
Drop by his table and see a preview on Bruce’s iPad.

The Beatles spent a good part of the first week of April 1963 recording songs for broadcast on BBC radio, affectionately known as the BEEB. On April Fool’s Day the group was at the BBC’s Piccadilly Studios in London to record songs for two editions of the show Side By Side, during which a guest group would perform songs “side by side” with the host group, the Karl Denver Trio. The show’s format had the host and guest open with a duet on the song Side By Side. Then the Karl Denver Trio and the guest act would alternate performances for the remainder of the program.

The first set of songs, recorded during the afternoon, was broadcast on April 22. They were aimed at promoting the group’s debut album and latest single, From Me To You. In addition to the single, the Beatles also recorded BBC versions of I Saw Her Standing There, Do You Want To Know A Secret, Baby It’s You, Please Please Me and Misery.

The second set of songs, recorded during the evening, was broadcast on May 13. Once again, the program’s focus was on promoting the LP and new single, with the Beatles performing both sides of the single, From Me To You and Thank You Girl. The album tracks included A Taste Of Honey, Chains and Boys. And just for fun, the group rocked out on an exciting cover of Little Richard’s Long Tall Sally, which would not be recorded at Abbey Road until the following year.

After a rare day off, the Beatles spent Wednesday evening as guests on the BBC program Easy Beat, hosted by Brian Mathew and recorded in front of a live audience at the Playhouse Theatre in London. The group performed their two most recent singles, Please Please Me and From Me To You, as well as the album track Misery. John and Paul were panelists on the record review segment. The show was broadcast on April 7.

On April 4, the Beatles did another session for Side By Side, this time recording a mix of the usual tracks to promote singles and albums, Love Me Do, From Me To You and Boys, and two tracks that were never recorded by the group for EMI, Too Much Monkey Business and I’ll Be On My Way. That afternoon, the group was played a concert at Stowe, a boy’s public school in Stowe, Bucks.

On Friday, the Beatles gave an early evening performance for record company executives at EMI House, where they were awarded a silver disc (signifying sales of 250,000 units) for the single Please Please Me. Later that evening, the group performed at the Swimming Baths in Leyton, London.

The weekend concluded with a Saturday show at the Pavillion Gardens Ballroom in Buxton, Derbyshire, and a Sunday concert at the Savoy Ballroom in Portsmouth, Hampshire.

*****************

Today’s trivia questions are about the Beatles on the BBC.

1. What was the only Lennon-McCartney song performed for the BBC that the Beatles never recorded or performed live?
2. Who recorded a version of the song referred to in the above question at Abbey Road?
3. Which recording artist had more of his songs covered by the Beatles during their BBC programs than any other artist.
4. Name as many of those songs as you can.

REVEAL THE ANSWERS

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The Beatles continued their participation in the Tommy Roe & Chris Montez tour during the final week of March 1963. After a rare day off for the Beatles, they resumed with their tour performances on Tuesday, March 26, at the Granada Cinema in Mansfield. This was followed by a Wednesday night show at the ABC Cinema in Northampton and a Thursday evening show at the ABC Cinema in Exeter, Devonshire.  On Friday night, the tour was at the Odeon Cinema in London. Saturday night’s show was at the Guildhall in Portsmith, Hampshire. The final tour performance was on Sunday, March 31, at De Montfort Hall in Leicester, Leicestershire.

Towards the end of the tour, Beatles manager Brian Epstein gave Tommy Roe a copy of the Beatles Please Please Me album and a Beatles press kit. According to Roe, he brought the items back with him to the States and presented them to executives at his American record company in New York. After Roe said favorable things about the group, one of the executives placed the album on the turntable to give it a listen. About a minute later, he lifted the needle, removed the disc from the turntable and tossed it across the room. He told Roe to stick to singing and let them be the judge of talent.

While those executives undoubtedly later regretted the day that doubted Tommy Roe’s ability to pick an up and coming band, it probably would not have mattered because Vee-Jay Records had a right of first refusal for all Beatles releases under the terms of its licensing agreement with EMI. Still, the story provides another example of an American record company failing to recognize the incredible talent of the Beatles.

Today’s trivia question relates to the above story.

What was the name of Tommy Roe’s record company that thought the Beatles had no potential in the States?

REVEAL THE ANSWERS

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Now on digital
for the very first time!

Revised digital edition

More stories
More images
More fun!

Preorder below
Available August 2013
Special offer for first 100 orders.

The fascinating story of the Beatles in America on Vee-Jay Records before they were picked up by Capitol Records. In the limited time that Vee-Jay retained its rights to sixteen Beatles songs, they managed to repackage them into ten 45s, one EP, three variations of the first Beatles album, two variations of a compilation album, and one elaborate double album combining the Beatles and the Four Seasons.

“A stunning and masterful work” Beatlefan

“A visual feast”  Record Collector

PRINT EDITION SOLD OUT – The Hardcover Edition has been sold out for years and goes for Big Bucks on the secondary market  (just check Amazon and eBay)

If you wanted the Vee-Jay book but could not afford it, now you can!
If you already own the Vee-Jay book, now you can take it with you everywhere you go!

Interactive PDF enhanced with BONUS IMAGES, hyperlinks and cross references
• Zoom in to see details
• Searchable
• Bookmark and Annotate
Optimized for the Apple iPad®. Works on any device that reads PDFs.

Free updates.

Click here to DOWNLOAD A FREE SAMPLE CHAPTER

All individuals ordering the digital eBook directly from the author’s website shall receive:

• 8.5×11 Collector’s Card with images of the Vee-Jay picture sleeves and albums covers
• 8.5×11 Signature Card signed by Bruce Spizer showing the front and back covers of the book. You may also request personalization of the card (enter in field below).
• 2×8 Bookmark.

Pre-order the entire book  (available August, 2013) and be one of the first to get it.

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[tab name="About the Revised Edition"]

Ever since The Beatles Records on Vee-Jay sold out and began going for a few hundred dollars or more in the secondary market, people began asking me when I was either reprinting or publishing a revised edition of the book. And while I knew there was demand for the Vee-Jay book, I was concerned over the economics of reprinting.

The Vee-Jay book was published over 15 years ago in New Orleans. Reprinting the book would not be a simple case of calling the printer and having him use the existing digital files to roll the presses. The original printing plates used for the Vee-Jay book were destroyed in the flooding that followed Hurricane Katrina, and even had they survived, technology has changed so much over the past 15 years that they would have been useless. Thus, I would have been required to go through the entire prepress process, effectively driving up the cost of a reprint to the full cost of a new book. With high production costs due to the use of color throughout the book, the cost per book on a small run would have been high, forcing a retail price of about $100 to make the reprint profitable. And while the cost per book would have gone down with a larger press run, I did not make sense to pay more overall printing costs and run the risk of being stuck with a large inventory of books that could take ten or more years to sell.

Fortunately, some of the younger customers of my books began asking me if I had considered doing the Vee-Jay book as a digital eBook. At first, I was troubled by the idea. There is something wonderful about holding a beautiful book in your hands. Surely I would miss the feel of the pages and the experience of turning the pages. And as a collector, I love having my bookshelves filled with books. An eBook would not be on my shelf or proudly displayed on my coffee table. It would be stored in an iPad just like music was stored in my iPhone. And that last thought made me realize that there was a place in the world for digital books.

I love collecting, owning and playing vinyl records. I love the look and feel of a 12-inch album cover. I love removing the vinyl from its jacket and placing it on my turntable. But if I am on an airplane or in a hotel room, I love that I can still hear music by playing my iPhone. Just as there is a place in my world for vinyl records, CDs and digital music files, there is room in my world for hardcover books, paperback books and, dare I say it, digital eBooks. And so the decision was made to publish the Vee-Jay book as an eBook. Not only would a digital book solve my production cost and inventory problems, but it would also fulfill a need for those who could not afford the original hardcover book and for those who wanted the convenience of taking my books with them. (People always complain about how heavy my books are!)

Once the decision was made to do an eBook, I realized that I could not merely put out the 1998 book as it was originally published. Oh sure, the book got great reviews when it first came out and demand for the Vee-Jay book had not diminished. But I learned a lot of cool stuff in the past 15 years and realized I needed to do a revised edition so that I could incorporate new information and images. This would also give me the opportunity to do some things differently and correct a few errors along the way.

As I got into the project, I began to realize all the cool things that you can do with an eBook. One of the problems with the Vee-Jay book was that although it contained great stories, the reader could get bogged down with the pages containing minute details about the record labels and trail off areas. To solve this problem, I re-edited the book by placing all such information at the end of each chapter, giving the reader the opportunity to skip the label details without missing any of the stories. And to make it easier for someone to fly past the dull but necessary information tailored for collectors, each chapter contains a green line at the point where the stories end and the record label details begin. You can merely tap on the highlighted page number and skip forward to the next chapter, bypassing the highly detailed information. (And while this certainly improves the overall reading experience, sometimes you may want to go through the final pages of each chapter just to look at all the beautiful labels.)

The digital book also gives the reader the ability to navigate pages by touching the screen. This is particularly helpful to “turn to” a page referenced in the text. By merely touching the page reference, the desired page appears on the screen. And after checking out the new page, you can touch the GET BACK key to take you back to where you once belonged (or at least back to where you were reading).
The digital book also gives you the ability to enlarge images. This is particularly helpful when you want to read text in advertisements and on record labels. It’s a really cool feature that can’t be done in a regular book.

Other eBook features include the ability to read in little or no lighting and access to the interest. The book contains a few links that will take you to information that will be updated when warranted.
Now that I have undertaken my first eBook, I gotta admit I am quite excited about it. I hope you enjoy the eBook as much as I have putting it together.

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[tab name="Reviews"]

Reviews refer to print edition

Get this book! That’s my review. Get this book!

Mr. Spizer, who is a contributor to Beatlefan and Beatlology magazines, has rewritten the standards for reference books! Detailed facts are presented with clarity in a logical, impressive, oversized volume. It is impressive because Mr. Spizer has documents and over 600 colour illustrations to back his facts. His book is impressive because of his thorough presentation. In a recent correspondence to Mr. Spizer, a Louisiana lawyer, I commented that because of his ability to dig and retrieve the truth, I hoped that I would always be on his side of the courtroom.

The book chronicles the Vee-Jay Records story, as it pertains to The Beatles, including advertising campaigns and marketing strategies. Mr. Spizer has compiled a complete description of how Vee-Jay lost the Beatles to Capitol Records and their fruitless legal attempts to retain their 16-song Beatles rights.

Copies of original Vee-Jay documents and correspondence validate when, where, and how many Beatles records were pressed and sold. Details are presented, backed by illustrations, to show the differences of the many varieties of Vee-Jay albums, singles, and labels. Clear, instructional facts are given to distinguish a counterfeit Vee-Jay record from a Beatles’ original. (There are many different fakes.)

I have only one small criticism. Vee-Jay once used an innovative ad-campaign to promote their Records of Significance. Mr. Spizer chose to use the Significance theme in all of his chapter headings. I found this unnecessary.

The book costs $50 U.S., but it is absolutely worth every nickel.

Brad Howard
The World Beatles Forum, Vol. 3, No. 6, May/June 1999

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NAMED “BEATLES BOOK OF THE YEAR” BY GOLDMINE MAGAZINE

“The Beatles Records on Vee-Jay is a landmark book that will easily rate as a “must have” addition to the library of any serious Beatles collector or music historian. Even casual fans of the group will no doubt find this book to be extremely entertaining, enjoyable and enlightening.” (Goldmine, Issue 479, Dec. 4, 1998)

“This photo-rich, exhaustively researched book offers the reader a comprehensive look at the Beatles’ first releases in the U.S. It’s a must-have for any serious Beatles fan or collector.” (Billboard, May 16, 1998)

“Bruce Spizer has pulled off a major coup. A visual feast with every label variation, sleeve design, advert, document and mailer presented in full, glorious colour, and in an easily accessible form. No Beatles collector can afford to be without this masterpiece of a book.” (Record Collector)

“Songs, Pictures and Stories of the Fabulous Beatles Records on Vee-Jay is a stunning and masterful work–one of the most useful and informative books about The Beatles ever published. Lavishly appointed and extremely detailed, the book is an enormously satisfying volume of tremendous historical importance documenting this extremely complicated and often misunderstood chapter in the history of The Beatles in America. This is one book that is certainly of significant interest to every Beatlefan concerned–a souvenir of their appearances on Vee-Jay that is well worth the price of admission.” (Beatlefan, Issue #112, May-June 1998)

_________________________

BEATLES BOOK OF THE YEAR?

Wow. Bruce Spizer, a lawyer and CPA from New Orleans, has come up with an early candidate for Beatles book of the year. This meticulously researched and beautifully presented tome finally presents the truth behind one of the murkiest and least understood chapters in The Beatles’ story: their association with the small U.S. record label Vee-Jay. Filled to the brim with reproductions of record sleeves, record labels, Vee-Jay corporate documents, telegrams, advertisements, and legal documents (and more!), Spizer somehow finds space in this book to present a well-written (and oftimes humorous) text that chronicles the Vee-Jay story in amazing detail.

Moreover, Spizer has gone out and done what so few seem to do these days: primary research. The sheer amount of new information contained here would be well-worth the price if that were all “The Beatles Records on Vee-Jay” had to offer. It isn’t. From the color photo reproductions to the fantastic layout from the choice of paper stock to the beautifully designed end papers, this is without a doubt the best presented Beatles book ever produced–and it’s a private publication!

And within, revelations abound! From the first ever accurate information regarding release dates of “Introducing The Beatles” to the complete story of the courtroom proceedings that eventually prevented Vee-Jay from issuing further Beatles product. Minutiae regarding Vee-Jay’s pressings, their ad campaigns, marketing strategies. This is an absolute must for the serious Beatles scholar and a hell of a wanna-have even for the more casual collector.

Spizer is now considering a sequel: a similar tome on The Beatles on Capitol Records. One can only hope he takes up the challenge! In the meantime, I can merely bestow the highest possible compliments and accolades to him on this terrific piece of work. It’s so damned good, I wish I had written it.

The 910 Newsletter, Vol. 6, No. 6, May/June 1998

_________________________

Here we have an entire book devoted to Beatles records released on the Vee-Jay label and its Tollie subsidiary. Sound like a short book? Wrong. Sound uninteresting? You obviously haven’t seen this book. Author Bruce Spizer has taken a footnote in the Beatles story and spun it into a gorgeous 242-page hardcover volume. In his diligent pursuit of every detail about this subject, Spizer has assembled everything from record sleeves to royalty statements, making this one of the best-looking Beatles tomes ever published. The glossy pages are packed with illustrations, which not only evoke Beatlemania, but also reveal a lot about the way records were made and sold in the early ’60s. There are fascinating insights into how the Beatles were signed to Capitol, how Vee-Jay tried to cash in on Beatlemania and how Capitol tried to stop them. Spizer is a lawyer and gives special insight into the legal battles between the two labels. In fact he has researched this book as though he were preparing for a court case, leaving no stone unturned in his efforts to tell the story of the Beatles on Vee-Jay. This is–to use the lingo favored by Vee-Jay’s press department–a fine book of significant interest.

Robin Platts
Discoveries, September 1998

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Songs, Pictures… is one of the most amazing Beatles collecting guides to have come out in recent years. It is similar in look (and weight!) to that of From Star Club to Cavern as far as quality of detail and of layout and production. A very superb book with professionally-produced photographs, all in full colour. The investigative approach Bruce applied to his book is evident in the detailed information in his book, from label variations from the different pressing plants to original record distribution paperwork, royalties certificates and even magazine advertising invoices!

Of particular interest to collectors should be the new cataloguing method Bruce uses to list the various pressings. Since Vee-Jay had as many variations of each release as they did months in which they pressed Beatles’ records, this numbering system is ideal reference for collectors. It sets the standard by which all pricing guides in the future will no doubt follow. I highly recommend that anyone interested in buying any of the original Vee-Jay pressings should have this book close at hand so you know exactly what you’re getting into!

Beatlology Magazine, Vol. 1 No. 1, September/October 1998

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“This incredible book goes far beyond being a discography. No question this is the best Beatle book of 1998.” (Daytrippin’, Issue 5, Winter 1999)

“The best and most accurate research on the subject I have seen, with previously unknown or publicized information. A beautiful and most interesting book.” (Alan Livingston, President of Capitol Records, 1961-1968)

“The Beatles Records on Vee-Jay provides the answer to every question any Beatle record collector has ever had about Vee-Jay and its involvement with The Beatles.” (Good Day Sunshine, May 1988)

“Remember what Lewisohn did with the performances and the Abbey Road sessions. Well this one is the ultimate one on Vee-Jay Records. It’s just one sea of delight as soon as you open it!” (Beatles Unlimited Magazine, the Netherlands, July/August 1998)

“All in all an incredible book! Highly recommended for the serious or casual Beatles fan. Definitely seek this one out.” (Belmo’s Beatleg News, Issue #58, Summer 1998)

“Bruce is like the Lt. Columbo of Beatles records collecting.” (Perry Cox, author of The Official Price Guide to the Beatles Records and Memorabilia)

“This book is a must for the Beatle record collector. You get thousands of dollars worth of Beatle records (or at least great color photos of rare records, common records, picture sleeves, promos, etc.)” (Rick Rann, co-author of The Beatles Memorabilia Price Guide)

“I would just like to say that The Beatles Records on Vee-Jay book is by far one of the best in the Beatles collectible market today. Being a graphic designer and a Beatles fan, I am impressed by not only the content, but the quality of the layout, the attention to detail and the computer-generated documents where needed. I was completely astounded at having obtained the original artwork production invoices. So, koodos to everyone involved!” (Andrew Croft, Editor of Beatlology Magazine)

“Absolutamente indispensible.” (Sequimos Juntos Beatles Exclusivamente, Mexico, No. 15, 1998)

[/tab]

[tab name="Table of Contents"]

Section 1

Singles Of Significance

Vee-Jay 498 Please Please Me b/w Ask Me Why

Vee-Jay 522 from Me to You b/w Thank You Girl

Vee-Jay 581 Please Please Me b/w from Me to You

Tollie 9001 Twist and Shout b/w There’s a Place

Vee-Jay 587 Do You Want to Know a Secret b/w Thank You Girl

Vee-Jay EP 1-903 Souvenir of Their Visit to America

Tollie 9008 Love Me Do b/w P.s. I Love You

The Beatles on Oldies 45

Teen Fun Cards

The Beatles Christmas Picture Sleeve

Foreign Singles

Bingo by the Beatles

Metal Parts of Significance

How Records Are Made

The Tollie Singles Story

The Tollie Singles Discography

Fine Fakes of Significant Interest

Vee-Jay Record Sleeves and Mailers

Section 2 Fine Albums of Significant Interest

Vee-Jay VJLP 1062 Introducing the Beatles (Version One)

Vee-Jay VJLP 1062 Introducing the Beatles (Version Two)

Vee-Jay VJLP 1085 Jolly What! The Beatles and Frank Ifield on Stage

Vee-Jay VJLP 1092 Songs, Pictures and Stories of the Fabulous Beatles

Vee-Jay DX-30 The Beatles Vs. The Four Seasons

Vee-Jay VJLP 1085 The Beatles and Frank Ifield on Stage (Portrait Cover)

Vee-Jay Pro 202 Hear the Beatles Tell All

Vee-Jay VJLP 1101 The 15 Greatest Songs of the Beatles

Counterfeits of Significance

Inner Sleeve Dust Covers

Section 3 Stories of Significant Interest

A Brief History of Vee-Jay Records

A Very Brief History of Capitol Records

How the Beatles Ended up on Vee-Jay, Swan and Capitol

Alan Livingston: from Bozo to the Beatles

Lawsuits of Significance

Gold Record Awards

Significant Promotions from Vee-Jay

Beatles with an A (And One T)

Section 4 Other Significant Information

Fine Factories of Significant Interest

Other Fine Books of Significant Interest

Checklist of Beatles Records on Vee-Jay

Fine Vendors of Significance
[/tab]
[end_tabset]

First Beatles Album Released on March 22, 1963, during Roe/Montez Tour

The Beatles continued their participation in the Tommy Roe & Chris Montez tour during the week of March 18, 1963. It started with a pair of regal performances: a Monday night show at the Regal Cinema in Gloucester and a Tuesday night show at the Regal Cinema in Cambridge. Next, it was easy as A, B, C, with the tour hitting the ABC Cinema in Romford, Essex on Wednesday and the ABC Cinema in West Croydon, Surrey on Thursday. The Beatles managed to sneak in a recording session at the BBC’s Picadilly Studios on Thursday afternoon, performing three songs for March 28, 1963, broadcast on the radio program On The Scene. The group performed their hit single Please Please Me, as well as two songs from their debut album, which was set for release on Friday, March 22. (The ad below is from the tour program. Notice that the layout of the text on the album cover had been completed, but EMI’s art department had yet to select a font for the text.)

On the day their first album went on sale, the Beatles performed an evening show at the Gaumont Cinema in Doncaster. On Saturday, the tour played City Hall in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Northcumberland. The following day, the Beatles were at the Empire Theatre in Liverpool, their first performance in Liverpool in over a month.

Meanwhile, across the pond, the Please Please Me single had run its course on Chicago’s WLS, peaking at number 35 the previous week, its final week on the chart. The single received air play for about a month. Program directors in a few other markets would chose to play the single in April.

Today’s trivia questions pertain to the Beatles March 21, 1963, recording session for the BBC, which was used to promote songs from their upcoming album.

1. In addition to their hit single Please Please Me, what two songs did the Beatles record for the BBC on March 21, 1963, to promote their debut album? Hint: The two songs were the first Lennon-McCartney songs to be recorded by other artists.
2. Who were the recording artists who recorded the songs referred to above?
3. How did these cover versions do on the U.K. charts?

REVEAL THE ANSWERS

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Before resuming their participation in the Tommy Roe & Chris Montez tour, the Beatles spent Monday, March 11, 1963, at EMI House in London. The group taped conversation for the EMI Friday Spectacular program, which was broadcast on Radio Luxembourg the following Friday evening. Both sides of their current hit single, Please Please Me and Ask Me Why, were played on the show off the 45 RPM disc. Because the BBC was not allowed to play records on a regular basis, the show provided an opportunity for EMI to get its records heard on the radio.

On Tuesday, March 12, 1963, the Roe/Montez tour resumed with a show at the Granada Cinema in Bedford. On Wednesday, group dropped by Abbey Road Studios in London so that John could overdub harmonica on the B-side of the Beatles next single, Thank You Girl, which had been recorded the week before. That evening, they played a tour concert at the Rialto Theatre in York. The next night the tour was at the Gaumont Cinema in Wolverhampton. For all three of the shows described above, one of the Beatles was too sick to participate, forcing the band perform as a three-piece unit. (No, they were not billed as the “Threetles” for those shows and were not referred to as a “power trio.”) On Friday evening, the Beatles were once again at full strength for two tour shows performed at Colston Hall in Bristol.

On Saturday, March 16, the Beatles performed live on the BBC radio show Saturday Club, which was broadcast from the BBC’s London headquarters from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon. The band performed six songs, I Saw Her Standing There, Misery, Too Much Monkey Business, I’m Talking About You, Please Please Me and The Hippy Hippy Shake. The afternoon was spent traveling 158 miles to Sheffield for evening tour shows at City Hall. The weekend concluded with a tour appearance on Sunday at the Embassy Cinema in Peterborough.

At the time the Roe/Montez tour was booked, the Beatles were relatively unknown outside of the Liverpool area. But now, with Please Please Me having topped most of the British charts, the Beatles were becoming an increasing important part of the package tour.

Today’s trivia questions pertain to the Tommy Roe & Chris Montez Tour and the group’s March 16, 1963, Saturday Club BBC radio appearance, during which the group performed I Saw Her Standing There, Misery, Too Much Monkey Business, I’m Talking About You, Please Please Me and The Hippy Hippy Shake.

1. What was Tommy Roe’s big hit single that earned him top billing on his 1963 U.K. package tour?
2. What was Chris Montez’s big hit single that earned him second billing on his 1963 U.K. package tour?
3. Which Beatle missed three nights of concerts on the Tommy Roe & Chris Montez Tour due to a severe sore throat?
4. What two songs performed by the Beatles on the March 16, 1963, Saturday Club had Paul playing similar bass parts?

REVEAL THE ANSWERS

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On Tuesday, March 5, 1963, the Beatles recorded their third single at Abbey Road Studios. The song chosen for the A-side, From Me To You, had been written five days earlier on the artists bus for the Helen Shapiro tour. The song features John and Paul on lead vocals, backed by John on his Gibson Jumbo electric-acoustic guitar, George on his Gretsch Duo-Jet electric guitar, Paul on his Hofner bass and Ringo on drums. Take 7 formed the basis for the master, which was embellished with “da da da da da dun dun dah” vocals, John’s harmonica and George’s lead guitar notes for the instrumental break.

The B-side, Thank You Girl, was also written on the Helen Shapiro tour and would have been the A-side had the boys not come up with From Me To You. The song was recorded with the same instrumentation as the A-side. The finished master combined Take 6 with the Take 13 ending edit piece, which featured Ringo’s intricate drumming. John returned to Abbey Road on March 13 to overdub harmonica. The single was released in the U.K. on April 11, 1963.

The recording session was a small part of a busy week for the group. The day before the band played a concert at the Plaza Ballroom in St. Helens. It marked the first time the group was paid £100 for a show.

On Wednesday, March 6, the Beatles returned to the Playhouse Theatre in Manchester to record four songs for the BBC program Here We Go. The group recorded Please Please Me, Do You Want To Know A Secret, Misery and I Saw Her Standing There, although the last song was not included in the March 12 broadcast of the show.

The next evening the Beatles were part of a Brian Epstein show at the Elizabethan Ballroom in Nottingham that included Gerry & the Pacemakers, Billy J. Kramer & the Dakotas and the Big Three. On Friday, the Beatles were at the Royal Hall in Harrogate, Yorkshire.

That weekend the Beatles began another package tour, this time headlined by two American acts, Tommy Roe and Chris Montez. Opening night was at the Granada Cinema in East Ham, London. The group played Love Me Do, Misery, A Taste Of Honey, Do You Want To Know A Secret, Please Please Me and I Saw Her Standing There. On Sunday, the tour was at the Hippodrome Theatre in Birmingham.

Today’s trivia questions are about the Beatles third single.

1. What was the name of the letters column appearing in New Musical Express that gave John and Paul the idea for From Me To You?
2. What was the name of the Beatles BBC radio show that had a theme song that used the music of their third single?
3. What was the working title of the B-side to the Beatles third single?
4. What third song was recorded at the recording session for the Beatles third single?
5. What additional song would have been recorded had the group not run out of time?

REVEAL THE ANSWERS

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On Monday, February 25, 1963, George Martin and his engineers at Abbey Road prepared the mono and stereo masters for the recently recorded Beatles album. The 14 songs selected for the album were mixed and banded in their running order. Although Martin has been quoted as saying the stereo album was prepared several weeks after the mono album, that is not correct. Both mono and stereo master tapes were prepared that day.

As was the case in the early days, the Beatles were not present for the mixing and banding session. Instead, they were heading to Lancashire for a concert at the Casino Ballroom in Leigh.

The Helen Shapiro tour resumed on Tuesday with a concert at the Gaumont Cinema in Taunton, Somerset, although Shapiro had a severe cold and was unable to perform. Danny Williams took her place as the headliner. (Although the Please Please Me single was moving up the charts, the promoter did not think the Beatles were ready for headline status.) Shapiro also missed the Wednesday night show at the Rialto Theatre in York, Yorkshire.

On February 28, 1963, John and Paul wrote From Me To You while riding on the artists’ tour bus. The song would be recorded less than a week later at Abbey Road. That evening, Shapiro returned for the show at the Granada Cinema in Shrewsbury, Shropshire. The following night the tour was in Southport, Lancashire for a concert at the Odeon Cinema.

On Saturday, March 2, the Beatles were on the bill for the tour’s concert at the City Hall in Sheffield, Yorkshire. Later that evening, the group and Brian Epstein traveled to Manchester for an interview on the ABC TV program ABC At Large, which was broadcast live that evening from 11:00 – 11:50 p.m. The group did not perform, but was shown miming Please Please Me on a video clip previously broadcast on Thank Your Lucky Stars. The Helen Shapiro tour concluded on Sunday with a concert at the Gaumont Cinema in Hanley, Staffordshire.

Today’s trivia questions pertain to the mixing and banding of Please Please Me album.

1. What songs did George Martin select to open and close the Please Please Me album?
2. What two songs appear in fake stereo on the stereo version of the Please Please Me album?
3. Was the Love Me Do single included on the Please Please Me album?
4. What song on the stereo Please Please Me album is noticeably different than its version on the mono album?
5. What word did George Martin use to describe the type of rocker he used to open and close the Please Please Me album?

REVEAL THE ANSWERS

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Beatlefan magazine reaches a special landmark this week with the publication of their 200th issue, with a special front and back cover designs by Steven Prazak.

Inside Beatlefan issue #200 is Bruce Spizer’s in-depth 50th anniversary look back at the “Please Please Me” album and The Beatles’ first U.S. single. Also included is the story of the creation of the “Please Please Me” cover, which took a lot longer to come together than the album itself did, and some 200th issue retrospectives by longtime contributors Al Sussman, Rick Glover, Kit O’Toole and Wally Podrazik.

The Beatlefan reviews section in issue #200 includes reports on Jim Berkenstadt’s “The Beatle Who Vanished,” the 12.12.12 concert, the Los Angeles production of “Backbeat” and more. Issue #200 also has exclusive news of the upcoming “Wings Over America” reissue, an on-the-scene report from the Ravi Shankar memorial, a look at Beatles apps for Android phones, and discussion of some mystery photos with Norm & Shake.

A sample issue costs $7 in the U.S. or $10 abroad. U.S. funds only. For the latest issue, be sure to specify #200. A year’s subscription in the U.S. costs $30.50 for six issues or $35 if sent First Class Mail in an envelope. Canadian and Mexican subscriptions cost $40 per year. International subscriptions to all other countries around the globe are $51. Call

On Monday, February 18, 1963, the Beatles performed two separate concerts at Queen’s Hall in Widnes. The next night they played the Cavern Club, along with Lee Curtis & the All-Stars, which featured Pete Best on drums. On February 20, the Beatles were one of the acts participating in the BBC radio program Parade Of The Pops, which was broadcast live from the Playhouse Theatre in London at 12:30 pm. The Beatles performed their two singles, Love Me Do and Please Please Me. The group then headed back north for an evening concert at the Swimming Baths in Doncaster, Yorkshire. The next night the Beatles played two separate concerts at the Majestic Ballroom in Birkenhead. On Friday, February 22, the group was in concert at the Oasis Club in Manchester.

The second leg of the Helen Shapiro tour resumed on Saturday, February 23, at the Granada Cinema in Mansfield, Notts. This was followed by a tour appearance at the Coventry Theatre in Conventry, Warwickshire on Sunday.

The Beatles hard work, consisting on television, radio and concert appearances, was beginning to pay off. The February 22 New Musical Express listed Please Please Me as the number one single. Melody Maker, Disc and the BBC chart would also list the song at number one. This was at a time in the U.K. where the BBC rarely played records due to needle-time restrictions limiting the amount of music that could be played from records.

In America, where Top 40 radio was king, the Beatles had yet to enter the kingdom in a meaningful way. However, the Please Please Me single issued by Vee-Jay was starting to get some airplay on WLS in Chicago.

George Martin spent part of the week preparing the Beatles first album for release. On February 20, he overdubbed piano on Misery and celeste on Baby It’s You.

1. What was the only British music magazine to chart Please Please Me at number two rather than number one?
2. What single blocked Please Please Me from the top stop in the magazine’s March 2, 1963 issue?
3. What 1964 album featured the top two songs in the magazine’s March 2, 1963 chart?

REVEAL THE ANSWERS

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Tony Sheridan, the British singer/guitarist who befriended the Beatles in Hamburg, died there on February 16, 2013. During the Beatles three-month stay at Hamburg’s Top Ten Club beginning in April 1961, the Beatles often backed Sheridan. When record producer Bert Kaempfert went to the club to check out Sheridan and the Beatles, he was impressed and signed Sheridan and the Beatles to separate recording contracts with his production company. This led to the Beatles first professional recording session, which took place on June 22 and 23, 1961. A total of seven songs were recorded, five of which featured Sheridan on lead vocals. The other two, Ain’t She Sweet and the instrumental Cry For A Shadow, were performed exclusively by the Beatles. An eighth song, Sweet Georgia Brown, was recorded by the Beatles as a backing track for Sheridan on May 24, 1962.

The first recordings released from the Hamburg sessions were My Bonnie and The Saints, which were released as a single in Germany on October 23, 1961, credited to Tony Sheridan & the Beat Brothers. Legend has it that Brian Epstein decided to see the Beatles perform at the Cavern Club after getting a request for the single at his NEMS record shop. After seeing the group in action, Epstein ordered 75 copies of the disc for his store and became the Beatles manager.

Other recordings from the Hamburg sessions were released in the U.K. and America after the Beatles became popular. Sheridan re-recorded his vocal on Sweet Georgia Brown to add the following Beatles reference: “In Liverpool she even dared to criticize the Beatles hair with their whole fan club standing there.”

Sheridan was 72 years old.

On March 13, 2009, I received word that Alan Livingston had died. I wasn’t shocked. After all, he was 91 years old. But I was saddened. The fact that he had lived a remarkable life didn’t make me feel any better about his passing. I knew that I would be getting calls from the media to talk about his role in signing The Beatles to Capitol Records. And I knew that The Beatles were only a small part of his accomplishments. To refresh my memory, I pulled out a couple of my books to see what I wrote about him in 2000 and 2004. It brought memories of my visits to his home in Beverly Hills.

Although I wasn’t mainstream press and had only one self-published book under my belt, Alan was excited about my plan to write a book about The Beatles’ story on Capitol Records. He greeted me warmly and started with a brief summary about Vee-Jay and how the company had released Beatles records before Capitol. I politely listened for a few minutes and then told him that his information was wrong. Rather than scolding me or saying “I was there, you weren’t,” he asked me to tell him what my research had uncovered. After summarizing the convoluted story of Vee-Jay, Capitol and Swan, he was impressed with my knowledge and wondered why I needed to speak with him if I already knew what really happened.

I told Alan that I wanted to learn about the man who finally made the decision for Capitol to sign the Beatles and I wanted to know what influenced him to do so. Alan smiled and said, “Now that’s a story I can tell.”

I excitedly jotted down notes on his early life learning more than I could have ever imagined. Livingston began his career in the music business by leading his own big band orchestra while a student at the University of Pennsylvania. He went on to receive a B.S. degree in economics from the Wharton School of Finance and Commerce. After serving as a lieutenant in the Army, he worked as a PR man for Calvert’s whiskey. Somehow this background convinced Capitol Records that he would be the perfect man to develop a catalog of children’s records for the company. Livingston’s first creation was Bozo the Clown, a character who would later become a television star and part of American culture. Bozo made his debut in 1946 on the Capitol album Bozo At The Circus, which was written and produced by Livingston. The album was an immediate hit, selling over 100,000 copies in its first month and quickly becoming a million seller.

Alan could tell I was surprised by his claim that he created Bozo the Clown, so he filled in some of the details. His motivation for creating children’s characters was to save Capitol licensing fees that were being paid for use of Disney and Warner Brothers characters. Although Bozo was his most famous creation, his favorite was Sparky and his Magic Piano. Capitol later sold the rights to Bozo the Capitol Clown to Larry Harmon, who took the character to the next level by making him a television star. Years later Harmon would tell the world that Bozo was his invention. When the Clown Hall of Fame learned that Harmon’s claims were false, its directors censured Harmon and ordered him to set the record straight. Livingston was promptly inducted into the Clown Hall of Fame as the creator of Bozo.

Subsequent research disclosed Capitol’s dominated the children’s record market under Livingston’s guidance. When the Best Selling Children’s Records chart made its debut in the June 12, 1948 issue of Billboard, eight of the top ten albums were Capitol releases, including the chart-topping Bozo At The Circus, the fantasy Bozo And His Rocket Ship and two other Livingston creations, Sparky’s Magic Piano and Rusty In Orchestraville. During 1949, there were many weeks when Bozo had four records in the top ten.

Livingston told me that he wrote and produced many of Capitol’s children’s records, including albums featuring Woody Woodpecker, Walt Disney properties and Warner Brothers cartoon characters such as Bugs Bunny. He created the “Record-Reader,” a book and album combination that would be copied many times over. He also co-wrote the novelty tune “I Taut I Taw A Puddy Tat,” which was a number nine pop hit for Mel Blanc in 1951.

Alan’s success with Capitol’s children’s record catalog earned him a promotion to vice-president. He moved from overseeing children’s records to working with adult artists such as Nat King Cole. I remember him telling me about an awkward situation he had with the singer. Alan’s bother, Jay Livingston, had written a song that Alan felt was a sure fire hit, but Cole would have nothing to do with it. Alan was reluctant to push too hard because it would appear as if he was only looking out for his brother. Eventually Cole agreed to record the song and allow it to be placed on the B-side of a track that Cole was convinced would be a hit. When the disc was released, DJs began flipping it over and playing the so-called B-side. The song was “Mona Lisa.” It raced up the charts, held the number one spot for eight weeks and went on to sell over three million copies.

Livingston was also responsible for bringing Frank Sinatra to Capitol. He spoke of the day he got a call from Sammy Weisbourg, president of the William Morris Agency, who had recently signed the singer. At the time, Sinatra’s career was at an all-time low, having been dumped by Columbia Records. Weisbourg asked whether Capitol would consider signing Sinatra. When Livingston said yes, the shocked Weisbourg replied “you would?” Some of Capitol’s employees wondered why the label should invest in Sinatra. Livingston’s answer was simple. Sinatra was a great singer and, if given the proper material and appropriate instrumental backing, he could once again sell records. On Livingston’s recommendation, Capitol signed Sinatra to a seven-year contract in early 1953.

Livingston wanted Sinatra to work with Nelson Riddle; however, the singer refused to do so out of his loyalty to arranger Alex Stordahl, with whom he had worked with for most of his career. When the first Sinatra-Stordahl recordings for Capitol failed to capture the magic Livingston and producer Voyle Gilmore were looking for, Sinatra reluctantly agreed to try a session with Riddle on April 30, 1953. That session produced the classic “I’ve Got The World On A String.” Another session yielded “Young-At-Heart,” which became the defining moment in Frank Sinatra’s comeback, peaking at number two during its 22-week run on the charts in spring, 1954.

In 1953, Alan Livingston brought Frank Sinatra to Capitol, and paired him with Nelson Riddle (at left with Sinatra). Young-At-Heart, arranged by Nelson Riddle, left no doubt that the “Chairman of the Board” was back.

After ten years with Capitol, Livingston left the record business to work for the National Broadcasting Company in 1956. While at NBC, he produced the pilot for a series that no one was interested it. Those were the days when television networks had to find a sponsor for a show. Despite the negative feedback, Alan believed in the series and convinced NBC’s parent company, RCA, to sponsor the show so it could get on the air. The series, complete with a catchy title song written by his brother Jay, quickly found an audience and ran for 14 years, becoming NBC’s longest running hour show—Bonanza.

In 1961, Capitol persuaded Livingston to return to the company as its president. But before getting to The Beatles, Alan told me a colorful story about Frank Sinatra. While at NBC, Capitol and the singer were locked in a stalemate over Sinatra’s desire to set up his own record company. Capitol was not receptive to the idea, so Sinatra retaliated by refusing to record. Alan called him up, expecting Frank to be excited about his return to Capitol. Alan was confident that he could get Ole Blue Eyes back in the studio. But when he called Sinatra, Livingston learned that even he could not repair the rift. Frank told Alan that Capitol could take its Tower with the spire and shove it up their collective ass.

After we both had a good laugh, Alan finally told the story I had traveled from New Orleans to Beverly Hills to hear. Capitol Records, as a subsidiary of EMI, had a right of first refusal to issue recordings by artists signed to EMI, which at the time was the world’s largest recording organization.  Capitol assigned the task of reviewing all foreign product to Dave Dexter, whose background was in jazz and R&B recordings. In the forties, Dexter produced sessions for Capitol with Julia Lee that yielded songs full of sexual innuendoes. (“Snatch It And Grab It” spent 12 weeks as a number one R&B hit and “King Size Papa” topped the R&B charts for nine weeks.)  But Dexter just didn’t get rock ’n’ roll. Even more important, the few times Capitol released recordings by British artists, the records usually flopped. Although Cliff Richard was a huge star in the U.K., his Capitol releases failed to chart. The lone exception was Laurie London’s “He’s Got The Whole World In His Hands,” a number one hit in 1958.

So it was no surprise when Dexter turned down The Beatles first two singles, “Love Me Do” and “Please Please Me.” The latter song and the next single, “From Me To You,” ended up on Vee-Jay Records.  But Capitol would again have the opportunity to release Beatles recordings in the States when Vee-Jay encountered financial difficulties and failed to pay its royalties on its Beatles releases. When Dexter turned down the next single, “She Loves You,” EMI began pressuring Capitol to reverse its decision and put out the song. When Livingston asked Dexter why he turned down The Beatles, Dexter replied, “Alan, they’re a bunch of long-haired kids. They’re nothing. Forget It.” So Livingston stood by his employee’s judgment and “She Loves You” ended up on Swan Records.

When Dexter later passed on “I Want To Hold Your Hand,” Beatles manager Brian Epstein took matters into his own hands. Livingston recalls getting a call from Epstein asking him why Capitol refused to issue the group’s records. Alan confessed that he had not heard the records. When Brian asked him to give them a listen, Alan called Dexter and asked him to bring him some Beatles discs so he could judge them himself. Livingston told me that he liked what he heard. “I thought they were something different. I can’t tell you in all honesty I knew how big they’d be, but I thought this is worth a shot.” When he called Epstein back to inform him that Capitol would issue the new single, Brian insisted that Capitol spend $40,000 to promote the first single. Although Brian was in no position to make such a demand, Livingston agreed.

Alan told me that he brought the single home for his wife, Nancy Olson, to hear. He was anxious for her opinion as she had an excellent ear and followed the popular music scene. After telling his wife that the single had the potential to change the music business, she listened to the song. Alan smiled as he told me of her response. “She said, ’I Want To Hold Your Haaaaaand, are you kidding?’ So I thought, maybe I made a mistake. We put the record out. I never got through the $40,000. The record exploded. And the rest is history.”

Just as he finished the story, his wife Nancy entered the room and told me her recollections. “Alan’s too modest.” She went on to explain that he was the one at Capitol who heard the group’s potential and arranged for the company to put its full resources behind The Beatles. She laughed as she recounted her initial reaction to “I Want To Hold Your Hand,” telling the story from her perspective, but giving me the same facts. She scoffed at others such as Dave Dexter, who later took credit for signing The Beatles to Capitol. I remember her pointing her hand at me and saying, “Now you be sure to get the story right!”

After she left the room, Alan told me about The Beatles Campaign, which marked the first time that a record company marketed its artists and recordings directly to the consumer. Prior to that time, record companies did little more than place ads in the music trade magazines, figuring that they had done their job by getting word out to distributors, record stores and disc jockeys. That cost about a thousand dollars. But Alan had promised Brian that Capitol would spend $40,000, so the company had to get creative and come up with effective ways to apply the money on promoting the band. Although Livingston authorized the promotional campaign, he credits Brown Meggs, assisted by Freddie Martin, with putting it all together.

On December 4, 1963, Capitol released a press release on its signing of The Beatles, which contained the following quote from Livingston: “With their popularity in England and the promotion we’re going to put behind them here, I have every reason to believe The Beatles will be just as successful in the United States.” His bold prediction sounded like typical record company hype at the time, but it quickly proved true.

Although Dexter had been wrong about his assessment of The Beatles musical ability, Livingston did not fire or reassign him. Out of loyalty and faith, Livingston gave Dexter the task of compiling the group’s albums in America and selecting tracks for single release. While Capitol is often vilified for its dissection of The Beatles albums, the company’s decision to place hit singles on albums helped fuel album sales.  Under Livingston’s guidance, Capitol sold millions of Beatles records as the group compiled gold record after gold record.

During his stay at Capitol, Livingston made sure that the label retained the right to issue the group’s records in America. Although others thought the group could not sustain its incredible success, he disagreed. “I made sure Capitol kept The Beatles because I knew the songwriting talents of John and Paul would keep them successful.” When Capitol resigned the group to a lucrative contract in 1968 that included a huge upfront bonus, the chairman of EMI criticized the move, telling him, “They’ve peaked, you won’t get your money back.” Livingston, of course, was right as the label got its money back on the first release under the deal.

When his wife Nancy reentered the room, I took the opportunity to ask about the fundraiser she and Alan hosted during The Beatles first U.S. tour. The afternoon garden party was held at the home of her mother in Brentwood, California. Alan arranged for the group to appear at a fundraiser, which was held for the benefit of the Hemophilia Foundation. This was a charity close to the Livngstons as their son was a hemophiliac. In order to attend the exclusive event, an adult had to contribute at least $25 and bring a child. Approximately 500 people attended, including several Hollywood stars. The Beatles were there for an hour, shaking hands and signing autographs for the kids working their way through the receiving line. Nancy told me how much it meant to the children and how it helped the group’s image. Alan recalled Paul’s confession that “It would have been easier to do a concert.” Nancy then left to run some errands and Alan and I forged onward.

Livingston’s recollections about the butcher cover would take up an article in itself. The short story is that Livingston knew the cover was a problem, but had no choice but to follow The Beatles wishes that the cover to Capitol’s “Yesterday And Today” album feature a picture of the group in butcher smocks draped with slabs of raw beef and baby doll parts. He argued with Brian, but The Beatles manager held firm. When distributors and disc jockeys slammed the cover after receiving pre-release copies of the album, Capitol had to pull the album from its distribution pipeline and prepare a new cover, costing Capitol over $200,000. After a few gut-churning days most copies of the album had been recovered (pun intended), leaving Livingston mentally exhausted. When an employee brought a box containing about twenty mono and four stereo copies of the album into Livingston’s office, he told the employee to take them out as he never wanted to see a Butcher cover again. The employee told him that he should take the albums home and save them, so Livingston brought the box home and placed it in his closet.

Twenty years later, in November, 1986, he turned the albums over to his son, Peter, to dispose of as he wished. To confirm the authenticity and origin of each album, Livingston prepared an affidavit stating that the sealed album was from his private collection and that he was “confident that the albums are among the few, if not the only, genuine remaining editions, in mint condition, and hope that you will treat and respect them accordingly.”  The first few were sold by Peter at the Los Angeles Beatlefest, with later copies sold to collectors and dealers.  These sealed albums are known among collectors as “Livingston Butchers” and are considered pedigree copies. Today mono copies sell for $25,000 to $30,000. Although none of the stereo Livingston Butchers have changed hands for a while, a collector recently turned down an offer to sell his copy for $80,000.

Livingston left Capitol in 1968 to establish his own production company, Mediarts, Inc., which was involved with film, records and music publishing. Two of the company’s successful projects were the film “Downhill Racer,” starring Robert Redford and Gene Hackman, and Don McLean’s song “American Pie,” which was a number one hit in 1972. Livingston was president of the Entertainment Group of 20^th Century Fox during the time “Star Wars” was developed. In 1988, Livingston published the novel “Ronnie Finkelhof, Superstar,” which tells the story of a Harvard pre-law student who becomes an overnight success as a rock musician.

My first visit gave me a treasure trove of interesting stories for my Capitol books. I went back to see him a few months later for follow up questions and to ask a big favor. I wanted to prepare a special edition of the Capitol books that would give collector’s something extra—Alan’s autograph. He agreed to this and signed 220 cover slicks that would be pasted on a cardboard slipcase housing both Capitol books. He never complaining during the signing and continued telling me stories about Sinatra and The Beatles. He also agreed to write the forewords for both of the Capitol books.

I went back to his Beverly Hills home a few years later with a Canadian journalist, Doug Thompson. Because we allowed extra time due to a severe morning thunder storm, we arrived about 15 minutes early. Nancy opened the door wearing her robe and informed us that “In Beverly Hills, it is better to be 30 minutes late than 10 minutes early.” After accepting our apologies for the sin of being early, she let us in and chatted with us until Alan’s arrival in the living room. Alan answered all of our questions and graciously signed some Bozo and Beatles albums for Doug. We both left with wide smiles on our face—the kind that children had after meeting Bozo the Clown in person.

Friday the 13^th was the day Alan Livingston died. Although I received bad news on an unlucky day, I knew it was time for him to move on. I felt privileged to have known this remarkable man who went from Bozo to The Beatles, with Sinatra thrown in for good measure.

On February 11, 1963, the Beatles entered EMI’s Abbey Road Studios to record songs for inclusion on their debut album. In what is generally acknowledged to be one of the most productive days ever spent in a recording studio, the Beatles recorded ten high-spirited songs that were standards in their live performances. Of the ten songs completed for release, four were Lennon-McCartney originals (credited on the album as “McCartney-Lennon”) and six were cover versions that are today better known than their original versions. These songs, plus four songs recorded for the group’s first two singles, became the Beatles first album, which was named Please Please Me after the group’s second single, which was rapidly moving up the charts.

When the Beatles second single began racing up the charts, producer George Martin felt the need to quickly get the group into the studio to record a long-playing album to cash in on what the Beatles had already achieved. After checking schedules, Martin and manager Brian Epstein determined that the group could do a recording session on February 11 if they could be excused from the February 10 concert on the Helen Shapiro tour.  An arrangement was made for Peter Jay and the Jaywalkers to take the Beatles place on the bill that night.

Three February 11 recording sessions in Studio Two were booked for: 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.; 2:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.; and 7:30 p.m. to 10:45 p.m. It was an ambitious goal, particularly considering that the band had been performing on the road non-stop since returning from Hamburg at the beginning of the year. In addition, the group had been traveling through a brutally frigid winter, and John was suffering from a bad cold.

The album was recorded on a twin-track machine. For the most part, the instruments and the vocals were recorded on separate tracks. This was done to allow Martin and the engineers to balance properly the volume of the vocals and instruments when mixing the songs for mono. The songs were recorded live with the group singing and playing their instruments simultaneously. Overdubs appear on only a few of the tracks. Paul played his Hofner bass, and Ringo was on his Premier drum kit for all of the songs. John alternated between his Rickenbacker Capri electric guitar and his Gibson J-160E “Jumbo” acoustic-electric guitar, while George played either his Gretsch Duo-Jet electric guitar or his Jumbo.

Engineer Norman Smith placed the microphones further from the amplifiers than what was normally done so that they would pick up not only direct sound from the amplifiers, but also the ambient sound of the room. This gave the songs a more raucous sound, resembling what was heard at the group’s live performances. The music performed and captured by the Beatles, George Martin and the Abbey Road engineers on that magical day resulted in the group achieving its goal expressed by John “to make the LP something different.”

CLICK HERE TO READ ABOUT EACH OF THE SONGS RECORDED FOR THE ALBUM

The Beatles had absolutely no time to recover from or celebrate the recording of their first album. On Tuesday, February 12, 1963, the group played two shows, the first at the Azena Ballroom in Sheffield, Yorkshire, followed by a concert at the Astoria Ballroom in Oldham, Lancashire. The next night the band was at the Majestic Ballroom in Hull. Then it was back in Liverpool for a Valentine’s Day dance at the Locarno Ballroom. Friday night the Beatles played the Ritz Ballroom in Birmingham. On Saturday, the group performed at the Carfax Assembly Rooms in Oxford.

On Sunday, February 17, the Beatles were at Teddington Studio Centre in Middlesex to tape a lip-synced performance of Please Please Me as part of the February 23 broadcast of the ABC television show Thank Your Lucky Stars.

Today’s trivia questions pertain to the recording session for the Please Please Me album.

1. At what venue did George Martin originally consider recording the Beatles first album?
2. What Lennon-McCartney song was recorded during the Please Please Me LP session but not released until it was re-recorded for the group’s second album?
3. What song did New Musical Express erroneously report as being recorded during the Please Please Me LP session?
4. According to a story on the Beatles that ran in New Record Mirror, who was slated to sing lead when the Beatles recorded I Saw Her Standing There, for their first album?

REVEAL THE ANSWERS

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