BEATLES – Day By Day – 10/15/61
Sunday, 15th October, 1961
After their two week break The Beatles returned to the local Liverpool scene with an unusual afternoon booking as part of the bill at a charity “Star Matinee” held at the Albany Cinema in the village of Maghull, just north of the Aintree area of Liverpool. The event was to raise funds fro the local St. John’s Ambulance Brigade and had been organized by local country & western guitarist and part-time promoter Jim Gretty. Gretty also occasionally worked as a part-time guitar sales-man at Hessy’s music store in Liverpool and had sold John Lennon his first store bought guitar a few years earlier. The bill for the event was headlined by local comedian Ken Dodd and included an eclectic variety of acts; the inclusion of the hard-rocking Beatles was out of place among country & western singers, operatic arias, choral tenors and trad jazz acts. According to some sources The Beatles are reported to have closed the show with a 10 minute thrash. However the running order in the printed program shows them as the opening act of the second half of the bill.
The program also included the following short write up of the band underneath a photograph of the four leather clad rockers.’ We are fortunate in having secured the services of The Beatles as they have only just arrived back from Germany. They are in England for only a short time before embarking upon another European tour. All four are Liverpool born, and great favorites with the teenagers all of whom are of one voice in describing them as “FABULOUS.” What more can we say? ‘
Following the charity gig, The Beatles headed over to the Hambleton Hall in Huyton for a night time gig.
