Allan Williams, Beryl Williams, Lord Woodbine, Stu, Paul, George & Pete. Arnhem war memorial, August 16, 1960
On August 16, 1960 the five members of The Beatles, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Stuart Sutcliffe and Pete Best, along with manager Allan Williams, his wife Beryl, her brother Barry Chang and friend Lord Woodbine embarked on the journey from Liverpool to Hamburg, Germany. The van was cramped and didn't have enough seats so The Beatles had to sit on their amplifiers.
They set off from the Jacaranda club in Williams' green Austin van, stopping off in London to pick up Herr Steiner, an Austrian working in the Heaven and Hell coffee shop on Old Compton Street, who was to be the Hamburg promoter Bruno Koschmider's interpreter. They then caught the ferry from Harwich to the Hook of Holland.
After arriving in Holland, they ended up in Arnhem after Williams took a wrong turning. While there they visited the war memorial and spent time wandering around the town centre. Whilst there they visited a music shop, from which John Lennon stole a harmonica.
From Holland they made their way to Hamburg, arriving in the early evening of August 17th. That night they performed at the Indra club for the first of a 48 night residency.
No arrangements had been made in advance for accommodation, so that night they stayed at the club owner, Bruno Koschmider's house. The next day they were put up in the back of a little cinema, the Bambi Kino, at 33 Paul-Roosen Strasse.
The room had been an old storeroom, and there were just concrete walls and nothing else. No heat, no wallpaper, not a lick of paint; and two sets of bunk beds, like little camp beds, with not very many covers. The room was also right next to the ladies toilets, which was where they had to wash.
There were no cooking facilities at the Bambi Kino, and the group had no money when they first arrived in Hamburg, so they took to visiting the British Sailors' Society where the manager, Mr Hawk, gave them cornflakes and milk.
That evening, at the Indra Club, they were encouraged to raise their game by manager Allan Williams. He encouraged them to "Make it a show, boys!", a phrase quickly taken up by Koschmider – the cry of "Mak show, Beatles! Mak show!" would become a hallmark of their first Hamburg stay.
The Beatles took note, and began working on their stage show. By the end of their time in Germany they would be a tight live act, regularly drawing crowds and able to effortlessly thrill their audiences.
After playing 48 consecutive nights with no time off, The Beatles' residency at the Indra Club in Hamburg ended on October 3rd due to police pressure caused by a stream of complaints, mostly made by the woman who lived above the club. They were still under contract with Bruno Koschmider until October 16th, so were moved the following night to the larger Kaiserkeller, while the Indra was turned back into a strip club.
By this time The Beatles had performed live for over 200 hours in Germany, and were on their way to becoming a truly electrifying live act. They would never have developed as much if they'd stayed at home. They had to try anything that came into their heads in Hamburg. There was nobody to copy from.
On October 4th, The Beatles began a 56-night run at the Kaiserkeller, which was situated at 36 Grosse Freiheit and ended on November 30th. They alternated sets with Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, another Liverpudlian band featuring Ringo Starr on November.
Although they were under contract to play at Bruno Koschmider's Kaiserkeller club until December 31, 1960, they made a verbal agreement with rival club owner Peter Eckhorn to play at his new venue, the Top Ten Club.
The club had opened at the end of October 1960, and was in direct competition with the Kaiserkeller. Tony Sheridan and his group The Jets were the opening act, and Eckhorn had persuaded Koschmider's bouncer Horst Fascher to work as the club's manager.
As The Jets were shortly to return to England, Eckhorn began looking for groups to replace them. At the time The Beatles were becoming jaded with working for Koschmider, and knew the facilities at the Top Ten were better.
The Beatles were given an audition for Eckhorn and gave it their all. The following night they gave a performance at the club, much to Bruno Koschmider's displeasure.
On November 1st, furious that The Beatles had made a verbal agreement to play at rival Peter Eckhorn's Top Ten Club and the fact that George Harrison was too young to be working in the club, Kaiserkeller owner Bruno Koschmider terminated their contract.
The Beatles continued to perform at the Kaiserkeller for another three weeks. Harrison was finally deported on 21 November 1960 and returned to England alone, spending all his remaining money on train tickets and taxi fares. The Beatles remained in Hamburg for a few more performances until their residency finally ended after Paul McCartney and Pete Best were arrested on November 29, 1960 on suspicion of arson and deported the next day.
On December 10th, ten days after Paul and Pete were deported, John Lennon travelled back to England alone by train and boat. Fed up he didn't let the others know he was back for a few days, finally contacting them on December 15th.
Sutcliffe's moved in with Astrid Kirchherr and stayed in Hamburg, effectively ending his time in The Beatles. He flew back to England on January 20, 1961.
On October 15th, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, recorded music with Ringo Starr for the first time. They were the backing group for Lu Walters, whose real name was Walter Eymond, who was the bassist in Rory Storm's band The Hurricanes, which also featured Ringo on drums.
The recording of "Summertime" was made in the small Akustik studio by the railway station at Kirchenallee 57, Hamburg, where members of the public were able to record messages for family and friends and have them pressed to 78rpm acetate discs. The discs had spoken word advertisements on the b-sides. Around six copies of Summertime were pressed onto acetate disc, though none are known to have survived.
Stuart Sutcliffe was present at the recording but didn't play. Also at the studio was The Beatles' manager Allan Williams, and guitarists Johnny Byrne and Ty Brian of The Hurricanes. In addition, Walters, Starr, Byrne and Brian are also believed to have recorded Fever and September Song.
The Beatles are said to have wanted to record some songs on their own – though whether this would have been with Sutcliffe and Starr is unknown. Furthermore, their drummer at the time, Pete Best, was not present. Either way, Williams feared they would be late for their 8pm start at the Kaiserkeller, and so put a stop to the session.