About The Beatles

The Moondogs Go To Manchester

Johnny and The Moondogs was a name adopted by John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison in 1958 for the purpose of entering Carroll Levis's "Search For A Star" talent competition. On this historic occasion, they would forsake their usual "Quarry Men" name. It is not clear why the name was changed prior to this competition, however, ther are two plausible explanations. The Quarry Men had lost two of its members in late summer 1958, Len Garry and Duff Lowe and this may have been a chance at a new start. Moreover, it was the second time they had entered this competition : the first was in 1957 at the Empire Theatre in Liverpool, when they failed to pass the preliminary auditions required to qualify for performing in front of an audience. A new name might have erased a poor showing in the minds of the fans.

As luck or talent would have it, on this second try Johnny and The Moondogs they did somewhat better, passing the preliminary audition and appearing on the stage show at the Liverpool Empire Theatre, and doing well enough to qualify for the area finals held at the Ardwick Hippodrome, Manchester. They played there, but did not win the contest which would have entitled them to appear on Carroll's TV show : the show was judged by the results of a "clapometer" which recorded the volume of applause for each act, during which the competitors gave a brief resume of their performance. Johnny and The Moondogs missed this as they had to leave the theatre to catch the last train back to Liverpool, and it can be assumed that without their presence the applause would be muted somewhat.

This broad synopsis of the story seems to be undisputed, recounted by the Beatles themselves and numerous biographers. However, the date of the performance (and even the year, 1958 or 1959) is open to speculation. As a resident of Manchester I was interested in their visit to my home city and decided to carry out some research into the Ardwick Hippodrome (which was demolished in 1964) at the local reference library, to see if any light could be cast on the date of their performance. The results are not 100% conclusive, but strongly suggest that Johnny and The Moondogs made their appearance on the later of 2 nightly shows on Monday 24 November 1958, contrary to popular supposition that it was Sunday 15 November 1959. (It certainly wasn't a Sunday, anyway : England was a more God-fearing country in those days, and theatres, cinemas and shops were firmly closed to the public on Sundays, although of course the pubs were open !)

The Carroll Levis Talent Shows

Carroll "Mr Star-Maker" Levis was a Canadian born TV and radio personality who presented a television and radio show called "Star Search" (or possibly "Search for a Star"). He also was the organizer for a complementary touring stage show which served as a profit-making venture in it's own right and a talent search for the TV show. The stage show toured the country continuously usually staging two shows nightly, from Monday to Saturday, for a week in well-established theatres in major towns. On Sundays, theatres were normally closed to the public but private auditions were held to select acts good enough to appear in front of the public during the forthcoming week.

The format of the shows were firstly six or seven professional "warm-up" acts (singers, comedians, acrobats etc.) followed by an interval and then the talent contest itself. Five or six acts would perform, and then the result would be determined by a "clapometer" which measured the volume of applause for each act after they gave a brief resume of their earlier performance. The shows lasted nearly two-hours, and although Carrol Levis does not seem to have been at each one personally (a Master of Ceremonies took charge) they were sometimes introduced by a celebrity. Jackie Collins introduced the 1958 show in Manchester.

Winners were given the chance to appear on the TV or radio shows, but first had to get through a sequence of local and regional heats and finals. Johnny and the Moondogs, for instance, did not win the contest at the Liverpool Empire Theatre but did well enough to qualify for regional finals in Manchester, as apparently did Billy Fury.

Carroll Levis Show Listings

The Manchester Reference Library contains a listing of shows held at the Ardwick Hippodrome from 1904 to 1961. From this extensive database, Carroll Levis shows were noted for the weeks:

Monday 9 April to Saturday 14 April 1956
Monday 26 August to Saturday 1 September 1957
Monday 24 November to Saturday 29 November 1958
Monday 16 November to Saturday 21 November 1959

In the archives are original playbills (advertising posters) and programmes for hundreds of shows, including all the Levis Carroll shows listed. Neither list the talent show competitors individually. Each show was different, so they do not reveal when Johnny and the Moondogs appeared. It could have been on any of 12 shows during the weeks in the fall of 1958 or 1959. It became apparent that these records along would be unable to determine the year in which Johnny and the Moondogs appeared. The research continued with the thought that the Moondogs may have performed along side another artist whose year or performance may have been documented. But first, a review of the events of the day as researched by Lewisohn.