In 2012, a wonderful boxset of only 350 copies was issued of 5 large and beautiful Yellow Submarine full color prints along with a special book written by The Simpsons writer and producer, Josh Weinstein. Josh’s essay was entitled “Yellow Subversion.”
The ultimate paradox with sets like this is that their rarity makes them very special and valuable to the collector, yet often they are out of reach financially to others who may wish to enjoy them. This item is very large, and you certainly will not be able to store it on your bookshelf, but the enclosed prints would be wonderful to frame.
There were only 350 numbered copies of the black covered limited edition book which featured images of the Beatles 1964 tour taken by photographer Joe Allen and the book was edited by Mark Naboshek. The book was entitled “The Beatles Monochrome,” and was published in 2011 by Rufus Stone Publishers!
The book was presented in a black slipcase with 4 giclee color photoprints. The limited edition book came in a metal container as shown below. What is not commonly known is that Rufus Stone also published a limited edition version of the book that was bound in white leather and only 10 numbered copies were made of that version of the book. Below are my photos of copy #9 of this beautiful photography book which I recently acquired.
This Wilfrid Brambell book is the most difficult to find of the print works available concerning the late actor.
Wilfrid Brambell, who played Paul’s grandfather in “A Hard Day’s Night”, released this hardback autobiography back in 1976. Supposedly, Wilfrid refused to have an editor work on his book release and the reviews were terrible as a result of his decision. The book did not remain in the marketplace very long and is fairly obscure. The collector market for books that even have a remote connection to the Beatles story seems to still be on the upswing.
As a long-time Beatles book collector, I was startled to even learn of this book’s existence.
Wilfrid Brambell – Kindle Book
This is a kindle book release about Wilfrid released in 2016 and is 66 pages long. The author is Philip Glass.
Wilfrid Bramble – Unauthorised
The Authorised Wilfrid Brambell – New in 2022
This is the newest book about Mr. Brambell, by author David Clayton, published August 4, 2022 by The History Press.
Wilfrid Bramble – You Dirty Old Man!
For those of you who may have read all three, what are your thoughts on the books? Have a favorite?
Ringo had made his debut with The Beatles at Hulme Hall, Port Sunlight, on 18th August 1962. However, if the reception wasn’t great at Hulme Hall, he was in for a rude awakening four days later at the Cavern Club. Debbie Greenberg remembers it well.
“Overnight, the Beatles had a following of devoted fans and I was one of them,” recalled Debbie. “The amazing thing about the Cavern was that the Beatles and all the groups were so accessible. We were literally inches away as they played.
“Pete Forever, Ringo Never”
“The girls went crazy when Pete Best was sacked and replaced by Ringo. Pete was sultry, fiercely good-looking and oozed sex appeal. They would heckle the Beatles when they were on stage, shouting; “Pete forever, Ringo never.” We were all outraged and couldn’t understand why Ringo was the new drummer. The sound didn’t seem any different to us.
Rumours about Pete’s dismissal circulated around Liverpool. Some said he was too good-looking and Paul was jealous because he was getting the most attention from the girls. Others said Brian Epstein had decided his drumming wasn’t good enough. I don’t suppose any of us will ever get to the bottom of it; even Pete Best didn’t know why he was dropped.
“Hi there, all you cave-dwellers”
“The Beatles inspired many groups to embrace rock ‘n’ roll – and they all wanted to play the Cavern. The resident DJ, Bob Wooler, would always introduce the show with, “Hi there, all you cave-dwellers. We’ve got the Hi-FI high and the lights down low.” At the end of the night he always played “I’ll Be There” by Bobby Darin and we all knew it was time to leave. It was never the signal to get romantic as it was in other clubs. It was just time to go and catch the bus home.”
GET YOUR COPY OF DEBBIE’S GREAT BOOK ABOUT THE CAVERN
Cavern Club – The Inside Story
This first-hand account of Debbie’s teen years frequenting and eventually helping to run the original Cavern Club is the authentic inside story of the Beatles launch pad, full of triumphs and failures – and surprise celebrity encounters.
£17.25Original price was: £17.25.£13.50Current price is: £13.50.
In the latest excerpt from Tony Broadbent’s book The One After 9:09, Tony looks at the great change from Pete Best to Ringo. Did Paul and John drive to meet Ringo?
August 16 – Thursday | In the early hours of the morning John and Paul drive across country to Butlin’s Holiday Camp, in Skegness, to recruit Ringo Starr | Meanwhile, mid-morning at the NEMS office, Whitechapel, Liverpool, by request of the three other Beatles; and quite without warning; Brian Epstein sacks Pete Best from the group | Not The Beatles’ finest hour; and only understandable in the light John, Paul, and George all thought that if they didn’t act—and get a different drummer—they’d lose their hard-won Parlophone recording contract.
£25 a Week
| Ringo agrees to join The Beatles—for £25 per week—but elects to play on with Rory Storm and The Hurricanes until the weekend | That evening Johnny ‘Hutch’ Hutchinson, of The Big Three, is drafted in as drummer for The Beatles’ scheduled gig at the prestigious Riverpark Ballroom, Chester.
PAUL McCARTNEY pressed his foot down hard on the accelerator and, wheels spinning, tyres screeching, his ‘new’ Goodward-green Ford Consul Classic shot forward from the traffic lights. There wasn’t a minute to lose. He and John had left Liverpool at the crack of dawn to make the 160-mile journey, across country, to the seaside resort of Skegness. Only this was no pleasure trip, but a rescue mission. To rescue themselves, their group, and the recording contract that was almost certainly now within their grasp.
Off to Butlin’s
The sole reason they were speeding to the Butlin’s Holiday Camp, located on the east coast of England, to pick up Ringo Starr. And once they’d got both him and his drums packed safely inside the car and the trunk, they’d turn right round again and make the long journey back home.
Paul had decided not to go via Manchester and Sheffield, but opted instead for the more southerly route through Warrington, Stockport, and Chesterfield, before finally making for Lincoln and Skegness. “It’ll be much faster that way. Less traffic.”
Thermos Flask?
“The speed you drive, Paul, I’m surprised we’re not already meeting ourselves coming back. Just get us there in one piece, will yer?” John yawned and poured himself another cup of coffee from the Thermos flask Paul’s dad had given them. “Incidentally, your dad could’ve put some bloody milk in here,” sniffed John. “It’s just like that Nazi crap we drank in Hamburg.”
“Well if you’d just like to step outside the car and get yourself some, John, I’ll be back this way in about five or six hours.”
“Ha, bloody, ha, but no complaints, it’ll do till we get there. Anyroad, I’m just really glad Ringo said, yes, to our ‘Eppy’.”
“Me, too, as it’s clear Pete can’t help get us where we’re going to.” Paul glanced over at his friend. “So, you’re okay with it, now, John?”
“What? The coffee?”
“No, dafty, what we’re doing now…dumping Pete for Ringo.”
“Yeah, I am.” John nodded. “But only because of the group, Pauly, nowt else. You’ve always got to think of the group, first. That’s what I did when I first met you. You could play better than me, so I didn’t hesitate, the group was that much stronger with you in it.”
Paul nodded and smiled. “I’m glad you did, Mr Lennon. Only, that’s what our George has been on about, all this time, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, it is. I thought he was a right drag, going on and on about it, at first, but after both Decca and EMI, well, I changed my mind.”
“Funny, our George, then George Martin coming to the same conclusion…both pushing for a change so the group could sound better.”
Us Being Better
“But that’s it, Pauly, us being better as a group. We’ve always got to do that, you and me, or what’s the bloody point? Just playing the same old things, the same old way, would get us nowhere. It’d kill me, for sure. Kill us, too. And that’s not what it means to be a Beatle.”
“It’s like when we write our songs…always trying to make them better than the last one…then trying to make them better each time we play them. Like that harmonica piece you worked out on, ‘Love Me Do’. It made the song sound so…so much better…real bluesy, like.”
“That was from me listening to that Delbert Clinton play harmonica for Bruce Channel. What a terrific bloke. He showed me some real nice licks on the harp. That’s what I mean, you see, it’s always searching for what’ll make what’s good sound that much better.”
Paul ripped right into ‘Searchin’—the root of anything and everything good yet to come.
John started in on ‘One After 909’—one of the first songs he’d ever written that he’d thought was any good.
Paul joined in—right on track—harmonising—seamlessly.
Paul laughed. “Right, then, you bugger, now one of mine.” And then he lit straight into ‘I Saw Her Standing There’.
John nodded, imagined, reached for new and different notes, and harmonised in fourths, as Paul sang in fifths. It sounded great. They both nodded, then. Yeah, that’s a real keeper.
And that’s how they went on for miles and miles. The two of them singing and laughing and joking and thinking and smoking and chatting—in between challenging each other with their favourite songs. Some of which they’d written together.
It is a day that has gone down in Beatles history and surrounded by myths, conspiracy theories and misdirection.
What really happened to Pete Best on that day? Was he fired?
The full story is in Finding the Fourth Beatle, but in the following YouTube video, David Bedford explains what really happened. Discover whether Pete Best was fired by Brian Epstein or not.
